Howard Jones

Born in Southampton, Howard Jones grew up in Cardiff, learning to play piano and joining his first band Warrior after the family had moved to Canada. On returning to the UK, he attended the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and developed an elaborate, theatrical stage act to launch his career. Writing catchy songs around the synthesizer, Jones used a mime artist to act out the songs he played and, championed by DJ John Peel, he made a big impact on support tours with China Crisis and OMD. Heavily promoted, his first single New Song in 1983 broke into the UK Top 5 and the US Top 30 and his first album Human's Lib established Jones as a big star - his romantic songs and electronic keyboards almost defining the Brit pop in the 1980s. With second album Dream Into Action in 1985, Jones pursued a more conventional rock band course, but by the end of the 1980s his commercial appeal faded. However, he has continued to tour all over the world and released a new album Ordinary Heroes in 2009.