Illusions of Happiness

Being sensitive, creative, musical and gay weren’t the ideal qualities for a successful upbringing in Ramsbottom, a gritty northern town on the shoulders of the Pennines.

As soon as he could, John Howard shed the guilt of his Lancashire life for the gilt and glitz of a piano playing singer\songwriter’s career in glam-rocked London. And what a start it was.

John arrived in London in Autumn 1973 and was snapped up by an enthusiastic manager and publisher who was utterly convinced that he had, in his hands, a pop star chrysalis who would soon burst spectacularly into a major British pop star.

In January 1974 John was commissioned to write and record the theme song for a Peter Fonda/William Holden movie: Open Season and he travelled to Rome to record it. He was also signed to the mighty CBS records. His career was building momentum.

In April 1974, John began recording his debut album ‘Kid in a big World’ at Abbey Road and Apple studios.

Later in that same year he released his first single: “Goodbye Suzie.” He made television appearances, hung out with Johnny Mathis and David Essex and launched his album with a concert at the Purcell Rooms on London’s South Bank.

Told repeatedly that he was on the cusp of stardom, John’s heady pop-star career was matched by a love life that was equally eventful, but for life threateningly different reasons. He was attacked by a knife-wielding lover, was beaten up by an East End crook and boyfriend, was almost gang raped in Malta and had to be rescued from a serial killer in New York. Life wasn’t like this in Ramsbottom!

The whole edifice came crashing down when John jumped from his apartment balcony one night to escape a sex-crazed attacker his flat mates had brought home.

Lying in a hospital bed with crushed ankles and a broken back, through the waves of pain and dosed up with powerful pain killers, John wondered if he would ever walk again, let alone play the piano…