Sometimes I wonder how I'd ever make it through, Through this world without having you I just wouldn't have a clue...

From the Sappy Song Department...

“When I See You Smile” Bad English, 1989

He was in ‘The Babys” and then struck it big in 1984 with ‘Missing You” - still one of my favourite sappy songs. John Waite, (not to be confused with Tom Wait), is arguably one of the best male pop voices of the late seventies/eighties.

‘Bad English’ was formed in 1988 at the height of the ‘hair band’ era.  The name was supposedly derived from when John missed a shot while playing pool and someone commented that he had ‘bad english’  on the ball.  The band was primarily made up of the members of recently disbanded Journey - basically replacing Steve Perry with John Waite.

The Baby’s had a hit with “Everytime I think of You” in 1979, a soaring ballad showcased Waite’s phenomenal range.  This was a huge song in the U.K and the breakout to the U.S. market for John.

In 1984 “Missing You’ from his first solo album pushed Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It’ out of the solid number one position it was holding.  (The 2007 rerecorded version with Allison Kraus on her “A Hundred Miles of More: A Collection” is great by the way.)

 ‘When I See You Smile’ from 1989 was written by Dianne Warren who also wrote ‘Don’t Want to Miss a Thing;’ (Aerosmith) and “How Do I Live” (LeAnn Rhimes) to name a few of the Academy Award winning songs she penned.

The lighters were bobbing back and forth in the dark and the lovers in various states of consciousness hugged and huddled together and cooed as the veteran John Waite belted out his one and only epic hair band ballad in arenas across North America. Cell phones just don’t have the same impact as the bic lighters, but at least no ones poufy, hairsprayed  ‘do catches on fire - the smell kind of takes away from the ambience!