I was born and raised in Brooklyn NY and when the 60s rolled around I immediately became hooked on The Beatles, Dylan, The Stones, The Kinks, The Hollies, The Young Rascals, etc, etc, etc. By 1965, while attending James Madison High School, I became equally fanatic about playing the drums. Along the way to achieving a B.A. in Music at Long Island University I played in a thousand different bands but studying and practicing the drumset always remained at the top my priorities. Shortly after my release into the real world in 1975, I got a break and found myself playing drums at the Ethel Barrymore Theater on Broadway in "The Night That Made America Famous", a show based on the music of, and starring singer/songwriter Harry Chapin.

Later that year, after the closing of that show, I was added to Harry's touring band and so began seven years of 800+ worldwide concerts, TV appearances, and recording (six LPs including the platinum album "Greatest Stories Live"). My Chapin band days ended sadly however with the tragic death of Harry in 1981 after which I carried on as drummer for hire. Till this day I still fill in my gigging calendar with a variety of rock, pop, blues, R&B, and country dates as well as weddings, parties, etc.

I am also quite pleased regarding my reunion with the Chapin family with whom I performs several times a year in either of two types of shows. 1) The Steve Chapin Band, which includes myself and Big John Wallace. Since 1991 the three of us have toured North America delighting Chapin fans with both Harry's and Steve's beautiful songs. In 2005 John's son Clark and Steve's son Jonathan were added to the band as guitar players. 2) Beginning in 2001, The Steve Chapin Band began performing with Tom Chapin, his three daughters (Jessica, Abigail, and Lily, AKA The Chapin Sisters), and Harry's daughter Jen Chapin in a show entitled "Harry Chapin: A Celebration In Song" which focuses strongly on Harry's most loved songs as well as others by Steve, Tom, The Chapin Sisters, and Jen.

In addition to that, I began teaching drumset, guitar, and piano in 1980. A clientele of 30-40 students always keep my Bergenfield NJ studio hopping. Beyond that, my educational efforts are further highlighted by more than 20 drum transcription books I've written for Warner Brothers Music, Hal Leonard Publishing, and The Cherry Lane Music Co. with the transcribed artists including Metallica, The Doors, The Dave Matthews Band, Guns N' Roses, Buddy Rich, and Gene Krupa. I've also written several articles for Modern Drummer and Down Beat magazine as well as my own, self-published "The Drum Teacher", a book that many in the international drumming community consider the best teaching aid available for those wanting a painless jump-start on the drumset.

In a distinctly different arena of the music world, Howard is an archivist of concert ads, 1960s to 1980s, in the rock, pop, hard rock, R&B, heavy metal, and jazz genres. He, via his online business RockPaper.net, is sought by authors, journalists, film makers, and TV producers to provide concert ads that help to accent their projects. Countless fans and collectors of innumerable bands and artists also take advantage of his service.

Outside of concert ads he also is a collector and dealer of concert posters, handbills, ticket stubs, concert programs, promo items, and all other types of odds & ends music memorabilia.