Buddah Cowboy, Digital Farmer, Party Starter. Ask any house music lover whom knows him about John Howard and they will have something nice to say. Jon Bon Horny (as he’s known to his friends) has played his way through the best part of the '90s and along the way has graced almost every set of decks on the continent with his unique blend of deep, funky house.

An expert at staying under the publicity radar, John Howard's early career as a San Francisco DJ had him regularly playing with Mark Farina at the Boogie Buffet and playing alongside the Wicked crew (Markie, Jeno, Garth and Harvey) at their various, now-legendary events. Howard has a style that remains solidly West Coast. Deep and funky Chicago house sounds blend with sun-soaked jazz-funk vocals. John Howard, the quintessential San Francisco DJ's DJ.

John started DJing in 1993, San Francisco's infamous Summer of Love, out of the genuine need to express himself and his love of music (and do something interesting and creative, other than ride skateboards endlessly around the city). Since the early 1990s, John Howard has been one of the key players in the San Francisco house scene, but recently, he moved to New York City to prevent himself from becoming musically stagnant. To understand his reasoning, you have to recognize that back in San Francisco, John is treated with the same reverence afforded only to Mark Farina and the Wicked Crew. After DJing there for nearly a decade, he genuinely felt that he had accomplished everything possible in the San Francisco dance scene, and needed a new challenge—hence his move to the Big Apple.

Howard, however, still doesn’t take himself all too seriously, as he only wishes to produce more tracks, move the dancefloor with his celebrated style of chunky ass-shaking funk and skateboard once again. It all began at his friend Jay Valencia's studio in Marin County (North of San Francisco) with an old bi-amp mixer and some Nervous records. Thirty minutes later, John could mix relatively well (or so he thought!). Legend has it that he actually saw a light shine down on him and at that moment, knew, he had found his calling. His style is… something like this: Solid and smooth San Francisco mixing. Funk (a la Jeno and Thomas) fused with a large dose of Chicago style reckless mixing and track selection (a la Derrick Carter and Mark Farina) combined with his own brand of eclectic jazz funk and Bay Area radio influences from the late seventies and early Eighties… AND it's always funky! Currently, Howard is involved in several collaborations and evolving as a producer and writer, but still continues to play in San Francisco and the rest of the world, making frequent appearances at major clubs in Canada and the US.