The Music of British Singer-Songwriter John Howard
One of the great attractions of music is coming across new artists and delving into their back catalogue.
Which brings me to the strange "success" story of British singer-songwriter John Howard. A few years ago I was searching through a second hand CD shop when I came across an album entitled "Kid in a Big World" by John Howard. Being interested in singer songwriters I thought it would be worth trying and bought it as it cost something like £2.
I was very pleasantly surprised by what I heard and decided to do some research with help from the Internet.
This album was not so much a sleeper as a comatose delight. Originally it was issued in 1975 but slumbered away for many years probably in the vaults of remainder bins at relatively unknown LP shops in back streets. Kid in a Big World became known as one of the "great forgotten albums of the 1970s". It obtained something of a cult status.
Then magically the album re-surfaced in CD format 28 years later and the record world was able to hear once again just what it had been missing for almost three decades.
RPM Records re-released Kid and you might say "the rest is history," but thankfully it isn't. John started writing again, shelved albums were released and John started touring. The great thing is that listening to John Howard doesn't feel as if you are in a time warp. It does make you feel that you are in the presence of one of this country's great songwriting talents - think early Elton John mixed with a bit of Billy Joel and a smattering of Clifford T Ward and Ray Davies style observations and you might be somewhere close. Oh I forgot a bit of glam Bowie as well.
I am pleased to say that I got in touch with John via the Internet and we have been corresponding on Facebook and through e-mail ever since. The upshot of this is I am currently writing a biography of John which will tell his full fascinating story.
Over the past few years I have conducted a number of electronic interviews with John and these are reproduced via the links below.
John Howard Interview Number One
John Howard Interview Number Two
John Howard Interview Number Three
John Howard Album Reviews
The John Howard Story
Which brings me to the strange "success" story of British singer-songwriter John Howard. A few years ago I was searching through a second hand CD shop when I came across an album entitled "Kid in a Big World" by John Howard. Being interested in singer songwriters I thought it would be worth trying and bought it as it cost something like £2.
I was very pleasantly surprised by what I heard and decided to do some research with help from the Internet.
This album was not so much a sleeper as a comatose delight. Originally it was issued in 1975 but slumbered away for many years probably in the vaults of remainder bins at relatively unknown LP shops in back streets. Kid in a Big World became known as one of the "great forgotten albums of the 1970s". It obtained something of a cult status.
Then magically the album re-surfaced in CD format 28 years later and the record world was able to hear once again just what it had been missing for almost three decades.
RPM Records re-released Kid and you might say "the rest is history," but thankfully it isn't. John started writing again, shelved albums were released and John started touring. The great thing is that listening to John Howard doesn't feel as if you are in a time warp. It does make you feel that you are in the presence of one of this country's great songwriting talents - think early Elton John mixed with a bit of Billy Joel and a smattering of Clifford T Ward and Ray Davies style observations and you might be somewhere close. Oh I forgot a bit of glam Bowie as well.
I am pleased to say that I got in touch with John via the Internet and we have been corresponding on Facebook and through e-mail ever since. The upshot of this is I am currently writing a biography of John which will tell his full fascinating story.
Over the past few years I have conducted a number of electronic interviews with John and these are reproduced via the links below.
John Howard Interview Number One
John Howard Interview Number Two
John Howard Interview Number Three
John Howard Album Reviews
The John Howard Story