John Waite is coming back to the Cleveland-area town where his rock and roll journey took root, and this time cameras will be rolling. The singer, famous for the 1984 chart-topper “Missing You” and the Bad English power ballad “When I See You Smile,” headlines Northfield Park Racino Center Stage next Thursday, October 1, with the performance being filmed for a Nexstar New Year's Eve special.
Waite was born in Lancaster, England, but landed in Northfield during his early musical career after obtaining a visa to pursue a possible record deal, according to Cleveland.com. It was there, and around Cleveland's storied rock scene, that he first played bass with a band called the Boys before eventually fronting The Babys, the group that gave him his first taste of chart success.
According to the same Cleveland.com report, Waite spent time playing the Agora during his Cleveland years, plugging into a local rock ecosystem shaped by WMMS, Jane Scott, and DJ Kid Leo. The Babys notched two Top 20 Billboard Hot 100 hits, “Isn't It Time” and “Everytime I Think of You,” both peaking at No. 13, a chart run confirmed by Stereogum. The band released albums before splitting up.
From Cleveland Club Dates to a No. 1 Solo Hit
Waite spent six years with The Babys before going solo, per Cleveland.com's account of his career arc, relocating to New York City as his profile rose and eventually buying a house about 90 minutes north of Manhattan. His first solo album was produced by Neil Giraldo, known for his work with Pat Benatar, and led to the release of “No Brakes,” whose videos dominated MTV.
That album's lead single, “Missing You,” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1984, displacing Tina Turner's “What's Love Got to Do With It” and earning Waite a 1985 Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance Male, according to Wikipedia. Cleveland.com's report notes Waite went on to reach No. 1 around the world as a solo artist, and he later joined the supergroup Bad English, which included former members of The Babys and Journey. That band's own chart-topper, “When I See You Smile,” spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in November 1989.
A Songwriter Who Shifted Toward Roots Music
In recent years, Waite has shifted toward acoustic music, folk, and western-influenced country, drawing on inspirations that Cleveland.com reports include Marty Robbins and American West ballads. That evolution produced a reworked duet version of “Missing You” with bluegrass and country artist Alison Krauss, which reached No. 34 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and appeared on Krauss's compilation album *A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection*, per Wikipedia.
Waite has a new album titled “Troubadour” on the way, and he described it, per Cleveland.com, as something he has never achieved before. He writes primarily in the first person, and has said his voice serves as part of the conduit between his thoughts and his music, the outlet reports.
Filming for a National New Year's Eve Special
Thursday's concert at 10777 Northfield Rd. is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m., with John Cafferty appearing as a special guest. Cafferty scored his own Billboard Hot 100 hit in 1984, “On the Dark Side,” recorded with The Beaver Brown Band for the 1983 film *Eddie and the Cruisers*; the single also spent five consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Rock Tracks chart, according to Wikipedia.
Waite told Cleveland.com the Northfield performance feels like a full-circle experience, and that he loves Ohio. The Center Stage venue inside Northfield Park Racino regularly hosts national touring acts and comedians.
A Venue Under New Ownership
The show also arrives amid a change in who owns the ground beneath the stage. MGM Resorts International announced an agreement last October to sell the Northfield Park racino complex to Canadian private equity firm Clairvest Group for $546 million, a deal Hoodline previously reported, noting MGM had originally bought the venue's operational rights back in 2018.
Waite's career has also crossed paths with classic rock royalty beyond his own bands. In 2003, he joined former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr on tour as part of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, a lineup format that features notable musicians performing their own hits alongside Starr, according to the Strand Theatre. It's a résumé line that fits alongside a 2022 retrospective documentary, *John Waite – The Hard Way*, released by Gravitas Ventures, which chronicled his five-decade career during the pandemic-era live music shutdown with contributions from Diane Warren and Neil Giraldo, per Rock At Night.
