"To me, Howard Perdew was the guy who used to pile in the vehicle with my band, heading out to gigs before his incredible songwriting talent brought him global success. There was always something about being around him that made me feel important, like I had hit the big time. The big time came to him in a big way. I had so much respect for him and losing him hurt deeply, but I was thankful that he was no longer suffering.
He called me one day, not long before he passed. He wanted me to show him how to transpose his synthesizer keyboard. I suspected it was so he could play a complex song in a simple key (like C major), or maybe because he wanted to change the pitch of the notes to make it easier to sing something. I didn't ask why, not that it even mattered. I turned something that normally would have only taken a few seconds to figure out into a much longer conversation, because I wanted to soak in as much of him as I possibly could.
He said, "You should hear my version of "Peace in the Valley," and that's when reality hit me. He didn't have the breath to sing to me. He didn't try, and I didn't ask him to. I clung to every word he said to me that day, knowing the end might not be too far away. I wish I had been wrong. Howard always told everyone his gift from God was his love of music, but it was also his smile, the way he cared for people, and yes, the way he made you feel important."
Howard passed away on November 19, 2021. His song, "So Help Me Girl" by Joe Diffie, reached #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in 1995. Two years later, a pop version by Gary Barlow of the group, Take That, was released in 65 countries around the world and topped the charts in 13 of them.
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