Grace Jones

From Frankie Goes to Hollywood to Grace Jones, ABC and Tatu, he gave pop some of its greatest, most forward-looking moments. He also sang for prog rockers ...

And as he’s showing me to the door, I ask what he’s working on in the studio downstairs. [Grace Jones](https://www.theguardian.com/music/grace-jones) to sing on Slave to the Rhythm, despite the fact that “she was in a state … Things that used to take him days can now be done “in a couple of mouse clicks”, but “there’s a sort of zen thing about having to spend a lot of time on something, having to do it very carefully, bit by bit”. “You notice that guys who write scores for movies never sue each other, and that’s because they all accept that this is going to be a bit like that, a bit like this.” she’d found out her boyfriend was cheating on her and set fire to all his clothes”. It didn’t have a chorus, it was really just a verse and a run-out.” The amount of time he and fellow Buggle Geoff Downes spent making it was the first instance of Horn’s celebrated perfectionism in the studio, which eventually led him to spend a reported £70,000 – a quarter of a million quid in today’s money – making Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s Relax. They had, in Horn’s memorable phrase, “something of the cruise ship about them”. “But because I was a bit weak, the band were playing out of their skins. [Owner of a Lonely Heart](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVOuYquXuuc). A house formerly owned by a Hollywood star, big enough to accommodate a huge recording studio: it’s the home of someone who’s done very well for himself, which of course, Horn has. “Bob Hoskins’ old thunderbox,” he smiles as he opens the door.