Howard Gray

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

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".

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 #1 single "Red Red Wine". Still only 21 years old, Gray also engineered and co-produced UB40's next album Geffery Morgan.

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).

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, The Manic Street Preachers, U2, Puff Daddy & Jimmy Page, Tom Jones and Van Morrison.