Howard Brown

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Howard Sebastian Brown is a figurehead and employee of HBOS plc, who own both Bank of Scotland and Halifax Bank (previously the Halifax Building Society) in the United Kingdom. He was born in Sheldon, Birmingham, England.

Contents 1 Rise to fame in the UK 2 Ouside of adverts 3 Public image 4 Other Halifax adverts

[edit] Rise to fame in the UK

Howard rose to fame when he was selected to spearhead a new advertising drive for the bank in 2000, which featured several employees singing about the bank to the tunes of well known pop music tracks. Howard was the first and most popular of these employees, and has gone on to star in several adverts for Halifax, both in person and in animated form. His debut advert saw him sing "Extra", a song with new lyrics to the tune of "Sex Bomb" (originally by Mousse T featuring Tom Jones). He has also appeared singing "I'll Give You Extra" (to the tune of "Angel" by Shaggy) in 2002; and "It's a first, at last, My Extra Thing" (to the tune of "You’re the First, the Last, My Everything" by Barry White) in 2005. He has also made cameo appearances in other Halifax adverts, featuring other employees of Halifax singing "Just a Little" (originally by Liberty X) in 2003; "Saving" (to the tune of "Sailing" by Gavin Sutherland, hit by Rod Stewart) in 2004; and "We Give You Extra" (to the tune of "Nu Flow" by Big Brovaz) in 2006.

In January 2002 an animated version of Brown began appearing in adverts, voiced by Paul Shearer, a London actor. According the advertising agency Delaney Lund Knox Warren, which produced the campaign, the change was made in order to save money. [1] However, the real Howard Brown has continued to appear in the live-action adverts.

Howard told Reuters that "Being in the advertising campaign has changed my life tremendously. I sometimes feel like a popstar. People recognise me everywhere I go" [2]

[edit] Ouside of adverts

• Howard's rendition of "You’re the First, the Last, My Everything" was released as a charity single and hit No. 13 on the UK Singles Chart in 2005.

• He also had a cameo role in one of the final special episodes of the hit TV comedy The Office, as himself.

• Howard and the "who gives you extra?" slogan are so well recognised in Britain that he was even name-dropped by Lenny Henry at the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Public image

According to Akin Ojumu, writing in The Observer, Howard has been part of a new wave of positive representations of black people. Howard commented on this: "Of course I'm proud to be involved in something that has done well. I think we are making progress in the way we are represented" [3]

[edit] Other Halifax adverts

The latest addition to the Halifax advertisement team is Natalie webster from Sheffield, singing a version of 'Think', in which Howard also makes a quick appearance.

The advert was filmed over seven days in Johannesburg, South Africa, 300 extras were used for larger scenes, including almost 70 trained dancers. Howard Brown also features

Award-winning Michael Rooney, son of legendary actor Mickey, choreographed the advert. Michael's music videos include Kylie's Can't Get You Out Of My Head, which won his fourth MTV award for Best Choreography.