Howard Jones emerged as a central presence in the synth pop landscape of the mid-1980s by fusing the gadget-laden textures of new wave with the buoyant outlook associated with hippie ideals and late-1960s pop. Born in Southampton, England, he began piano lessons at seven. During his teenage years his family relocated to Canada, where he joined the progressive rock outfit Warrior as his first group. He later returned to England and performed with several ensembles before enrolling at the Royal Northern College of Music in the mid-1970s. After leaving the college he played in assorted local jazz and funk bands around Southampton. He eventually launched a solo career centered on synthesizers and drum machines, accompanied onstage by mime artist Jed Hoile. Following several years of these one-man shows, radio host John Peel invited him to record a BBC session. Soon afterward he secured support slots with other new wave synth pop acts across England. In 1983 he signed with WEA for the British and European markets and with Elektra in the United States.
His debut single, “New Song,” appeared in England in autumn 1983 and climbed to number three. The follow-up, “What Is Love,” arrived a few months later and peaked at number two. His first album, Humans Lib, came out in spring 1984 and quickly reached the top of the British charts. Repeated MTV airplay helped the record achieve moderate success in America. Later that year both “New Song” and “What Is Love” entered the U.S. Top 40, while “Pearl in the Shell” became his third British Top Ten single.
In 1985 Jones removed Hoile from his performances, assembled a touring band, and issued his second album, Dream Into Action. The record proved his most commercially successful, reaching number ten and attaining platinum certification in the United States while generating the hits “Things Can Only Get Better,” “Like to Get to Know You Well,” “Life in One Day,” and “Look Mama.” Spring 1986 brought the remix EP Action Replay, which included a new version of “No One Is to Blame” from Dream Into Action. That single became Jones’s highest-charting American release, peaking at number four, although it managed only number 16 in Britain—an early sign of declining domestic popularity. His next single, “You Know I Love You…Don’t You?,” drawn from the third album One to One, marked his final British Top 40 entry.
Cross That Line, his fourth album, appeared in spring 1989. Its lead single, “Everlasting Love,” topped the American adult contemporary chart and reached number 13 on the pop side, yet the album itself stalled at number 65. Three years later In the Running arrived, marking a deliberate move away from synthesizers toward piano. The album failed to chart. After The Best of Howard Jones surfaced in 1993, Elektra ended the relationship. Instead of pursuing another major-label deal, Jones began acoustic tours in 1994 and sold copies of Working in the Backroom—an album recorded at his home studio and released on his own Dtox Records imprint—directly at the shows. He continued touring America and Europe for the next two years. Live Acoustic America appeared on PLM Records in 1996, followed by People in 1998. Three further live albums—Perform ’00 in 2000, Perform ’01 in 2001, and The Peaceful Tour in 2002—preceded the new material on 2005’s Revolution of the Heart.
Ordinary Heroes, released in 2009, featured Jones accompanied only by piano and strings. In April 2012 he toured his first two albums, Humans Lib and Dream Into Action, then returned to synthesizers for Engage in 2015. At the end of 2018 Cherry Red issued deluxe editions of Humans Lib and Dream Into Action. His thirteenth album, Transform, appeared in 2019.
