Howard Gray

Howard Gray (born 15 July 1962) is an English musician, sound engineer, programmer, composer, re-mixer and producer who has worked with Public Image Ltd, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Kirsty MacColl, the Armoury Show, the Pale Fountains, Japan, the Stranglers, Simple Minds, the Pretenders, XTC, UB40, Scritti Politti, Cherubs, Terence Trent D'Arby, Jean Michel Jarre, the Cure, Manic Street Preachers, U2, Puff Daddy & Jimmy Page, Tom Jones and Van Morrison.

He is a founding member of the dance/rock group Apollo 440.

Howard James Gray was born in Sydney, Australia, shortly after his parents emigrated from their native Liverpool.

The family returned to Liverpool when Gray was six months old, and the city played its role in forming the young Gray's musical passions.

An early interest in music and sound recording led to the formation of his first band at the age of 15, Alvin the Aardvark and the Fuzzy Ants, with his brother, Trevor Gray, and fellow schoolfriends Jono 'Kumo' Podmore, James Gardner, Norman 'Noko' Fisher-Jones and Gary Hancock.

In 1980, during his last year at school, Gray landed a job as a tape operator at Richard Branson's notorious Manor Studio, the residential facility built on a country estate near Oxford.

Throughout his tenure at The Manor, and at Branson's recently completed Townhouse Studios in London's Hammersmith, Gray worked with many producers, first as an assistant sound engineer, then as an engineer.

The producer he worked with most often was Steve Lillywhite.

Some of the many artists Gray worked with include Public Image Ltd, the Stranglers, Kirsty MacColl, the Armoury Show, Japan, Rip Rig + Panic and Van Morrison.

He was Virgin's house engineer on Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's album Architecture and Morality, and engineered producer Adrian Sherwood's groundbreaking Dub Syndicate album The Pounding System (Ambience in Dub).

When Gray broke away from the Virgin studio system, he initially went to work as Steve Lillywhite's engineer, which led to him working with such diverse artists as Simple Minds, XTC, the Pretenders, UB40 and Abba's Anni-Frid Lyngstad ('Frida').

As a producer in his own right, Gray's big break came when, in 1983, he was asked by UB40 to help produce their multi-platinum selling album of cover versions, Labour of Love.

Gray had previously worked with the band at the Townhouse on their UB44 album.

Credited as engineer and assistant producer of Labour of Love, an administrative error caused Gray's role to be credited only as tape operator on the UK and US No. 1 single "Red Red Wine".

Still only 21 years old, Gray also engineered and co-produced UB40's next album Geffery Morgan.

Gray went on to work with Scritti Politti on Cupid & Psyche 85, the Cure on The Head on the Door and he produced Terence Trent D'Arby's debut single "If You Let Me Stay", from his 12 million-selling album Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby.

Some of the other artists Gray produced through the mid- to late '80s include the Pale Fountains, Head, the Screaming Blue Messiahs, Hugh Cornwell, Red Guitars, Danny Wilson and Age of Chance (with whom he created one of the first albums to be sampled and sequenced entirely on a Studio 440 sampling device).

In 1990, Gray formed the dance/rock group Apollo 440 with brother Trevor Gray and old friends and colleagues James Gardner and Noko, who had continued their musical careers with other bands, including Luxuria (Noko) and The Umbrella (Noko and Gardner).

Gray's role within Apollo 440 revolves mostly around sound sculpture/production or, as he refers to it, his role is that of the "Vibe Controller".

Apollo 440 have released four albums on their Stealth Sonic Recordings label, distributed by Epic Records and achieved three UK top 10 and eight UK top 40 singles releases.

With Apollo 440, and under their Stealth Sonic Orchestra guise, Gray has recorded for various film soundtracks, including Lost in Space and Charlie's Angels, worked on a number of games for Sony PlayStation, including FIFA '98, Spider-Man and Anti-Grav, and remixed a diverse range of artists, including Manic Street Preachers, Puff Daddy & Jimmy Page, U2, Puretone, Ennio Morricone and James.

Apollo 440 have worked on a number of tracks with Jean Michel Jarre, Jeff Beck (producing three tracks on Beck's album Jeff) and Tomoyasu Hotei.

In addition to his role with Apollo 440, Gray continues to undertake outside productions, including work with Tom Jones, Manic Street Preachers, Gareth Sager & Jock Scott, Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, Drive By Argument and the Wolfgang Press.

Gray has also collaborated with John Fortis on the production of The Cazals, Eight Legs and Art Brut's debut album Bang Bang Rock and Roll.

Gray was co-producer of the Josh Bray album Whiskey and Wool.

Apollo 440's fifth studio album, the 11-track The Future's What It Used to Be, was released in January 2012.

Gray's debut production, Trevor Herion's "Love Chains", features the uncredited backing vocals of Holly Johnson, who was to record "Relax" with Frankie Goes to Hollywood in the same studio the next day.

David Slade, the director of the music video "Stop the Rock" for Gray's band Apollo 440, went on to direct Eclipse, the third film in the Twilight series.