Singer John Charles Waite was born in Lancaster, England on July 4th 1955. His music career began as the lead singer for the British band The Babys. The Babys released five albums and reached a peak in popularity when they played a concert in front of 90,000 fans at a rock festival at the L.A. Coliseum in 1979. After disappointing album sales the group broke up in 1980.
Waite’s solo music career was launched in 1982 when his song “Change” was included on the soundtrack for the popular movie Vision Quest. He then released his album No Brakes, which included the song “Missing You”. “Missing You” quickly moved to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart, which resulted in the album selling over a million copies.
In 1988 Waite joined with former members of The Babys Johnathan Cain and Ricky Phillips to form the successful group Bad English. The first Bad English album contained the ballad “When I See You Smile”, which went to #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. The album sold over two million copies and reached #5 on Billboard’s top albums of the year.
Since the success of Bad English, John Waite has returned to solo work. He has subsequently released five solo albums, and frequently goes on tour with artists such as Ringo Starr and Alison Krauss.
Videoclip of John Waite and Alison Krauss performing “Missing You”
