The Buggles' Trevor Horn coming to Leeds City Variety to share his music industry 'adventures'

musician, a multi-million-selling producer and songwriter, the winner of multiple BRITs, Grammys, Ivor Novello Awards and the recipient of a CBE for his services to music – he has led a truly extraordinary career.

He’s been the man behind the mixing desk for an extraordinary number of artists and was so influential on pop and electronic music in one decade that he has been dubbed ‘the man who invented the 1980s’.

Horn, 76, who was born in Durham, has worked as a producer with the likes of Seal, Grace Jones, Pet Shop Boys, Lisa Stansfield, ABC, Belle and Sebastian, Yes and Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

But it was with The Buggles that he first experienced stardom, when Video Killed The Radio Star gave them a number one hit in the late 1970s – which was also famously the first music video played on MTV.

Horn says: “Advance word on Video Killed The Radio Star was going crazy. Radio play had taken us to the top of the Music Week chart and the record wasn’t even out yet. At some point it was released, going in at 57 on 9th September 1979, rising to number 24 the following week, number six the week after, number two on 13th October and number one the week after that.

“It was the same story abroad. Video Killed The Radio Star raced up every chart it met, home and away. Video Killed The Radio Star would end up going to number one in 16 countries, selling around 12 million. It was insane.”

Stories like this will be told when the producers tours Adventures In Modern Recording – An Intimate Evening with Trevor Horn, which is coming to Leeds City Varieties on Monday, November 10.

Horn briefly joined the prog rock band Yes, who were managed by Brian Lane, also the manager for The Buggles. Replacing former singer, Jon Anderson, he lasted one tour before marrying the woman who changed his life, Jill Sinclair.

Sinclair, a music executive, became Horn’s manager, telling him he could become the best producer in the world.

Horn took her advice and produced a string of hit singles by pop duo Dollar, which effectively mapped out the future of 1980s pop. He was asked to produce the debut album by ABC, The Lexicon of Love, which became one of the best-selling records of 1982 and earned him his first BRIT as well as a visit from David Bowie.

“Anne (Dudley) and I were working on the keyboards when we received a note asking if David Bowie could come and hang out at the session. I mean, I I was a huge Bowie fan, of course, and so were ABC. Sure enough, 15 minutes later, the door opened and David Bowie slipped in. It was the first time I’d ever met him and although I knew upfront that his eyes were different colours, it struck me seeing him up close. He really did look like a visitor from another planet.”

Tickets: www.awaywithmedia.com/tours/trevor-horn