Member Since: 10/19/2006
Band Website: spz.com
Band Members:
Trevor Charles Horn (born 15 July 1949 in Durham, England) is an English pop music record producer, songwriter andmusician. He has produced commercially successful songs and albums for numerous British and international artists. Hewon a Grammy Award for co-writing "Kiss from a Rose" with Seal. As an artist Trevor has had chart success with his ownbands The Buggles, Yes and Art of Noise. He also owns a significant stake in the recording company ZTT Records, SarmStudios and a music publishing company, Perfect Songs. The three are combined under the corporate umbrella of SPZ.
Bands
Horn began his professional career as a backing musician in the late 1970s for disco star Tina Charles. One of the othermembers of her backing band was keyboard player Geoff Downes. Horn and Downes formed the Buggles in 1977, in which Hornplayed bass, guitar and percussion as well as providing vocals. Horn, Downes and Bruce Woolley (Tina Charles' guitarist)co-wrote "Video Killed the Radio Star", which was released by The Buggles in 1979 reaching No 1 in the UK charts. Thesong also appeared on the group's first album, The Age of Plastic, which was released in 1980. Later in the same yearHorn and Downes were invited to join the rock group Yes. Horn became the lead vocalist, replacing Jon Anderson. Herecorded one album with the band, Drama, on which he also plays bass on one track. However, he left after seven months,at the beginning of 1981, to concentrate on his production work. He also completed a second Buggles album, Adventures inModern Recording, mainly alone after a falling out with Geoff Downes. Horn did work with Yes again, not as a bandmember, but (co-)producing their next two studio albums, including the noted 1983 "comeback" album 90125, and also wenton to be a founding member of the Art of Noise. He is known for performing on albums he produces. His latest band is TheProducers, in which Horn plays with various musicians/producers, namely Lol Crème, producer Steve Lipson andsinger/songwriter Chris Braide. The band performed its first gig at the Camden Barfly in November 2006.
Production
Horn's first production success came with the pop band Dollar in 1981 and 1982. He then went on to produce The Lexiconof Love (1982) by ABC, which reached no. 1 in the UK album charts, and has since been acclaimed as one of the 100 bestalbums of all time. It was during the Lexicon sessions that Horn first assembled the production "team" that wouldcharacterize and define the sound of a Trevor Horn production in the 1980s: Anne Dudley on keyboards and arrangements,Gary Langan (later Stephen Lipson) as chief engineer, J.J. Jeczalik on the lion's share of programming for the FairlightCMI (which was still a novelty but would prove integral to Horn's production technique), background vocalist Tessa Webb,percussionist Luis Jardim and others. Originally brought in to flesh-out keyboard parts, Dudley was soon co-writing withthe group and scoring the album's much-noted orchestrations. She (and the others) would soon be in great demand due totheir contributions to Horn's successes.
He achieved his greatest commercial success in 1984, firstly with the Liverpudlian band Frankie Goes to Hollywood, andsecondly with the charity group Band Aid and their enormous hit "Do They Know It's Christmas?" In the UK, Frankie Goesto Hollywood was the best-selling band of 1984; the success of singles such as "Relax" and "Two Tribes" helped tobankroll ZTT Records, which Horn had co-founded in 1983. "Do They Know It's Christmas?" became one of the best-sellingsingles of all time.
Other artists he has produced include Cher, Grace Jones, Seal and Propaganda, also Tina Turner, Lisa Stansfield, TomJones, Paul McCartney, Pet Shop Boys, Simple Minds, Eros Ramazzotti, Mike Oldfield, Marc Almond, Charlotte Church,t.A.T.u, LeAnn Rimes, and Belle & Sebastian. Horn received a Grammy in 1996 for Seal's second album.
On November 11, 2004, a Prince's Trust charity concert celebrating Horn's 25 years as a record producer took place atWembley Arena. Performers at the show included the Buggles, Bruce Woolley, ABC, Art of Noise, Belle & Sebastian, LisaStansfield, Pet Shop Boys, Seal, Dollar, Propaganda, t.A.T.u., Yes, Grace Jones and Frankie Goes to Hollywood (with RyanMolloy replacing original vocalist Holly Johnson). Simple Minds were scheduled to perform but did not. A double CDcompilation titled Produced by Trevor Horn was released in conjunction with the concert. An edited version of theconcert has been broadcast on television in several countries under the title 25 Years Of Pop: Produced by Trevor Horn,and a DVD release of the full concert is planned.
On 22 May 2006, the Pet Shop Boys released their album Fundamental which was produced by Horn. The album reached numberfive in the UK charts. In the same month, he featured in a Pet Shop Boys concert specially recorded for BBC Radio 2.Following the critical success of the event Horn has produced an album version, called Concrete, which was released 23October 2006. The show included songs from Fundamental, classic PSB tracks and special guests including Robbie Williamssinging 'Jealousy', Rufus Wainwright singing 'Casanova in Hell' and Frances Barber singing 'Friendly fire'. Horn alsoproduced Captain's debut album, This is Hazelville, released late 2006.
Songwriting
Trevor Horn's songwriting credits date back to 1979 when he co-wrote a song for Dusty Springfield, ‘Baby Blue’ withBruce Woolley and Geoff Downes.
All the Buggles' hits – including Video Killed The Radio Star, ‘Living In The Plastic Age’, ‘Elstree’ and ‘I Am ACamera’ - were co-written by Horn and Downes and, occasionally, Bruce Woolley. Horn also co-wrote all of the 1980 Yesalbum, Drama. On his return to the band (as producer) in 1983 he contributed to their biggest ever hit, ‘Owner of aLonely Heart’ and the dance hit ‘Leave It’.
For Dollar’s The Dollar Album (1982), Horn wrote a love story across four songs: ‘Hand Held in Black and White’ (themeeting), ‘Mirror Mirror’ (the loving), ‘Give Me Back My Heart’ (the break-up) and ‘Videotheque’ (the postscript). Allfour singles broke the top twenty and two, ‘Mirror Mirror’ and ‘Give Me Back My Heart’, both reached number four on theUK singles chart.
During 1982 and 1983, Horn worked with Malcolm McLaren and Anne Dudley, writing numerous worldwide hits including‘Buffalo Gals’, ‘Double Dutch’, 'Duck for the Oyster’ and the Duck Rock album of world beats and new hip-hop styles.
In 1984, he co-wrote several classic hits with the Art of Noise including ‘Close (To The Edit)’, ‘Beat Box’ and ‘Momentsin Love’. The next year he co-wrote ‘Slave to the Rhythm’. This was originally intended as Frankie Goes to Hollywood’ssecond single, but was instead given to Grace Jones. Horn and his studio team reworked and reinterpreted it, jazz style,into six separate songs to form the Slave to the Rhythm album.
Horn’s songwriting can be heard on numerous film soundtracks. In 1992, Horn collaborated with composer Hans Zimmer toproduce the score for the movie Toys starring Robin Williams, which included interpretations by Tori Amos, Pat Methenyand Thomas Dolby. He also composed & produced music for the films 'Days of Thunder' (1990), Batman Forever (1995),Dangerous Minds (1995), G.I. Jane (1997), 'Coyote Ugly' (2000), Pearl Harbor (2001), Mona Lisa Smile (2003), King Arthur(2004)
In the 2000s Horn provided additional production on three international hits for t.A.T.u, ‘All the Things She Said’,‘Not Gonna Get Us’ and ‘Clowns (Can You See Me Now)’. He also wrote ‘Pass the Flame’ (the official 2004 Olympic song)and co-wrote the title track from Lisa Stansfield’s 2004 album The Moment.
Music publishing
In 1982, Horn founded the musical publishing company Perfect Songs together with his wife, Jill Sinclair. This coincidedwith their then recent acquisition of Basing Street Studios, which also housed the fledgling publishing company. PerfectSongs was able to harness and develop the up and coming young artists working in the recording studio.
The first to be signed were Frankie Goes to Hollywood, followed by the Art of Noise and Propaganda. These first fewsignings to the company were instrumental in establishing the company ethos of "innovation and artiste development,taking risks and signing acts far into the left field".[1]
air Griffin and Paul Simm (writer of the hit "Overload" for Sugababes).
Awards
* BRIT Awards 1983 - Best British Producer
* BRIT Awards 1985 - Best British Producer
* BRIT Awards 1992 - Best British Producer
* Grammy Awards 1995 - Record Of The Year (as producer of 'Kiss From A Rose')
Sounds Like: ABC (Lexicon Of Love),
Band Aid (Do They Know It's Christmas),
Belle & Sebastian (Dear Catastrophe Waitress),
The Buggles,
Captain (This is Hazelville),
The Delays, Dollar,
808 State,
The Frames,
Frankie Goes To Hollywood (Relax, Two Tribes, Welcome To The Pleasuredome),
Grace Jones (Slave To The Rhythm),
Enrique Iglesias,
Malcolm McLaren (Buffalo Gals, Double Dutch),
Marc Almond (The Days Of Pearly Spencer),
Pet Shop Boys (It's Alright, Left To My Own Devices, Fundamental),
Propaganda (Dr. Mabuse),
Leann Rimes,
Seal,
Simple Minds (Street Fighting Years), Lisa Stansfield,
Sugababes,
Rod Steward,
Tatu (200 kmh in the wrong lane),
The Art Of Noise,
Tina Turner,
Yes
Record Label: ZTT Records Ltd.
Type of Label: Indie