Trevor Charles HornCBE (born 15 July 1949) is an English record producer and musician. His influence on pop and electronic music in the 1980s was such that he has been called "the man who invented the eighties".[1][2]
Horn took up the bass guitar at an early age and taught himself to sight-read music. In the 1970s, he worked as a session musician, built his own studio, and wrote and produced singles for various artists. Horn gained fame in 1979 as a member of the Buggles, who achieved a hit single with "Video Killed the Radio Star". He was invited to join the progressive rock band Yes, becoming their lead singer.
Trevor Charles Horn was born on 15 July 1949 to John and Elizabeth Horn in Hetton-le-Hole, County Durham, England, and grew up in Durham City.[4][5][6] The second of four children, he has two sisters, including the novelist Marjorie DeLuca,[7] and a brother, the television producer Ken Horn.[4][8] His father was a maintenance engineer at the neighbouring dairy[9] and a professional musician who played the double bass in the Joe Clarke Big Band during the week.[4][10][11] Horn attended Johnston Grammar School in Durham.[4]
At around eight years of age, Horn took up the double bass and was taught the basics by his father, including the concept of playing triads.[10] He taught himself the bass guitar and became confident in sight-reading music, using guide books and practising on his father's four-string guitar in the spare room of the house. In his early teens, Horn filled in for his father on the double bass in the Joe Clarke band when he was late for a gig.[10] At school Horn was given a recorder which he picked up with little effort as he already had music knowledge, and performed in the local youth orchestra.[10][4] His interests turned to contemporary rock acts such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan. At 14, Horn played electric guitar in his first group, the Outer Limits,[12] named after the 1963 television series, playing mainly covers by the Kinks.[10][5][13]
Horn went on to pursue a "succession of day jobs", including one at a rubber company.[10] He also put on a Bob Dylan imitation act for two nights a week "with a harmonica around my neck", and played the bass at odd gigs.[10] Then, at seventeen, Horn decided to pursue a career in music and "woke my parents up at 4am to tell them".[4] They were reluctant at first as they wanted him to become a chartered accountant as he performed well in maths, but Horn had failed the required exams.[4] Horn's parents pleaded with him to try one more job, but three months into his role as a progress chaser in a plastic bag factory, he was fired. "I said, 'That's it, I'm never going into that world again!'", and the next day, received an offer to play the bass in a local semi-professional band at a Top Rank Ballroom, playing top 40 and dance music for £24 a week for five nights' work.[4][10][14] Horn also received airplay on BBC Radio Leicester, performing self-written songs on a guitar.[10]
Career
1971–1979: Early work
At 21, Horn relocated to London and took up work by playing in a band which involved re-recording top 20 songs for BBC radio due to the needle time restrictions then in place. This was followed by a one-year tenure with Ray McVay's big band,[10] included performances at the world ballroom dancing championship and the television show Come Dancing.[11] Horn also joined the Canterbury Tales, a group based in Margate, and spent time in Denmark where he ended up broke. His mother sent him money for his return journey.[15] He also worked as a session musician for rock groups and jingles.[5] At 24, Horn began work in Leicester, where he had a nightly gig playing bass at a nightclub and helped construct a recording studio.[14] He produced songs for local artists, including a song for Leicester City F.C.[10][14]
By 1976, Horn had returned to London. He played bass in Nick North and Northern Lights, a cabaret and covers band, which also featured the keyboardist Geoff Downes and the singer Tina Charles.[15][16] Horn formed Tracks, a jazz fusion band inspired by Weather Report and Herbie Hancock, with the future Shakatak drummer Roger Odell, before he left to play in Charles's backing band.[17] Also in the band were the keyboardist Geoffrey Downes and the guitarist Bruce Woolley, both of whom Horn later worked with in the band the Buggles.[citation needed] Horn and Charles entered a short relationship, and Horn learned from her inspiring producer Biddu.[14][18][19][20]
In the mid-1970s, Horn worked for a music publisher on Denmark Street, London, producing demos.[11] From 1977 to 1979, Horn worked on various singles as a songwriter, producer, or orchestra director, but without profit.[21] Among his first was "Natural Dance" by Tony Cole and "Don't Come Back" by Fallen Angel and the T.C. Band, featuring Woolley as songwriter, which Horn produced under the name "T.C. Horn".[22] He wrote "Boot Boot Woman", the B-side to the Boogatti single "Come Back Marianne".[23] In 1978, Horn wrote, sang, and produced "Caribbean Air Control" under the pseudonym Big A, which features Horn pictured as a pilot on the front sleeve.[24] In 1979, a full studio album, Star to Star, by Chromium, a "sci-fi disco project", was released. It featured Horn and Downes as songwriters and producers, and Horn's future Art of Noise bandmate Anne Dudley on keyboards.[1][25] Other artists that Horn worked with included Woolley, John Howard,[1][26]Dusty Springfield ("Baby Blue"),[11] and the Jags ("Back of My Hand"). Horn achieved his first production hit when "Monkey Chop" by Dan-I reached No. 30 on the UK Singles Chart in 1979.[14]
1978–1980: The Buggles and "Video Killed the Radio Star"
The Buggles: Geoff Downes (far left) and Horn (far right) on the show Caspe Street in 1980
In 1978, Horn and Downes formed the new wave band the Buggles with early contributions from Woolley. They secured a recording deal with Island Records and spent much of 1979 recording their debut album, The Age of Plastic (1980). The credits list Horn with co-production, lead vocals, guitar and bass.[citation needed]
The Buggles' debut single, "Video Killed the Radio Star", was released in September 1979 and reached No. 1 in the UK, propelling Horn, aged 30, to fame.[1][27] In August 1981, "Video Killed the Radio Star" became the first music video to air on MTV.[28]
1980: Yes
The Buggles secured management from Brian Lane, who was also managing the progressive rock band Yes.[29][30] The Yes singer, Jon Anderson, and the keyboardist, Rick Wakeman, had both departed. Horn and Downes were invited to replace them, and Yes recorded an album, Drama (1980), with Horn on vocals and bass.[29] On tour, Horn was poorly received by fans, who reacted poorly to "this fat, dumpy guy at the front singing ... it was an absolute nightmare from start to finish".[31] Yes sacked Horn after the tour.[31]
1980–1982: Dollar, ABC and Malcolm McLaren
In 1980, Horn married the music executive Jill Sinclair, who became his manager.[32] Sinclair told him that as an artist he would always be "second division", but if he pursued production he would become the best in the world.[14]
In the 1980s, Horn incorporated samples into pop music using a Fairlight CMI synthesiser.
Horn assembled studio equipment, including a Roland TR-808 drum machine, a sequencer, a Minimoog synthesiser and Simmons electronic drums.[33] He spent £18,000 on a Fairlight CMI, an early digital synthesiser, one of four in the UK at the time.[14] The Fairlight was one of the first digital samplers, allowing musicians to play back samples such as sound effects at different pitches.[34] He said later: "I knew what it was capable of, because I understood what it did. Most other people didn't understand at the time – sampling was like a mystical world."[14] Horn is credited as the "key architect" in incorporating sampling into "the language of pop".[34] His understanding of electronic equipment made him influential on the development of pop music in the following decade.[35]
Horn's success with Dollar generated interest from other acts. He next produced The Lexicon of Love by ABC, which became one of the best-selling albums of 1982.[30] During the recording, he persuaded ABC to replace their bassist, feeling he was subpar. Horn regretted the decision, and he later learnt that U2 had declined to work with him as they were concerned he would split the band.[14]
1983–1989: ZTT, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Grace Jones
Horn in 1984
In 1983, Horn and Sinclair purchased Basing Street Studios in west London from Chris Blackwell and renamed it Sarm West Studios.[14] With the journalist Paul Morley, they co-founded a record label, ZTT Records.[32] The first act they signed was Frankie Goes to Hollywood,[36] for whom Horn produced their successful debut album, Welcome to the Pleasuredome.[18] He dramatically restructured the lead single, "Relax", described by Sound on Sound as a "hi-NRG brand of dance-synth-pop" that "broke new sonic ground, while epitomising '80s excess in all its garish, overblown glory".[36] "Relax" reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart.[36] At this point, Horn was working with Foreigner in the US on their album Agent Provocateur (1984).[37] He left the project to work on the followup Frankie Goes to Hollywood singles "Two Tribes" and "The Power of Love", which also reached No. 1.[36]
Horn worked with Yes again to produce their 1983 album 90125. He persuaded them to record "Owner of a Lonely Heart", which they resisted, deeming it "too poppy". It became their only No. 1 single in the USA.[30] In 1983, Horn co-formed the band the Art of Noise, co-writing several hits including "Close (To the Edit)", "Beat Box", "Moments in Love", and "Slave to the Rhythm". "Slave to the Rhythm" was intended as Frankie Goes to Hollywood's second single, but was instead given to Grace Jones. Horn and his studio team reworked it into six separate songs to form Jones's 1985 album Slave to the Rhythm.[citation needed] It features the Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour.[38]
In 1984, Horn was asked by Bob Geldof to produce the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?", a charity song to raise money for the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. Horn was receptive but said he would need at least six weeks, which would make it impossible to release by Christmas. However, he allowed the team to use his studios, Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, free for 24 hours on 25 November. Horn later remixed and co-produced the 12" version and remixed it for the 1985 rerelease.[39]
In the late 1980s,[14] Horn relocated to Bel Air, Los Angeles, where he established Sarm West Coast LA, a residential recording studio.[citation needed] Horn produced another Yes album, Big Generator (1987) and co-produced the Simple Minds album Street Fighting Years with Steve Lipson (1989).[citation needed]
1990s: Seal
In 1990, Horn produced the debut album by the English singer Seal. This began a multi-album collaboration which Horn reasoned down to his liking of Seal's voice and a "musical empathy" with how he works and the songs he writes.[33]Seal reached No. 1 in the UK and lead single "Crazy" went to No. 2. The album marked a turning point in Horn's production method, switching typical studio hardware for computers, and he recorded tracks on Seal using MIDI and Studio Vision software. Horn was pleased with the results and sold his PC equipment for an Apple Macintosh.[33] At this stage of his career, Horn had lost his enthusiasm for producing 12-inch mixes of songs, and he brought in other remixers to make them while concentrating on albums.[33]
Horn co-produced Mike Oldfield's 1992 album Tubular Bells II alongside Oldfield and Tom Newman. Oldfield was a fan of "Video Killed The Radio Star" and described Horn as like being a judge in a courtroom when presenting some of his ideas for the album, to which Horn would either nod or shake his head. This, according to Oldfield, gave him a kind of a filter for which ideas worked.[citation needed]
2000s: t.A.T.u., LeAnn Rimes and Belle and Sebastian
In the 2000s, Horn was hired by Interscope Records to create English-language versions of songs by the Russian pop duo t.A.T.u. He wrote new lyrics for "All the Things She Said" and "Not Gonna Get Us" and coached t.A.T.u. to sing them in English. He also rerecorded the instruments, as he did not have access to the original multitracks.[45] "All the Things She Said" reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart.[46] In 2020, The Guardian named it Horn's greatest work since the mid-80s.[47]
For the 2000 film Coyote Ugly, Horn produced "Can't Fight the Moonlight" by the American singer LeAnn Rimes. It sold more than two million copies worldwide and reached No. 1 in the UK and Australia.[48] Horn co-wrote "Pass the Flame" (the official torch relay song for the 2004 Olympics in Athens) in collaboration with Lol Creme and co-wrote the title track from Lisa Stansfield's 2004 album The Moment.
Horn co-wrote "Sound the Bugle", performed by Bryan Adams and featured on the Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron soundtrack and produced 3 tracks (La Sombra del Gigante, Un Angel No Es and Mujer Amiga Mia) of Stilelibero (Freestyle) Estilolibre by Eros Ramazzotti, released on 29 May 2001.
Horn produced the 2003 Belle and Sebastian album Dear Catastrophe Waitress. Horn, known for using electronic equipment to transform music, was seen as a surprising choice for Belle and Sebastian, who were described by the Guardian as "the last living purveyors of arts-and-crafts indie values".[49]
On 11 November 2004, a Prince's Trust charity concert celebrating Horn's 25 years as a record producer took place at Wembley Arena, featuring performances from Horn and many acts he produced.[50] It was released on DVD as Produced By Trevor Horn: A Concert For The Prince's Trust - Live At Wembley Arena London 2004 (2005) and Trevor Horn and Friends: Slaves to the Rhythm (2008),[51] and accompanied by a compilation album, Produced by Trevor Horn (2004).[52]
Horn performing with the Producers in 2007
In 2006, Horn co-formed the supergroup the Producers, with the singer Lol Creme, the producer Steve Lipson, the drummer Ash Soan and the singer-songwriter Chris Braide. They performed their first gig at the Camden Barfly in November 2006. They continue to perform under the name the Trevor Horn Band.[citation needed]
Horn produced the ninth album by the synth-pop duo the Pet Shop Boys, Fundamental, released in May 2006. It reached No. 5 in the UK chart. In the same month, he featured in a Pet Shop Boys concert specially recorded for BBC Radio 2. Horn produced an album version of the event, Concrete, released on 23 October 2006. Horn also produced Captain's debut album, This is Hazelville, released in late 2006. In the same year, he also worked with British band Delays on their song "Valentine", which was released as the lead single from their album You See Colours. He has also worked with John Legend and David Jordan.[citation needed]
On 25 June 2006, Sinclair was accidentally hit by a pellet from an air gun, causing irreversible brain damage and paralysing her.[53][54] The following year, Horn sold their Sarm Hook End residential studio for £12 million and relocated to Primrose Hill, London.[40][41][42]
In 2009, Horn produced Reality Killed the Video Star, the eighth album by Robbie Williams.[56] The album title references the Buggles song and Horn and Williams' mutual disdain for reality television and music contest programmes. It reached No. 2 on the UK Album Chart and was Williams' first studio album not to reach No. 1.[citation needed]
2010s–present
Horn was the executive producer of Jeff Beck's 2010 album Emotion & Commotion. He returned to work with Yes again, producing their new album from October 2010.[57] That album, 2011's Fly From Here, is a reunion of sorts for Horn's former bandmate Geoff Downes; not only is Downes a member of the band's current incarnation, but the album also takes its title from a song written by Horn and Downes and performed by Yes during their original stint with the band in 1980.[citation needed]
In 2017, Horn wrote the music for the Stan Lee co-produced anime The Reflection,[58][59] the soundtrack being released as the first album under Horn's name.[citation needed] Horn remixed 2011's Fly From Here with Yes, adding new vocals and editing parts. The album is called Fly from Here – Return Trip and was released in March 2018.[60] He has also been working on musicals, including one called "The Robot Sings".[61]
Horn toured as the bass player in Dire Straits Legacy in 2018–20.[10][66] In late 2022, he published a memoir, Adventures in Modern Recording: From ABC to ZTT.[67] He joined Seal's 2023 tour, playing bass in Seal's band and reviving the Buggles as an opening act.[68]
Horn met Jill Sinclair, a former mathematics teacher, in 1977. They married in 1980 and became business partners.[41] They had four children: two sons, Aaron and Will,[73] and two daughters, Gabriella and Alexandra,[74] the latter of whom has worked as a trainee solicitor.[4] Aaron (known in the industry as "Aaron Audio"), like his father, is a musician and producer. He was in the band Sam and the Womp[75] and frequently DJs around London (he lives in north London).[76] Both Aaron and Ally Horn are co-directors of Sarm Studios. As of August2016[update], Horn has three grandsons.[74] He is not Jewish, but he has attended synagogue with his children, who were raised in his wife's faith.[77] In a 2019 interview, he said that he "believes in [Judaism] more than anything else".[78]
On 25 June 2006, Sinclair was accidentally hit by a pellet from an air gun, causing irreversible brain damage and paralysing her.[53][54] She died of cancer on 22 March 2014, aged 61.[79][32]
Honorary degree of Doctor of Music (2012) by Southampton Solent University, England.[83]
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