By Jenny Dean
Gan On editor Jenny Dean spoke to legendary producer Trevor Horn ahead of his headline show at Independent on December 4th, where he, along with his band, will play a selection of songs that he has produced, played, and sang on throughout his career.
Everyone has heard the famous Video Killed the Radio Star, and if you’ve listened to music at all since the 80s, you’ve heard Frankie Goes to Hollywood. If you’re on the more alternative side, then maybe t.a.t.u rings a bell? Or Belle and Sebastian for the more indie leaning crowd. The one thing that all of these songs and artists have in common is that they’ve all been produced or have some involvement with legendary producer and musician Trevor Horn.
Hailing from just down the road in Hetton-Le-Hole, Trevor Horn has made quite the name for himself over the last six decades, and has produced some of the biggest names in music, as well as creating his own musical projects along the way. As a result of his achievements, which include being nominated for Best British Producer at The BRITs nine times and taking home multiple wins, he has been dubbed ‘the man who invented the 80s’ by audiences and peers alike.
Horn lived in the North East until age 16, when he moved to Leicester with his family, but still has fond memories of the place he grew up. “I remember Sunderland when it had Roker Park [football stadium]. I used to go and see my Auntie Elsie when I was a kid, and we used to hear the crowd cheering. It’ll be nice to come back to Sunderland again.
Despite moving at a young age, the North East is where Trevor first started to play music, “I played places like Shotton Colliery Youth Club, and a few places in town. My lot came from Hetton, and I still go there sometimes, so I’m looking forward to playing.”
At the age of 21, Horn moved down to London to continue to pursue his career as a musician and producer, and despite the north in recent years starting to gain more traction in the arts, with more opportunities coming up our way—and monumental achievements such as Sunderland being named a music city in 2025—London has, historically, been the hub for anyone working in the creative sector, which Trevor can attest to.
“If you’re in the arts in any way, there’s 14 million people in London, so it’s much bigger, and most of the big companies are down here. So as a musician you are better off coming here, but whether or not that changes… but don’t forget, in the 60s, The Beatles came from Liverpool—no one had ever made it from Liverpool.”
Even though London has always been the place to be for those wanting to break into the music industry, when we look at things such as the Mercury Prize being hosted here for the second time in a row in 2026, last year’s winner being Sam Fender from North Shields, and this year’s nominees including JADE and Knats, both from the North East, we can appreciate how far our corner of the world has come in terms of visibility in the arts—and Horn certainly knows a little something about Mercury Prize nominations, as well as a plethora of other award achievements.
In 2004, Dear Catastrophe Waitress, an album released by indie-folk duo Belle and Sebastian, which Trevor Horn produced in its entirety, was nominated for the Mercury Prize. The win ultimately went to Franz Ferdinand that year, but Dear Catastrophe Waitress marked a significant new chapter for Belle and Sebastian. With Horn producing, the album shifted the band away from the sound that they were
known for, and marked a change in a new direction, leading them to achieve their highest charting single of their career at the time.
As well as music he has worked on and artists he has worked with achieving award nominations and wins, Trevor himself has a range of accolades as a producer. He has been nominated for Best British Producer at the BRIT Awards nine times, and of those nominations, has taken home the win three times. He is one of only three producers to win the award thrice, alongside Paul Epworth, and Sunderland born producer and musician Dave Stewart of Eurythmics.
“It’s always nice to get awarded, and recognition, because most of the time you’re in a little room in a basement of someplace working away with no real sort of contact with anybody, which is why it’s nice to get out and play on the stage. The funny thing is, when it actually happens to you, you appreciate it more in hindsight.”
Production methods have evolved since the 80s however, and in the modern age, anyone can make a song from their bedrooms; on a laptop, or even a phone, but there’s no experience quite like the studio. “It’s like being a chef. They cook and they make their own sauce and know how to do all kinds of stuff, but nowadays everybody’s a chef, but they just add water into stuff from a packet. That’s what record production is like.”
Trevor Horn has certainly had success in his methods as well, from the first monumental moment with Video Killed the Radio Star. Having sold over five million copies worldwide and topping charts in the United Kingdom, Australia, and even being a huge hit in Japan, the track catapulted Horn into the spotlight, both as a producer and artist:
“There’s nothing like massive success to change you as a person. I was quite lucky really. I was just about 30 when that record was a hit, and I’d been going for quite a while, but that was the first real big success that I had. It meant I got it right once so there’s a likelihood that maybe I would get it right again. When you put records out and they miss, you don’t know how much you missed by; it might only be an inch, but you don’t know that.”
That first hit opened a lot of doors for Horn, going on to sign and produce the likes of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Mike Oldfield, and Leanne Rimes. “It was like having a diploma on the wall. It was like my qualification.”
Now, Trevor Horn & His Band are heading to Sunderland on December 4th for a gig at Independent. It’s set to be a great night full of favourites, and tunes that are special to the man himself. “I’m looking forward to playing in Sunderland because it has so many memories for me, and northern people are much more enthusiastic. Down south they’re a little more restrained!”
Tickets for the show are available from www.independentsunderland.com at £35 (+BF).
