Idiosyncrasy, technology, and serious drama are key elements to the success of Trevor Horn's production projects. He once said 'I get bored fairly quickly with things, so I like to keep varying it.' Trevor Horn's productions are anything but boring. His work ranks among the most distinctive sounds to be heard in dance clubs over the past two decades.
Born in 1949, Trevor Horn began his professional career as a backup musician in the late 70's for disco star Tina Charles. One of the other members of her backing band was keyboard player Geoffrey Downes. Horn and Downes briefly formed the group Camera Club in 1979 with Thomas Dolby before setting off on their own to form the Buggles. The Buggles are best remembered for the 1980 hit Video Killed the Radio Star which was featured as the first music video on the new cable Music Television network, or MTV.
Trevor Horn and Geoffrey Downes had been serious fans of the art-rock group Yes since the early 70's and in May of 1980 Chris Squire asked them to join the group. They agreed, helped produce and record the album Drama, and then set off on a nearly disastrous tour. Fans and critics alike were dismayed with Trevor Horn's performance on tour. He left and the band dissolved in early 1981. Geoffrey Downes formed the group Asia and Trevor Horn embarked on a career in music production.
Horn's first production success came with the pop band Dollar and their British hit Hand Held In Black and White. The lush sound of Dollar caught the attention of the members of the group ABC. They liked the lush sound of Trevor Horn's production and signed him up as producer for their album Lexicon Of Love. Awash in strings and propelled by a club-ready beat, ABC took the U.K. by storm and in 1983, approximately a year after initial release, The Look Of Love topped American Dance charts. 1983's album Duck Rock by Punk impresario Malcolm McLaren showcased the more idiosyncratic, experimental side of Trevor Horn's work. Hip-hop versions of Buffalo Gals and Double Dutch jump rope rhymes also reached American Dance charts.
In 1984, Yes decided to reform and this time hired Trevor Horn on as producer of their album 90125 instead of band member. The decision was a fortuitous one as Horn's dramatic drum loop samples and stop action technique on Owner Of a Lonely Heart brought the venerable rockers their biggest Pop hit single and a top 3 Dance hit. Two other projects released in 1984 represent the diversity of Trevor Horn's musical interests and helped place him at the top among creative producers in Pop and Dance circles. The first project, the Art Of Noise's first album (Who's Afraid Of?) The Art Of Noise! , was a thrilling mix of street Hip-Hop and classic avant garde. Beat Box, an instrumental blender of sampled found noises and drum machine loops, reached number one on American Dance charts. The follow-up, Close (To the Edit), another innovative mix of scratches, yelps, and romantic declamations, also made its way into the top 5 of favorite club records. The second project, Frankie Goes To Hollywood's Welcome To the Pleasuredome, was a heady mix of Hi-NRG dance beats, gay male testosterone, and pseudo-intellectualism that took the U.K., and, to a lesser extent, the U.S. by storm. The drum-driven Hi-NRG of Two Tribes reached the Dance top 3.
The following year Trevor Horn continued to stretch the boundaries of Dance music with his production of Grace Jones' self-referential masterpiece Slave To the Rhythm, another number one dance hit. An additional career milestone was Horn's selection to produce the African charity single, Do They Know It's Christmas? featuring the voices of a who's who of current British Pop stars. Trevor Horn's flurry of success slowed a bit in the latter part of the decade, but he returned with a vengeance in 1989. He reached the Dance top 10 with hits by the Pet Shop Boys (Left To My Own Devices) and Paul McCartney (Ou Est Le Soleil) and topped the Pop charts with his production of Rod Stewart's Downtown Train.
Trevor Horn's production work since has often veered away from a focus on Dance music although his work with Seal has kept him as a frequent visitor to club sound systems. Some of his most recent success has come with American Country-Pop solo stars Faith Hill (There You'll Be) and LeAnn Rimes (Can't Fight the Moonlight, a #17 Dance hit). While he is still actively engaged in creating new classics, the enduring appeal of Trevor Horn's earlier work is ably represented by the re-appearance of Frankie Goes To Hollywood's Relax on the Dance charts in 2001 via remixes by producer Peter Rauhofer.
