Waite, John (4 July 1952

He is a singer-songwriter and bass player born John Charles Waite in Lancaster, England, who decided to move to London to pursue a career in music in 1970.

His early years as a professional career as a rock artist saw him becoming a member of the British group The Babys when it was formed in 1974. Although they were never a major success, they did have a firm fan base on their concert schedule and released the five album recordings The Babys, Broken Heart, Head First, Union Jacks and On the Edge respectively. They gained chart recognition for their songs “Isn’t It Time”, which reached No. 13 on the Billboard chart and No.45 in the UK in 1977, which was to be their only UK hit. Although having 7 other entries on the Billboard chart during the years the band were together, their song “Everytime I Think of You” only equalled “Isn’t It Time” when it made it also to the highest point at No. 13.

The Babys went their own separate ways in 1980 which was when John took the step of venturing out into his solo career. In 1982 he released Ignition as his debut solo album which produced the single “Change”. After a bumpy start and thanks to a popular accompanying video and being an AOR top track it entered the Billboard Chart after being re-issued, where it scraped into the Top 50. He followed it up with the less successful “Going to the Top”.

In 1984 everything would take a huge upturn when he released his million and a half selling second album No Brakes, which reached gold status in the US and platinum status in Canada, contained the song “Missing You”. This song, which has the same opening line as the title of The Baby’s second No. 13 Billboard hit, was catapulted to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard Album Rock Tracks charts and No. 9 in the UK. He followed that with the single “Tears” which didn’t find the same success but still made it to No. 8 of Billboard’s Mainstream Rock charts.

The next year he released Mask of Smiles which produced the singles “Every Step of the Way”. In 1986 “If Anybody Had a Heart” was released from the soundtrack of About Last Night…. and in 1987 he issued his Rover’s Return which gave him the Billboard Hot 100 No. 6 hit “These Times Are Hard For Lovers”.

In 1988 he took a break from his solo work to co-form the supergroup Bad English with two of The Baby’s ex-members and two other rock musicians. This was a good move for him as once again he saw success at the top of the charts with their album Bad English which hit platinum status in the US and the gold status No. 1 Billboard Top 100 song “When I See You Smile”. They released a further album Backlash in 1991 but after a total of 7 charting singles worldwide since they began in 1989 they decided to call it a day in 1992.

Going back to working as a solo artist he returned to the recording studio and released the album Temple Bar and the single “How Do I Get By Without You?” in 1995. The next year saw When You Were Mine.

Into the new millennium and Figure in a Landscape came out in 2001 which gave him the Billboard Adult Contemporary No. 27 hit “Fly”. He carried on with his own touring during this time and in 2003 became a touring member of Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band as well as providing additional vocals on Cyclorama by Styx.

2004 saw him releasing The Hard Way and the next year he toured with Journey as an opening act for them.

In 2006 he recorded “Missing You” as a duet with Alison Krauss which gave him an entry in The Country Chart’s Top 40 and in 2007 he released Downtown: Journey of a Heart.

The 2010s still sees him busy with him releasing the live In Real Time and appearing in the 2010 film New Day where he sings two songs and releasing his album Rough & Tumble in 2011.

Now residing in the United States he spent a long time in New York City before relocating to California to make his home in Santa Monica.

Sources:

Waite, John (4 July 1952–Present)

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