Editing Trevor Horn (section)

===1971–1979: Early work===
At 21, Horn relocated to London and took up work by playing in a band which involved re-recording top 20 songs for BBC radio due to the [[needle time]] restrictions then in place. This was followed by a one-year tenure with Ray McVay's big band,<ref name=berklee/> included performances at the world ballroom dancing championship and the television show ''[[Come Dancing]]''.<ref name="songwriting2014" /> Horn also joined the Canterbury Tales, a group based in [[Margate]], and spent time in Denmark where he ended up broke. His mother sent him money for his return journey.<ref name="LS20231005">{{Cite web |last=Easlea |first=Daryl |date=5 October 2023 |title="We'd been working on it for two weeks... Mike Oldfield had wiped it. There was no undo button. I was in shock. It was the only time it's ever happened to me in 40 years": Trevor Horn's lows and highs |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/trevor-horn-mike-oldfield-prog-80s |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231006211428/https://www.loudersound.com/features/trevor-horn-mike-oldfield-prog-80s |archive-date=6 October 2023 |access-date=8 October 2023 |website=Loudersound}}</ref> He also worked as a [[session musician]] for rock groups and [[jingle]]s.{{sfn|Welch|2008|p=195}} At 24, Horn began work in [[Leicester]], where he had a nightly gig playing bass at a nightclub and helped construct a recording studio.<ref name=zttaat/> He produced songs for local artists, including a song for [[Leicester City F.C.]]<ref name="berklee" /><ref name=zttaat/>

By 1976, Horn had returned to London. He played bass in Nick North and Northern Lights, a cabaret and covers band, which also featured the keyboardist [[Geoff Downes]] and the singer [[Tina Charles (singer)|Tina Charles]].<ref name=LS20231005/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Tina Charles on Apple Music |url=https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/tina-charles/73143092 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612162010/https://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/tina-charles/73143092 |archive-date=12 June 2018 |access-date=8 July 2018 |website=Apple Music}}</ref> Horn formed Tracks, a jazz fusion band inspired by [[Weather Report]] and [[Herbie Hancock]], with the future [[Shakatak]] drummer Roger Odell, before he left to play in Charles's backing band.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Odell |first=Roger |date=23 March 2013 |title=Roger Odell |url=http://www.shakatak.com/roger-odell/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612144241/http://www.shakatak.com/roger-odell/ |archive-date=12 June 2018 |access-date=8 July 2018 |website=Shakatak.com}}</ref> Also in the band were the keyboardist [[Geoffrey Downes]] and the guitarist [[Bruce Woolley]], both of whom Horn later worked with in the band [[the Buggles]].{{Cn|date=April 2023}} Horn and Charles entered a short relationship, and Horn learned from her inspiring producer [[Biddu]].<ref name=zttaat/><ref name="independent2004">{{Cite web |last=Sturges |first=Fiona |date=28 October 2004 |title=Trevor Horn: The Artist of Noise |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/trevor-horn-the-artist-of-noise-545319.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709175226/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/trevor-horn-the-artist-of-noise-545319.html |archive-date=9 July 2018 |access-date=30 May 2018 |website=[[The Independent]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Warner |first=Timothy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NWQ6xfA5hfQC&pg=PA155 |title=Pop Music: Technology and Creativity |publisher=[[Ashgate Publishing]] |year=2003 |isbn=0-7546-3132-X |page=155 |access-date=21 June 2011}}</ref><ref name="northernecho">{{Cite news |last=Archer |first=Sue |date=26 July 2017 |title=Music: Trevor Horn on Perfecting the Art of Noise over Four Decades |work=[[The Northern Echo]] |url=http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/culture/music/15435577.Music__Trevor_Horn_on_perfecting_the_art_of_noise_over_four_decades/ |url-status=live |access-date=8 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612140932/http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/culture/music/15435577.Music__Trevor_Horn_on_perfecting_the_art_of_noise_over_four_decades/ |archive-date=12 June 2018}}</ref> 

In the mid-1970s, Horn worked for a [[music publisher]] on [[Denmark Street]], London, producing [[Demo (music)|demos]].<ref name=songwriting2014/> From 1977 to 1979, Horn worked on various singles as a songwriter, producer, or orchestra director, but without profit.<ref name="theface1982">{{Cite web |title=The Most Wanted Man In Pop |url=http://www.soundslogic.com/fisonic/_legacy/tchmostw.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228202840/http://www.soundslogic.com/fisonic/_legacy/tchmostw.html |archive-date=28 December 2019 |access-date=8 July 2018 |website=Soundslogic.com}}</ref> Among his first was "Natural Dance" by [[Tony Cole (musician)|Tony Cole]] and "Don't Come Back" by Fallen Angel and the T.C. Band, featuring Woolley as songwriter, which Horn produced under the name "T.C. Horn".<ref>{{Cite AV media notes |url=https://www.discogs.com/Tony-Cole-Natural-Dance/release/5980927 |title=Natural Dance |id=P 8446 |publisher=Pinnacle Records |year=1977 |access-date=3 June 2018 |archive-date=8 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180708045006/https://www.discogs.com/Tony-Cole-Natural-Dance/release/5980927 |url-status=live}}</ref> He wrote "Boot Boot Woman", the B-side to the Boogatti single "Come Back Marianne".<ref>{{Cite AV media notes |url=https://www.discogs.com/Boogatti-Come-Back-Marianne/release/76158 |title=Come Back Marianne |id=2040 178 |publisher=Polydor Records |year=1977 |access-date=3 June 2018 |archive-date=8 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180708044945/https://www.discogs.com/Boogatti-Come-Back-Marianne/release/76158 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1978, Horn wrote, sang, and produced "Caribbean Air Control" under the pseudonym Big A, which features Horn pictured as a pilot on the front sleeve.<ref>{{Cite AV media notes |url=https://www.discogs.com/Big-A-Caribbean-Air-Control/release/923265 |title=Caribbean Air Control |id=SON 2150 |publisher=Sonet Records |year=1978 |access-date=3 June 2018 |archive-date=8 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180708044958/https://www.discogs.com/Big-A-Caribbean-Air-Control/release/923265 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1979, a full studio album, ''Star to Star,'' by Chromium, a "sci-fi disco project", was released. It featured Horn and Downes as songwriters and producers, and Horn's future [[Art of Noise]] bandmate [[Anne Dudley]] on keyboards.<ref name="feb2012">{{Cite web |last=Price |first=Simon |date=2 February 2012 |title=Interview: Trevor Horn |url=http://www.thestoolpigeon.co.uk/features/interview-trevor-horn.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204103731/http://www.thestoolpigeon.co.uk/features/interview-trevor-horn.html |archive-date=4 February 2012 |access-date=2 June 2018 |website=[[The Stool Pigeon (newspaper)|The Stool Pigeon]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Chromium (3) - Star to Star |url=https://www.discogs.com/Chromium-Star-To-Star/release/81736 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180708044949/https://www.discogs.com/Chromium-Star-To-Star/release/81736 |archive-date=8 July 2018 |access-date=8 July 2018 |website=[[Discogs]]}}</ref> Other artists that Horn worked with included Woolley, [[John Howard (singer-songwriter)|John Howard]],<ref name=feb2012/><ref>{{Cite web |title=John Howard (4) - I Can Breathe Again |url=https://www.discogs.com/John-Howard-I-Can-Breathe-Again/release/5005418 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180708044954/https://www.discogs.com/John-Howard-I-Can-Breathe-Again/release/5005418 |archive-date=8 July 2018 |access-date=8 July 2018 |website=[[Discogs]]}}</ref> [[Dusty Springfield]] ("Baby Blue"),<ref name="songwriting2014">{{Cite web |last=Slater |first=Aaron |date=24 February 2014 |title=Interview: Trevor Horn |url=https://www.songwritingmagazine.co.uk/interviews/interview-trevor-horn/15439 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180708044842/https://www.songwritingmagazine.co.uk/interviews/interview-trevor-horn/15439 |archive-date=8 July 2018 |access-date=1 June 2018 |website=Songwriting Magazine}}</ref> and [[the Jags]] ("[[Back of My Hand (The Jags song)|Back of My Hand]]"). Horn achieved his first production hit when "[[Monkey Chop]]" by [[Dan-I]] reached No. 30 on the [[UK Singles Chart]] in 1979.<ref name=zttaat/>