Pop star Howard Jones says he's working with AI to create music after his death
As an artist ahead of his time, Howard Jones was the first to play the keyboard like a guitar, and wore his hair in a two-tone Mohican to get noticed. Now, 40 years after he brought synth-pop to the 1980s, he is pushing the boundaries again.
The 68-year-old singer, who had six UK Top 10 hits at the height of his fame, is having an AI version of his voice made so he can create choirs of himself, and keep singing even if he loses his voice – or perhaps even after he is gone. The technology may have been causing more concern than excitement, but Howard says he is embracing it, albeit with some precautions.
He says: “I still try to keep up with new technology, but this is the thing I’m very excited about. My friend, BT, who is an American electronic artist, is making the AI version of my voice. I’ll be able to use it in the studio to create choirs and different extensions of the voice, I can’t wait to use that.”
He admits it could keep him singing after age affects his voice, but says: “It isn’t primarily for longevity. If you lose your voice, or in the studio you need to fill in a part that’s in your head you can call on the AI version.”
The singer enjoyed fame in the 80s (DAILY MIRROR)But he concedes there is a “worrying side” to AI. He says: “We’re trying to make sure the sound of my AI voice is protected. It will have stuff embedded in it so if someone gets hold of it they can’t use it without permission. I don’t think AI can come up with original things.
Drink-driver steals JCB digger to smash into family house in revenge attack
“It can copy and mix things from the past, but can’t really do the thing that pop music has always done, and come up with something completely new. We’re kind of almost there. I’ve heard stuff online where you’ve got Johnny Cash singing some really awful pop trash, but it’s his voice and it’s real freaky. It’s going to take a lot of discrimination from listeners to weed that stuff out. It’s early days and impossible to know what’s going to happen.”
Such things were like science fiction when Howard burst on to the 80s scene, reaching No5 with his first single New Song, released 40 years ago this month. He is marking that milestone with a best of album, Celebrate It Together.
Back in 1983, he went from playing gigs at his local pub in High Wycombe, Bucks, and even selling fruit and veg to make ends meet, to being a star with hits on both sides of the Atlantic. His electronic pop was groundbreaking and no one had ever seen anyone wear a keyboard like a guitar.
Howard, who started piano lessons aged seven, says: “I wanted to be mobile when I was playing so I got a Prodigy keyboard and strapped it around my neck. I don’t know if anyone had done it before, but I had to get away from the keyboard and move around.
“Then Yamaha came out with a keyboard that allowed me to do that. I’m not sure if I inspired them to make it. I made it into a bit of a trademark.”
His other trademark, the colourful Mohican, was also born out of necessity. He says: “I was playing piano in the corner of a pub in Oxford one day and nobody was paying attention to me. I was invisible, and I thought, ‘I need to change this’.
“So I got the train up to London and walked into the first salon I found and said, ‘I really want something done with my hair’. And she said, ‘I’ve always wanted to give someone a David Bowie’.
“I’d never had my hair properly cut, my dad used to cut my hair. She gave me this amazing two-tone red and blond hairdo, I walked out of there a different person.” The hairdresser, Lisa Boni, ended up his personal stylist, following him as he toured around the world.
Howard wants to work with AI (Michele Eve Sandberg/REX/Shutterstock)Success came thick and fast. In 1984, his song Like to Get to Know You Well was played at the opening of the Los Angeles Olympic Games and became a worldwide hit. A year later, he sang with Stevie Wonder at the Grammy Awards, performed at Live Aid, and packed venues such as Madison Square Garden in New York.
His biggest hit was a re-released version of No One Is to Blame, which Phil Collins produced, played drums on and did backing vocals for, and was one of Howard’s two No1 hits in the US. Howard says one highlight of his career was meeting David Bowie backstage at Live Aid.
Mum nearly loses eye after crashing £180 e-scooter she bought to ride to shops
He says: “I was making my way back to the stage and he turned to me and said, ‘Hello, Howard, I hear you’re doing really well in America’. I almost fell over. I hadn’t realised he was there, and he knew who I was. It was one of the greatest moments of my life.”
But when the 1980s ended, Howard suddenly found himself shunned. He says: “It was tough. The biggest shock was Warner Bros not wanting to re-sign me after five albums. Suddenly it was like, ‘What am I going to do?’
“In the 90s nobody wanted to know you. You couldn’t get gigs, MTV wouldn’t play your videos any more. It was a shock. I did a gig in Switzerland in 1991 and just seven people turned up. It was just a few years after doing Madison Square Garden. I had six weeks of being very depressed. Then I thought, ‘I want to keep doing music anyway, to keep learning and keep getting better. Maybe this is an opportunity.’”
Again out of necessity, Howard started his own record label, dtox, and continued to create, slowly building back a solid base of fans. In recent years, his music has featured on TV series, such as Breaking Bad and Stranger Things, and the film Transformers, winning him younger fans.
He says: “That’s the exciting thing. I suddenly started seeing much younger people in the audience. They’re discovering me for the first time, which is amazing.” He still strives to innovate, and no longer takes part in the 80s music festivals. He says: “I kind of ran out of steam with the 80s nostalgia stuff.”
Howard, who has been a practising Buddhist for 26 years and a vegetarian for 42 years, is still happily married to his wife Jan, who he wed in 1977. They have three grown-up children. Jan got Howard through the highs and lows, and he recalls one incident that changed his career.
He says: “It was back in the days when I was doing a few gigs a week and we were trying to earn money in any way we could, so we did a fruit and veg round. One night a drink-driver smashed into the van. Jan got trapped underneath and damaged her back.
“When she got the compensation money she said she wanted to give it to me to buy my equipment. It was a pivotal moment when I realised both of us could have died that night. It was the moment we said, ‘We’ve got no time to waste, there is no plan B’. So Jan and I have grown up together. The bond we have is so strong.”
*Celebrate It Together: The Very Best Of Howard Jones 1983-2023, out now.
* Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on , , , , and .
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
