John Waite - WikiHQ

John Charles Waite (born 4 July 1952) is an English rock musician. As a solo artist, he has released ten studio albums and is best known for the 1984 hit single "Missing You", which reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the top ten on the UK singles chart. He was also the lead vocalist for the rock bands the Babys and Bad English.

Early life and education

Waite was born and raised in Lancaster, Lancashire, and a solid following of their concert tours. Over the course of five years, the band produced five albums ending with the final album On the Edge in October 1980, after which the group disbanded.

Solo work

Waite subsequently launched his solo career with his 1982 debut album Ignition, which produced the hit single "Change". The Chrysalis 45 failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 during its initial release (May 1982) but was a top track on AOR radio stations, as well as a very popular music video on MTV as the 'new' cable channel celebrated its first full year of operation. The song was originally recorded in 1981 (with slightly different lyrics) by the American rock band Spider (which featured Amanda Blue, Holly Knight, and Anton Fig) and in 1985 was included on the platinum-selling Vision Quest soundtrack. When the single was reissued, it reached the Top 60 on the Hot 100. "Going to the Top" was released as the original follow-up single to "Change".

In 1984, Waite guest-starred on three episodes of the TV series Paper Dolls. The shows featured his songs "Missing You" and "Tears".

Waite's next album, No Brakes, resulted in international success. It knocked Tina Turner's "What's Love Got To Do With It?" out of No. 1. For that very reason, Turner later recorded and released Waite's smash song herself. (Turner's single peaked at No. 84 on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1996). "Missing You" also hit No. 1 on Billboards Album Rock Tracks as well as the Top 10 of Billboards Adult Contemporary chart. No Brakes sold over a million and a half US copies, yet has never been certified above the RIAA Gold standard (a record company must apply to the RIAA for such certification). Two more singles from No Brakes followed, including "Tears" which was a Top 10 hit on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.

The next album Mask of Smiles followed in 1985, In January 2023, a federal judge ruled that Waite and hundreds of other artists could not join forces to sue UMG to regain control of their masters, saying the case raised big questions about “fairness” but that it was ill-suited for class-action litigation. Waite's lawsuit was settled in March 2024.

Documentary

Waite was the subject of 2022 biographical documentary John Waite: The Hard Way.

Personal life

Waite has lived in Santa Monica, California since 2014. He previously lived in New York City.

Discography

Studio albums

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

! rowspan="2"| Year

! rowspan="2"| Album details

! colspan="4"| Peak chart positions

! rowspan="2"| Certifications (sales threshold)

|- style="font-size:smaller;"

! style="width:40px;"| UK

! style="width:40px;"| AUS

! style="width:40px;"| SWE

! style="width:40px;"| US

| 1982

| style="text-align:left;"| Ignition

| —

| 68

| 1984

| style="text-align:left;"| No Brakes

| 64

| 27

| —

| 10

| style="text-align:left;"|

| 1985

| style="text-align:left;"| Mask of Smiles

| —

| 36

| 1987

| style="text-align:left;"| Rover's Return

| —

| 99

| 30

| 77

| 1995

| style="text-align:left;"| Temple Bar

| —

| 1997

| style="text-align:left;"| When You Were Mine

| —

| 2001

| style="text-align:left;"| Figure in a Landscape

| —

| 2004

| style="text-align:left;"| The Hard Way

| —

| 2007

| style="text-align:left;"| Downtown: Journey of a Heart

| —

| 2011

| style="text-align:left;"| Rough & Tumble

| —

| colspan="10" style="font-size:8pt"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart

Live albums

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

! Year

! Album

! Label

| 2001

| style="text-align:left;"| Live & Rare Tracks

| One Way

| 2010

| style="text-align:left;"| In Real Time

| Frontiers Records

| 2013

| style="text-align:left;"| Live – All Access

| No Brakes Records

Compilation albums

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

! Year

! Album

! Label

| 1992

| style="text-align:left;"| The Essential John Waite

| Chrysalis

| 1996

| style="text-align:left;"| Complete

| Capitol

| 2014

| style="text-align:left;"| Best

| No Brakes Records

| 2017

| style="text-align:left;"| Wooden Heart – Acoustic Anthology, Volume 2

| No Brakes Records

EPs

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

! Year

! Album

! Label

| 2014

| style="text-align:left;"| Wooden Heart – Acoustic, Volume 1 – EP

| No Brakes Records

|2022

| style="text-align: left;" |Anything - EP

|No Breaks Records

Singles

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

! rowspan="2"| Year

! rowspan="2"| Single

! colspan="10"| Peak chart positions

! style="width:35px;"| US Main

! style="width:35px;"| US AC

! style="width:35px;"| US Dance

! style="width:35px;"| US Country

| rowspan="2"| 1982

| style="text-align:left;"| "Change"

| —

| 16

| —

| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"| Ignition

| style="text-align:left;"| "Going to the Top"

| —

| rowspan="3"| 1984

| style="text-align:left;"| "Missing You"

| 9

| 5

| 1

| 18

| 12

| 1

| 7

| 27

| —

BPI: Silver

| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="4"| No Brakes

| style="text-align:left;"| "Tears"

| —

| 45

| —

| 37

| 8

| —

| style="text-align:left;"| "Dark Side of the Sun"

| —

| rowspan="4"| 1985

| style="text-align:left;"| "Restless Heart"

| —

| 59

| 28

| —

| style="text-align:left;"| "Change" (re-release)

| —

| 54

| —

| style="text-align:left;"| Vision Quest (soundtrack)

| style="text-align:left;"| "Every Step of the Way"

| 160

| —

| 39

| —

| 25

| 4

| —

| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"| Mask of Smiles

| style="text-align:left;"| "Welcome to Paradise"

| —

| 85

| —

| 1986

| style="text-align:left;"| "If Anybody Had a Heart"

| —

| 76

| 24

| —

| style="text-align:left;"| About Last Night... (soundtrack)

| rowspan="2"| 1987

| style="text-align:left;"| "These Times Are Hard for Lovers"

| 77

| 59

| —

| 53

| 6

| —

| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"| Rover's Return

| style="text-align:left;"| "Don't Lose Any Sleep"

| —

| 81

| —

| 1990

| style="text-align:left;"| "Deal for Life"

| 80

| —

| style="text-align:left;"| Days of Thunder

| rowspan="2"| 1993

| style="text-align:left;"| "In Dreams"

| —

| 103

| —

| style="text-align:left;"| True Romance (soundtrack)

| style="text-align:left;"| "Missing You" (re-entry)

| 56

| —

| style="text-align:left;"| The Essential John Waite

| 1995

| style="text-align:left;"| "How Did I Get By Without You?"

| —

| 89

| —

| 20

| —

| style="text-align:left;"| Temple Bar

| 2001

| style="text-align:left;"| "Fly"

| —

| 27

| —

| style="text-align:left;"| Figure in a Landscape

| 2005

| style="text-align:left;"| "New York City Girl"

| —

| 23

| —

| style="text-align:left;"| The Hard Way

| 2006

| style="text-align:left;"| "Missing You" (with Alison Krauss)

| —

| 34

| style="text-align:left;"| Downtown: Journey of a Heart

| rowspan="2"| 2011

| style="text-align:left;"| "Shadows of Love"

| —

| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"| Rough & Tumble

| style="text-align:left;"| "If You Ever Get Lonely"

| —

| colspan="20" style="font-size:8pt"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart

References

External links

Interview on Yuzu Melodies
John Waite Interview at NAMM Oral History Library (2020)