[5] After leaving school, Christian Brothers College, St. Kilda (1963–1967), Howson's first job was with Melbourne radio station 3UZ as office boy.
Eventually promoted to panel operator, he worked on John McMahon's popular weekly show Radio Auditions (see 3UZ).
DJ Stan Rofe signed Howson to a recording deal and produced his first single: "Seventeen Ain't Young" (written by Jeff Barry)[2] / Hide and seek (Richie Adams, Mark Barkan)[2] performed by "Frankie Howson" (1969)[7] who was seventeen during recording, it became a Top 40 hit in Melbourne.
He signed New romantic band Pseudo Echo and co-wrote their songs Autumnal Park and Destination Unknown with Tony Lugton,[3] they later had a 1987 No.
Howson and Allan Zavod wrote Time Can't Keep Us Apart[2] which won the 1987 Asian Popular Song contest performed by Kate Ceberano[9] to an estimated TV audience of 500 million.
[1] In the early 1970s, Howson met fellow actor Barry Ferrier while they were both appearing in the original Australian production of Jesus Christ Superstar, and the two men subsequently collaborated on a number of theatre-related projects.
[10] Later that year, Howson and Ferrier released a concept recording of a follow-up children's musical, entitled The Boy who dared to dream, performed by Trevor White, pop singer Mark Holden and actors John Waters and Tommy Dysart.
Both were initially staged at the Alexander Theatre at Monash University.. Boulevard Films was a production company on Errol St, North Melbourne.
[5] Howson later completed writing his memoirs on the film industry[6] A Life in the Circus, and wrote songs for Steve Housden's (Little River Band lead guitarist) solo album.
According to a profile in Filmink Howson's films: Explore recurring themes as much as any auteur: the culture clash between Australia and the US, the importance of artists remaining relevant, what constitutes selling out, the sacrifices to “make it” in show business, the struggles of middle-aged men, a love of theatre and music, the difficulty of maintaining a long-term romantic relationship, adoring shots of Melbourne (Howson could be perhaps the most Melbourne-philic film producer of them all).