Band Member Profiles

John Wetton - Bass/Vocals

Although his time with Wishbone Ash was short, John Wetton (born Derby, June 12th 1949) has probably achieved the greatest degree of commercial success of all Wishbone Ash members, both prior to and after working with the band. John's family relocated to Bournemouth in his early years, and it was there that he began his musical career, playing in bands such as the Palmer-James Group, and Tetrad. By 1970 John had moved to London and joined his first signed group Mogul Thrash. The band split sooner after the release of their debut album, but John went on to enjoy greater success with bands such as Family, King Crimson, Roxy Music, Uriah Heep and UK, before releasing his debut solo album Caught in the Crossfire in 1980.

Following Martin Turner's departure in 1980, Wishbone Ash manager John Sherry, who had been Mogul Thrash's agent almost a decade earlier, suggested John as a replacement. Almost immediately John Wetton and Wishbone Ash began work on the Number the Brave album. However, the relationship would be short-lived since John felt somewhat unfulfilled by his lack of involvement in the song-writing and singing departments. Says John: "I think if I'd been allowed to write and sing to the fullest extent of my capability, then it would have been a really good album. The feeling I had at the time was that they didn't want anyone to take over where Martin left off."

Following his stint with Wishbone Ash, John Wetton went on to enjoy enormous success with the supergroup Asia, alongside Steve Howe (Yes), Geoffrey Downes (Yes/Buggles) and Carl Palmer (ELP), before embarking on a solo career in the early nineties with highly acclaimed studio albums such as Battle Lines, ArkAngel, Sinister and Rock Of Faith, as well as a series of live releases.  He has also performed with Qango (also featuring ex-Asia/ELP drummer Carl Palmer) and Wetton/Downes ICON (with Asia keyboardist Geoffrey Downes). In 2006 the original line-up of Asia regrouped for US and UK concert appearances to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the band's formation. A live CD/DVD release Fantasia was followed by the critically and commercially successful studio album Phoenix, the first new material from the original Asia line-up since 1983.

John Wetton's official web site: www.johnwetton.co.uk

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