Neal Howard

Howard was born in Rockford, Illinois, spending the late 1980s and early 1990s living in Chicago. He was raised on R&B and early hip-hop;[1] further inspiration came from Ron Hardy, Lil' Louis, Mike "Hitman" Wilson, Herb Kent, Jazzy Jeff, and Kid Capri.[1]

Howard's first EP, To Be or Not to Be, was released by FutureSound Records[2] and contained mixes by Bad Boy Bill, Kevin Saunderson, and Derrick May.[3] 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)".[4] The Gathering was featured on FabricLive.31[5] and appeared twice on Joey Negro's 2007 compilation album Back in the Box; once in its unmixed form, once re-edited by Negro.[6]

Howard's second EP, Indulge, was picked up for release by UK label Network Records.[7] Backed with "To Be or Not to Be",[8] Indulge was Network's first release,[9] and charted at #97 on the UK Singles Chart in 1990.[7] Indulge would later be sampled by Altern-8 for "Re-Indulge" from their 1992 album Full On... Mask Hysteria[10] and by X-Press 2 for "The Ending" on their 2002 album Muzikizum.[11]

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, Las Vegas, and South Korea.[1]