Born in Sheffield England and now living in New Jersey USA, Ron worked with many bands from his home town before leaving England in 1964 with the band the Rockin Berries. They played army bases in France and this eventually led to meeting up with Derek (Mo) Moore and forming the band the Upsetters playing the US army bases in Germany.

Ron then went to Greece where they recorded a cover version of the hit Sunny and did several TV and club shows before returning to Germany where they supported many acts including the Everly Brothers / The Platters and Bill Lawrence amongst many of the American bands touring in Europe at the time. About that time Ron met Allen (taff) Freeman and formed the band Prophecy which was the predecessor to Nektar.

They started playing a lot of clubs in Germany for two week periods mostly near the army bases. It was shortly after this at the Star Club in Hamburg that Ron bumped into Roye Albrighton who was with his band Rainbows at the Top Ten Club around the corner.

After the departure of Prophecy’s guitarist Colin, Roye was asked to come over to Germany to join them, and so after a quick change of name, Nektar was born.

Ron has always been an integral founder member of Nektar. He appears on all of Nektars albums with the exception of Man in the Moon [1980] and Prodigal Son [2001]. Everything else bears the unique stamp of Ron Howden. Ron actively keeps his hand in playing live whenever he can with whoever he can.

As a musician Ron Howden is unique, as a drummer he is unmistakable. To watch him perform on his instrument is like watching a fine tuned well balanced timepiece, and Nektars music would not be what it is today without his expert touch.

Ron Howden plays and records using Cadeson drums. On Book of Days, Ron can be heard playing the latest Cadeson "Blast" kit.

Ron Howden plays Cadeson Drums and Sabian Cymbals http://cadeson.com and http://sabian.com

My very first musical passion at the age of 11 were The Beatles with their albums “Rubber Soul” and “Sgt. Pepper”. When I started playing the piano two years later, the urge arose to become musically active myself.

At the age of 16 I played my first gig with my band “Stunk Band”. We developed ‘cult status’ around Göttingen in the mid seventies. Our idols were Yes, Gentle Giant and Deep Purple. My heroes at the time and until now were: Brian Auger, KeithEmerson, George Duke, Jan Hammer and of course, Jon Lord. Also, because of his vocal qualities, Paul Carrack, who I admired as member of Warm Dust and last but not least Don Airey, now keyboard player with Deep Purple, who I then saw playing with Colloseum II.

But there was certainly another band which we truly admired: Nektar. They frequently played in our area and what unforgetable moments we had: Their unique light shows, wow… what a trip!!

After finishing school I worked as a male nurse, followed by attending to civilian service in Hamburg 1978. Obviously my passion for Rock’n Roll was even stronger…and I started my career as a professional musician with the Jutta Weinhold Band, playing heavy Rhythm’n Blues, later on working for Klaus Schulze’s IC Label as a studiomusician.

After moving to Hannover in 1983, I played with the Krautrockband Jane with PeterPanka. During the nineties I had my own poprock project Two are One and worked with Klaus Hess’ Mother Jane. In the mid nineties, after becoming the pianoplayer for Big Mama & The Golden Six I developed a strong interest in Gospel music, which was to become my passion even until now.

In 1998 we reunited the Jutta Weinhold Band, which I mainly ignited and produced. Due to an offer in 2002 Jutta decided that she would rather turn to Metal.

Since then Gospel with Big Mama has been my main focus and, amongst others, featuring Johnny Logan whom I accompanied on the piano.

All bands/projects earlier mentioned produced records, in the case of Big Mama also a live DVD.

In addition to this I contributed towards many studio recordings in Hannover.

Nevertheless my love for hardrock as well as progrock never ceased, the main reason why I am truly looking forward to this new challenge with Nektar. It seems to me thatstarting in my youth the course of my musical development becomes full circle.

Of course, being a keyboarder of the “oldschool” I call a Hammond M3 my own, which I don`t carry around with me but use for work in the studio. My live setup contains a Roland A 90 expanded, which I value above all for its solidness, various expanders, as well as my “pocket”-Hammond, an XB1 with a Hughes & KettnerRotosphere, an 8 Channel Ibanez RM 80 Mixer for submixingand a Yamaha Aktive Box KS 100 as monitor, which I consider just as reliable.

I started listening passionately to music around the age of 12 with bands like Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep and Pink Floyd.

At age 15, there arrived other bands and their albums like Santana, Jimi Hendrix, CSN&Y and of course ... Nektar.
Then my interests became more and more extended to some jazzy stuff like Softmachine, Return to Forever, Weather Report, John McLaughlin and a lot of artists from the ECM label like Eberhard Weber, Pat Metheny, Terje Rypdal, Ralph Towner, Jan Garbarek.
Joni Mitchel also became an important part of my life, not least because of the genious bass playing of Jaco Pastorius.

The artists I have mentioned here are more or less the music that I am still listening to and enjoy it until today.
At 18 I had my first real concert engagements with a band called “Eisland” who were a mixture of Gentle Giant and Supertramp, and at age 21, I then decided to turn pro.

Since then I have played and recorded with so many different artists, it’s hard to remember them all, however, I couldn’t think of anything else I would rather do with my life than play music.
I am playing or recording on a regular basis with the likes of Running Wild, Uli Jon Roth, Heinz Rudolf Kunze, Yargos, Jutta Weinhold, Steinwolke, Hannes Bauer, and of course now Nektar.

My playing can be heard on many CD’s (around 25 to date) and hopefully many more to come.

I have always been a lover of the Fender Jazz bass and at the moment I am playing a custom built 5 string by Ralph Boerjes, this is my main instrument, although I do sometimes use an Ibanez fretless 5 string.

I also love the stand bass, and have been known to play this on occasion.

I am not so fussy about my amplification for the bass, as long as I have my trusty Hartke 4x10 cabinet along with me, this projects the sound I like and adds to my playing style.