This is my first conversation with Joanne Hogg. It took place on 10/30/22 from her home in Ireland.

Joanne was born in Ballymena, Northern Ireland shortly after her parents returned from India where they had worked as missionaries for 13 years. Joanne started piano lessons at the age of 10 and continued for four years until it became difficult to find piano teachers in the rural area where they lived.

Joanne began attending Queen's University Belfast to study medicine in 1981. After her third year at Queen's, she received information through the post about a summer music and arts event in DeBron, Holland called Christian Artists which she thought would be an interesting experience, little did she know it was going to change her life! When Joanne arrived in Holland, she discovered that unknown to her, someone had entered her into the talent evaluation session.

At Christian Artists, she came into contact with well known contemporary Christian musician Adrian Snell who encouraged her and asked her to send him a demo tape which she later did. Joanne was also heard singing at the talent evaluation by a staff worker for Youth For Christ (YFC), Denmark who immediately invited her to work with them for a year doing schools ministry work.

After returning to Northern Ireland in the summer of 1985, Joanne married Stephen and returned to university to complete her medical degree. In early 1986 Adrian Snell, hugely impressed by the demo Jo had given him months earlier, invited her to record a solo vocal track on his landmark 'Alpha and Omega' project. As a result of her involvement with this, Joanne was introduced to Dave Bainbridge and David Fitzgerald who also met during the recording of the same album. Several months after the release of 'Alpha and Omega' Adrian asked Jo to join the Swiss leg of the 'A & O' tour.

She graduated from university in 1987 and worked as a junior doctor in the Belfast City Hospital to complete her registration. Six months into the job, Joanne became ill and was unable to work for 7 months. She recovered sufficiently to resume her post and completed her registration, but once that was achieved, she took medical advice not to continue in full time work for the remainder of that year. During this period of convalescence, she was contacted by Dave Bainbridge and David Fitzgerald who were beginning to think about the possibility of forming a band. They felt that Joanne, as both a vocalist, musician and writer, would work well with the instrumental duo.

Joanne's voice has been featured on many other Christian albums, including several New Irish Hymns recordings (with Clannad's Moya Brennan) and the Celtic Expressions series, and has been heard by millions across the world singing on the soundtrack for a Sony Playstation game called "Xenogears"! She has sung on numerous television broadcasts throughout the past 15 years, including many appearances on BBC's "Songs of Praise" programme. Her most recent TV performance was on BBC Northern Ireland's series entitled "My Wee World" which included contributions from the children of primary schools across the province, including Jo's two boys Isaac and Ethan and their classmates. The song featured on the programme was entitled "Into Your Dreams", from Jo's album "Raphael's Journey" (see later notes).

Joanne's first solo album release was in 1999, entitled "Looking Into Light" (Later rereleased as 'Celtic Hymns Looking into Light'). This project was inspired by a suggestion made by Joanne's father to record an album of hymns. It was only after the sudden death of her mother in February 1997 that she felt the urge to begin working on tracks for the album that would be dedicated to her father.

In 2001, after many years of waiting, Joanne and Stephen had their first child, Isaac. A year and a half later his brother Ethan was born. Busy home life, the death of her father after a prolonged illness, and also major surgery for Joanne meant that the band's activity was restricted during the next few years, although it didn't completely grind to a halt. IONA produced two more excellent albums, "Open Sky" and "The Circling Hour", but things lost momentum for a variety of reasons.

Also in 2008, Joanne recorded and released an album called "Personal" through Kingsway Music. As the title suggests, the album is a reflective consideration of her own spiritual journey, and is intimate, worshipful and acoustic in style. It was recorded in Nashville in three days and produced by John Hartley and Derri Dogherty. It is very different in style to IONA and shows another side to Joanne as a singer and songwriter. The album features the distinctive drumming and percussion playing of past IONA member Terl Bryant. This album is currently available form Kingsway Music as part of a double box set together with "Looking Into Light" (1999).

source: http://www.iona.uk.com/