Biography
Author
of one and
only
album in '70s, singer, pianist and songwriter John Howard seemed
destined for a most brilliant career. But as fate - or music business -
would have it, the material sank prematurely, and quite shamefully, to
say the least, into the deepest oblivion. And with it, the name of
the man himself. So, John Howard had to keep his huge talent for a
quite confidential following, until indie label RPM decided, in 2003,
to bring 'Kid
In A Big World', the comet-like debut album, to light.
From
that point began an
exciting revival, which earned that
anachronistic gem of glamorous, sophisticated melodies and emotional,
flamboyant poetry the praise it deserved from all time. At last. Now
time
has come to hark back to the history of an outstanding artist.
Born in Manchester, young Howard Jones (as he was still called at that
time) was raised in the love of music, his father being a jazz pianist.
Trained himself as a classical pianist from the age of five, the boy
soon became passionately fond of pop music, especially The Beatles,
who inspired him to become a singer-songwriter. He started recording
his
compositions at a quite early age. Not long after, in 1969, the young
man, then a student at art college in Accrington, Lancashire, started
performing his own songs before an increasing number of fellow students.
In
March '70, he did his
first gig in a proper theatre, for a charity
concert arranged by the student's union. He then decided to change his
name to John Howard, which he considered a better-sounding name for a
pop star.
Then,
in September '70, he
performed his first professional show, under
his new name, at the Octagon Theatre in Bolton, Lancashire, on a bill
called 'Bluesology', alongside several other artists.
After
being
spotted by an agent during another 'Bluesology' gig, John moved to
London for his career, in August '73.
There
he was introduced to
manager Stuart Reid who decided, after seeing
the up-and-coming artist perform, to sign him to a management contract.
Reid was indeed one of the first persons to see clearly the incredible
potential of newcomer John Howard. The manager took John to famous
Chappell Studios, where he recorded many demos, several of which were
later to become songs for his first album.
In
December '73, John signed
with CBS Records.
A few
months after that,
in early '74, the work on the album was about to begin in earnest, when
John was asked to compose the theme song for the new Peter Fonda movie,
'Open Season', directed by Peter Collinson.
Delighted
with the offer, John
made the journey to Madrid, where he
met Peter Fonda and lead actor William Holden. He had then to watch
several hours of footage. Having hence a clear idea of the kind of
music expected, John flew back to London, where he wrote a couple of
songs, 'Casting Shadow' and 'Missing Key', which he sent to Peter
Collinson. Eventually, 'Casting Shadow' was chosen to be featured in
the
movie. As for 'Missing Key', it became instead one of the songs
considered for 'Kid In A Big World'.
After
that cinematographic
digression, John Howard and Stuart Reid could
now dedicate themselves entirely to their work on the debut LP. At the
latter's suggestion, Tony Meehan (ex-Shadow) was picked to produce the
album. He and John started recording, in April '74, the ten songs they
had previously chosen out of the whole demos collection. The sessions
took place at Abbey Road Studios, the very place where The Beatles -
John's lifelong favourites - themselves had so often worked in the past.
Though
the stunning sound of
the album owes a great deal to Meehan's
original production according to John Howard himself, a couple of
songs, 'Family Man' and 'Kid In A Big World', had to be re-recorded at
Apple Studios (again the Beatles thing !) at A&R director Paul
Phillips' request. He actually considered the song would sound better
if
closer to the original demos.
'Goodbye
Suzie' was re-mixed as
well, then released as the first single,
in October '74. The song received a good airplay on Radio Luxembourg,
whereas Radio 1 flatly refused to play it, arguing its subject was 'too
depressing' ...
February
'75 marked the
beginning of a brief campaign for the album,
eventually titled 'Kid In A Big World', and released the 28th of the
same month.
A
second single, 'Family Man',
followed soon. Unfortunately, it got fewer plays than 'Suzie'. Besides,
the 'Kid In A
Big World' LP failed to reach a placing in the 1975 charts, despite the
decent sales (15.000 copies in two weeks).
Far
from becoming discouraged
by this lack of acknoledgement, John
started to record new demos for his second album, intending to
call it 'Technicolour Biography'. But sadly, CBS proved satisfied
neither with the producer - they wanted Biddu instead of Paul Phillips
- nor with the new material itself !
John
consequently had to
shelve
the album he was planning to put together, and to write new songs.
First record sessions with Biddu were booked for April the same year.
From
that day, no-one ever
mentioned 'Kid In A Big World' again, not
even the record company itself. It seemed the album had been purely and
simply forgotten, only a few months after its release ...
In
January '76, 'I Got My
Lady', a stirring song from the Biddu
sessions, was released as a new single, as well as performed on BBCTV
show The Musical Time Machine. But it didn't become the hit CBS
expected, so the follow-up album was shelved in its turn.
It
goes without saying that
things didn't go any further for John in
the wide and welcoming world of CBS Records.
Our
main man then spent the
following years recording with producer luminaries like Trevor Horn and
Steve Levine, and writing songs for other
artists such as Stephanie Lawrence, Dave Willetts and Des O'Connor. He
also worked on several album projects during the '80s for Culture Club,
Madness, Barry Manilow, Elkie Brooks, Connie Francis, Sir Tim Rice, The
Crickets, Hazell Dean, Sonia, Lonnie Donegan, and Maria Friedman.
He
finally retired from the
music business in 2001, and settled in
Pembrokeshire, where he lives now with his partner Neil France.
But
this was reckoning without
an unforeseen event.
In
2003, indie record company
RPM Records indeed re-issued 'Kid In A
Big World'. The album, consequentially championed by Uncut magazine,
and mentioned in the book 'In Search Of The Lost Record' by Matsui
Takumi, instantly caused a great deal of interest in music lovers
circles. That's how John Howard found out he had fans not only in the
UK, but worldwide, in countries such as Australia, America, Japan and
France.
Owing
to that wave of
enthusiasm, he started a series of concerts, the first
of which took place at the Jermyn Street Theatre in London.
He
performed with a new band,
and before an audience made up partly of
long time well-wishers and partly of brand new ones.
To
know more about these
events, please see the 'Shows'
page.
In
August 2004, another album
by John was issued by RPM. This time, it was
'Technicolour Biography', the one the artist composed, and then
began recording with producer Paul phillips in 1974.
It had
never been released
till that point, though. Like 'Kid In A Big
World', both the fan base and the critics acclaimed 'Technicolour
Biography'.
2005
promises to be a highly
eventful year, with the release, planned
for April 25th, of 'Can You Hear Me Ok ?', the very album
luxuriantly produced by Biddu, then shelved, in 1975.
Another
little treasure kept
hidden from the world's craving ears for
about thirty years, songs taken from which have already been performed
during John's latest shows.
John
has also been working on
no less than three new albums.
First
of them is 'The
Dangerous Hours', on which John Howard worked
with talented poet Robert Cochrane, setting the latter's lyrics to
music.
As for
the second one, it is
to be titled 'Same Bed, Different Dream',
and is co-produced by John and Kevin Coral of the band Witch Hazel
Sound.
The
third is one John has just
begun work on with the musicians he performs on stage with, Andre
Barreau
(of The Bootleg Beatles) and Phil King (formerly of Lush).
These
three albums account for
almost forty brand new songs John has written in the last few months.
The tide is indeed in !
Today, John Howard, whose songwriting has clearly lost nothing of its
wit, seems to give the once-deafened music jungle another chance to get
into his works. It lies entirely with us to seize it and wonder ...
For
further information,
please check the 'News'
page, which I try to update as regularly as possible.
Thanks
to Mr John Howard for his
invaluable help.
Sheridan, April 05