In the family: Judy Thompson, sister of Neil and Tim Finn

Behind most famous faces there are brothers and sisters. They talk about what it's like living with fame. By JULIE MIDDLETON


"Apparently I inspired one song that Neil wrote, which was Sister Madly. He reckoned it was because of me, because I used to sleep talk [and wake him up], so he wrote this song about this woman called Sister Madly."

Sister madly waking up the dead

You're systematically stepping on my head


(From the 1988 Crowded House album, Temple of Low Men)

Judy Thompson chortles in the airy living room of the Mt Eden townhouse she shares with general manager husband Simon and their children Ben, 18, Bridget, 16, and Campbell, 12. She isn't entirely sure she believes her brother's claim about Sister Madly's origins, "but it makes a good story!".

Judy, 48, is one of two Finn sisters - the eldest, Carolyn, 53, lives in Cambridge, near their father, Dick. Their mother, Mary, died in 2000.

On bookshelves in Judy's lounge sit two of the best things, she says, that fame by association has brought: framed pictures of her with Elton John, and another with Beatle Paul McCartney.

"Elton John was quite amazing to meet, but it was very much meeting backstage, shake his hand, have a photo with him. But Neil was actually quite matey with Paul McCartney, so we got to sit backstage with him before [McCartney's] show, with him and his then-wife Linda.

"We got about half an hour, and that was fantastic. It was like sitting here, chatting to a friend in a lounge room."

Relaxed, then, and normal. These are words that crop up frequently as Judy, a part-time primary teacher at Mt Eden's Maungawhau School, discusses "the boys" and what it's like having fame in the family.

"They don't go looking for fame and fortune and the media don't go looking for them. Really, they are left alone. You don't hear gossip about Neil or Tim or the Finn family."

She doesn't advertise her lineage - boasting was always frowned upon by their parents - but Judy remains amused at people's reactions.

"It was ages before anyone on the staff [at school] worked out I was a sister. There's one teacher down there who's just bug-eyed every time she sees me!"

To the inevitable question - do you sing? - "the pat answer is that I can carry a tune and sing in the shower. But that's about it. We have lots of family get-togethers where my sister and I belt it out with the best of them."

Family and party singalongs were a major feature of life growing up in Te Awamutu, says Judy, and that's still the case in her "close" family: "At family gatherings, Neil and Tim sing all the old songs - Beatles and the Bee Gees".

At her home "there is always music going on. I would love to play the piano" - all the Finns had piano lessons as kids, but hers lapsed - "but I don't think now I would ever get to the stage where I could just sit down and play without music."

Seeing her brothers inspiring screaming fans is still an awe-inspiring pleasure. "When I go to their shows I think: it must be great to have that power over people, and they just love doing what they're doing ... but after that they're just my brothers. They've never been up themselves."

Judy admits she wasn't always so ardent. She remembers one night in the early 70s when Split Enz, with Tim in the lineup, played at a teachers' college function she attended.

"With the dressing up and make-up and things ... they were pretty wacky and pretty way out, even for students."

She didn't let on she was related to one, feeling shy and a bit uncomfortable about the potential reaction: "People didn't know whether they were camp or just eccentric, or what they were. I was 17 or 18 and you didn't want to stand out!"