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Howard Jones to Perform Labor Day Weekend at Fremont Street Experience

“Nina Blackwood’s Absolutely 80s” music festival at Fremont Street Experience is the place to be Labor Day Weekend with a free concert by Howard Jones on Saturday, September 3 at 9 p.m. on the 3rd Street Stage.  

Throughout the weekend visitors can also enjoy a stage extravaganza from The Nancy Rayguns; the original production show “VJ Invasion: Launch Date 8.1.81”; Las Vegas based premier cover band Venus Rising; the end of Blackwood’s countdown of her 100 greatest songs of the 80s on Viva Vision and a chance to travel Back to the Future with a rare 80s icon, a DeLorean DMC-12.

Fremont Street Experience’s three stages will be active every night of Labor Day weekend.

Howard Jones
Howard Jones is an English musician who first burst on to the contemporary music scene in 1983 with his first single New Song. His songwriting talent led to four more hits over the next 12 months, a UK Number 1 album, Human’s Lib that eventually went double platinum and his debut performance on BBC Television’s Top of the Pops. Thanks to repeated exposure on MTV, “New Song” and “What Is Love” became American Top 40 hits, while “Pearl in the Shell” became his third UK Top 10 single.

In the summer of 1984, Jones released his next worldwide hit “Like to Get to Know You Well” which reached Number 4 in the UK Singles Chart. The song also appeared in the film Better Off Dead (1985) and the computer game Grand Theft Auto: Vice Stories (2006).

In 1985, his second studio album, Dream into Action, album was released. One of the singles from this album, “No One Is to Blame,” was later re-recorded and featured Phil Collins as a drummer and producer. Dream into Action was a worldwide hit and Jones’ most successful album, reaching number 2 in the UK and number 10 (and going platinum) in the U.S. The album spawned the hit singles “Things Can Only Get Better,” “Life In One Day”, and “Look Mama.” In July 1985, Jones performed at Wembley Stadium as part of the Live Aid concert, singing his 1984 hit “Hide and Seek” while playing a piano belonging to Freddie Mercury. He also embarked on a world tour reaching Japan, Australia and the U.S.

In the spring of 1986 in the U.S., he released Action Play, an EP of remixes that featured a new version of “No One Is to Blame.” It became Jones’ biggest U.S. hit, peaking at number 4. Jones released his third studio album, One to One, in October 1986, which peaked at number 10 in the UK.

Jones’ followed with the albums Cross That Line (1989) and In the Running (1992) He had further hits on the Billboard charts in the U.S. during this period, including ‘Everlasting Love” (1989, his second #1 hit on the U.S. Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart after “No One Is to Blame”), and a greatest hits compilation The Best of Howard Jones was released in 1993. By 2005 (12 years after its release) it was certified Silver by the BPI for 60,000 copies sold.

Jones continues to tour extensively and will be playing multiple dates and festivals in 2011.

About “Nina Blackwood’s Absolutely 80s”
Blackwood, an original MTV VJ, is synonymous with ‘80s music, helping to set the musical tastes and trends still celebrated today. She continues to highlight the era that changed music forever with her radio shows on Sirius XM channel “80s on 8” and on syndicated radio shows “Nina Blackwood’s Absolutely 80s” and “Nina Blackwood’s New Wave Nation.” Blackwood is also revealing her personal 100 greatest songs of the ‘80s over the course of the 100-day celebration with one selection revealed every night on Viva Vision.