The TKO Horns were horn section

Horn section

In music, a horn section can refer to several groups of musicians. It can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play the horn . In a British-style brass band it refers to the tenor horn players. In popular music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrumentalists who augment a...

 formed in 1982 when Big Jim Paterson (trombone

Trombone

The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...

), Paul Speare

Paul Speare

Paul George Speare is a former member of Dexys Midnight Runners, The TKO Horns and The Expresso Bongo Orchestra.He was born to Reginald and Julia Speare, in Romford, Essex. He attended Dagenham County High School where he started playing drums, piano and viola when he was 15 years of age. At 16...

 (tenor saxophone) and Brian Maurice (alto saxophone) left Dexys Midnight Runners

Dexys Midnight Runners

Dexys Midnight Runners are a British pop group with soul influences, who achieved their major success in the early to mid 1980s. They are best known for their songs "Come On Eileen" and "Geno", both of which went No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart....

. After a brief spell touring with Paul Young

Paul Young (singer and guitarist)

Paul Antony Young is an English pop musician. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & The Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, his following solo success as a solo recording artist turned him into a 1980s teenage pop idol...

's Q Tips they began performing on a regular basis with Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...

. Another former Dexy's sax player, Geoff Blythe, soon replaced Maurice and Dave Plews (trumpet) was added as The TKO Horns featured prominently on Costello's 1983 album Punch The Clock

Punch the Clock

Punch the Clock is an album released in 1983 by Elvis Costello and the Attractions. It was Costello's eighth album, his seventh with the Attractions since 1978. The album featured Costello's first U.S...

.

Over the next few years they performed on records by numerous other artists including Madness

Madness (band)

In 1979, the band recorded the Lee Thompson composition "The Prince". The song, like the band's name, paid homage to their idol, Prince Buster. The song was released through 2 Tone Records, the label of The Specials founder Jerry Dammers. The song was a surprise hit, peaking in the UK music charts...

, Squeeze, Nick Lowe

Nick Lowe

Nicholas Drain "Nick" Lowe , is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer.A pivotal figure in UK pub rock, punk rock and new wave, Lowe has recorded a string of well-reviewed solo albums. Along with vocals, Lowe plays guitar, bass guitar, piano and harmonica...

, Howard Jones

Howard Jones (musician)

Howard Jones is a musician, singer and songwriter. According to the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums, "Jones is an accomplished singer-songwriter who was a regular chart visitor in the mid 1980s with his brand of synthpop. Jones, who was equally popular in the U.S., appeared at Live...

 and The Fixx

The Fixx

The Fixx is an English rock band formed in London in 1979. Their hits include "One Thing Leads to Another," "Red Skies," "Stand or Fall," "Saved by Zero," "Sign of Fire," "Are We Ourselves?," "Secret Separation," "Driven Out," "How Much Is Enough?," and "Deeper and Deeper," which was featured on...

. Paul Speare also appeared on The Special A.K.A.'s Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...

while Paterson and Blythe teamed up again in 1989 as part of a group called The Neighbourhood. More recently Blythe has been a member of Irish-American rock group Black 47

Black 47

Black 47 are a New York City based celtic rock band with Irish Republican sympathies, whose music also shows influence from reggae, hip hop, folk and jazz...

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