Tracy Howe
| Tracy Howe | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Tracy Marlowe Howe |
| Born | February 16, 1952 |
| Origin | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Genres | Synthpop, electronica, punkrock |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, musician, keyboardist |
| Instruments | Vocals, keyboards, guitar, drums |
| Years active | 1975–1986 1997-2002 2009-present |
| Labels |
YUL Records Capitol Records Energy Rekords Vinyl On Demand Artoffact Records |
| Associated acts | Rational Youth, The Normals, Heaven Seventeen, Men Without Hats |
| Website |
rationalyouth |
Tracy Howe (born 16 February 1952) is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter with the band Rational Youth, and previously The Normals and Heaven Seventeen. Howe has been a member of Rational Youth from 1981 to 1986 and 1997 to 2002 and 2009-present .
Tracy Howe was born in Toronto, Ontario. His father, John Howe, was a film producer and his mother, Mary Sheppard, was a stage actress. In 1952 Tracy and his family moved to London, England. In 1956, when Tracy was 4 they moved to Ottawa, Canada. In 1957 the family moved to Ville St-Laurent, Quebec and in 1959 moved again to Pointe-Claire, Quebec where Tracy lived until he left home in 1970 at age 18. Tracy has been playing music in bands since he was 15. Howe's professional music career began in 1977 as a singer and drummer for Montreal punk band The Normals. Howe was later a drummer and singer in Montreal band Heaven Seventeen (not to be confused with England's Heaven 17), considered to be one of the first punk bands to use synthesizers. One of Heaven Seventeen's keyboard players was Ivan Doroschuk, who later formed Men Without Hats. Howe also later joined Men Without Hats, as a guitarist, prior to forming Rational Youth with Bill Vorn.
The band was formed in the summer of 1981 by Howe and Vorn, joined by keyboardist Mario Spezza. The band's second professional engagement was opening for Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, in Montreal.
The band recorded their first single "I Want To See The Light" in 1981 for YUL Records, an independent label established by Marc Demouy, a record importer and retailer, and Pat Deserio. Demouy also became the band's manager. Shortly after the single was issued, Spezza left and was replaced by Kevin Komoda (keyboards).
The Howe/Vorn/Komoda trio then recorded the album Cold War Night Life, which was issued in early 1982 and was the first all-synth pop release in Canada. It became one of the biggest-selling Canadian independent albums at the time.
Vorn left the band at the beginning of 1983 to resume communication studies at university. He earned a doctorate in communication studies at the Université du Québec à Montréal, and is a full professor in the Department of Studio Arts at Concordia University. He has been active in the field of robotic art since 1992.
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