John Wetton was born in June 1949 and grew up in Bournemouth, England. His first musical experiences were gained in church, where he played the bass parts with his brother who was the church organist.

John's first major foray into the professional music business took place in the late-sixties and for a time he was in singer Helen Shapiro's backing band.

After joining Family  in 1971 and playing on the well received Fearless and Bandstand albums he was approached by Robert Fripp to join King Crimson. He turned down this initial offer but subsequently joined the "later" incarnation of Crimson which featured Bill Bruford on drums.

After several albums with Fripp and friends, John worked with Roxy Music (forging a friendship with guitarist with Phil Manzanera with whom he later appeared on the One World album in 1987), Uriah Heep, and then teamed up with Bill Bruford again in the band UK which also featured acclaimed jazz fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth and Roxy Music keyboard player Eddie Jobson.

In the eighties John Wetton worked in the USA under the direction of top label boss John Kalodner who intially had the idea to pair him with guitarist Trevor Rabin.

What actually happened was a pairing with Yes guitarist Steve Howe, and then Carl Palmer and Geoff Downes to form Asia. Palmer was well-known from his association with ELP and Geoff Downes was a talented keyboard player who had experienced chart success as part of The Buggles with Trevor Horn. (Downes would later join Yes with Steve Howe).

Whilst Asia achieved great success throughout this decade, especially in Japan, John also made several solo albums, the first of which was "Caught In The Crossfire" (1980) and included "Battlelines"(1997).

His live performances are well-documented with several acoustic concerts, two recorded in the States (1995 and 1997) and in Italy (1998). John's electric band was captured in Japan (1994 and 1999).

John Wetton is a stalwart in the world of progressive rock, with a CV that reads like a who's-who of the genre. In addition to his superb musicianship, he is an acclaimed vocalist and talented songwriter who has contributed songs to artists as diverse as Abba's Agnetha Falstkog, Cher and David Cassidy.

JOHN WETTON

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