John Wetton - famous musician, bass player from the UK

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

John Wetton is a famous rock musician, composer, vocalist. He was born in 1949 in the city of Derby (Great Britain). He is widely known as the bass player of the band King Crimson.

Trip to America

Started John with participation in numerous teenage bands, played the guitar, trying to imitate the legendary Beatles. Later, John Wetton moved to London, but did not achieve success there. Then he decided to try his luck overseas, borrowed money for a ticket and left for the United States. However, in the country of the blues, it was difficult for musicians from England to break through, having missed several months, John Wetton left for his homeland.

This time he was successful, his talent was fully revealed. Upon his return, he met with the musicians of the popular group Family, was accepted into the lineup, recorded several albums and, figuratively speaking, believed in himself.

Enlightenment

John began his conscious musical activity after meeting David Kalodner, manager of the representative office of the Atlantic Records record company, who revealed to the musician the main principles of rock and pop bands and taught him how to succeed. Along the way, Kalodner advised to leavewith the Family group and find a place to put your talent to the best use.

Finding he althy ambitions, John left the Family and became a permanent member of King Crimson. He was unconditionally accepted as a promising rock musician. As it turned out later, the choice was made correctly, the bass guitar and good vocal abilities allowed Wetton to record three studio albums with the musicians of King Crimson, which later became part of the Golden Fund. These were the discs "Flooding Larks", "Unstarred Black Bible" and "Red".

In 1974, to the surprise of everyone, the group was disbanded at the peak of their popularity. So decided its head Robert Fripp.

Uriah Heep

UK rock musicians are a tight-knit community where everyone knows each other. Every talented guitarist became famous two or three weeks after their appearance in London. John Wetton did not remain idle for long after the collapse of the King Crimson. One day he received an envelope with an invitation to attend a rehearsal of the famous band "Yurai Hip", which needed a professional bass player.

Early in 1975, the Uray Heep lost one of their musicians, Gary Thane, who died of a drug overdose. John Wetton replaced him, and very successfully. The appearance of an experienced musician in the group changed the atmosphere radically. John, a powerful generator of new ideas, has become a true leader of the group.

"Yurai Hip" toured a lot, immediately after the arrival of Wetton, the musicianswent on another world tour. An audience of millions and 30,000 miles on a plane - these are the statistics of these tours. The leader of the group, Mickey Box, broke his arm at one of the concerts and walked in a cast.

Asia

By 1981, Wetton left Uray Heep and was ready to work with high-class musicians of Asia. Cooperation stretched until 1985 and was very productive. Together with "Asia" Wetton released four albums. As part of the group, John visited Moscow, where the musicians gave two full concerts at the Olimpiysky. Then there was a decline in Asia, and the group took a time out in 1989.

USA

In the early nineties, John again decided to visit America. This time it was different, Wetton was already a well-known worldwide bass player and needed no introduction. In 1994 he recorded the solo album Battle Lines, in 1995 - Chasing The Dragon, in 1997 - "Archangel". In 2000, Wetton's next disc "Welcome to the Kingdom of Heaven" was released in Japan. In 2003, the album "Rock of Faith" was released.

In the summer of 2006, the musicians of "Asia" gathered again, they invited Wetton and together with him recorded the discs "Categorical Collection", "Fantasy: Life in Tokyo" and "Phoenix".

U. K

The last band Wetton John worked with was a progressive rock sextet. The musicians were called "United Kingdom" (U. K.). Groupperforms in the making line-up:

• John Wetton - Vocals & Bass (2011-present);
• Eddie Jobson - violin, keyboards (2011 - to date);
• Alex Machacek - guitar (2011-2016);
• Virgil Donati - drums (2011-2016);
• Alan Holsworth - guitar (2011-2016);

Several more musicians are invited to tour. The line-up of temporary members is constantly changing, this makes it possible to refresh the instrumental accompaniment of the vocalist, as well as to please fans who know the lyrics by heart and are happy when new names of musicians who have not previously participated in concerts appear.

Discography

During his career, the famous bass player has recorded more than fifty discs. John Wetton, whose albums were created from 1970 to 2012 in collaboration with various UK rock bands, is preparing to release several more discs. Below is a selective list of his albums.

• "Fearless" (1971);
• "Standard" (1972);
• "The Wisdom of Laughter" (1973);
• "Red" (1974);
• "The Bride" (1978);
• "Money is a danger" (1979);
• "Number" (1981);
• "Royal Road" (1987);
• "Sphere" (1989);
• "Archangel" (1997);
• "One Way" (2002);
• "More Than" (2002);
• "Rock of Faith" (2003);
• "Icon" (2005);
• "Phoenix" (2008);
• "Omega" (2010);
• "Raised from captivity" (2011).

Currently, John Wetton is preparing for another tour of Europe.