CAT Episode 139 – John Wetton (Asia/King Crimson)

CAT Episode 139 - John Wetton (Asia/King Crimson) Ray White 31:48

John Wetton left his footprint on many of progressive rock’s greatest bands: Asia, King Crimson, U.K., Roxy Music, Uriah Heep and Wishbone Ash, just to name a few. A singer, songwriter and bassist, his greatest fame came as frontman of the 1980’s supergroup Asia. John passed away, much too young, on January 31, 2017. On this episode we celebrate John and the 40th anniversary of the debut Asia album that sold over 10 million albums worldwide and was Billboard magazine’s #1 album of 1982. We feature multi-award winning program director Ray White interviewing John in May 2011, where he talks about Asia’s Phoenix album, that brought together all four of the orginial members in the studio for the first time since 1983. John also shares his insights on fellow band member Steve Howe and his collaborations with another Asia band member, Geoff Downes, in the band Icon. You’ll find more of our interview with John Wetton on Episode 14. In our showcase segment, we feature the British progressive rock stalwarts and Grammy winning band Jethro Tull, who recently released their first new original material album since 1999, titled The Zealot Gene. The premier British progressive rock bands, we have them on the CAT!

Ray White Managing Director, Classic Artists Today

Ray's passion for music and the musicians, started as a youth listening to transistor radios under the covers at bedtime. The bands and performers he liked, he followed throughout their career. In 2005 he was fed up with the evolution of a majority of the music the radio stations were playing and began investigating the bands he grew up listening to in the 1960's, 70's and 80's. Radio wasn't playing any of those band's "new" songs, just the "classic" hits. Researching the industry for a year, Ray launched Classic Artists Today syndicated radio show - featuring "new" songs by "classic" artists and included interviews and classic tracks too. The show was carried by several dozen radio stations in the U.S., Canada, Europe and the Caribbean. Featuring Rock/Pop musicians and bands, Ray and the show won several awards from New Music Weekly magazine. With the success of these shows, he launched Coool CAT syndicated radio show, 5 years later, featuring Soul/R&B/Smooth Jazz/Blues performers and bands. In 2017, Ray starting producing his show in a 30-minute podcast format. Today, you can hear his work at Sittin' In With The CAT and Sittin' In With The Coool CAT. The legacy continues!