Howard Jones (born John Howard Jones on February 23, 1955) is an English si… Read Full Bio ↴Howard Jones (born John Howard Jones on February 23, 1955) is an English singer and songwriter.

He is the eldest of three boys. His birthplace is Southampton, England, and he spent his early years in High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, and attended the Royal Grammar School. He now lives with his family in Somerset, England.

When he was young, he used to give piano lessons. One of his clients was a girl named Jan Smith, who he later married. Whilst working with her, a vehicle crashed into their van, injuring Jan. She claimed compensation and used the money to buy Howard a synthesiser, a Moog Prodigy. The shop delivered two by mistake, and Howard liked the combination of the two so much that he paid for the extra one.

He hit the charts in 1983 with a song called "New Song," which made it into the UK top ten. Speaking with Songfacts, Jones explained the song is his manifesto, and why he wanted to get in the music business and write songs to begin with. Said Jones: "I was working in the factory at the time - I was doing the gigs at night and I was working in the factory. And I wanted to say to people, 'You can. It is possible to do what you really want to do if you've got enough guts and determination. You can do what you're really good at in this life if you set your mind to it.' And so really that's what that song's about. It's about letting go of fear and seeing both sides of an argument and throwing off the things that hold you back mentally."

Jones subsequently had three more hits over the next twelve months and a UK Number 1 album, Human's Lib. He acquired a hardcore fanbase made up of both starstruck teenagers and more mature music lovers, who saw the musicianship which went into the electronic sounds of his songs. His mother ran his fan club. Jones was a close temporal and stylistic contemporary of Nik Kershaw, and the two musicians were often conflated in the affections of the contemporary pop audience.

Howard was known as a respectable face of pop, combining innovative synthesiser music with strong feelings on animal rights and life's excesses. In his early days, he performed with a mime artist called Jed Hoile, who used to do improvised choreography while doused in white paint as Howard played behind him.

In the summer of 1984, he released a single called "Like To Get To Know You Well", which he said was 'dedicated to the original spirit of the Olympic Games'. Although it wasn't an official Olympic anthem for the Games in Los Angeles that summer, it caught on and was a huge worldwide hit. The sleeve featured the song title in ten different languages; while Howard sang the title line in French and German on the extended version. The song appeared in the film Better Off Dead.

Howard's second album was a ground breaking 'remix' album. It contained six songs, all but one of which had been previously released, but which appeared in elongated formats, including the multi-lingual version of "Like To Get To Know You Well". The album was called The 12 Inch Album and the sleeve featured a miniature Howard standing next to a 12-inch ruler.

When he released his second studio album, Dream Into Action, in 1985, he introduced his own backing band, including future Soul II Soul singer Caron Wheeler as one third of female backing vocal trio Afrodiziak. Playing bass guitar, meanwhile, was Howard's own brother Martin, who had to have an extra string added to his instrument to play some of Howard's bass lines, which were originally played on a keyboard without regard for the range of a real bass guitar. One of the singles released from this album, "No One Is To Blame", was later re-recorded and featured Phil Collins as drummer and producer.

In July 1985, Howard performed at Wembley Stadium as part of the Live Aid concert, singing his 1984 hit "Hide And Seek" while playing a piano belonging to Freddie Mercury.

Howard had his last UK Top 40 hit in 1986 and thereafter concentrated on production, songwriting and running a successful vegetarian restaurant, though he had Billboard Top 10 success in the States in the 1990s. His eldest son, Oisín (pronounced Osheen), was born in 1985 and is now an actor.

In 2005, he competed on the American TV show Hit Me Baby One More Time, losing to Irene Cara. Although he lost the in-studio vote to Cara, he won the online poll vote.

There are other artists with the same name:

2. Howard Jones is the current lead singer of American metalcore bands Killswitch Engage and Blood Has Been Shed.

Jones resides in Connecticut. His first success was in Connecticut with the band Blood Has Been Shed. After the release of The Novella of Uriel, the band went on tour, but Jones was eventually approached for a bigger project. Howard Jones replaced the lead singer of Killswitch Engage, Jesse Leach, in July of 2002, shortly after the release of Alive or Just Breathing, Killswitch Engage's Roadrunner Records debut album.

Meanwhile, Blood Has Been Shed released their third album, Spirals in 2003. Critical reviews were mixed, with some saying the album was a bit stray from the music found on I Dwell and Novella, while fans found it to be the band's most sonically-challenging album yet.

The first time KSE fans heard Jones they were impressed by him. Later he would be heard on the song "When Darkness Falls", which was first released on the soundtrack for the movie Freddy vs. Jason. Finally, Killswitch Engage released their first album with Jones as the new singer, as well as Blood Has Been Shed drummer Justin Foley. The End of Heartache would spawn two successful singles, "Rose of Sharyn" and the Grammy-nominated title track, "The End of Heartache". There was a minor spot of controversy with some fans over the Grammy nomination, as the song that was picked was a remixed version that would eventually appear on the Resident Evil: Apocalypse soundtrack. The differences between the original recording and the remixed version are the fact that the song is sung in a traditional singing style rather than using the original scream track that appears on the album, and several sections of the song have been shortened for a more commercially dynamic vision.

In November 2006, Killswitch Engage released their fourth album (and second with Howard Jones) entitled As Daylight Dies. The album has spawned the singles "My Curse" and "Arms of Sorrow", and it has been cited by the band through numerous interviews that the album recalls influences from bands in the NOLA music scene, as well as metal bands like Pantera and Machine Head.

Despite his front man role in Killswitch Engage, Jones is still the lead singer for Blood Has Been Shed.

Aside from singing, Jones has also taken on the role of a manager to new and upcoming artists. Currently, he manages two bands, Twelve Tribes, Mikoto, and also the producer Zeuss.

He is also known for his vocal styles, which include deep, booming roars, a higher, raspier scream, and operatic clean vocals. The clean style is absent from most of his work with Blood Has Been Shed, however, with Killswitch Engage, he usually makes use of all of his vocal styles in almost every song, particularly in As Daylight Dies and Holy Diver.

3. Howard Jones is an English folk singer and musician. He was a member of The Electropathics and currently performs with Albireo and as a solo performer.

Life in One Day
Howard Jones Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

The old man said to me
Said don't always take life so seriously
Play the flute
And dance and sing your song

Try and enjoy the here and now
The future will take care of itself somehow
The grass is never greener over there

Time will wear away the stone
Gets the hereditary bone

Don't try to live your life in one day
Don't go speed your time away
Don't try to live your life in one day
Don't go speed your time away

The old man said to me
Said you can't change the world single handedly
Raise a glass enjoy the scenery
Pretend the water is champagne
And fill my glass again and again
While the wolves are gathering round your door
Time will wear away the stone
Gets the hereditary bone

Don't try to live your life in one day
Don't go speed your time away
Don't try to live your life in one day
Don't go speed your time away

The old man said to me
Said don't always take life so seriously
Play the flute
And dance and sing your song

Try and enjoy the here and now
The future will take care of itself somehow
The grass is never greener over there
Time will wear away the stone
Gets the hereditary bone

I tried to live my life in one day
Don't go speed your time away

I bit off more than I can chew
Only so much you can do

Wolves are gathering round my door
Ask them in and invite some more

I tried to live my life in one day
Don't go speed your time away

Don't try to live your life in one day

Overall Meaning

The song "Life in One Day" by Howard Jones is a message of hope and encouragement, telling us not to take life too seriously and enjoy the present moment. The old man mentioned in the song advises the singer to play the flute, dance, and sing his song. This is an allegory for living life to the fullest and seizing the opportunities before us.

The lyrics also suggest that we not be too caught up in the future, as it will take care of itself eventually. Instead, we should enjoy the moment as it comes, and not try to live our entire lives in a single day. This is an acknowledgement that life is short, and we should savor every moment rather than rushing through it.

Later in the song, the old man advises the singer to raise a glass, enjoy the scenery, and pretend the water is champagne, rather than worrying about the problems of the world. He suggests that we fill our glasses again and again, enjoying the moment and not letting life pass us by. The final verse is a personal reflection that the singer has tried to live his life in one day, but has bitten off more than he can chew. Despite this, Howard Jones encourages us to keep living our lives fully, and not go speeding our time away.

Line by Line Meaning

The old man said to me
An elderly person offered me advice

Said don't always take life so seriously
We should not be too serious about life all the time

Play the flute
Indulge in something enjoyable that makes you happy

And dance and sing your song
Share your unique talents with the world

Try and enjoy the here and now
We should focus on the present moment

The future will take care of itself somehow
We shouldn't worry too much about the future

The grass is never greener over there
The things we desire are not always better than what we have

Time will wear away the stone
Time has a way of slowly erasing things

Gets the hereditary bone
Some traits or habits are passed down through generations

Don't try to live your life in one day
We should not try to do everything all at once

Don't go speed your time away
We should not waste time by rushing through life