Nick Howard is a musician focused on the highly coveted prize of achieving fame with his music. Moving to New York City in 2004, he’s been working a full-time career-balancing act as a means to achieve this goal. “I knew I didn’t want to be that guy living off my girlfriend or mooching off friends. I realize I had to be realistic about pursuing this,” says Howard. And coming to the US with no family or connections would make it that much tougher in a big city where aspiring singer-songwriters are a penny a dozen.
While growing up in Brighton, England with his mother, grandmother and sister, Howard listened to a lot of American and British soul, pop, rock and blues artists, ranging from typical influences like The Beatles and The Who to inspirational leading men like Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye and Freddy Mercury. Watching these artists is what really inspired confidence in Howard to get up and perform in front of people. He started playing the guitar and singing at the age of 10, eventually forming bands with friends throughout high school who emulated the stars of the booming ‘90s Brit-Pop revolution. He later attended college in Nottingham where he continued to write songs, performed at venues across the UK and graduated with a degree in Computer Science.
After moving to New York City in 2004, Howard eventually settled in The East Village of Manhattan. He started booking shows for himself and performing around the City, grabbing the attention of big-name musicians and producers. He eventually met Travis Harrison, with whom Howard collaborated on his first album Contradicted, a 6-track EP that he independently released in 2005. The blues-inspired EP received several accolades, including a feature on Clearchannel’s “Discover New Music” campaign in 2006. “Contradictions”, a track from the EP, will soon be featured in the upcoming Elisha Cuthbert movie, My Sassy Girl, to be released in 2008.
Following this successful first project, Howard performed at numerous showcases and colleges around the country while continuing to write and hone his songwriting skills. A particular highlight came in the summer of 2005 when Howard opened for a Jack Johnson show at the famous Gorge Amphitheater in Washington. In 2007 he caught the ear of Jamie Siegel, whose credits include Joss Stone, Lauren Hill, Dashboard and Santana, and the two teamed up to produce what would become his first full-length album Something to Talk About, set to release May 7, 2008. Unlike the bluesy, darker, more brooding melodies on Contradicted, STTA’s tracks present heavy content with more light-hearted, pop-infused melodies, showing yet another side of Howard’s artistic personality. “This album is sort of a coming-of-age work where I’ve brought to light issues that were important to me,” says Howard of STTA. Issues such as love (“A Better Man”), life (“The Pressure”), alcoholism (“I Don’t Really Care”), and betrayal (“My Mistake”) come to life in an ironically upbeat, jovial way. “The Pressure” made it into an episode of MTV’s “The Hills” in Fall 2007, and another track from the album, “Wrap Your Streets”, will soon follow suit. Nick recently performed live on Fox TV's Fearless Music show and will be performing on Backstage on Comcasts Channel 8 in Boston this September.
On the stage, Howard takes on a whole other persona. Seeing his energetic performances that are so passionate and soulful, one would not believe he works in an office all day. He was labeled as ‘refreshing’ and ‘one to watch’ at the age of 17 by the prestigious London music publication ‘The Stage’. “I like to put my entire heart and soul into every song,” he says. His infectious music even won Howard the prestigious endorsements of Gibson and Baldwin, the world-renowned guitar and piano manufacturing companies.
For someone you might mistake for an “ordinary guy”, the title “Contradicted” seems quite apt.
Something to Talk About and Contradicted (EP) are currently available on iTunes emusic, rhapsody, snocap and amazon
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