John Payne (musician)

John Payne

John Payne was lead singer and bassist for the English rock band Asia from 1992 to 2006 .

youth

Payne was born in Luton , Bedfordshire , England . His first band was called Moonstone. She made a name for herself in the late 1970s by touring the UK with better known bands, including such well-known groups as Argent .

Soundtracks

In the 1980s, Payne was traveling alone. He worked with, among others, film scores, including the science fiction - Comedy An American Way / Riders of the Storm (1986) with Dennis Hopper , to which he gave the song Ride the Storm contributed. The less successful film never came into cinemas in Germany.

First collaboration with Geoffrey Downes

The Asia -Keyboarder Geoff Downes had in 1987 with Max Bacon , the former singer of GTR joined forces to songs for a project called Rain to write, which was never realized. In addition to the songwriter Johnny Warman , John Payne was also involved in the project that Downes had met through GTR bassist Phil Spalding . However, the Rain project failed after a short time.

In Norway with CCCP

In 1987 Payne joined the Norwegian band CCCP , which the musician Casino Steel founded after his old band Horton Steel had disintegrated. CCCP mixed different styles, other members were the country singer Carlene Carter and the Norwegian singer Claudia Scott . Together they recorded an album with cover versions called Let's spend the night together . Payne was on the road with CCCP for about half a year , but before they tackled their second album, he returned to England.

The Passion and Electric Light Orchestra

Back in England he started his own band. The Passion consisted of Payne, keyboardist Andy Nye (from Michael Schenker Group ), drummer Clive Burr (from Iron Maiden ), bassist Mel Gabbitas and ex- Mike Oldfield guitarist Ant Glynne .

Shortly after the band was founded, Payne was offered the opportunity to join a new Electric Light Orchestra line-up created by Bev Bevan . Even Jim Steinman should be involved in the project. But the attempt failed due to judicial interventions Jeff Lynnes and Payne returned to England without having achieved anything to resume work with The Passion . He became aware of Geoffrey Downes at a concert by the band and some time later, while Payne was working on a new album with Glenn Hughes , Downes asked him if he would like to join a new Asian lineup. Payne agreed. He brought along some songs written for The Passion and ELO, which were later released on the Asian rarity albums Archiva 1 and Archiva 2 as well as on the band's regular studio albums.

Asia

Payne - actually guitarist and singer - took on the double function of bassist - singer after the dissolution of Asia in 1991, as did John Wetton before and worked on a number of albums with Geoff Downes (1992 Aqua to 2005 Silent Nation ). John Payne, both visually and voice clearly distinguishable from ex-singer John Wetton, played a key role in shaping the second part of Asia's career. The band was joined in 1999 by Guthrie Govan (guitar) and Chris Slade (drums) after a previously variable line-up . The cast existed for five years before Chris Slade was replaced by Jay Schellen in 2005. Although the group was never able to match their earlier successes, they have retained their place on the record shelves as a highly productive band with ongoing tours and a number of albums.

GPS

The reunion of the original cast means the end of John Payne and the other members. The Asian project Architect of Time , which is currently in progress , has been put on hold. Payne, Govan and Jay Schellen (drums) - all of whom belonged to the last Asian line-up - then founded the group One , which was renamed GPS (the initials of the three surnames Govan, Payne, Schellen) for legal reasons . Together they released the album Window to the Soul in August 2006 .

Asia featuring John Payne

Since May 2007 Payne has been marketing his work with Asia (and with GPS) under the name "Asia featuring John Payne". In October of the same year he released a live recording of an Asia concert from 2005 (with the line-up Payne, Downes, Govan and Schellen) under the title Extended Versions and will subsequently complete the album Architect of Time . A publication was planned for spring 2011.

Discography

With CCCP :

• Let's spend the night together (1987)

With Asia (studio albums):

• Aqua (1992)
• Aria (1994)
• Arena (1996)
• Axioms (1999)
• Aura (2000)
• Silent Nation (2004)

With GPS :

• Window to the Soul (2006)

Asia publications after Payne's exit (Asia featuring John Payne)

• Extended Versions (2007)
• Architect of Time (2008)

Sources and web links

• Gallant, David: Asia. The Heat Goes On. The Authorized Asia Biography. Summerside, PEI, Canada 2001. ISBN 0-9688584-0-6 .
• Gallant, David: Asia. Heat of the moment. New York 2007. ISBN 978-0-9796881-0-2