James Newton-Howard

James was raised in Los Angeles, and studied classical piano. He started off in a band called Mama Lion, before he finished his studies at The University of Southern Carolina. As his reputation grew, he was a top session player. He met the other members of his future group, Toto, in the studio sessions he played on.

James' break through came as he worked on a session on Ringo Starr's album "Goodnight Vienna." Elton John appeared on this album and he noticed James' talent as a keyboard player. In 1975 ( where Elton was forming a new band ) he invited James to play with him. The first album James played on was " Rock Of The Westies ".

Elton and James' worked very well together. On the album " Blue Moves " ( 1976 ) is the number " One Horse Town " a very nice product of what they could do. " Tonight " also has a lot of James' arrangements. They actually discussed making an instrumental album together - and composed four numbers, but the project died. The promise of their work together is demonstrated on the album " The Fox " with the instrumental number " Carla / Etude "

Because of Elton's break from 1976, James first returned to the band in 1980 for a tour and new albums. In the meantime he had worked with Eric Carmen and Kiki Dee, among others.

Besides having worked with numerous of artists he has composed lots of soundtracks : Waterworld, Three men and a little baby, Junior, French Kiss and so on. He was nominated for Academy Awards for his movie scores for The Fugitive and The Prince Of Tides.

Elton and James are still friends ..