Brian Howe (singer)

Brian Howe

Brian Anthony Howe (born 22 July 1953, in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England) is a British rock singer and songwriter, best known for replacing Paul Rodgers as the lead vocalist of rock group Bad Company. Howe's career was jump-started in 1983, when Ted Nugent recruited him to handle lead vocals for his Penetrator album, and front its subsequent world tour.

Early career

Howe was born in Portsmouth, England. Brought up as a poor child, he discovered music as a three-year old, just after his father punched him in the ear. It was singing for about a week, and thus was his first introduction to the world of music. Life was very hard in those dark days in England, after his family had moved without him. This prompted him to join another bunch of homeless people and form a band.In the early eighties, Howe had a brief stint with the NWOBHM group White Spirit, having replaced their recently-departed singer Bruce Ruff. However, the group quickly collapsed, and Howe never even recorded an album with the group.

With Bad Company

In 1986, Ralphs and Kirke re-formed Bad Company after a four-year hiatus, but original frontman Rodgers was engaged with a new supergroup called The Firm, so the remaining two members hired Howe as the new lead singer, Greg Dechert on keyboards and Steve Price on bass. Howe’s vocal style brought more of a pop-rock sound to the band, as opposed to Rodgers’ more bluesy sound. The band hired Foreigner producer Keith Olsen to produce the new lineup’s initial album, 1986’s Fame and Fortune. The band also switched labels to Atco Records.

The next Howe-era album, 1988’s Dangerous Age was produced by Terry Thomas, who returned the band to a guitar-driven sound. This album fared better than its predecessor, spawning three songs that made the top 10 on Billboard's rock chart: "No Smoke Without A Fire," (#4), "One Night" (#9), and "Shake It Up" (#9). The last two were written by Howe and Thomas.

The band's next album, 1990’s Holy Water, also produced by Thomas, was a major commercial success, attaining platinum status in the U.S. by selling more than one million copies. It produced five singles that went top-15 on Billboard's rock chart, including the #1 hit "Holy Water" which was followed by "Boys Cry Tough" (#3), "If You Needed Somebody" (#2) and "Walk Through Fire" (#15). Ralphs sat out for most of the Holy Water tour, although he did perform on the album.

The final studio album of the Howe era, 1992’s Here Comes Trouble featured the Billboard #1 rock hit "How About That." Before touring in support of the album, the band expanded to a quintet, adding ex-Foreigner bassist Rick Wills and rhythm guitarist Dave "Bucket" Colwell, a protégé of Ralphs. During the tour, the band recorded a live album, What You Hear Is What You Get: The Best of Bad Company which featured hit songs from both the Rodgers and Howe eras of the band. According to Simon Kirke, Howe left Bad Company due to professional and personal reasons.

Solo

Howe released his first solo album, Tangled in Blue, in 1997 on Touchwood Records. It was re-released with one additional song under the name Touch in 2003 on MTM Music and Publishing. Howe toured as "Bad Company former lead singer Brian Howe." His relationship with ex-bandmates Kirke and Ralphs has remained acrimonious.

Thirteen years after the release of his debut solo album “Tangled in Blue” (later renamed “Touch” in Europe), Brian is back and ready to unleash his awesome new solo album entitled “Circus Bar”. “When I decided I wanted to make a new CD” tells Brian, ”I wanted to try to make everything memorable and enjoyable. Therefore I set aside a week for writing with my new producer Brooks Paschal and I decided we would go down to my favourite place in the entire world: Lake Atitlan , Guatemala, an incredibly inspirational place for me to be. We realized after three days that we had written enough songs for the CD and that took any pressure I had been feeling away and it soon became obvious that the CD should be named after that wonderful little bar where we spent our evenings eating, drinking and listening to the local music. The bar was started by circus performers and still has posters and pictures of all the great circus acts from throughout the years”. Some friends helped Brian in shaping up “Circus Bar”, an album, which promises to be a career landmark for this amazing singer: Wayne Nelson of Little River Band dropped by the studio for a few days and also Pat Travers popped in and played guitar on "My Town". “I didn't want to have too many "established" musicians on the record because I wanted to keep the feel somewhat fresh and spontaneous”, explains Brian. The album includes also two stunning – newly recorded - remakes of the Bad Company hits “How 'Bout That” and “Holy Water”. Produced by Brooks Paschal and mixed by Rafe McKenna (Giant, Bad Company, Tesla, Ten) “Circus Bar” track listing includes: I'm Back; Life's Mystery; There's This Girl; Could Have Been You; Surrounded; Flying; How It Could Have Been; My Town; How 'Bout That; Feels Like I'm Coming Home; If You Want Trouble; Feelings; Holy Water; Little George Street. “I like to think that this CD is representative of an established artist with a modern outlook on what happening in today's music scene” concludes Bryan. “It's been 13 years since my last record and on this CD I have given them everything I have: music that appeals to anyone that likes big melodies with an edge”. 100% gold class awaits the faithful fans who will purchase “Circus Bar”, better believe it: Brian Howe is back to Rock!

In 2010 Howe plans on releasing a new solo album called " The Circus Bar" . The line-up of his current band is:

• Brian Howe - Lead vocals
• Dean Aicher - Guitar / Backing vocals
• Miguel Gonzalez - Bass / Backing vocals
• Matt Brown - Drums

Discography

Albums with Ted Nugent

• Penetrator (1984)

Albums with Bad Company

• Fame and Fortune (1986)
• Dangerous Age (1988)
• Holy Water (1990)
• Here Comes Trouble (1992)
• What You Hear Is What You Get: The Best of Bad Company (1993) (live)

Solo albums

• Touch (2003)
• The Circus Bar (2010)

External links

• Official website