He also played the role as the singing narrator "Songster" in the 1987 live production of the Masters of the Universe Power Tour based upon the Mattel He-Man series action figures.

Born in Englewood, New Jersey; he is the only child of actor Patience Jarvis and opera singer Joseph E. Howard, Jr. His stepsister by his mother's second marriage is Amanda Naughton, co-star of the AMC Network sitcom Remember WENN.

Howard soon thereafter found himself playing in local and then regional cover bands on what was then referred to as the "New York/New Jersey circuit" of clubs and bars that he would otherwise not have been allowed into except as a paid performer due to his "underage" status.

In 1989, Howard was invited to join an album project titled Stun Leer as its lead vocalist which was being produced in Boston by Bob St. John and Anthony Resta.

A few years later, by virtue of a few leaks of the material, the album had become a file-sharing sensation in the UK, Europe, and Japan on the burgeoning Napster file sharing network.