Biography

James was born on June 9th, and is enjoying his forty-something days. He has 2 sons, Jackson and newborn Hayden, with wife Sophie. James is fond of dogs, and has a golden labrador named Otis (after Mr. Redding) which he adopted soon after his marriage.

He studied at the USC School of Music and with Leon Fleischer and Reginald Stewart at Santa Barbara's Music Academy of the West.

He developed a strong affinity for the string orchestra. However, despite his love for the classical repertoire, James was inevitably drawn to pop music. In the early 70's a stint with an L.A. based band, "Mama Lion" was followed by 2 solo albums - JNH (1974) and James Newton Howard and friends in 1984. The latter was "commissioned by Yamaha to demo its new synths", and it sounds like an 80's Toto/pop hybrid.
During the mid 70's he became associated with the record producer Richard Perry, who employed James' talents as a session pianist, sythesist and programmer for albums by artists Carly Simon, Leo Sayer, Diana Ross, Nilsson and Ringo Starr.

During 1974 and 1975, while working for Melissa Manchester, James was contacted by Elton John, who was then reconstituting his recording and touring bands. James signed on for the 1975 album Rock of the Westies and remained as Elton's keyboardist from 1975-76 and 1980-81 through the album Blue Moves.

He rejoined Elton once again in 1986 as the conductor/orchestrator for the tour that resulted in the recording Live in Australia. It was during one of his absences from Elton's band that James made his debut as producer with recordings by Valerie Carter and Cher.

He has subsequently co-written and/or produced for such artists as Randy Newman, Rickie Lee Jones, Chaka Khan, Jude Cole and the Brothers Johnson; he's arranged music for Earth, Wind and Fire, Barbara Streisand, Dwight Twilly and Bob Seger.

James wrote his first solo film score, Head Office in 1985. Demand for his scores was instantaneous. Subsequent scores have included Guilty By Suspicion, Five Corners, Three Men and a Little Lady, Nobody's Fool, Flatliners, King Ralph, Falling Down, Major League, Alive, Promised Land, Tap, Some Girls, Everybody's All American and many others.

His score for the TV pilot, Men, won an Emmy Award and his 1990 Dying Young score won a Grammy nomination. His score for The Prince of Tides received an Academy Award nomination in 1991, and so did The Fugitive, and the song Look What Love Has Done from his score for Junior. That unmistakable E.R. TV theme was awarded an Emmy nomination in 1994. Recently, his contribution to the song For The First Time from One Fine Day was Oscar nominated.

Jamming Notes

• Why the 'Newton'? Most likely because there is an actor named James Howard, and to avoid confusion, and following Hollywood 'guild' guidelines, latecomers have to add their middle names, or such.
• James is more or less, directors Ivan Reitman, Kevin Costner, and Lawrence Kasdan's composer of choice.
• Session players now invariably include the Toto gang - Paich and Porcaro.
• His brief relationship with Rosanna Arquette, is said to have spawned the hit Toto song - Rosanna.
• His association with Hans Zimmer stems from being personal friends; they happen to have the same agency - Gorfaine-Schwartz.
• Zimmer-session guitarist, Bob Daspit, is credited with mixing Outbreak, go Bob!
• JNH produced the Ricki Lee Jones song "It Must Be Love" which appears on Thirty-something.
• Hey, did anyone also wonder whether Arliss (real name Leslie) Howard who starred as the 'bad' Peter Ludlow in The Lost World, is JNH's brother? They look like siblings!
• James produced the Randy Newman song Ride Gambler Ride in Maverick.

Recommendations

• Primal Fear - cool percussion, and great solo voice.
• Dave - rather lovely.
• Man In The Moon - soft, banjo, pleasant.
• Restoration - orchestral, classical based.
• The Prince of Tides - melodious.
• E.R. - TV theme available as a remixed single; along with original on compilation soundtrack.
• Wyatt Earp - classic Western themes.
• The Fugitive - used in trailers.
• Grand Canyon - has had a lot of good reviews, and has been re-released.
• Waterworld - I appreciate its sound design qualities (Track 1). Tracks 11 and 17 are neato as well.
• Alive - Tracks 4, 9, 11. I have a feeling that Christopher Stone 'copied' a theme for his TV Series Savannah theme.
• Space Jam - for lots of fun.
• My Best Friend's Wedding - superb score, cool songs.
• A Perfect Murder - well pressed and great variety!

• A listener has suggested a review forum; I will have to take your reviews via email, or the standard guestbook, and then paste them to a review page - go ahead! Just make sure to separate your comments from your review, ie. different paragraphs! Smiles...

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  Late News!

• Dinosaur is now on CD from Disney!
• Mumford is available from Hollywood Records with 11 cues from James (competent underscore), following a few vocal tracks.
• Nettwerk have released Stir Of Echoes which has 17 minutes of JNH's score.
• Runaway Bride has no current score release (not even a suite on the Columbia release); the affable score is quite minimal, in the empty movie.
• Varese released The Sixth Sense on August 24th, along with Teaching Mrs. Tingle by John Frizzell.
• Junior and Outbreak have just been re-released.
• Marcel Schot has a site listing brass players in scores including Waterworld.
• The trailer to Star Trek: Insurrection uses a transposed cue from The Postman.
• Jim highlighted this ASCAP profile of JNH, verifying my assertation that James is Arliss Howard's brother, while others still dispute it, and JNH studio is mum, and Michael Mason is busy.
• Waterworld is used on The Prince Of Egypt CD-ROM.
• We welcome a new composer to Yumbiosis - Harry Gregson-Williams with HG-Winfo!
• Mumford is the new film from Lawrence Kasdan, and JNH is scheduled to score again for him.
• James will be presented an Achievement in Cinema Award on Dec. 11.
• The new Indian movie Bade Miyan Chote Miyan starring legend Amitabh Bachan, uses Waterworld!
• More RA goodies - 2 cues from A Perfect Murder
• A Civil Action is using The Postman in its trailer.
• Here's another RA goodie - the unreleased End Titles from The Trigger Effect.
• Prince Of Tides was used in the Emmy telecast.
• A Bug's Life is using Waterworld in its trailer.
• CNBC Asia is using Waterworld in its promo.
• A Perfect Murder has had a bad movie review by Variety, but a positive one by a viewer who also gave the score a thumbs up, in the vein of The Fugitive; score was released on Varese June 16th. Just received a copy, and I do recommend it (30 minutes); will try to interview James, and do a full RA/view. Outbreak is used in the APM trailer
• John Frizzell who scored Dante's Peak with a theme by JNH, recently scored Jane Austen's Mafia! using the lingual pseudonym, Gianni Frizzelli.
• JNH is next scoring Snow Falling On Cedars.
• Waterworld is used in the Six Days, Seven Nights trailer.
• The Devil's Advocate soundtrack was released on November 4th, on TVT Records. A montage has been uploaded!
• The Postman soundtrack was released on Warner Records; 2 samples have been uploaded!
• A special Oscar treat - more score from My Best Friend's Wedding, culled from the promo! Bear in mind that the sound quality of the promo (24 minutes) is way under par.
• UPN's The Sentinel has its theme thanks to JNH; the CD was released recently with the underscore by Steve Porcaro & John Keane.
• I have added purchasing links in the Discography section! Your purchases help maintain Howinfo in a small way.
• Add another Oscar nomination for James for his work on My Best Friend's Wedding! I felt he should have won for this, but Anne Dudley walked away with honours for The Full Monty.
• The Postman is used in the Lost In Space trailer.
• An Oscar promo of the extended score to My Best Friend's Wedding is now out.
• For The First Time from One Fine Day has been nominated for Best Song at this year's Grammy Awards!
• The trailer to Mad City uses Falling Down.
• My Best Friend's Wedding has been released on NTSC video.
• According to Andrew, Waterworld is used in one of the Titanic trailers.
• Alrighty, another clip to catch up on - Venice from the Falling Down boot.
• Here's another clip to give you juices - the End Titles from Eye For An Eye.
• Newsweek magazine mentioned him in an article on The Devil's Advocate.
• Missed out on a chance to visit JNH's studio after being delayed at MV where I met Hans Zimmer - apologies to Chad.
• Here's another clip to give you juices - the song from Primal Fear - Cancao Do Mar
• Jim Hill takes over production duties at JNH's studio.
• Michael Mason is no longer with JNH's production team. All the best to him.
• There is a new JNH site at Newton's Ego.
• JNH's current release - My Best Friend's Wedding, is now showing. The soundtrack is available on Sony/Work. It is a similar packaging to One Fine Day, with several pop artists and a score suite. The score is brilliant! The suite is just over 6 minutes long, while initially disappointing, makes for a satisfying listen - it starts out with the slow themes, and builds to a crescendo after 2 minutes, and forays into the 'mickey-mousing'/choral cues for 3 minutes, and then segues into the BRILLIANT classical-inspired cue for the last minute, which alone is worth the CD I reckon. Another highlight is the Cast recording of the theme song - I Say A Little Prayer, in addition to the reggae version by Diana King.
• The complete Review of Flatliners/Falling Down.
• You can only hear JNH in Father's Day; no soundtrack release.
• A new studio is host to JNH's endeavours!
• He appeared in "The Making of Space Jam", which featured a small segment highlighting his score. JNH spoke of how much he liked to score a cartoon, because it demands so much and has outspoken music. Also shown was a little bit of the recording session for the score.
• 'For The First Time', co-written by James for One Fine Day which was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, for best song in a motion picture, has been noticed by Oscar voters as well, in the same category!
• Steve Porcaro (Toto), scored Eddie Murphy's Metro, with a little help from you know who.
• Mr. Howard was notified of this page, and is now aware of it. He thinks our appreciation is great.

James, and former producer Michael Mason (right).

Trailers

Score	Used in trailer/promo for...
The Fugitive	The Pelican Brief, Broken Arrow, Copycat, Fair Game, Leon (The Professional), Outbreak, The Specialist, 'NBC - Dateline/Bank shootout segment', Mulholland Falls
Dave	North, Richie Rich
Waterworld	The Crucible, Metro, Titanic, Six Days, Seven Nights, A Bug's Life, 'CNBC Asia - Promo', Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, The Prince Of Egypt CD-ROM
Alive	The Joy Luck Club, Sense & Sensibility
Wyatt Earp	Nell, Stars Fell On Henrietta
Primal Fear	The Relic
The Prince Of Tides	Sleepless In Seattle, '1998 Emmy Awards'
Grand Canyon	'Toyota 1996 TV campaign'
Outbreak	The Jackal, A Perfect Murder
Dying Young	Jack The Bear
Falling Down	Mad City
The Postman	Lost In Space, A Civil Action, Star Trek: Insurrection

Articles

• Interview - FSM Jan 1994

• Interview - FSM June 1994

• Weekly related entertainment articles - summary of interesting Reuters articles.

This yumboistic page has continued on with graphical visits, since Wed, Apr 23, 1997.
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