DESCRIPTION:
'Is This My Love' was written by Norman 'Hurricane' Smith, who offered the song to John Howard in 1976 after playing it to him at his manager's office in London's Denmark Street (better known as 'Tin Pan Alley').

"Norman and I shared the same manager in the '70s and one day I was at 22 Denmark Street for a meeting and Norman walked in saying he had a new song which would 'be perfect' for me. He sat at the upright piano and played me 'Is This My Love'. I immediately loved it. Such a lovely song.

"Up to that point I had only recorded my own material but by Autumn 1976 my manager was having a real problem getting any record label interested in my songs. My deal with CBS had ended in the January that year and since then I had been performing in various London clubs like Blitz and April Ashley's AD8 as well as writing and demo'ing new material for Stuart to play to his A & R contacts. Punk had taken hold by then in a big way and my piano-led singer-songwriter material was not cutting the mustard any longer.

"Stuart felt that a song by an established and successful songwriter like Norman might be our new ticket to ride. He had enjoyed a No.1 hit in the USA a couple of years earlier (Oh Babe, What Would You Say) and had the added kudos of being The Beatles' engineer up to Rubber Soul and Pink Floyd's producer during the Syd Barrett years (See Emily Play for example). The fact that Norman had offered the song personally to me as well gave it an added attraction in terms of selling it to the record labels.

"In October '76 I went into Regent Sound Studios just across the road from Stuart's office and with producer Eddie Pumer and his studio band we put the track down. We all agreed it turned out rather well and Stuart started preparing tapes to take round to the record companies.

"A couple of days later I had an accident at my home, breaking my back and crushing my feet, which put me in hospital and out of action for six months. By the time I had recovered and was back on my feet it was Spring '77, I had met Trevor Horn and had written the song I Can Breathe Again, which Trevor produced with me singing falsetto on what became a Bee Gees-ish disco dance number. Within a couple of weeks Stuart had secured a deal for the track with Ariola Records and Norman's lovely ballad was, sadly, forgotten about.

"In 2010 I was looking for an extra track to put on the Special Edition version of my album 'Can You Hear Me OK? (which was first recorded in 1975 but not released until 2005 by RPM) and came across the reel-to-reel of 'Is This My Love'. I wanted something which fitted period-wise with the Biddu tracks from '75 and the Trevor Horn productions of '78 which RPM had included as bonus cuts on their 2005 release. This 1976 track fitted snugly between the two sets of recordings perfectly.

"Since its release in 2010 it has become one of my most streamed tracks, in 2012 it was my top streamed track in fact. It has also been picking up airplay on stations like Isles FM and Offshore Music Radio. I think the fact it was written by Norman has something to do with the interest surrounding it, but it's also a lovely song.

"Odd how these things happen out of the blue. It was an afterthought in many ways including it on Can You Hear Me OK?, and now it has become one of my most popular recordings!" - JH

Is This My Love can be downloaded from iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody, Amazon and many other good download stores. The CD of the Special Edition of 'Can You Hear Me OK?' can be bought by visitng John Howard's website www.kidinabigworld.co.uk and going to 'John's Shop'.