Howard was first introduced to Johnny Nash circa 1972 when he supplied a custom console and the kit for Johnny’s first UK Tour.

His first introduction to Bob Marley was by Johnny Nash when Johnny brought Bob to the Howard Conder Music Centre as they supplied a custom audio console and the kit for Johnny Nash’s tour in the UK.

The company Conder Enterprises also supplied most of the musical instruments Johnny needed for his recording sessions including his Album “I can see clearly now” which was a huge success selling 7 million records.

The Howard Conder Music Centre
8 Eden Street Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, UK

Supplying musical kit to Johnny Nash who was signed to CBS Records and CBS was one of Howard’s clients as was Decca and a few other Record Labels at the time.

Bob Marley wrote some of the songs which were on Johnny’s album, “I Can See Clearly Now”.
Bob wrote “Stir it Up” and ” Guava Jelly”.

It is believed that Johnny Nash brought Bob Marley over from Jamaica to the UK, hoping to get him a recording contract with CBS Records.

Howard does business with Bob Marley, Johnny Nash and many more Top Ten Groups

The Howard Conder Music Centre came about as Howard and Annette’s apartment, as huge as it was, was getting so packed with so much of the rental musical kit that they could hardly move about.

Sometimes there would be three Hammond organs, a Mellotron 400, Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric pianos and that’s not mentioning all the guitars like two very special Martin guitars. One was a 12 string and the other a 6 string D45 which were made in the 1940s which the Moody Blues rented both many times. Such amazing guitars many times.
Howard says that these guitars today would fetch hundreds of thousands of pounds in an auction.

So, with all these instruments filling up the Conder apartment, they thought it was time to take on commercial premises.

They found what was a huge furniture shop on three floors at number 8 Eden Street Street of kingston upon thames to be precise.  The premises comprised of 3 floors at the main part of the store (8 Eden Street) and on the third floor of the shop next door.  They had fourteen members of staff where they sold and rented out musical instruments to mainly the top recording artists of the day.  They had a complete range of musical instruments from guitars, drums, and percussion to brass and woodwind and pianos, Mellotrons, Hammond B3 and C3 organs, and Wurlitzer and Fender Rhodes electric pianos.

Howard took out a 21-year lease that also included the 3rd floor of the shop next door which was used as a repair workshop. By the way, Roger Giffin worked from that repair shop where he made his custom guitars which have been selling across the world for decades now. His clients included Eric Clapton, Pete Townsend, and Jimmy Page.

Howard supplied just about every musical instrument that existed.  He supplied kit directly to the musicians and indirectly through their record companies such as The Moody Blues, Mark Bolan, Small Faces, Gary Glitter, The Rolling Stones, guitarist Gary Moore and so many other music artists of the day.

Because of Howard’s love for music and record production, He had his own little recording studio on the top floor of #8 Eden Street, which was recently converted into an apartment.

This was where Bob Marley and the Whalers agreed to rent Howard’s studio to rehearse for they were working on an album that they hoped CBS Records would fund and release on their label.

Sadly, CBS Records, turned down signing Bob Marley, however, Bob Marley and the Whalers eventually signed with Island Records as Chris Blackwell loved their music… who wouldn’t 😀

Conder Enterprises supplied most of the musical kit for the studio sessions for “I can see Clearly Now” which was a very lucrative project for Howard and when Bob and his band were finished rehearsing in the studios which must have been at least a month or two, Howard really got to know the man himself, a quiet gentle soul, very humble and polite and obviously a very talented individual.

Howard just loved reggae, the rhythm was infectious, and he remembers asking the drummer of the Whalers to show him how to perform the One Drop beat with the kick drum played on the offbeat and before long Howard got onto the drum kit and started to play it along with the Whalers.  All good fun and such great memories.

Worth mentioning here is that Johnny Nash was a delight to work with as well as Bob Marley, says Howard. 

To Howard, one of the most important characteristics of Bob Marley was his spiritual discernment and his insight into the history of mankind, that we were created from the beginning with a purpose and he also saw into the future, understanding what our eventual destiny could be and in the meantime, no matter what we go through in this life and just as he sang in his most popular song of all time, “One Love”, LET’S GET TOGETHER AND FEEL ALL RIGHT.

Howard recites some of the lyrics from One Love and you will see that Bob really was a preacher!!!

“Hear the children crying (One love) Hear the children crying (One heart) Saying ‘give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right Sayin’ let’s get together and feel all right’.

There is one question I’d really love to ask is there a place for the hopeless sinner? Who has hurt all mankind just to save his own?

As it was in the beginning so shall it be in the end (One heart), all right Give thanks and praise to the LORD, and I will feel all right Let’s get together and feel all right.

Let’s get together to fight this Holy Armageddon so when the man comes there will be no, no doom. Have pity on those whose chances grow thinner There ain’t no hiding place from the father of creation……

Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right Let’s get together and feel all right.

Songwriters: Curtis Mayfield / Bob Marley
At the time, Howard had no idea Bob wrote the song together with Curtis Mayfield who was someone else I used to listen to when he was only 17 years old and a great influence on Howard’s own musical tastes

As Howard was extremely busy running his rental company, he didn’t want to be managing the new Music Store, therefore he took on his brother-in-law Derek Ratcliffe and between them they formed a company and used a new corporate entity to handle all the new retail aspects of the music business e.g., sales of Guitars, Drums, Woodwind, Strings, Sheet Music and any other music retail business. Meanwhile, Howard and his wife still ran Conder Enterprises which handled all the rental business.

When they opened the Music Store circa 1970, they had fourteen members of staff and the premises looked amazing. Howard was hoping that his brother-in-law would soon be able to get into handling the music sales as Derek had come from being a Woolworths Store Manager very much like Howard’s father was before being paralysed, therefore Howard felt reassured the day to day running of the new music store would be ok in Derek’s care.

Amongst many of the famous music artists of the late 60s and early 70s that used to conduct business with Howard were two icons and now Legends: Bob Marley and Johnny Nash. We will come back to this story later under the heading: “How Howard Conder met Bob Marley”.