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Author Topic: John Wetton, Rocker With King Crimson and Asia, Dies at 67  (Read 2123 times)

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John Wetton, Rocker With King Crimson and Asia, Dies at 67
« on: February 01, 2017, 0346 UTC »
John Wetton, Rocker With King Crimson and Asia, Dies at 67

By DANIEL E. SLOTNIKJAN. 31, 2017

John Wetton, a bass player, vocalist and songwriter who adapted the dense, progressive rock he performed with bands like King Crimson into mainstream hits with the supergroup Asia in the early 1980s, died on Tuesday near his home in Bournemouth, England. He was 67.

His manager, Martin Darvill, said the cause was colon cancer.

A technically adept bassist with a smooth tenor voice, Mr. Wetton came up musically in London in the late 1960s and early ’70s. He was part of a cohort of musicians, in groups like Pink Floyd and Yes, who were known for an ornate, maximalist brand of rock.

King Crimson, founded in 1968, was another such band, and Mr. Wetton joined an incarnation of it in 1972, playing alongside the group’s original guitarist, Robert Fripp, the drummer Bill Bruford, formerly of Yes, and others. He appeared on the group’s albums “Larks’ Tongues in Aspic” (1973), “Starless and Bible Black” (1974) and “Red” (1974).

Mr. Fripp disbanded the group in the mid-1970s, when it appeared to be on the brink of reaching a wider audience. “I didn’t understand Robert’s reasons then,” Mr. Wetton said in 1999, “and I still don’t.”

Mr. Wetton went on to perform with groups like Roxy Music, Uriah Heep and U.K. before forming Asia in 1981 with the drummer Carl Palmer, of Emerson, Lake and Palmer, and the guitarist Steve Howe and the keyboardist Geoff Downes, both of Yes. Asia’s sound was more accessible than the bandmates’ earlier endeavors, and the group became an instant success after the release of its debut album, titled simply “Asia,” in 1982.

The group’s single “Heat of the Moment” reached No. 4 on the Billboard chart. With melodious three-part harmony on its chorus, it has often been compared to anthems like Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” and Boston’s “More Than a Feeling.” Another Asia single, “Only Time Will Tell” reached No. 17.

“Asia” sold millions of copies, and the band was soon playing stadium shows. Audiences were thrilled; critics were often underwhelmed.

“In Yes, early King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Asia’s members played music full of technical hurdles and symphonic pomp,” Jon Pareles wrote in reviewing a 1983 concert in The New York Times. “Soon groups like Kansas and Styx picked up on the pomp, minus any experiments. Asia imitates the imitators, inflating conventional pop songs with pseudosymphonic grandeur.”

Asia continued releasing albums throughout the 1980s, but none had the success of the first. The band members’ outsize personalities clashed at times, and the lineup changed periodically. In 1991 Mr. Wetton left Asia to focus on other projects.

“We hit it at the top and went down,” he said of Asia’s trajectory in an interview with The Birmingham Post in 1998. “We should have hit it somewhere in the middle and gone up.”

John Kenneth Wetton was born in Willington, Derbyshire, England, on June 12, 1949, and grew up in Bournemouth. He became interested in music after watching his brother play organ in church.

He played with local bands while in high school and, after graduating, moved to London, where he played in the groups Mogul Thrash and Family before joining King Crimson.

He married Lisa Nojain in December. She survives him, as do a son, Dylan, from an earlier relationship; his brother, Robert; and his mother, Margaret Wetton.

Asia’s popularity endured long after the band’s apex in the early 1980s. The original group reunited in 2006 and released the album “Phoenix” in 2008.

Mr. Wetton was supposed to join the band on a United States tour with Journey beginning this March, but this month his doctors advised him not to participate. Billy Sherwood of Yes is scheduled to replace him.

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Offline Pigmeat

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Re: John Wetton, Rocker With King Crimson and Asia, Dies at 67
« Reply #2 on: February 01, 2017, 1942 UTC »
A surprising knowledge of prog-rock, Al. Exactly how much LSD did you ingest in the '70s? Did you ever have a bad trip by the penguin tanks at Marineland trying to "grok" with them? Finally, is it true the character "Blue Boy" on "Dragnet" was based on you?

Your eligibility to go on the expedition to the hollow earth hinges on these answers, be very careful how you answer them, Weed Monkey.


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Re: John Wetton, Rocker With King Crimson and Asia, Dies at 67
« Reply #3 on: February 01, 2017, 2309 UTC »
                                               :o  Damn, I'm 67 & my mom died of colon cancer...! What are the odds?   :o
                                                                 8)  Meaningless coincidences or just bored now!   8)

Offline Frank5000

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Re: John Wetton, Rocker With King Crimson and Asia, Dies at 67
« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2017, 0443 UTC »
Thanks to this man for the music he made.

Rock on, John.

73 de Frank
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Offline John Poet

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Re: John Wetton, Rocker With King Crimson and Asia, Dies at 67
« Reply #5 on: March 14, 2017, 2338 UTC »
I saw Asia in Grand Rapids, MI with *the girl* around April 1982, when they were touring for their first album.  I loaned her enough cash to buy a band T-shirt, meaning I couldn't get one for myself.

Musta been 'love'...  ::)

John Poet

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