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Born in Lancaster, England, John Waite's first brush with rock stardom came while playing in the London based hard rock band The Babys. They came together in 1974, releasing their eponymous first album in 1977, and mere months after that album's release their single “Isn't It Time” was riding high on the Billboard charts, peaking at number 13. They managed to match that peak again with the single “Everytime I Think Of You”, but never managed to make any headway in their home country, or with all but one of their five studio albums, and the band came to an end in 1981.
Waite, who had sung lead vocals and played bass in the band, was the most recognisable member of the band by a long shot. Because of this he was snapped up by Chrysalis Records shortly after the band's break-up to release his debut solo album “Ignition” in 1982, and while the album and its lead single “Change” made huge waves on AOR radio it didn't exactly tear up the charts. That would come with Waite's second album “No Brakes”, which was a Gold certified top ten hit album powered by its number one hit lead single “Missing You”.
That wouldn't be the last time that Waite spent time at the top of the charts. In 1987, he rejoined two of his Babys band-mates to form the supergroup Bad English, and scored another number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 in the form of “When I See You Smile”. Waite resumed his solo career after the band came to an end in 1992 due to internal friction, and ever since then, Waite's enjoyed a great career doing exactly what he wants to do. He's worked with everyone from Alison Krauss to Ringo Starr and remains an unmissable live act to this very day. For all this, John Waite comes highly recommended.
Lou Gramm sung and wrote ‘I Want To Know What Love Is’ when he was fronting the band Foreigner which pretty much gives him the right to do anything he wants. Luckily for us he has chosen to continue to play live and allow many more of us to witness his vocal talents in person.
His voice hasn’t lost any of the power and poise that it had when he was topping charts with Foreigner and he’s still one of those rare singers that could fill an arena with the sheer velocity of his vocals. He hasn’t lost any of his charisma over the years either. Although he may be in his 60s now, Lou still carries with him the look and feel of a true showman, working the stage with confidence and probably still delighting a lot of the female fans in his crowds.
Whether it’s rocking out to his old bands hits or delivering some of his potent new material, Lou never puts less than 100% into his performances which is why he will continue to draw big crowds even today.
CATFROMJAPAN
I saw John Waite in concert on May 27th of this year, 2014. I saw him perform at The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, California.
If you don’t know who The Babys or Bad English were, then you don’t know hard rock, or this awesome musician who has the vocals of a god.
At the concert, he and the band wore casual clothes that could pass as business casual, but everything was neat and orderly. The crowd wasn’t goo energetic apart from some loud cheering that the end of ballad groups. Regardless of the crowd being quiet most of the time, there was high energy within the crowd, but no one wanted to disturb the sound coming from Waite’s mouth.
The experience of hearing John sing was pretty cool, but it could have been better. The sound quality of the performance should have been checked. The sound was scratchy and all the equalizer settings seemed to be off. Highs became bassy and lows became tinny sounding. I don’t feel like I wasted money and it could have been an incorrect setting by the soundman.
Would I see John Waite in concert again? Yes, without a doubt in my mind. One issue in a single experience doesn’t mean they’ll all be the same.
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