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Biography
Infobox musical artist|image = Trevor Horn.jpg|name = Trevor Horn|caption = Trevor Horn in concert with the Producers, 2007|image_size = 196px|background = solo_singer|birth_name = Trevor Charles Horn|alias =|birth_date = birth date and age|df=yes|1949|7|15|birth_place = Houghton-le-Spring , Tyne and Wear , England |death_date =|instrument = bass guitar|bass , guitar , keyboards , vocals |genre = Synthpop , Soul music|soul , Rock and Roll , disco , electronica , progressive rock |occupation = Record producer , musician |years_active = 1970– present |label = ZTT Records |associated_acts = The Buggles Yes (band)|Yes Art of Noise Producers (band)|Producers |website = http://www.trevorhorn.com/ Trevor Charles Horn , Order of the British Empire|CBE (born 15 July 1949) http://www.myspace.com/trevorhornmusic Myspace.com is an English pop music record producer , songwriter, musician and singer. He was born in Houghton-le-Spring in northeastern England. http://www.trevorhorn.com/producer/ Trevorhorn.com
Horn has produced commercially successful songs and albums for numerous British and international artists. He won a Grammy Award for producing " Kiss from a Rose " by Seal (musician)|Seal . As a musician, he has had chart success with the bands The Buggles , Yes (band)|Yes and Art of Noise .cite book | first= John | last= Tobler | year= 1992 | title= NME Rock 'N' Roll Years | edition= 1st | publisher=Reed International Books Ltd | location= London | page= 342 | id= CN 5585 He also owns a significant stake in the recording company ZTT Records , Sarm Studios and a music publishing company, Perfect Songs . The three are combined under the corporate umbrella of SPZ.
Early Life
Trevor Horn grew up in Houghton-le-Spring , which is part of the municipality of Sunderland, England His parents were named John and Elizabeth and both were from Hetton-le-Hole , which is close by Sunderland. His father worked as an engineer , with technology related to milk production as their specialty. Trevor has two sisters named Janet and Marjorie, and a brother named Ken. Both sisters eventually emigrated to Canada . http://www.multinet.no/~jonarne/Hjemmesia/Favorittartister/buggles/buggles.htm Biography of Trevor Horn. (In Norwegian)
Career
Bands
Trevor Horn began his professional career as a session musician in the late 1970s, including playing on the television show, Come Dancing .Tony Livesey show, BBC Radio 5Live, 30 Dec 2010 Most notably, he played for disco star Tina Charles (singer)|Tina Charles and her producer Biddu , whose backing tracks was an influence on Horn's early work.cite book|last=Warner|first=Timothy|title=Pop music: technology and creativity|year=2003|publisher= Ashgate Publishing |isbn=0-7546-3132-X|url= http://books.google.co.uk/books? id=NWQ6xfA5hfQC& pg=PA155|accessdate=21 June 2011|page=155 One of the other members of her backing band was keyboard player Geoffrey Downes . Horn and Downes formed The Buggles in 1978, in which Horn played bass, guitar and percussion as well as providing vocals, while the female vocalist was Linda Jardim (now Allan). Just prior to The Buggles, however, Horn signed with Sonet Records and recorded two singles under the moniker of 'The Big A'. One single, "Caribbean Air Control", was released in the United Kingdom but failed to chart. A few months later, the song was remixed into a disco track under the name of "Chromium" ("Chrome" in the US) with no vocals and a synthesized and percussion backbeat. Again, this song failed to chart, but did well in the disco clubs, especially in the US and Canada. In 1979, an entire album was released entitled Star to Star . Around this time Horn, Downes and Bruce Woolley (Tina Charles' guitarist) co-wrote " Video Killed the Radio Star ", which was released by The Buggles in 1979; it reached #1 in the UK Singles Chart cite book | first= David | last= Roberts | year= 2006 | title= British Hit Singles & Albums | edition= 19th | publisher=Guinness World Records Limited | location= London | isbn= 1-904994-10-5 | page= 85 and was the first music video to be played on MTV . The song also appeared on the group's first album, The Age of Plastic , released in 1980.
Later in the same year, Horn and Downes were invited to join the rock group Yes (band)|Yes . Horn became the lead vocalist, replacing Jon Anderson . He recorded one album with the band, Drama (Yes album)|Drama , on which he also played bass on one track. At the beginning of 1981, after only seven months, he left the band to concentrate on his production work.
He also completed a second Buggles album, Adventures in Modern Recording , mainly alone after a disagreement with Geoff Downes.
Horn did work with Yes again, not as a band member, but (co-)producing their next two studio albums, including the 1983 "comeback" album 90125 . He also went on to be a founding member of the Art of Noise . He is known for performing on albums that he produces. His latest band is the Producers (band)|Producers , in which Horn plays with various musicians/producers, namely Lol Creme , producer Steve Lipson and singer/songwriter Chris Braide . The band performed its first gig at the Camden Town|Camden Barfly in November 2006.
Production
Horn (sometimes working with Geoff Downes) was the producer of the Buggles material, and during his tenure with Yes, Horn helped produce their releases. (Official production credit on Drama was given to Yes and engineer Eddy Offord .)
Horn's first outside production success came with the pop band Dollar (band)|Dollar in 1981 and 1982. Four UK Top 20 singles, "Mirror Mirror", "Hand Held in Black and White", " Give Me Back My Heart " and "Videotheque" were all co-written and produced by Horn. He then went on to produce The Lexicon of Love (1982) by ABC (band)|ABC ,cite book | first= John | last= Tobler | year= 1992 | title= NME Rock 'N' Roll Years | edition= 1st | publisher=Reed International Books Ltd | location= London | page= 368 | id= CN 5585 which reached #1 in the UK Albums Chart . It was during the Lexicon sessions that Horn first assembled the production team that would characterise and define the sound of a Horn production in the 1980s: Anne Dudley on keyboards and arrangements, Gary Langan (later Stephen Lipson ) as chief engineer, J. J. Jeczalik on programming for the Fairlight CMI , backing vocalist Tessa Niles|Tessa Webb plus percussionist Luis Jardim . Originally brought in to play keyboard, Dudley was soon co-writing with the group and scoring the album's orchestrations.
He achieved his greatest commercial success in 1984, firstly with the Liverpool|Liverpudlian band Frankie Goes to Hollywood .cite book | first= John | last= Tobler | year= 1992 | title= NME Rock 'N' Roll Years | edition= 1st | publisher=Reed International Books Ltd | location= London | page= 438 | id= CN 5585 He was approached by Bob Geldof to produce the song " Do They Know It's Christmas? ", but he was unavailable. Instead, he gave use of his studio, SARM West in London, free of charge to the project for 24 hours, which Geldof accepted, assigning Midge Ure as the producer instead. On 25 November 1984, the song was recorded and mixed. Horn did produce the A-side and B-side|B-side featuring messages from artists who had and had not made the recording (including David Bowie , Annie Lennox from Eurythmics , Paul McCartney , all members of Big Country and Holly Johnson from Frankie Goes to Hollywood) was also recorded over the same backing track as the A-side.
Other artists he has produced include John Howard (singer-songwriter)|John Howard , Paul McCartney , Tom Jones (singer)|Tom Jones , Cher , Grace Jones , Seal (musician)|Seal , Propaganda (band)|Propaganda , Tina Turner , Lisa Stansfield , Pet Shop Boys , Simple Minds , Eros Ramazzotti , Mike Oldfield , Marc Almond , Charlotte Church , t.A.T.u , LeAnn Rimes , Genesis (band)|Genesis and Belle & Sebastian . Horn received a Grammy Award in 1996 for Seal's Seal (1994 album)|second album .
On 11 November 2004, a Prince's Trust charity concert celebrating Horn's 25 years as a record producer took place at Wembley Arena . Performers at the show included The Buggles, Bruce Woolley , ABC, Art of Noise , Belle & Sebastian , Lisa Stansfield, Pet Shop Boys , Seal, Dollar, Propaganda, t.A.T.u., Yes, Grace Jones and Frankie Goes to Hollywood (with Ryan Molloy replacing original vocalist Holly Johnson ). A double album, Produced by Trevor Horn , was released in conjunction with the concert. An edited version of the concert 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 called Slaves to the Rhythm is available.
On 22 May 2006, the Pet Shop Boys released their album Fundamental (Pet Shop Boys album)|Fundamental which was produced by Horn. The album reached #5 in the UK chart. 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, Concrete , released on 23 October 2006. Horn also produced Captain (band)|Captain 's debut album, This is Hazelville , released late 2006. He has also worked with John Legend and David Jordan (singer)|David Jordan .
For the 2008 movie Wanted (2008 film)|Wanted (starring James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie ), Horn produced Danny Elfman 's vocals on the closing credits song "The Little Things". http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_picture/2008/06/garbo-talks-dan.html Latimesblogs.latimes.com
In 2009, Horn produced the album Reality Killed The Video Star for British singer Robbie Williams . http://www.wearepopslags.com/2009/robbie-williams-announces-new-single-and-album/ Wearepopslags.com Aside from the album title paying homage to Horn's hit single with The Buggles back in 1979, it also reflects Horn and Williams' mutual disdain for the ongoing crop of reality television and music contest programmes in the UK and elsewhere. Ironically, the album was Williams' first studio album not to reach number 1 in the UK, beaten to the top spot by the debut album by JLS , who were runners-up on television's The X Factor (UK)|The X Factor in 2008.
Horn is also the executive producer of Jeff Beck 's album, Emotion & Commotion , released in early 2010. He is returning to work with Yes again, producing their new album from October 2010. Classic Rock Presents... Prog (Oct 2010 issue) 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 during their original stint with Yes (band)|Yes in the 80's.
Songwriting
Trevor Horn's songwriting credits date back to 1979 when he co-wrote a song for Dusty Springfield , "Baby Blue" with Bruce Woolley and Geoff Downes.
All the Buggles' hits — including " Video Killed the Radio Star ", " Living in the Plastic Age ", "Elstree" and " Into the Lens|I Am a Camera " — were co-written by Horn and Downes.
Horn co-wrote all of the 1980 Yes (band)|Yes album, Drama (Yes album)|Drama . On his return to the band (as producer) in 1983 he contributed to their biggest hit, " Owner of a Lonely Heart " and the dance hit " Leave It "; still later, he would co-write about half of the tracks on their 2011 album Fly from Here , much of which was based on a song he had written with Downes back in the Drama era, just prior to joining the band.
For Dollar's The Dollar Album (1982), Horn wrote a love story across four songs: "Hand Held in Black and White", "Mirror Mirror", " Give Me Back My Heart " and "Videotheque". All four singles broke the UK Top 40|Top 20 , and two, "Mirror Mirror" and "Give Me Back My Heart", reached #4 in the UK chart.
During 1982 and 1983, Horn worked with Malcolm McLaren and Anne Dudley , writing numerous worldwide hits including " Buffalo Gals (Malcolm McLaren song)|Buffalo Gals ", " Double Dutch (song)|Double Dutch ", "Duck for the Oyster" and the Duck Rock album.
In 1984, he co-wrote several hits with the Art of Noise including " Close (To the Edit) ", " Beat Box (song)|Beat Box " and "Moments in Love". The next year he co-wrote "Slave to the Rhythm". This was originally intended as Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s second 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 album Slave to the Rhythm . Horn also contributed to the album by approaching David Gilmour , who ultimately played guitar on it.cite web | title=The Rightful Heir? | work=Q Magazine #48 | url= http://www.pinkfloydfan.net/t1475-david-gilmour-rightful-heir-q.html |date=September 1990 |accessdate=2011-07-23
In the 1990s, Horn wrote two songs for solo female singers. "Riding Into Blue (Cowboy Song)" was recorded by Inga Humpe and "Docklands" which was recorded by Betsy Cook. He also co-wrote two songs with Terry Reid for his 1991 album, The Driver and "The Shape of Things to Come" for Cher's 1995 album It’s a Man’s World .
Horn co-wrote the theme song "Everybody Up" to the TV programme The Glam Metal Detectives , a comedy sketch show which appeared on BBC Two in 1995. This was another collaboration with Lol Creme .
Horn's songwriting can be heard on numerous film soundtracks. In 1992, Horn collaborated with composer Hans Zimmer to produce the score for the movie Toys (1992 film)|Toys , which included interpretations by Tori Amos , Pat Metheny and Thomas Dolby .
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 (Lisa Stansfield album)|The Moment .
He co-wrote 'Sound The Bugle', performed by Bryan Adams and featured on the Spirit: Stallion Of The Cimarron soundtrack.
British producer Nigel Godrich credits Trevor Horn as an influence.www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/showimage.php? fname=trevor horn.jpg& width=800& height=600
Music publishing
In 1982, Horn founded the musical publishing company Perfect Songs together with his wife, Jill Sinclair. This coincided with their then recent acquisition of Basing Street Studios, which also housed the fledgling publishing company. Perfect Songs 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 few signings 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".cite web| last =| first =| authorlink =| coauthors =| title =International Catalogue: Perfect Songs| work=| publisher=Mushroom Music Publishing| year =2004| url = http://www.mushroommusic.com.au/catalogues/cat.asp? id=84| doi =| accessdate =2 October 2007 Successful songwriters he has signed since include Seal, Ian Brown , Gabrielle (singer)|Gabrielle , Chris Braide , Shane MacGowan , Marsha Ambrosius , Alistair Griffin , and Paul Simm (writer of the hit " Overload (Sugababes song)|Overload " for Sugababes ).
Wardrobe
During the 1980s, Trevor Horn wore large nerd style glasses , which were then in fashion, when he performed. He stopped wearing such glasses in the 1990s, but still wears hard-framed glasses whenever he performs. One of his jokes, beyond wearing the large glasses, was that he was "a camera," consistent with his hits, "Video Killed the Radio Star" and "I Am A Camera". The glasses playing a crucial role in the music video for the latter. Today he wears more modern, smaller glasses with a thick frame, but has been known to sport the "Buggles glasses" for the Buggles reunion concerts in 2004 in music|2004 , 2010 in music|2010 and 2011 in music|2011 .
In his music videos with The Buggles, he frequently wore a silver Suit (clothing)|suit , and in his live performances wore a white Sportcoat|sports jacket .
Awards
BRIT Award 1983 - Best British Producer
BRIT Award 1985 - Best British Producer
BRIT Award 1992 - Best British Producer
Grammy Award 1995 - Record Of The Year (as producer of "Kiss From A Rose")
Horn was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to the music industry.London Gazette |issue=59647 |date=31 December 2010 |startpage=7 |supp=yes cite news| url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12093494 | work=BBC News | title=Pop producer Trevor Horn appointed CBE | date=31 December 2010 http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/DG_193300 New Year Honours list 2011
Personal life
Horn married former mathematics teacher and business partner Jill Sinclair in 1980. They have four children, a son Aaron (born 1984) and three daughters, Rebecca, Gabriella and Alexandra (or "Ally"), the latter of whom has worked as a trainee solicitor http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/columnists/article-478429/Tragic-music-mogul-Trevor-Horn-estate-agent-fees-battle.html. Aaron (known in the industry as "Aaron Audio" http://aaronaudio.com/), like his father, is a musician and producer. He works with his band, Sam and the Womp http://samandthewomp.tumblr.com/tagged/info and frequently DJ s around London.
On 25 June 2006, while at home from Goldsmiths College , University of London, Aaron was practising with his air rifle, not realising his mother was close by. A 4,5& nbsp;mm. (.22 caliber) air gun pellet accidentally hit Jill in the neck, severing an artery. She was rushed to Reading hospital intensive care unit where her condition was described as "critical but stable". She was initially reported to be under deep sedation in an induced coma, possibly suffering from brain damage. Communication from ZTT Records confirmed on 1 September 2006 that Jill is in a natural coma and had been moved to a rehabilitation centre. In September 2009, Horn told The Times that he preferred not to answer questions about his wife, but confirmed that she was still in a coma.Hodgkinson, Will (26 September 2009) http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6848972.ece "Can Trevor Horn weave magic for Robbie Williams? ", The Times
Horn is not Jewish, but, as his wife and children are, he attends synagogue.cite news| last =Montague| first =A| coauthors =| title =The band with 200 hits behind them| work=Art Review| pages =| language =|work=The Jewish Chronicle| date =31 August 2007| url = http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx? ParentId=m14s49s101& SecId=101& AId=54980& ATypeId=1| accessdate =2 October 2007Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot
Discography
Solo and related
Trevor Horn/Lol Creme/Yiannis Kotsiras: "Pass the Flame", 2004 (single)
various artists: Produced by Trevor Horn , 2004 (compilation)
Cite news| last =Wells| first =E| coauthors =| title =The Hit Factory| pages =| language =|work=The Times |location=UK | date =30 September 2007| url = http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/buying_and_selling/article2543296.ece| accessdate =2 October 2007
External links
http://www.trevorhorn.com/ Official website
http://www.facebook.com/trevorhornofficial Official Facebook page
http://www.ztt.com/ ZTT Records official website
http://www.perfectsongs.com/ Perfect Songs official website
http://www.recordproduction.com/trevor-horn-producer-video-pt1.html Trevor Horn Video interviewed at SARM Studios
http://www.trevorhorn.com/discography/ official discography
IMDb name|id=0394924|name=Trevor Horn
http://www.bondegezou.demon.co.uk/wnalum.htm#horn Where Are They Now? Trevor Horn news
The BugglesArt of NoiseyesbandGrammy Award for Record of the Year 1990sUse dmy dates|date=August 2010Use British English|date=August 2010 Persondata | NAME =Horn, Trevor | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH =15 July 1949 | PLACE OF BIRTH = Houghton-le-Spring , Tyne and Wear , England | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Horn, Trevor Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:British expatriates in the United States Category:British music industry executives Category:English record producers Category:English bass guitarists Category:English male singers Category:English songwriters Category:Art of Noise members Category:Yes (band) members Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Brit Award winners Category:People from Durham, County Durham Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
