Howard Devoto Biography

Birth of Howard Devoto was born Howard Trotter

Devoto leaves The Buzzcocks; he returns to school for a year, then forms Magazine. Buzzcocks record and released a four-track EP, Spiral Scratch on their own New Hormones label, making them perhaps the first punk group to establish an independent record label

The Buzzcocks are formed by guitarist/singer Pete Shelley (real name Peter McNeish) and singer Howard Devoto (real name Howard Trafford), both students at Bolton Institute of Technology (now the University of Bolton)

Buzzcocks record and released a four-track EP, Spiral Scratch on their own New Hormones label, making them perhaps the first punk group to establish an independent record label

Co-founds Buzzcocks in Manchester, helping establish one of Britain's earliest punk bands.

Devoto meets John McGeoch, a guitarist, they begin writing songs together, they form a band and called "Magazine" with Devoto on vocals and McGeoch on guitar

Forms Magazine after leaving Buzzcocks, moving from direct punk toward a more experimental post-punk style.

Sings on Buzzcocks' independently released Spiral Scratch EP before leaving the group.

Magazine release Touch and Go as the band develops a more angular and experimental sound beyond first-wave punk.

Magazine's Shot by Both Sides enters the Official Singles Chart and reaches number forty-one.

Magazine's debut album Real Life enters the UK albums chart and reaches number twenty-nine.

Magazine release "Secondhand Daylight"

Magazine release Rhythm of Cruelty during their second year of sustained recording and touring.

Magazine release second album Secondhand Daylight, deepening the group's post-punk approach.

Simons replacement, Ben Mandelson, is on hand for Magazines final original album, Magic, Murder and the Weather. Devoto leaves the band, more or less ending the band since it was so closely identified with him

Devoto mounts a solo career, releasing "Jerky Versions of the Dream"

Devoto and guitarist Noko team up under the name Luxuria and release two albums, Unanswerable Lust (1988) and Beast Box (1990)

Shelley and Devoto teamed up for the first time since 1976, producing the album Buzzkunst, a play on the German word for "Art"