Songoftheday 9/27/13 - Everytime i think of you I always catch my breath, and I'm still standing here and you're miles away and I'm wondering why you left...

John Waite - "Missing You"
from the album No Brakes (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (one week)
Weeks in the top-40: 16

Today's Song of the Day is by British singer John Waite, who got his first big break as the lead singer for the power-pop band the Babys. They landed two singles in the American top-20 in the late 70s, "Isn't It Time" and "Everytime I Think Of You". After the Babys broke up, John released his debut solo album in 1982, and from it scored a top-20 rock radio hit with "Change".

While "Change" wasn't the pop hit they expected, it did set John up for his next release in 1984, No Brakes. The first single, "Missing You", was written by Waite with Mark Leonard and Charles Sanford, and alluded to his relationship with MTV DJ Nina Blackwood. The video was a constant on the channel, and gave the singer his biggest success...

"Missing You" became John's first and only solo #1 hit in September of 1984. It was the only single to only spend one week on top that year. It also topped the rock chart in Billboard for two frames, and went top-10 on the adult contemporary format as well. It even made the dance club play list at #27. In his native Britain, Waite made it to #9, while going all the way to #1 in Canada.

It remains a classic "what you want to hear after a bad break-up" song you can purge all your bad feelings with.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


In 1994, folk singer David Wilcox covered "Missing You" on his only charting album Big Horizon...

Two years later, Tina Turner, whose "What's Love Got To Do With It" was the single Waite's version replaced at #1, released "Missing You" as a single, and it went to #84 in America and #12 in the UK...

At the close of the millenium, country hitmaking duo Brooks & Dunn went to #15 on the country chart and #75 on the Hot 100 with their take on the track...

In 2006, Rod Stewart included it in his Stay The Same rock covers set...

Waite himself made an appearance on the country chart with his remake with bluegrass icon Alison Krauss in 2007...

Lastly, here's John along with Ringo Starr's band in 2003 live with "Missing You"...

Up tomorrow: Counting down with a Boston new wave group.