Neal Howard is a retired producer and DJ from

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. His 1990 single "Indulge" charted at number 97 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Biography

Howard was born in

Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, located in the far northern part of the state. Situated on the banks of the Rock River, Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County (a small portion of the city is located in Ogle County). ...

, spending the late 1980s and early 1990s living in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. He was raised on R&B and early hip-hop; further inspiration came from

Ron Hardy Ron Hardy (May 8, 1958 – March 2, 1992) was an American, Chicago, Illinois-based DJ and record producer of early house music. He is well known for playing records at the Muzic Box, a Chicago house music club. Decades after his death, he is re ...

Lil' Louis Marvin Burns (born May 13, 1962), known by his stage name Li'l Louis (sometimes expanded to Li'l Louis & the World and Li'l Louis & the Party), is a Chicago-born house-music producer and DJ .Larkin, Colin (1999) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Da ...

, Mike "Hitman" Wilson,

Herb Kent Herbert Rogers Kent (October 5, 1928 – October 22, 2016) was "the longest-running DJ in the history of radio", a radio personality in Chicago, Illinois, for more than seven decades. As a high school student, Kent began hosting a classical music ...

, Jazzy Jeff, and

Kid Capri David Anthony Love Jr. (born February 7, 1967) is an American DJ and rapper better known by his stage name Kid Capri. Early life Kid Capri's humble roots can be traced back to his parents' home in the Bronx, where ten year old David Antho ...

. Howard's first EP, ''To Be or Not to Be'', was released by FutureSound Records and contained mixes by

Bad Boy Bill Bad Boy Bill (born William Renkosik) is a disc jockey (DJ) from Chicago, Illinois, U.S. who plays an assortment of house music. While only in his teens, Bad Boy Bill began his DJ career in 1985 during the Chicago house music movement of the mi ...

, Kevin Saunderson, and Derrick May. It was backed by "The Gathering (Club Mix)" and "The Gathering (Pain Mix)"; according to the liner notes of ''Terry Farley Presents Acid Rain'', which contains both tracks, the B-side is frequently (and erroneously) misprinted as "To Be or Not to Be (The Gathering Club Mix)". The Gathering was featured on

FabricLive.31 ''FabricLive.31'' is a DJ mix compilation album by The Glimmers, as part of the FabricLive Mix Series. Track listing # Roxy Music - Same Old Scene (Glimmers Remix) - ''Virgin'' # Fingerprintz - Wet Job - ''Virgin'' # The League Unlimited Orch ...

and appeared twice on

Joey Negro David Russell Lee (born 18 June 1964) is an English DJ and house music producer, formerly known by the stage name Joey Negro, which he retired in July 2020 following the George Floyd protests. He has released music under a variety of pseudo ...

's 2007 compilation album ''Back in the Box''; once in its unmixed form, once re-edited by Negro. Howard's second EP, ''Indulge'', was picked up for release by UK label Network Records. Backed with "To Be or Not to Be", ''Indulge'' was Network's first release, and charted at #97 on the

in 1990. ''Indulge'' would later be sampled by

Altern-8 Altern 8 is a British electronic music act, comprising Mark Archer and Chris Peat, until Peat left the group in 1994. Best known in the early 1990s, their trademark was electronic rave music with a heavy bass line. Notable Altern 8 tracks inc ...

for "Re-Indulge" from their 1992 album Full On... Mask Hysteria and by X-Press 2 for "The Ending" on their 2002 album ''

Muzikizum ''Muzikizum'' is the debut studio album by X-Press 2. It was released on Skint Records in 2002. It features vocal contributions from David Byrne, Dieter Meier, and Steve Edwards. It peaked at number 15 on the UK Albums Chart. Critical recepti ...

''. In the 1990s, Howard retired from being an artist and returned to Rockford, opening a studio in his basement. He became one of the city's top DJs and is involved in the Rockford music scene as a recording and mixing engineer. He has since worked in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Neal People from Rockford, Illinois Acid house musicians