It is regrettable that a magnificent singer like John Waite has never found the recognition that he would have deserved in Europe and finally in his native country England. Neither with THE BABYS nor BAD ENGLISH and with his solo projects not either he couldn´t succeed there really. The breakthrough happened in America only.

With THE BABYS and BAD ENGLISH, John Waite was able to achieve some -- not enough -- success on this side of the globe, and not least, his worldwide #1 „Missing You“ made his name a household word here in Germany as well. A huge success though, but in my opinion it´s not his super goal. His versatility is much too complex to fix him to just one direction. John Waite is one of those artists that continually develop further. You never know what to expect...

More than annoying is his lasting bad luck regarding record companies, which points out that John Waite is not interested in the money behind and doesn´t want to be dictated anymore by anyone. The artistical aspect has been the most important thing which was it worth only to follow although it brought him being called difficult. John Waite never wanted to be distributet as someone he isn´t. This proves impressively his step back from BAD ENGLISH. In this business, it takes plenty of courage, not only to think like that but, however, to act like that. John Waite always knew exactly his way and he never lost his faith into himself and his abilities.

„It wasn´t that bad being not successful“, he believably states. „It allowed me to stick to my guns and do what I wanted to do without any interferences of anybody. It´s really interesting to see how people treat you when you´re on the top of the game. You become kind of an icon. Something you don´t want to be. At this point I was glad to disappear and playing small clubs only. Many bands which have been caught by surprise lose their direction and suddenly they realize that they lost the way they had originally followed. In the end they have to sell albums. And their music has nothing to do anymore with themselves. I´ve seen that so many times.“
Many years ago he already realized: „When you walk along the Madison Avenue you can see plenty of people who have plenty of money but they don´t know what counts really. They do everything to stay on top, being famous means more to them than their work. It´s unbelievable how they can live like this but they do. I refuse to do so and that´s the reason that I wasn´t at issue for ten years. And I´m going on doing this until they kick me out of the business or think I am worth it. In that case I will stay. But not at this cost. I´m sick and tired of that dependence. I´m not obliged to no one and that´s the good side of the medal. For me personally it would be a huge step back when I would play their game.“

The mostly disappointing promotions of his albums are to blame more than once for his crash landings and could have been better thought of. On the other hand - neither John himself nor THE BABYS, and BAD ENGLISH not either didn´t play live on this side of the continent. The London Marquee Club 1986 and Zoetermeer / Holland 2001 have been the only chances to catch him live in Europe. It didn´t depend on John. „I know I´m always talking about coming over and playing at home“, he already admitted in 1985 remorsefully.„Maybe I should just keep my mouth closed in the future. I´m always much too optimistic on this matter.“

A good reason to pick up another displeasing subject which seems to belong to the inevitable signs of the time and which is to find in almost every purview of life. Nobody can´t escape it: „It´s all about the money“, criticizes John. „You need a proper portion of courage to go your own way. I´ve never done it for money. Really. I don´t understand people being rude to the waiter just because they have a few million dollars. What´s up with them? Money doesn´t make them better people, they´re not better than you and I and to be honest, I was on the top and I was down and when I was running out of money I even managed that as well because I knew what it was about. I´m from the working class and I´m even content when I´m able to pay the rent. It wasn´t that I had a million dollars and lost it. I never had a million dollars! Good for me, really. It kept my mind awake.“

„It´s really hard to remain faithful to yourself in life“, knows John by his own experience. Life experience is what counts and so this unwavering Brit-man substantiates with imperturbable consequence his Way of Life. „There´s a simple reason why I get up every morning. I´m writing songs. Being an artist, no matter what kind of, is not a profession, it´s a vocation. No matter what you´re doing. Whether you´re selling cars or cleaning windows, whatsoever, your head is full of ideas. You´re wearing it inside of you. There´s no other choice. I´m living for music and I enjoy it. I know who I am and I know what I want. I have a voice that works and I was never mislead. I do nothing I don´t want to do but when I do something I do it entirely. I want to be as honest as I can. Both musically and personally. It shows who I am. And I wanna keep my musical integrity. Should this be threatened one day, I would leave the business immediately.“

So maybe John Waite is difficult, maybe thickheaded and maybe the way he has chosen is not always comprehensible
to some of us. One thing, however, one has to adjudge him: To prefer the music against being rich and famous proves that strength of character which is missed by oh so many so called... musicians. The music business has grown to a dayfly bargain, a one way street, and the quantity of those who stand out because of their remarkable work and stay
-- as well as in the biz as themselves faithful -- is infinitesimal small.
But John Waite is one of those few.
Meanwhile for 30 years in the music business it is -- beside the stubborn person he possibly is -- due to his excellent genius. And his unquestioning love to the music. No matter what it is, it´s a fact that too many musicians of his caliber are missing in the business. In my opinion he´s doing right just going along like that and wasting no thoughts about what people might think about him because it´s the music only that should be considered. Is the key-note behind realized, it hopefully will never happen that he will be kicked out of business. He is it worth to stay with.

Because John Waite knows what he wants...

Photo Mark Weiss
Photo Credit www.markweiss.com

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