Howard Dwaine Dorough was born on August 22, 1973. His mother, Paula Flores-Dorough, is Puerto Rican, and his father, Hoke Dwaine Dorough (1938–2008), was an Irish American.

He is the youngest of five children, his oldest brother is John, and followed by three sisters, Pollyanna, also a singer, Angela "Angie" and Caroline, who died of lupus in 1998.

Around 2006, Howie began work on his first solo album. The album would include songs in Spanish/Latin as well as American. But he changed his mind about the style of the album since that his Spanish wasn't the best and he didn't want to be something he's not. Around 2010/2011, he started to work on the album which had a more pop/r&b style. Dorough's first solo album Back to Me was finally released on November 15, 2011.
In November 2011, Dorough joined Britney Spears for her Femme Fatale tour of South America. 

On May 9, 2019, he announced on Twitter and Instagram that his new solo album, "Which One Am I" will be released on July 12, 2019, after spending time behind the scenes preparing it.