www.davidhowiemusic.com

I was born in 1961, the 7th of 8 kids. I've been a life-long Catholic except for a 5 year period where I put God on the "back-burner" for the most part. I was an altar boy all thru grade school and high school, was involved in music ever since the 3rd grade, and began writing songs at 15; 2 years after I got my first guitar on December 25,1974! I taught myself how to play by listening to the radio and taping songs and then painstakingly going thru sections of songs til I got better. This was a long process, but I enjoyed every second of it.

When I graduated from high school I started attending daily Mass for a summer and then went to the local Jr. College. It was about this time that I stopped going to Mass. I had no real reason to stop, I just stopped. I then met some other friends who had a band and were actually writing their own stuff and playing out on occasion. I began running lights for their shows and opening for them once in awhile, with my own songs. That band broke up and 2 members asked me to move to Georgia with them and form a new band. So I moved to Georgia and the 3 of us lived,worked,wrote and recorded together. It was a magical time actually, one that I won't forget.

The 3 of us got into talking about deep subjects alot. We explored the nature of reality through various methods. We read books, shared thoughts,conducted experiments,interpreted our dreams and ideas.All along I had set the idea of God completely aside and was looking heavily into the idea of "creating my own reality". In the end this removed God from my heart and mind. I got further and further out towards realitys' edges and I fooled myself into believing many things that the Holy Spirit later showed me to be false.


The 3 of us got signed to CBS Records in the middle 80's under the band name Rainpeople. We wrote,recorded and released a record and video and toured several of the major cities in the U.S., went home to Ga. to start preparing for the band and touring and then CBS dropped us.
Not long after this, the other 2 members took me for a stroll, and kindly and with great sensitivity kicked me out of the "band". They said they wanted to make music by themselves. So, there I was, working as a Restaurant Mgr. and the satellite music that the store subscribed to was playing, you guessed it, the single off that record I had just recorded 6 months prior! It was like a bad twilight zone episode.
Anyway- I interviewed for a job in Illinois that my brother Allen helped me with and I got the job, moved make to Illinois, and felt a chapter in my life end.

The next chapter of faith began when I bumped into Cindy Gifford (an old high-school chum) at a bar! I was pretty beat up by then, and her genuine compassion and care was like a spring of water to a dying man. Over the next several days we had looooong talks on the phone and the Holy Spirit used her to a large degree. God was gently waiting outside the door of my heart all along. I went to a daily Mass in Lent with Cindys Mom & Dad (legends of faith in their own right), and was absiolutely bowled over by the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The prayers of the liturgy were (and still are) like honey from the comb. It was an experience with Truth Incarnate! I later went on a TEC (Teens Encounter Christ) even though I was too old to go, they let me attend anyway! This retreat sealed this change of heart for me. I had a 2 hour long confession with an amazing priest and once again felt Gods grace.

Not long after this, Cindy recommended I write "Christian music". I said no at first, because I felt that the Christian music always sounded like the same producer was making all the records, and the same writers were writing all the overly-emotional trick songs. Then I heard Steven Curtis Chapman! Everything changed. I wrote 6 Christian songs in 1 week. Cindy & I formed "Sons & Daughters" a christian folk-rock act that started in 1992 and recorded 4 albums. We played 100's of shows in several states, appeared on telthons and 2 times on "Life On The Rock" on EWTN. In April of 2006, the band retired (all of us became parents in the life of the band-need I say more). Since then I've record 2 records: Become Golden- a secular record that still has God in the mix if you ask me; and Hang Onto Your Hope- a prayer record I wrote around the time of JPIIs' death.

In June of 1998 I began attending Daily Mass (Church is only a 2 block walk) and I began praying the Liturgy Of The Hours. These 2 single items have changed me for the better more than anything else in my life.
Now I'm playing as a solo performer in coffeehouses,restaurants,small clubs, and churches and I'm recording my 7th cd for Catholic Kids Net!
My deepest joy comes from sharing songs about Christ and my life with Christ. I am blessed to still have people who want me to sing songs and tell stories. I have an amazing wife, 2 great kids, and a Diocese that puts me to work! I am a grateful son. I am also an expert Sinner.