THERE will be an emotional return to Manchester for Howard Jones later this month when he plays an acoustic gig at the Royal Northern College of Music.

For before he had a string of hits in the Eighties, the young Howard Jones was a student at the prestigious establishment.

"You won't find my name up there with the famous ex-pupils," he laughed. "I never completed my course. I did two-and-a-half years of my four year course but just felt that I had got as much out of it as I could and that I really needed go out and make my own music.

"I have been back before as I did a small gig there in the Nineties and I certainly have a lot of memories of the place, spending eight or nine hours in a rehearsal room every day will do that for you."

Although his tutors tried to persuade Howard to stay on and complete his course - "that was after they'd asked to hear me play something of my own" - he quit college early.

That decision certainly paid off with Howard's distinctive brand of synth pop and incisive lyrics making him a pop star on both sides of the Atlantic and, to date, he has sold over eight million albums worldwide.

With his new show, he will be looking back at his 30 year career and telling the stories behind some of his most famous songs such as New Song and What is Love? as well as playing them live.

"I have done a few of these shows," he said, "and the audience have all said they have found them fascinating.

"I think for fans it is quite revelatory when you hear of the events and circumstance behind the songs."

In some musical circles the Eighties are looked on with some scorn. But Howard is quick to defend the period.

"I don't really know what the Eighties are looked upon so dismissively," he said. "But we were never going to be mainstream rock and roll. The Eighties attracted a different type of person into music and it had such a breadth of styles from the likes of Kraftwerk to blue-eyed soul.

"I think of it as a golden era for pop, full of diversity and eclecticism, and if you look at it objectively it's a decade which has stood the test of time."

Howard was at the forefront of the electro-movement in the Eighties but his distinctive sound came about by accident.

"I bought an early Moog synthesiser from a music shop in London's Denmark Street," he said, "but when it arrived, for some reason they sent me two.

"I kept them both although I did pay for the second one and I found I was able to use one for the basslines and one for the lead lines. I also had an old drum machine and even while I was experimenting with this set up I got the sense of doing something that had not been done before.

"It was not until I went to play the songs live and heard them sound coming out of proper PA systems that I realised how powerful it was."

Mention Howard Jones to many music fans and they automatically associate him with Jed, the manic dancer who featured prominently in a lot of his videos.

"We're still in touch," said Howard.

"At the time it was the perfect fit as I was immersed in my electronic show and needed some kind of visual element for the audience. Jed had been to some of the shows and I'd seen him dancing away. He was a performance artist and a different character to me.

"At the shows everyone would look at him dancing so I just thought it would make sense to get him up on stage and make him part of the show."

Howard's rise from obscurity to pop stardom was rapid.

"It was like being on an express train," he said. "I didn't come from a showbiz background, I didn't have a masterplan, but I did enjoy it.

"Of course the music press hated me from the outset but I got used to that."

Audiences thinking of going to Howard's show later this month may be sceptical that it will not feature all the synths that made his name.

"The piano was where I wrote all those song," he said, "and I think pared down they really showcase how good basic songs were.

"Howard is still writing music including scores for films and he admits he's surrounded by "banks of exciting new equipment".

"I'm not a technocrat, I rely on others to set the things up and I don't study circuits an wiring," he said. I just want to move people with my music.

Howard Jones, Royal Northern College of Music, Thursday, February 18. Details from 0161 907 5200.