Trevor Horn | |
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| Born | Trevor Charles Horn (1949-07-15)15 July 1949 (age 76) |
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| Years active | 1963–present |
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Trevor Charles Horn (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 tosight-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 ofthe Buggles, who achieved a hit single with "Video Killed the Radio Star". In 1980, he joined theprogressive rock bandYes as their lead singer for one album and tour.
In 1981, Horn became a full-time producer, working on successful songs and albums for acts includingDollar,ABC,Malcolm McLaren, Yes,Frankie Goes to Hollywood,Grace Jones, andPet Shop Boys. In 1983, Horn and his wife, the music executiveJill Sinclair, purchasedSarm West Studios, London, and formed a record label,ZTT Records, with the journalistPaul Morley. Horn also co-formed the electronic groupArt of Noise. He produced further hits in the 1990s and 2000s forSeal,LeAnn Rimes, andt.A.T.u., and produced the 1992Mike Oldfield albumTubular Bells II and the 2003Belle and Sebastian albumDear Catastrophe Waitress. He has performed withthe Trevor Horn Band since 2006.
Horn's awards includeBrit Awards for Best British Producer in 1983, 1985, and 1992, a 1995Grammy Award for Seal's song "Kiss from a Rose", and a 2010Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music.[3]
Trevor Charles Horn was born on 15 July 1949 to John and Elizabeth Horn inHetton-le-Hole,County Durham, England, and grew up inDurham City.[4][5][6] The second of four children, he has two sisters, including the novelist Marjorie (M.M.) DeLuca,[7] and a brother, the television producerKen 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 attendedJohnston 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 playingtriads.[10] He taught himself the bass guitar and became confident insight-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 asthe Beatles,the Rolling Stones, andBob Dylan. At 14, Horn played electric guitar in his first group, the Outer Limits,[12] named after the1963 television series, playing mainly covers bythe Kinks.[10][5][13]
Horn pursued a series of jobs, including one at a rubber company.[10] He also put on aBob Dylan imitation act for two nights a week and played the bass at occasional gigs.[10] At seventeen, Horn decided to pursue a career in music.[4] His parents were reluctant, hoping he would become a chartered accountant as he performed well in maths, but Horn had failed the required exams.[4] His 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. The next day, received an offer to play the bass in a local semi-professional band at aTop Rank Ballroom, playing top 40 and dance music for £24 a week for five nights' work.[4][10][14] Horn also received airplay onBBC Radio Leicester, performing self-written songs on a guitar.[10]
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 owing to theneedle 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 showCome Dancing.[11] Horn also joined the Canterbury Tales, a group based inMargate, and spent time in Denmark where he ended up broke. His mother sent him money for his return journey.[15] He also worked as asession musician for rock groups andjingles.[5] At 24, Horn began work inLeicester, 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 forLeicester 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 keyboardistGeoff Downes and the singerTina Charles.[15][16] Horn formed Tracks, a jazz fusion band inspired byWeather Report andHerbie Hancock, with the futureShakatak drummer Roger Odell, before he left to play in Charles's backing band.[17] Also in the band were the keyboardistGeoffrey Downes and the guitaristBruce Woolley, both of whom Horn later worked with in the bandthe Buggles.[citation needed] Horn and Charles entered a short relationship, and Horn learned from her inspiring producerBiddu.[14][18][19][20]
In the mid-1970s, Horn worked for amusic publisher onDenmark Street, London, producingdemos.[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" byTony 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 futureArt of Noise bandmateAnne Dudley on keyboards.[1][25] Other artists that Horn worked with included Woolley,John Howard,[1][26]Dusty Springfield ("Baby Blue"),[11] andthe Jags ("Back of My Hand"). Horn achieved his first production hit when "Monkey Chop" byDan-I reached No. 30 on theUK singles chart in 1979.[14]
In 1978, Horn and Downes formed thenew wave bandthe Buggles with early contributions from Woolley. They secured a recording deal withIsland 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 onMTV.[28]
The Buggles secured management fromBrian Lane, who was also managing the progressive rock bandYes.[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, and Rick Wakeman would later say "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]
In 1980, Horn married the music executiveJill 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]
Horn assembled studio equipment, including aRoland TR-808 drum machine, asequencer, aMinimoog synthesiser andSimmons electronic drums.[33] He spent £18,000 on aFairlight CMI, an earlydigital synthesiser, one of four in the UK at the time.[14] The Fairlight was one of the first digitalsamplers, allowing musicians to play backsamples 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]
In 1981, Horn completed a second Buggles album,Adventures in Modern Recording, largely on his own following Downes's decision to formAsia.[citation needed] Horn produced a string of hit singles by the pop duoDollar, writing the songs "Mirror Mirror", "Hand Held in Black and White", "Give Me Back My Heart" and "Videotheque". All four became top 20 hits in the UK.[citation needed] Though Dollar were amiddle-of-the-road band with little credibility, Horn saw an opportunity to combine the electronic music ofKraftwerk and the croonerVince Hill.[30] The music journalistAlexis Petridis said thatThe Dollar Album "mapped out ... the sonic future of 80s pop", with "booming drums, high-drama synthesisers andsampled voices".[30] Horn did not complete the ensuingDollar Album, however, and the production of the remaining tracks was attributed to Dollar themselves.
Horn's success with the Dollar singles generated interest from other acts. He next producedThe Lexicon of Love byABC, working also withAnne Dudley for the string arrangements. ABC's debut became one of the best-selling albums of 1982.[30] During the recording, he persuaded ABC to replace their bassist, feeling he was not up to scratch. Horn regretted the decision, and he later learnt thatU2 had declined to work with him as they were concerned he would split the band.[14] Horn won the1983 Brit Award for British Producer of the Year, thanks to his work on the album.
In 1982, Horn and Sinclair formed amusic publishing company,Perfect Songs.[citation needed] In 1983, Horn producedDuck Rock by the formerSex Pistols managerMalcolm McLaren. It featured the single "Buffalo Gals", credited as the first Britishhip hop single.[30]
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In 1983, Horn andSinclair purchasedBasing Street Studios in west London fromChris Blackwell and renamed it Sarm West Studios.[14] With the journalistPaul Morley, they co-founded a record label,ZTT Records.[32] The first act they signed wasFrankie Goes to Hollywood.[36] He dramatically restructured the lead single, "Relax", described bySound 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 withForeigner in the US on their albumAgent Provocateur (1984).[37] He left the project to work on the follow-up Frankie Goes to Hollywood single "Two Tribes" and their debut album,Welcome to the Pleasuredome, which produced two more hit singles, "The Power of Love" and "Welcome to the Pleasuredome".[36][18]
Horn worked with Yes again to produce their 1983 album90125. 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 theArt of Noise, co-writing 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 toGrace Jones. Horn and his studio team reworked it into six separate songs to form Jones's 1985 albumSlave to the Rhythm.[citation needed] It features thePink Floyd guitaristDavid Gilmour.[38]
In 1984, Horn was asked byBob Geldof to produce the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?", acharity song to raise money for the1983–1985 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 inNotting Hill, London, free for 24 hours on 25 November. Horn later remixed and co-produced the12" version and remixed it for the 1985 re-release, and again in 2024 for a fortieth anniversary mix.[39]
In the late 1980s,[14] Horn relocated toBel 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 albumStreet Fighting Years (1989) with Steve Lipson.[citation needed]
In 1990, Horn producedthe debut album by the English singerSeal. 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 onSeal usingMIDI andOpcode Studio Vision software. Horn was pleased with the results and sold his PC equipment for anApple 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]
He also produced half of the songs onMarc Almond's 1991 albumTenement Symphony, including the three singles on the album: "Jacky", "My Hand Over My Heart" and "The Days of Pearly Spencer", which reached #4 in the UK charts.
In the 1990s, Horn wrote and produced "Riding into Blue (Cowboy Song)", recorded byInga Humpe, and "Docklands", recorded byBetsy Cook.[citation needed] He also co-wrote two songs withTerry Reid for his 1991 albumThe Driver, and wrote "The Shape of Things to Come" for the 1995 Cher albumIt's a Man's World.[citation needed]
Horn co-producedMike Oldfield's 1992 albumTubular Bells II alongside Oldfield andTom 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]
Horn collaborated with the composerHans Zimmer to produce the score for the 1992 filmToys, which included interpretations byTori Amos,Thomas Dolby,Pat Metheny andWendy & Lisa.[citation needed] Horn co-wrote "Everybody Up", the theme song to the comedy seriesThe Glam Metal Detectives broadcast onBBC2 in 1995. This was another collaboration withLol Creme.[citation needed]
In the mid-1990s, Horn and Sinclair boughtHook End Manor inOxfordshire and renamed its recording facility Sarm Hook End.[40][41][42] In 1995, Horn produced "The Carpet Crawlers 1999", a rerecording of "The Carpet Crawlers" byGenesis, which featured vocals from their former singers,Peter Gabriel andPhil Collins. It was released on the compilationTurn It On Again: The Hits (1999).[43] In 1996, Horn produced the multi-platinum albumWildest Dreams byTina Turner.[citation needed] According to the duoWendy & Lisa, Horn produced an album for them in the late 1990s that went unreleased.Lisa Coleman said Horn and Sinclair objected to their homosexuality as sinful.[44]
In the 2000s, Horn was hired byInterscope Records to create English-language versions of songs by the Russian pop duot.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 originalmultitracks.[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 filmCoyote Ugly, Horn produced "Can't Fight the Moonlight" by the American singerLeAnn 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 fromLisa Stansfield's 2004 albumThe Moment.
Horn co-wrote "Sound the Bugle", performed by Bryan Adams and featured on theSpirit: 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 byEros Ramazzotti, released on 29 May 2001.
Horn produced the 2003Belle and Sebastian albumDear 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 theGuardian as "the last living purveyors of arts-and-crafts indie values".[49]
On 11 November 2004, aPrince's Trust charity concert celebrating Horn's 25 years as a record producer took place atWembley Arena, featuring performances from Horn and many acts he produced.[50] It was released on DVD asProduced By Trevor Horn: A Concert For The Prince's Trust – Live At Wembley Arena London 2004 (2005) andTrevor Horn and Friends: Slaves to the Rhythm (2008),[51] and accompanied by a compilation album,Produced by Trevor Horn (2004).[52]
In 2006, Horn co-formed the supergroup theProducers, with the singerLol Creme, the producerSteve Lipson, the drummerAsh Soan and the singer-songwriterChris Braide. They performed their first gig at theCamden 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 thePet 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 forBBC Radio 2. Horn produced an album version of the event,Concrete, released on 23 October 2006. Horn also producedCaptain's debut album,This is Hazelville, released in late 2006. In the same year, he also worked with British bandDelays on their song "Valentine", which was released as the lead single from their albumYou See Colours. He has also worked withJohn Legend andDavid Jordan.[citation needed]
In 2007, Horn sold his Sarm Hook End residential studio for £12 million and relocated toPrimrose Hill, London.[40][41][42]
For the 2008 movieWanted (starringJames McAvoy andAngelina Jolie), Horn producedDanny Elfman's vocals on the closing credits song "The Little Things".[53] In 2009, Horn producedReality Killed the Video Star, the eighth album byRobbie Williams.[54] 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]
Horn was the executive producer ofJeff Beck's 2010 albumEmotion & Commotion. He returned to work with Yes again, producing their new album from October 2010.[55] That album, 2011'sFly From Here, is a reunion of sorts for Horn's former bandmateGeoff 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 theStan Lee co-produced animeThe Reflection,[56][57] the soundtrack being released as the first album under Horn's name.[citation needed] Horn remixed 2011'sFly From Here with Yes, adding new vocals and editing parts. The album is calledFly from Here – Return Trip and was released in March 2018.[58] He has also been working on musicals, including one called "The Robot Sings".[59]
In November 2018, Horn performed a one-off concert at theQueen Elizabeth Hall in London.[60] Horn's new album,Trevor Horn Reimagines the Eighties, was released on 25 January 2019.[61] A single, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", with vocals byRobbie Williams, was released on 24 October 2018.[62] Further guests includeRumer,All Saints,Simple Minds andGabrielle Aplin. In late 2017, Horn's Sarm West Coast residential studio inBel Air, Los Angeles, was destroyed in theSkirball Fire. Horn was not present at the time of the fire.[63]
Horn toured as the bass player inDire Straits Legacy in 2018–20.[10][64] In late 2022, he published a memoir,Adventures in Modern Recording: From ABC to ZTT.[65] He joined Seal's 2023 tour, playing bass in Seal's band and reviving the Buggles as an opening act.[66] In December 2023, Horn releasedEchoes: Ancient and Modern, another album of covers with guest singers.[67]
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Musicians and producers includingGary Barlow,DJ Shadow andNigel Godrich cite Horn as an influence.[68][69][70]
Horn metJill 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,[71] and two daughters, Gabriella and Alexandra,[72] 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 bandSam and the Womp[73] and frequently DJs around London (he lives in north London).[74] Both Aaron and Ally Horn are co-directors of Sarm Studios. As of August 2016[update], Horn has three grandsons.[72] He is not Jewish, but he has attended synagogue with his children, who were raised in his wife's faith.[75] In a 2019 interview, he said that he "believes in [Judaism] more than anything else".[76]
On 25 June 2006, Sinclair's son accidentally shot her with an air gun pellet, which damaged a major artery and caused irreversible brain damage and paralysis.[77][78] She died of cancer on 22 March 2014, aged 61.[79][32]
Solo studio albums
