Howard Jones

Howard Jones is an English singer, songwriter and keyboardist who became one of the defining faces of synth-pop in the early-to-mid 1980s. Born in Southampton, he spent part of his youth in Canada before returning to England, where he trained at the Royal Northern College of Music and worked through various bands before turning to solo performance, armed only with synthesizers and drum machines.

A session for BBC radio DJ John Peel helped launch his career, leading to a deal with WEA/Elektra and a string of hits built on bright, melodic electronic pop with an optimistic, self-help-inflected lyrical streak. Songs like «New Song», «What Is Love?» and «Things Can Only Get Better» became MTV-era staples, pairing catchy synth hooks with an accessible, humanist message that set him apart from darker new wave contemporaries.

His debut album «Human's Lib» and its follow-up «Dream Into Action» cemented his commercial peak, while later releases showed him exploring more introspective and acoustic textures. Jones remains an influential figure in the synth-pop revival, still touring and recording, respected as one of the genre's most melodically gifted and technically adventurous performers.