It was in 1983 that Howard Jones first burst into the contemporary music scene with his philosophical songwriting, pioneering synthesizers and thought provoking lyrics. He set out his manifesto in his very first single ‘New Song’. The lyrics called on the listener to challenge their preconceived ideas, to see both sides and ‘throw off your mental chains’. New Song was recently used in a pivotal scene in ‘Breaking Bad’ where Aaron Paul’s character Jessie Pinkman questions if he wants to ‘play by the rules’. New Song peaked at number 3 in the UK singles charts.His ubiquitous hits can be heard in such high-profile television series and films such as “Stranger Things,” “Watchmen,” “The Carrie Diaries”, “Superstore” and “Bumblebee”.
Along with ‘New Song’, The first two albums, ‘Humans Lib’ and ‘Dream into Action’, brought Howard a host of hits including ‘Things Can Only Get Better’, ‘What is Love?’, ‘Pearl In The Shell’, ‘Like to Get To know You Well’, ‘Hide And Seek’ (performed at Live Aid 1985), ‘Look Mama’ and ‘No One Is To Blame’, which reached No.1 in the US. Howard has sold over 10 million albums across the globe and is one of a select group of British artists who have comprehensively ‘broken America’.
Howard’s Synthesiser driven debut influenced a new generation of electronic and dance musicians. Widely regarded as a pioneer of synths such as the Roland Juno 60, Jupiter 8 and Moog Prodigy he has worked with contemporary electronic artists such as Eric Prydz, Cedric Gervais and most recently BT. Howard enjoyed 14 weeks in the billboard dance chart top 40 in 2013 with his collaboration with Cedric on a new version of ‘Things Can Only Get Better’. Howard continues to operate at the forefront of music technology in both his live shows and productions.
Howard Jones has earned a reputation within the music industry for pioneering the ‘independent artist DIY’ approach, developing the essential connection between artist and fans. Howard was the first artist to make a recording of that nights gig available on CD to purchase. The CD would even feature digital artwork of photos taken during the gig. His project ‘Engage’ is entirely music fan funded with money raised via studio visits, the creation of personalised ‘Piano Solo’s’ composed specifically for fans and a unique “arthouse” interactive book. Howard Jones’ most recent album is DIALOGUE, which was released in September, 2022. DIALOGUE is the third album in a trilogy of electronic releases from Jones with multi-media project ENGAGE released in 2015 and studio album TRANSFORM released in 2019. DIALOGUE garnered serious coverage in outlets such as Spin, Stereogum and more.
Howard continues to tour across the world every year performing to many hundreds of thousands of music fans. His current high tech band features Nick Beggs on Bass and Chapman stick, Robin Boult on Guitar, Robbie Bronnimann on sequencing and Dan Clarke on keyboards. Jones toured the UK in 2023 celebrating 40 years since the release of his first single and his fans who have been by his side ever since. In 2024 Howard played the O2 Arena London as special guest to OMD and will be touring to North America this summer with ABC and Haircut One Hundred.
Howard on Buddhism...
Howard Jones history from 1971 to today
