Bernard Fanning - Personal Life

Personal Life

Fanning has performed numerous philanthropic tasks independently and with Powderfinger. The band played at the 2005 WaveAid concert to raise money for victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, and the Across the Great Divide tour in 2007 to promote the efforts of Reconciliation Australia. Fanning has contributed to charities including "A Just Australia" and Youngcare Australia, and donates his time to youth detention centres in Brisbane by running songwriting workshops. In an uncharacteristic outburst, Fanning once referred to fellow Australian artist Ben Lee as "a precocious little cunt", after Lee referred to himself as "the saviour of Australian music". Fanning later apologised for the comment.

Fanning married Andrea Moreno in February 2007 in Brisbane, Australia. Moreno is from Spain, where the two met while Fanning was writing and recording Tea & Sympathy in Europe. This relationship followed a twelve-year union Fanning had had with his previous girlfriend, and it was this break-up (along with the then-recent death of his older brother) which influenced much of the lyrical content and sombre atmospheric mood of Tea & Sympathy. Through Moreno, Fanning has learned to speak some of the Spanish language. Fanning and Moreno have performed together while Powderfinger was on hiatus and Fanning was touring as a solo artist.