I loved many of Jones’ songs and many others that came out during this era. It was another British explosion in America.
I know the 80’s faced criticism, but those pop classics had great melodies. I played in a corporate band in the 80’s to make money so we played many of them for parties, weddings, and corporate events.
Howard Jones’s music career started when his family moved to Canada when he was a teenager. You may, or may not, be surprised to hear that his first band was Warrior, a progressive rock group who released an album in 1972 called Invasion, described as having shades of Genesis and ELP. As a keyboard player he cites Keith Emerson amongst his influences, but when he returned to England the Prog world’s loss ultimately became Pop’s gain. In 1983 he even hired the Marquee Club, during the early neo-prog years no less, to showcase his more fashionable synth pop talents, and later in that year his first single, New Song, was released reaching the Top 5 in the UK.
Jones was a one man synthesizer orchestra.
