Finnian Tindall, performing under the stage name Finnian Cole, is an award-winning singer-songwriter from Freiburg, Germany. With talent well beyond his 15 years, Finnian Cole is an exceptional songwriter and performer. Finnian loves classic rock, especially The Beatles, Queen, and Elton John, and often says he was born in the wrong era.
Finnian speaks English and German fluently (his mom is Canadian and dad is German). He discovered his love for music at a young age. While attending an international preschool with an affiliated music school, he enjoyed taking part in their annual musical productions. At four years old, he performed Singin’ in the Rain and High Hopes at an open mic event and his love of performing began.
When Finnian was five, he discovered the music of Ed Sheeran and became interested in learning the guitar. He began formal guitar lessons at the age of seven. Initially he learned classical picking styles, but it soon became clear that he wanted to head in a rock/pop direction. He wrote his first song, Meine Meinung, when he was nine years old. Finnian’s fourth grade music teacher encouraged him to join the school band and with the band’s accompaniment, he performed Meine Meinung in front of the entire school at the year-end assembly.
Finnian’s performance was seen by the head of the Freiburg Blues Association. She invited Finnian to perform Meine Meinung with her band at the FBA Youth Evening. At ten years old, he was the youngest performer they had ever had on their stage.
Finnian continued writing his own songs. In 2019, at the age of 11 his self-composed song Crisis of the World made it into the semi-final round of Your Song for One World contest.
In the summer of 2019, on a trip to North America Finnian opened for Canadian blues artist Jennie Thai in Osoyoos, Canada. He also played a show at the Parksville summer market (he even played a song with Rosie the chicken on his shoulder). On this trip he also enjoyed busking in Boston and in various locations in British Columbia.
In 2019-2020 Finnian played in a band with other pre-teens at a Freiburg youth center until the Covid-19 lockdown. His connections there would later lead to a number of live performances including the ZMF Youth Stage, Freiburg Stimmt ein and World Children’s Day.
In 2020 due to the Covid-19 situation, performing opportunities were limited. Finnian turned to social media where he posted 40 days of virtual busking on Instagram. In the evenings, he entertained his neighbours with daily performances in the courtyard.
Hey Jude:
He also connected with other young artists over Instagram, including Walker Campbell, Robert Levey II and Ellie Maxwell. He also formed the virtual band ZOOMED OUT with English teen-musicians Rocco Tiger Thomas, Harrison Reeves and Alastair Pike. They met regularly on-line and recorded several cover songs. They also released the Christmas song, My Mistletoe.
In the spring of 2021 at an open mic night at Abendrot Restaurant in Freiburg, Finnian bonded with Agus Garcia over their admiration for the Beatles. Agus and Finnian have continued to make music together and busk and record music regularly. Finnian was invited to play as an opening act at Abendrot and later as a headliner where he played a 90-minute show of covers and originals.
Finnian likes to help those that are less fortunate. In 2021, he donated over 850€ of his busking earnings to flood victims in southern Germany.
In July of 2021, Finnian won the Youngster songwriting prize in the Mannheim Pop Akademie’s SONGS contest for his original composition, So Lucky.
In December 2021, Finnian recorded Beatles Advent calendar posting a new Beatles song every day.
A Day in the Life:
In June 2022, Finnian released his single, Last Summer. The song has a retro-pop feel and includes a reference to his biggest influence, The Beatles. This was followed in October 2022 with Wildfire. Both songs have reached over 100,000 streams on Spotify. Finnian’s music has also received play on some independent radio stations. He placed third in the Best Male Artist category in the 2022 FAB Chart music awards.
Although music takes up a lot of Finnian’s time, he has other hobbies as well. He enjoys cooking, especially lasagna, homemade pizza, and sushi. He keeps himself fit by swimming and weight training. And he enjoys reading. The Harry Potter series is his favourite and he has recently discovered Stephen King.
In 2023, Finnian has been focusing on vocal training and songwriting. He has three songs ready to record and will be releasing new music in the fall.
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Nice job on this publication @Remko! Great insights into an amazing young artist! Like many, I too have been following Finnian’s musical journey and have no doubt that he will continue to be one to watch both now and in the future!