John Wetton

Bio:
John Wetton (born June 12, 1949 in Willington, Derbyshire, England) was an English singer, bassist and songwriter. He started his career in a number of early bands including Mogul Thrash and Family. He reached his first big break when he joined Robert Fripp’s band King Crimson in 1972, in which John was the lead singer and composer. The band unexpectedly disbanded in 1974, leading John to take on a number of project including a tour with Roxy Music and two albums with Uriah Heep. He released his first solo album in 1980 called Caught In The Crossfire. In ’81, John started working and writing with Steve Howe and they formed Asia. In 1983, however, John was fired from Asia, per the record label after bad sales of the Alpha album. He returned to the band in 1985 and Steve was replaced with Mandy Meyer. In the 2000s, John reunited with Asia keyboardist Geoff Downes and in 2006, the original group reunited and released their first studio album since 1983, called Phoenix. They released two more studio albums, Omega and XXX before Steve departed in 2013. On January 31, 2017, John passed away after battling colon cancer.

Best Known For:
John Wetton was best known for being a part of the band Asia.

Personal Life:
John struggled with alcoholism throughout his life and has been sober the last 11 years. He died on January 31, 2017 after a short battle with colon cancer. On January 11, 2017, John announced that he had to withdraw from the first leg of the Journey tour due to chemotherapy. “On a personal note, this couldn’t have come at a better time for me; I remain determined and my road to a full recovery continues,” he said in a statement on Dec. 5, 2016 when Asia was announced as the opener for the Journey tour. He is survived by his wife Lisa, to whom he wed on Nov. 29, 2016, and 18 year old son Dylan.