Nick Howard

Having grown up in England before settling in the United States, guitar pop singer and songwriter Nick Howard first reached widespread recognition by taking first place in the 2012 season of the German reality competition The Voice of Germany. At that stage he had already put out two albums, among them his initial full-length release, Something to Talk About, from 2008. Following the victory his style acquired a sharper, radio-focused sheen, most evident on the hook-laden All or Nothing of 2016. Several of his compositions have also served as background music for television programs such as The Hills, 90210, and Jersey Shore.

Raised in Brighton, Howard relocated to New York in the early 2000s to chase a music career shaped by the Beatles, John Mayer, the Script, Oasis, and Coldplay. He issued his debut studio album, Something to Talk About, in 2008 and supported it with steady live dates. The follow-up, When the Lights Go Out, appeared in 2011. Crafted under producer Marshall Altman, whose credits include Natasha Bedingfield and Matt Nathanson, the record earned him support slots alongside Lifehouse and Boyce Avenue. In 2012 he entered The Voice of Germany, landing on Rea Garvey’s team and delivering covers of material by Jason Mraz, Michael Kiwanuka, and Elbow. To mark the win he released the 2012 compilation My Voice Story, which gathered every performance from the show, among them “Read All About It, Pt. 3” recorded with Emeli Sandé.

Howard shifted to Los Angeles in 2013 to cut his fourth album, Stay Who You Are, which came out later that year and included the tracks “Put It Back Together” featuring Isabell Schmidt and “You Are Love” with Boyce Avenue. He toured internationally with the latter act and remained on the road for the next several years. His fifth LP, the pop-oriented All or Nothing, surfaced in 2016; its single “Fight” was later adopted as the theme for the 2017 Tour de France. In 2017 he launched a “Song of the Month” series that began with November’s “Hurricane,” then continued into 2018 with February’s “Frantic” and the expansive March anthem “Our Time.”