Hogg was born in Ballymena, Northern Ireland and is best known as the lead singer and songwriter with the Christian progressive (or cprog) Celtic/pop/rock band Iona (named after the island Iona). Her father is a Presbyterian minister, her mother a nurse; her family also includes three sisters and two brothers. With medicine strong in the family, it was natural for Hogg to become a doctor. Thus, she studied medicine at Queens University in Belfast. In her third year, Joanne was singing at the Chr...
Hogg was born in Ballymena, Northern Ireland and is best known as the lead singer and songwriter with the Christian progressive (or cprog) Celtic/pop/rock band Iona (named after the island Iona). Her father is a Presbyterian minister, her mother a nurse; her family also includes three sisters and two brothers. With medicine strong in the family, it was natural for Hogg to become a doctor. Thus, she studied medicine at Queens University in Belfast. In her third year, Joanne was singing at the Christian Artists talent event and was convinced sing in a school ministry at Youth For Christ in Denmark. After a year, Joanne returned to the University to complete her two remaining years of schooling.
She started working as a junior doctor in the Belfast Hospital, but in 1988 she was invited to form a band with Dave Fitzgerald and Dave Bainbridge. In 1989, Joanne stopped practicing medicine and Iona was born. Since then, Joanna has sung all over Europe and America. Iona's recordings have become successful worldwide, making them Europe's best selling contemporary Christian band.
Hogg recorded her first solo album, Looking Into Light, in 1999. Her vocals were featured in the role-playing games Xenogears (for the Sony PlayStation) and Xenosaga (for the Sony PlayStation 2). She sang the English versions of Star of Tears and Small Two of Pieces from Xenogears, and Pain and Kokoro from Xenosaga. Star of Tears was featured on the 2-disc Xenogears: Original Soundtrack; however, the song is not normally accessible in the game. Hogg collaborated with several artists for the album New Irish Hymns and provided the female vocals on both solo releases from Troy Donockley. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
