Howard Helm grew up in Toronto, Canada where he studied piano, French horn and voice. He is a graduate of the Royal Conservatory of Music at the University of Toronto. In 1973-74 he received special training in electronic music and synthesizers. He also studied jazz with a protégé of Oscar Peterson’s.
In the mid 70’s, Howard co-founded CBS recording artists “Zon”. A very popular Canadian rock band that toured and recorded three albums through 1981.
In the mid 80’s Howard joined “Refugee” which initially was called Michael Fury and recorded one album with the band. After changing the band name to “Refugee”, he recorded and toured two more albums, one for Chrysalis Records and one for Polygram. Refugee was the first rock band to play in Zimbabwe, in Southern Africa in 1986. Much Music, the Canadian Music Channel filmed the experience for a one hour TV special. Refugee was a heavy rotation staple on MTV in that time.
In 1988 Howard was asked to join British rock legends, Ian Hunter (Mott the Hoople) and Mick Ronson (David Bowie). With Ian and Mick, he toured the world for four years, playing with many different guest artists such as Brian May, Joe Elliot, Michael Schenker, Axl Rose, Slash and Peter Criss.
One of the performances with the band at the Dominion Theater in London, was recorded by the BBC and released as a special live CD.
In the 90’s Howard moved to the west coast of Florida. He opened his production company, THM Music Productions Inc. based out of the legendary Morrisound Studios in Tampa, FL . During his twenty- one year tenure there, he worked with hundreds of artists including Trans-Siberian Orchestra (for which he received a Platinum record), Savatage, Iced Earth, Demons and Wizards, Kamelot, Jon Oliva, Menrva Realm, Steve Morse and The Gentry’s.
Howard co-wrote over 150 music themes for Turner Television Network’s WCW Wrestling show with Jimmy Hart.
He is also a talented string and choral arranger and has written music for Pepsi, IBM, Universal Studios, Busch Gardens and several films.
In the mid 2000’s Howard recorded three albums with prog rock band “Cryptic Vision” and appeared live with the band at several shows including CalProg in 2006 and opening for Asia the year after.
He also has recorded five CD’s of meditation music which has been used by Tranceland Productions in conjunction with their mental health and meditation sessions.
Howard also recorded several children’s albums in that time period which were promoted by the Tampa Bay Lightning Foundation with Chris Tortorella.
Howard has also worked for over 20 years as a music minister and director at various Tampa Bay churches. He released a Christian CD entitled “Standing Right By You” in 2004. Music from this CD has been used on several TV shows.
Following the private sale of Morrisound studios , Howard got the relocation bug again. This time he went to the Pacific Northwest and the Seattle community. His new studio and production company is based there.
Website: https://howardhelm.com/home
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/howard.helm?lst=100001578798124%3A100000903500221%3A1494023638