Trevor Charles Horn (born 15 July 1949 in Durham, England) is an English pop music record producer, songwriter and
musician. He has produced commercially successful songs and albums for numerous British and international artists. He
won a Grammy Award for co-writing "Kiss from a Rose" with Seal. As an artist Trevor has had chart success with his own
bands The Buggles, Yes and Art of Noise. 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.
Bands
Horn began his professional career as a backing musician in the late 1970s for disco star Tina Charles. One of the other
members of her backing band was keyboard player Geoff Downes. Horn and Downes formed the Buggles in 1977, in which Horn
played 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. The
song also appeared on the group's first album, The Age of Plastic, which was released in 1980. Later in the same year
Horn and Downes were invited to join the rock group Yes. Horn became the lead vocalist, replacing Jon Anderson. He
recorded 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 in
Modern Recording, mainly alone after a falling out with Geoff Downes. Horn did work with Yes again, not as a band
member, but (co-)producing their next two studio albums, including the noted 1983 "comeback" album 90125, and also went
on to be a founding member of the Art of Noise. He is known for performing on albums he produces. His latest band is The
Producers, in which Horn plays with various musicians/producers, namely Lol Crème, producer Steve Lipson and
singer/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 Lexicon
of Love (1982) by ABC, which reached no. 1 in the UK album charts, and has since been acclaimed as one of the 100 best
albums of all time. It was during the Lexicon sessions that Horn first assembled the production "team" that would
characterize 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 Fairlight
CMI (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 with
the group and scoring the album's much-noted orchestrations. She (and the others) would soon be in great demand due to
their contributions to Horn's successes.
He achieved his greatest commercial success in 1984, firstly with the Liverpudlian band Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and
secondly with the charity group Band Aid and their enormous hit "Do They Know It's Christmas?" In the UK, Frankie Goes
to Hollywood was the best-selling band of 1984; the success of singles such as "Relax" and "Two Tribes" helped to
bankroll ZTT Records, which Horn had co-founded in 1983. "Do They Know It's Christmas?" became one of the best-selling
singles of all time.
Other artists he has produced include Cher, Grace Jones, Seal and Propaganda, also Tina Turner, Lisa Stansfield, Tom
Jones, 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 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). Simple Minds were scheduled to perform but did not. A double CD
compilation titled 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 is planned.
On 22 May 2006, the Pet Shop Boys released their album Fundamental which was produced by Horn. The album reached number
five 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 23
October 2006. The show included songs from Fundamental, classic PSB tracks and special guests including Robbie Williams
singing 'Jealousy', Rufus Wainwright singing 'Casanova in Hell' and Frances Barber singing 'Friendly fire'. Horn also
produced 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’ with
Bruce Woolley and Geoff Downes.
All the Buggles' hits – including Video Killed The Radio Star, ‘Living In The Plastic Age’, ‘Elstree’ and ‘I Am A
Camera’ - were co-written by Horn and Downes and, occasionally, Bruce Woolley. Horn also co-wrote all of the 1980 Yes
album, Drama. On his return to the band (as producer) in 1983 he contributed to their biggest ever hit, ‘Owner of a
Lonely 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’ (the
meeting), ‘Mirror Mirror’ (the loving), ‘Give Me Back My Heart’ (the break-up) and ‘Videotheque’ (the postscript). All
four singles broke the top twenty and two, ‘Mirror Mirror’ and ‘Give Me Back My Heart’, both reached number four on the
UK 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 ‘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 Slave to the Rhythm album.
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 starring Robin Williams, which included interpretations by Tori Amos, Pat Metheny
and 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 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".[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
Hope things are going great. Have some new music would be ashamed for you not to hear it! Check out Conjured Restless on the very bottom of my iTunes player app.. Relax, don't do it, when you wanna...etc I enjoy visiting your great myspace AND I SHARE MANY OF THE WONDERS YOU ALSO OBSERVE.. Being as you are a part of the great art/music/ spirit community, I posted a link for you to check out. Just have a feeling that you will enjoy this track. See if you recognize any of the "musicians" By the performance. Your commentary will be greatly appreciated...... Just say "YES"
Download Single THE FLOW OF TIME (Radio Version) is out now!
Listen for free on ART OF INFINITY's MySpace site.
All the best, Thorsten ------------------------------------------ ART OF INFINITY The Ambient Music-Project "Taking Space Pop on to a New Level" ------------------------------------- Website: www.art-of-infinity.com MySpace: www.myspace.com/artofinfinity iTunes: www.itunes.com/artofinfinity Label: www.bscmusic.com E-Mail: info@art-of-infinity.com ------------------------------------------
hey, we are playing the luminaire in kilburn today(thursday), we are contacting everyone on our friends list in london hoping you can make it down, we really wana make the london part of the tour special so if you can make that would be amazing.thankyou Groanbox
To all music friends, we at Syncretic Srl. are desperately looking to put together 5.000 euros to allow Christine Hopper, great Soft Machine’s bass player Hugh Hopper’s wife, to pay for his husband’s funeral. Hugh died after nearly one year of suffering for leukaemia, leaving his wife Christine and daughter Rosa in a very bad economic situation. Christine asked for our help and we feel that we have to do all we can to contribute to offer Hugh a last farewell. Anybody willing to contribute is welcome!!! The money collected will be given directly to Christine on the 24th of June: as you understand, we haven’t much time left but, in any case, I hope that you will do your best!!! Thanks! For Info: 347 9018466 or 346 1715110
Dropping some love on your page and saying hello, come by and say hello to me too i love getting comments. have a great weekend! thanks for the friendship, MicheleAnn
I'm in the final round its for a good cause i don't win a prize , i pay my own way there, to sing at the Michigan vets festival , 100% of funds made go to veterans in need. Its a great cause and for that I rock always, my son an American soldier! America stands by you is written by Lillian Stabile and I sing it from my heart,copy and past the email address and send in your vote, each song has its own email addy here is mine vote4mas@michiganvetfest.org, please go to my number one and click on them then scroll down listen to both songs and decide which song says it best for this events theme song . Or just go to http://www.myspace.com/mvfsongcontest Thank you for taking the time to do this. I hope you vote for America Stands by You you can vote once a day through 6/10 Wed. GODSPEED, MicheleAnn
Hi Trevor! Maybe you are interested to know that my album Robotism is finally available on iTunes and JunoDownload. On the album you will find all the tracks you might have heard on my MySpace-player and some more. Are you looking to buy new music that makes you want to dance and which will work really well at your next party? Just go to my page and you will find the links :)
