He was a sought after session musician, particularly in horn sections in the 1970s, recording and/or touring with groups including Paul McCartney and Wings, T. Rex, The Who, ABC and The Roy Young Band.
He was born in Huyton, Liverpool to Thomas and Stella (Sarah) Casey, and started playing saxophone in his teens.
As Derry and the Seniors, the group performed in local venues, and in May 1960, after appearing in a show headed by Gene Vincent, were invited to audition for the role of backing band for Liverpool star Billy Fury.
Although they did not win the audition, they were invited by Fury's manager Larry Parnes to go to London to perform at the 2i's Coffee Bar in Soho.
The Seniors travelled to Germany and played regularly in Hamburg over the summer of 1960, later being joined there by rival Liverpool group, the Beatles.
Visconti then asked him to work with Paul McCartney – who Casey had not met for several years, since the Beatles' success – on the Wings album Band on the Run, recorded in 1973.
He also played on the studio albums Wings at the Speed of Sound (1976) and Back to the Egg (1979), and as part of the "Rockestra" at the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea (1979).
[10] Casey's third wife Sheila sang with her sister Jeanette as The McKinleys, who made several records and toured in the early 1960s,[11] and provided backing vocals for the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Hollies and others.
[12] In the early 1980s Howie and Sheila Casey formed The Slobs, a rhythm and blues, soul and rock and roll band comprising locally based session musicians.