[citation needed] His father, Alf Grey, was a studio portrait and seaside holiday photographer who gave Howard, then aged six, a Zeiss Ikon Baby Box camera.
In May 1962 Grey took photographs of the arrival of the last West Indian migrants at Waterloo Station, London, before the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 came into force.
In 1974 Academy Editions, London, commissioned Philippe Garner with Grey, to author a seminal book on the decorative arts of Émile Gallé.
For Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Grey travelled to Philadelphia with the lead singer of The Three Degrees, Sheila Ferguson, to supply all photography for her recipe book Soul Food – Classic Cuisine From The Deep South.
In 2023, The Royal Mint introduced a special edition of a 50 pence coin to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the first arrivals of West Indian immigrants to the UK.