Trevor Horn made a surprise live appearance on Friday when he joined Sophie Grey for a version of Video Killed The Radio Star at the Forum in Kentish Town, London.
Grey is an electro-pop artist who harks back to the original golden age of the genre in the early 1980s - an era ushered in, of course, by The Buggles' hit. She’s putting in the live groundwork, and has supported artists as varied as Alison Moyet, Shaggy and, on his current UK jaunt, Sting. She wields a mean keytar, too.
In fact, Grey is a classically-trained pianist who was educated at the Thornton School of Music in California, where she was mentored by Patrice Rushen (yes, her of Forget Me Nots fame). She’s worked at Villager Recorder Studios in Los Angeles, so she has some serious chops.
As you can see, Horn joins her for the second verse and the pair perform a fairly faithful version of the 1979 Number One, with Grey providing the distinctive ‘oh-ah-oh’ vocal parts as Trevor gets busy on the bass.
The timing of the performance was apt, coming on the day Grey released a cover of Video Killed The Radio Star.
At 76, Trevor Horn shows no signs of slowing down. In fact he has a string of live dates at the end of this year, including a show at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London on December 20.
