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Born in Southampton, England, Jones spent a lot of his youth living in various places, including Cardiff, Wales and Canada. He became interested in music from an early age, learning to play keyboards and went on to attend the Royal Northern College of Music. His studies were short lived, with Jones dropping out and moving to Southampton, where he played in several jazz and funk bands. Soon he started performing his own music as a solo artist, incorporating synthesizers and drum machines into his eclectic sound. Jones managed to attract the attention of John Peel, who invited him to play a BBC session. This exposure helped Jones gain support slots for a number of new wave acts across the UK, which eventually led to being offered a record deal with WEA in Europe and Elektra Records in the US in 1983.
His first single, “New Song,” was released the same year, becoming a popular hit and reaching number three in the charts. This was followed by “What is Love,” which bettered his last, peaking at number two. His debut album arrived the following year in 1984, titled “Humans Lib,” which quickly was a commercial hit and reached the top spot in the UK charts. Exposure on MTV aided his success in America, achieving several top 40 hits.
In 1985, Jones released his second album, “Dream Into Action,” and also formed a live touring band. The album was a huge success, becoming certified Platinum in the US and reaching number ten in the charts. It featured hit singles such as “Things Can Only Get Better,” “Like to Get to Know You Well” and “Life in One Day.” Whilst performing well in the US charts, his success in the UK began to decline, although he was still breaking into the top 20, but was unable to achieve the same success as earlier releases.
Jones had another strong album with “Cross That Line” in 1989, although it only managed to peak at 65 in the US charts. After releasing a greatest hits album, Jones was dropped from Elektra. Jones responded by embarking on extensive tours, as well as doing acoustic sets, displaying his versatility. Jones continued to tour well in to the 2000s, releasing several live albums. In 2005, he recorded a new album, “Revolution of the Heart,” which kept his music alive. In 2009, he released “Ordinary Heroes,” which featured orchestral influences and piano.
The group’s name was actually taken from a reference in the “A Clockwork Orange” novel (The Heaven Seventeen was the name of a fictional pop band within the story), but before Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware founded this group they clocked in time as two of the three core members of the New Wave act Human League. During their formative stages The Human League weren’t exactly viewed as a New Wave band (at least in the general sense), but were rather associated with experimental electronica and at times punk.
The Human Leagues‘ lead singer Paul Oakley wanted to take a step in a more pop oriented direction, while Marsh and Ware wanted to work with the sound they had been developing on their 1st two albums. The rift between the members only grew with time and by 1980 Marsh and Ware left the Human league to form Heaven 17. The line up for their new project was completed once photographer Glenn Gregory filled the vacancy for vocalist. Their early recordings were characterized by heavy use of drum machines and analog synthesizers, but also included contributions by session musicians, integrating the sounds of more traditional instrumentation such as the grand piano.
Heaven 17 crashed into the public’s attention with their catchy, but lyrically controversial debut single “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang”. The track was pulled from BBC Radio 1’s rotation on account of it’s politically left overtones; however, many of those that managed to get ahold of it latched on and eagerly anticipated the band’s next offerings.
The wait was answered in September 1981 with the release of their studio debut “Penthouse and Pavement”, while the album was by no means a commercial hit, it sold modestly well and established a devout cult following. It has since been recognized as a crucial artifact of the synth pop genre and has gone on to appear in the book, “1001 Albums You Must Listen to Before You Die”.
The group still struggled to make it into the UK top 40 with their follow up single “Let Me Go”, but went well beyond their mark with the release of the track “Temptation”. This single climbed to no. 2 on the UK Singles chart and set the stage for their breakthrough sophomore album “The Luxury Gap”. The album included an additional three hit singles “Crushed By the Wheels of Industry”, “Let Me Go”, and “Come Live With Me” and eventually reached platinum status within the UK.
Heaven 17 never managed to achieve the commercial success they touched with their 2nd studio album; however, they were still going strong with their 3rd full length release “How Men Are”. It peaked on the UK Albums Chart at no. 12, went Gold and also introduced a modified sound for the group, emphasizing acoustic instruments and string sections into their previously synth dominated mix.
Also during this time Heaven 17 were immersed in the work of their production company B.E.F. (British Electronic Foundation), putting out cover albums such as “Music of Quality & Distinction Volume One” and helping produce Tina Turner’s classic version of the song “Let’s Stay Together” (which has been attributed to reviving her career).
In 1986 Heaven 17 made their concert debut on the UK pop/rock music program, the Tube and the following November released their 4th studio album “Pleasure One”. Though the album charted in the UK top 100 ranking at no. 86, it was a significant drop from their previous no. 12 position, which they achieved with “How Men Are”. Their 1988 follow up “Teddy Bear, Duke & Psycho” did not do any better on the UK charts; however, it landed at no. 46 on the German Albums Chart and featured the western guitar influenced single “The Ballad of Go Go Brown”.
Heaven 17 released only 1 studio album in the 1990s, “Bigger Than America”. The album did not garner commercial success, but it did earn favorable reviews with the critics, in particular their standout single “Designing Heaven”. Ware spent the majority of this decade operating the production company BEF and producing albums for the likes of Marc Almond, Erasure, and Terence Tent D’Arby.
The band’s follow up “Before After” came out in 2005 through Ninthwave Records and did reasonably well on a commercial level, peaking at no. 6 on the Billboard Magazine Club Play Charts. The next Heaven 17 release “Naked as Advertised” was their 1st release not to include Marsh and was a compilation of reworked Heaven 17 and Human League songs. The band still continues to release material and tour on occasion.
If nothing else, Howard Jones deserves a certain level of kudos just for managing to make it as a successful pop star with a name as completely unremarkable as that one; he emerged from unremarkable surroundings, too, hailing from Rhiwbina in South Wales, but that didn’t stop him from becoming one of the most consistent pop singers of the eighties; after appearing at Live Aid in 1984, the same year he released his debut record Human’s Lib to sales that would ultimately take it to multiple platinum status, he continued to turn out solid pop records, including Dream Into Action, One to One and Cross That Line, throughout the rest of the decade, tapping into the popular new wave stylings of the era and marrying them to his own brand of electropop. He’s continued to record and tour since, and retains a significant cult fanbase as far as the latter practice is concerned; he gave them a real treat two years ago, too, when he played Human’s Lib and Dream Into Action in their entirety across eight dates in the UK, backed by a full live band. He’s managed to shake off being entirely associated with his eighties heyday, though, and plays his own shows rather than line up alongside other nostalgia acts at bigger gigs; he’s one of British pop’s real originals.
Joeg_67
Heaven 17, a new wave synthpop band out of the UK. Two of the original members were in the Human League! Not automatically a head turner as far as music goes but I was interested enough to see their concert when they played as a duo.
Immediately I realized this was not the synthpop I expected. They were lively, upbeat, very eighties pop. This was not gothic or low in tone. It was a fun band having fun with synthetic music and vocals. Their lead vocalist, Glenn Gregory, was lively, upbeat, and had clear fun with the music and the fans without hesitation. It was a wonderful start to a wonderful live show. Then the bass came in. What a wonderful sound and bass riff. I am an amateur bass player and as soon as I heard what they were doing with bass I was floored.
I could not believe a band like this was putting so much funk into their music, synthetic or otherwise. They kept up the tempo and the pace. They kept up the fun. The audience was into it and loving it. They used a variety of sounds and instruments to create unique sounds and a fun show for all involved. I would highly recommend seeing a show by Heaven 17 to anyone that is remotely interested in doing so.
Synthpop, love it or hate it, it’s definitely an influence of at least one artist that you listen to today, with the intricate counter melodies performed in a contrapuntal fashion and the endless possibilities with the banks of sounds used. Lets discuss Blancmange, and English synthpop band who surfaced in the early 80s managing to secure number 8 in the charts with their album “Mange Tout”.
It’s great that they can pull this kind of sound off live too opening with their song “Blind Vision” which features a real host of synthesizers, a variety of sounds. “Living on the Ceiling” inspires some questionable dancing from punters but of course, a happy atmosphere at that. “Don’t Tell Me”, a single from “Mange Tout” elevates the vibe to a happy medium of fun and chill. It feels like a time warp with more moustaches than a Tom Selleck movie. They close with “Lose Your Love”, a single that has been sampled in many different records to this day.
Lannistaar
Incredible gig in a lovely venue, it's obvious the amount of passion and time that went in to the performance and it was reflected in the pure energy from the crowd!
A sweeping soundscape with memorable and catchy music. The acoustics were pretty good too! Its clear great effort was put into their sound, instead of some gigs where you can't hear the individual lyrics you could hear every word clear as day. No wall of noise at all!
These guys could have been charging way more for the ticket price honestly, a night to remember! Highly recommend them (and see them now before tickets get harder and harder to find!)
samuel-spencer-1
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