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Wikipedia

Asia (band)

April 14, 2023

Not to be confused with Asia featuring John Payne.

Asia are an English rock supergroup formed in London in 1981. The most commercially successful line-up was its original, which consisted of four members of different progressive rock bands who had enjoyed great success in the 1970s: lead vocalist and bassist John Wetton (King Crimson and U.K.), guitarist Steve Howe (Yes), keyboardist Geoff Downes (Yes and the Buggles) and drummer Carl Palmer (Emerson, Lake & Palmer). Their debut album, Asia, released in 1982, remains their bestselling album and went to number one in several countries. Billboard listed it as the top album in the U.S. in 1982. The lead single from the album, "Heat of the Moment", remains their top charting and best-known song, reaching the top 40 in over a dozen markets. It peaked at #4 in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.

Asia
Original lineup in 1982
(clockwise from bottom left): John Wetton, Carl Palmer, Geoff Downes, Steve Howe
Background information
OriginLondon, England
Genres
Years active
  • 1981–1986
  • 1989–present
Labels
Spinoffs
Spinoff of
Members
Past members
Websiteoriginalasia.com

The band underwent multiple line-up changes before the original four members reunited in 2006. As a result, a band called Asia Featuring John Payne exists as a continuation of John Payne's career as Asia's frontman from 1991 until Wetton's return in 2006.[2] In 2013, the original line-up was broken once again when Howe retired from the band and was replaced by guitarist Sam Coulson.[3] After a few years of inactivity, Billy Sherwood (of Yes, World Trade and Circa:) replaced an ailing Wetton (who died shortly thereafter) in Asia for a summer 2017 tour with Journey.[4][5] Following the end of the tour, the band went on hiatus again, re-emerging in 2019 with Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal replacing both Sherwood on vocals and Coulson on guitar.[6] In 2022, Marc Bonilla joined the group as guitarist and vocalist in place of Thal.[7]

History

Formation

Asia began in early 1981 after the apparent ending of Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, two of the founding bands of British progressive rock. After the break-up of King Crimson in 1974, various plans for a supergroup involving bassist John Wetton had not been successful, including the abortive British Bulldog project with Bill Bruford and Rick Wakeman in 1976. In 1977 Bruford and Wetton were reunited in U.K., augmented by guitarist Allan Holdsworth and keyboardist/violinist Eddie Jobson. Their self-titled debut was released in 1978. But by January 1980, U.K. had folded after one lineup change and three recordings. A new project was then suggested involving Wetton, Wakeman, drummer Carl Palmer and (then little known) guitarist/singer Trevor Rabin, but Wakeman left this project shortly before they were due to sign to Geffen and before they had played together.[8]

In early January 1981, Wetton and former Yes guitarist Steve Howe were brought together by A&R man John Kalodner and Geffen Records to start writing material for a new album.[9] They were eventually joined by drummer Carl Palmer and finally by Howe's fellow member of Yes, keyboardist Geoff Downes. Two other players auditioned and considered during the band's formation were former The Move and ELO founder Roy Wood and the aforementioned guitarist/singer Trevor Rabin, who would end up replacing Steve Howe in a reformed Yes in 1983. Rabin, in a filmed 1984 interview included in the DVD 9012Live, said that his involvement with Asia never went anywhere because "there was no chemistry" among the participants.

The band's first recordings, under the auspices of Geffen record label head David Geffen and Kalodner, were extremely popular with record buyers, while considered disappointing by music critics[10] and fans of progressive rock, who found the music closer to radio-friendly album-oriented rock (AOR).[11] However, Asia clicked with fans of popular arena acts such as Journey and Styx; Kalodner had once introduced Wetton to Journey's short-lived frontman Robert Fleischman, with a view to Fleischman becoming Asia's lead singer. As they worked on material together, Fleischman was impressed by Wetton's singing and felt the voice best suited to the new material was Wetton's own. He left Asia amicably.[12]

Rolling Stone gave Asia an indifferent review,[13] while acknowledging the band's musicianship was a cut above the usual AOR expectations.

1981–1985: "Heat of the Moment" and early success

Asia's debut album Asia, released in March 1982, gained considerable commercial success, spending nine weeks at number one on the United States album chart and selling over four million copies in the States alone. The album sold over 10 million worldwide and has never been out of print. The singles "Heat of the Moment" and "Only Time Will Tell" became Top 40 hits, both boosted by popular MTV music videos. Both tracks went on to become stadium favourites at United States sporting events.[citation needed] "Sole Survivor" also received heavy air play on rock stations across the United States, as did "Wildest Dreams" (another MTV video) and "Here Comes The Feeling". The band's best performing single, and perhaps their most recognised and popular hit song, "Heat of the Moment", spent six weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Album Rock Tracks chart and climbed to No. 4 on the Hot 100.

In the United States the band sold out every date on their debut tour, which began at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York[14] on 22 April 1982 and continued in theatres but quickly expanded into massive arenas because of high ticket demand. Asia would go on to receive a Grammy Award nomination as Best New Artist of 1982. MTV also played Asia videos on heavy rotation—as many as five times a day. Both Billboard and Cash Box named Asia's debut the No. 1 album of the year. Asia's logo and cover art were created by illustrator Roger Dean of Yes and Uriah Heep fame.

Asia's second album Alpha (released in July 1983) and future Asia albums did not achieve the chart success of their debut release; however, Alpha's "Don't Cry" was a No. 1 Album Rock Track and Top 10 Pop hit in the summer of 1983, and the video received considerable attention on MTV, while "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes" was another Top 40 hit for the band. The video for "Smile" also scored heavy MTV play. However, Rolling Stone criticized Alpha as an over-produced commercial album,[15] while others stated that Howe and Palmer were effectively reduced to session musicians. Alpha received indifferent reviews from various critics, while attaining platinum status and reaching No. 6 on the Billboard album chart.

In October 1983 Wetton left the group after the comparatively disappointing sales of Alpha. The band says that Wetton quit; Wetton stated that he was fired by phone. There is no universally agreed version of what happened. Wetton later stated a factor may have been his alcohol dependency. Howe, in his 2021 autobiography All My Yesterdays, says that tensions had been building gradually, as songs began to work out differently on stage than they had while recording the album, which had itself not gone smoothly. After a show in New York where some members of the band had, after giving an interview, taken the stage and given a subpar performance, Howe recalls that he, Downes and Palmer confronted Wetton about his increasing mistakes on stage.[16]

The next leg of their 1983 United States tour (which had begun in the summer but shut down suddenly on 10 September following a performance at Pine Knob outside Detroit), scheduled for the autumn, was abruptly cancelled, reportedly because of low ticket sales. Howe says this was because Wetton's issues had worsened; the ensuing two-month break in the tour marked Wetton's departure from the band as a practical matter regardless of who had initiated it.[16]

In December 1983 ex-King Crimson and ELP lead singer and bassist Greg Lake replaced Wetton for a few concerts in Japan, including the highly publicised "Asia in Asia" concert at the Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan, on 6 December 1983, which was the first concert broadcast over satellite to MTV in the United States and was later made into a home video. Some songs were played in a lower key to suit Lake's voice. He sang some lyrics assisted with a teleprompter, as he had been asked to cover Wetton's parts on short notice as a favour to Carl Palmer; although he initially declined due to the short preparation time, eventually he accepted because Geffen Records "offered me so much money there was no way I could refuse it." In a 2011 interview, asked why he hadn't stayed a member of Asia, he stated, "I did a brief stint with them and didn't want to go in that corporate rock direction. I didn't believe in that sort of music, so I didn't continue."[17][18] Howe says Lake was interested in remaining a member and recording with the band but Palmer was opposed to that.[16]

Following Lake's departure, Wetton was asked to return (in Howe's account, Wetton approached the band via management[16]) to Asia after his three-month absence; he returned on the condition that Steve Howe was ousted from the band. For a while, the group considered continuing as a three-piece without a permanent guitarist, inviting guest guitarists such as Jeff Beck and David Gilmour into the studio. Geffen Records suggested recruiting Krokus guitarist Mandy Meyer, who got on well with the band and was offered a permanent position: his playing style was more inclined to straightforward hard rock, thus changing the sound of the band. Meanwhile, Howe went on to brief success with GTR (another supergroup, this one formed with former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett and produced by Downes).

1985–1991: Astra, break-up and new lineups

The third Asia album was tentatively titled Arcadia, but during production it was discovered that that name was being used by a forthcoming spin-off project from Duran Duran. The retitled Astra, released in November 1985, was not as commercially successful as the first two albums. The record label cancelled the projected tour because of lack of interest. The band charted another single with "Go" (No. 46), featuring Meyer's guitar work as a primary element. The music video was another hit with MTV but in 1986 this Asia lineup folded, bringing the group to an end for the time being. Wetton is quoted as saying "[Astra] did really well in Sweden ... but Swedish sales aren't that large."[19]

Wetton resurfaced in January 1987 with an album recorded with guitarist Phil Manzanera, Wetton-Manzanera, based on material that had been originally intended for Asia. Also in 1987, Wetton played with Phenomena on their Dream Runner album and landed a number one hit in South America with the Phenomena single "Did It All for Love", also appearing in the related music video. Asia were also credited with contributing the Giorgio Moroder produced track "Gypsy Soul" to the Sylvester Stallone film soundtrack to Over the Top, although Wetton was the only band member involved.

Wetton and Downes' attempt to restart the group in 1987 with guitarist Scott Gorham (formerly of Thin Lizzy) and drummer Michael Sturgis (ex-A-ha) failed when they were unable to land a worldwide recording deal.

Wetton and Palmer reunited the band for tours of Europe in the summer and autumn of 1989. Downes (working on a project with Greg Lake) was not available, so keyboards were played by John Young. Guitars on the tour were handled by Alan Darby (replaced by German guitarist Holger Larisch); and Zoe Nicholas and Susie Webb were brought aboard to provide back-up vocals. Unlike Wetton's later anger at Asia continuing without him in the 1990s, this lineup was viewed favourably by other Asia band members.

Asia returned to the studio in 1990 with Downes, Toto guitarist Steve Lukather and other studio musicians and released Then & Now (August 1990), a best-of with four new tracks. "Days Like These" from the disc received substantial airplay during the summer of 1990 on AOR radio stations and re-sparked some interest in the band. Pat Thrall joined Downes, Palmer and Wetton on tour and they performed classic material, including King Crimson and U.K. songs.

The band toured the former Soviet Union in November 1990 to play in front of 20,000 fans on two sold-out nights. "Days Like These" charted in the United States at No. 64 in 1990 and No. 2 on the United States Album Rock Tracks chart. A video was planned, but scrapped when various problems hampered the single's chance at the Top 40. Asia received the RIAA Gold album award for Then and Now years later, but initially the album did not reach the Top 100. A DVD and CD are available of the Asia concerts in the USSR (featuring a bonus studio track, "Kari-Anne" recorded by the 1987 Wetton-Downes-Gorham-Sturgis lineup and with Francis Dunnery contributing a guitar solo).[20][21] Wetton left the group in April 1991 after a South American tour, discouraged by Asia's lack of success in the United States.

1991–2006: Downes/Payne era

 
John Payne (pictured in 2011) replaced John Wetton as Asia's frontman between 1991 and 2006, and now continues with the spin-off group, Asia featuring John Payne.

After Wetton's departure, vocalist/bassist John Payne joined the band and, together with Downes, enlisted new musicians and led Asia through to 2006. The first album with this lineup was Aqua, released in June 1992. In addition to Downes and Payne, the album featured Howe, Palmer, and guitarist Al Pitrelli (of Danger Danger, Megadeth and Alice Cooper). Howe returned during the sessions having just left Yes again, but Palmer would leave soon, committing to an ELP reunion, and was able to play on just three songs. Drummers Simon Phillips and Nigel Glockler then completed the sessions. Downes' environmentalist single "Who Will Stop the Rain?" (originally written for Max Bacon and the aborted Rain project, later appearing on Bacon's album From the Banks of the River Irwell) attracted some radio attention. The Aqua club tour featured Howe (whose presence was heavily promoted), who took the stage after the fifth song. The tour was successful enough to warrant the band's continuation. The 1992–93 tour featured Downes, Howe, Payne, guitarist Vinny Burns and drummer Trevor Thornton. Before a European festival tour in late 1993, Howe and Burns left and were replaced by guitarist Keith More.

The group released Aria in May 1994, which featured lead guitarist Al Pitrelli once again, who would leave Asia during the short Aria tour. The Aria album did not fare well commercially and the ensuing tour was limited to four concerts. Ex-Simply Red guitarist Aziz Ibrahim took over during the tour. Aria also introduced new drummer Michael Sturgis, who had been involved during the band's aborted 1987 reunion and had appeared on some of the sessions for Aqua. Aria was not released in the United States until May 1995.

Over New Year's Eve 1995/1996, a broken pipe inundated the control room in Downes' and Payne's recording studio, Electric Palace, in London. Amid the lost equipment, a vault containing unreleased material was found intact. The band decided to release the material in two discs, Archiva 1 and Archiva 2. The Archiva sets were collections of unreleased tracks recorded during the first three Downes/Payne albums.

Next, Arena, released in February 1996, featured Downes, Payne, Sturgis, Ibrahim and guest guitarist Elliott Randall (ex-Steely Dan, and Randy Crawford). The album was released on Resurgence Records but there was no tour because of lack of interest. The group's lone promotional performance in conjunction with the album occurred on 19 April 1996, when Downes and Payne appeared with guitarist Elliott Randall on the Virgin FM radio programme Alive in London to play the song "Never".

An all-acoustic album, Live Acoustic, was recorded by the group at Stadthalle, Bruchsal, Germany on 21 September 1997 (and released in December 1999) that featured a lineup of Downes, Payne, Ibrahim, and drummer Bob Richards. Also in 1997, a best of album Anthology, featuring songs from the past six albums was released. However, a lawsuit from Wetton meant that songs from the first three albums needed to be re-recorded.

In 1999 there was talk of a reunion of the original lineup minus Howe. The original proposition included Dave Kilminster on guitar, who had previously toured and recorded with Wetton. While Howe was interested in participating, he was unable to because of his busy schedule with Yes. This reunion did not take place and John Payne continued to carry on Asia with Downes uninterrupted. Wetton and Palmer did, however, get together to form Qango, which included Kilminster and John Young, although the band was short-lived. Kilminster went on to work with Keith Emerson, The Nice and Roger Waters.

Also in 1999, Rare, Asia's seventh studio album was released on Resurgence. It was made up of the instrumental music, which Downes and Payne had composed for the soundtrack for David Attenborough's documentary nature film Salmon: Against the Tides (tracks 1–16) and for an unreleased CD-ROM video game (tracks 17–22).[22]

In 2000 Geffen/Universal released a best-of entitled The Very Best of Asia: Heat of the Moment (1982–1990), which also included three rare B-sides from the early days.

 
Asia in 2001; left-to-right: Downes, Payne, Chris Slade and Guthrie Govan

2001's Aura featured three different session guitarists, including Ian Crichton (of Canadian progressive rock band Saga) who'd briefly joined Asia in 1998–1999. Aura took a more progressive rock form, but still did not recapture the commercial success of the first album. Former members Howe, Thrall, Sturgis and Elliott Randall also made guest appearances. The single "Ready to Go Home" was barely distributed. Asia then signed with Recognition Records. 2001 did see the band with a stable lineup, achieved during the Aura sessions featuring Downes, Payne, guitarist Guthrie Govan and ex-Manfred Mann's Earth Band/The Firm/Uriah Heep/Gary Numan/AC/DC drummer Chris Slade (who had first joined Asia in 1999, briefly).

In 2001 and 2002, Asia toured for the first time since 1994, including their first United States dates since 1993. A live album and DVD, both titled America: Live in the USA, were released in 2003, recorded at the Classic Rock Productions Classic Rock Festival at The Patriots Theater at the Trenton War Memorial in Trenton, New Jersey on 5 October 2002, which they co-headlined with Uriah Heep.

In the summer of 2003, Downes and Payne undertook the "Asia Across America Tour", which received some media attention. Performing "unplugged", the duo would reportedly play anywhere in the United States that fans requested, provided there was a venue and the fans put up $3,000 to cover costs.

Marking a departure from convention, for the first time a studio release was not titled as a single word starting and ending with the letter A (excepting the partial compilation / partial new album Then & Now). Released on Asia's newly signed label SPV/Inside Out Records, 2004's Silent Nation (name influenced by the Howard Stern vs. FCC incident) picked up some unexpected exposure on the Internet.

In 2004 an acoustic Asia toured once again featuring only Downes and Payne. In 2005 the full band toured in Europe and the Americas playing settings ranging from small clubs to medium-sized theatres. In the United States attendance was poor at best.

In August 2005 Slade left Asia to be replaced by drummer Jay Schellen. The new band started work on an album, tentatively entitled Architect of Time, which was originally planned for release early in 2006, though subsequent developments would cause this project to be shelved. Half of this material ended up being released on the album Window to the Soul in August 2006 under the new band name of GPS, which was an acronym for the three players involved: Govan, Payne and Schellen. After this, the three continued on as Asia Featuring John Payne in 2007.

Meanwhile, Wetton and Downes had released some archival Asia material under the name Wetton/Downes in September 2002 and they then reunited to record a full-length album (Icon, released in August 2005) and an accompanying EP and DVD. Two additional Icon projects have since followed: Icon II: Rubicon (November 2006) and Icon 3 (March 2009).

2006–2013: "Original Asia" reunion

See also: Asia Featuring John Payne

In early 2006, Downes left for a reunion of the original band lineup under the Asia name, a breakup that Payne described as "painful".[23] The existing lineup (minus Downes) continued for a short while before morphing into the aforementioned GPS.

Following Downes' departure, on 9 May 2006, John Payne, Geoff Downes, John Wetton, Carl Palmer and Steve Howe contractually agreed that John Payne could continue his 15-year period with Asia as Asia Featuring John Payne. Asia featuring John Payne debuted in 2007 with Payne on vocals/bass, Guthrie Govan on guitar, Erik Norlander on keyboards and Jay Schellen on drums. Downes, Wetton, Palmer and Howe continued to perform and record as Asia thereafter.

The official websites of each band reflect a split between the shared history of Payne's tenure with the band, as the reunited Asia acknowledge only pre- and post-Payne albums, whereas Asia Featuring John Payne claim Payne-era (1991–2006) albums Aqua (1992) through Silent Nation (2004) as part of their own discography.[24] Asia Featuring John Payne perform songs from the entire history of Asia.[23]

Downes and the other three original members (Wetton, Palmer and Howe) convened a group meeting in England in early 2006 in anticipation of formally reforming for work that year. And after a slew of rumours, they announced that this original lineup of Asia were planning a CD, DVD and world tour to celebrate the band's 25th anniversary. The band appeared in October 2006 on United States cable channel VH-1 Classic and began a world tour largely focused on the United States. The band secured ownership of the Asia name and toured under the description of the Four Original Members of Asia. The set list featured most of the first album as well as a couple of songs from the second, along with one selection each from Yes, ELP, King Crimson and the Buggles to acknowledge the history of each member of the band. In a 2006 interview, guitarist Steve Howe states, "This is the real Asia. There have been other incarnations of the band, but this is the one that the public truly embraced".

 
Asia in 2006; left-to-right: Howe, Palmer and Wetton (off-camera: Downes)

The tour began on 29 August 2006 in Rochester, New York. "The Definitive Collection" was released by Geffen/Universal to tie into the tour in September and peaked at No.183 on the United States album charts--—the first time Asia had made the charts since 1990. A limited edition release available only at Best Buy stores also included a DVD of all the band's music videos.

The reunion tour continued into 2007 with venue size based on the success of the 2006 shows, where the band was mainly playing in clubs and theatres. Many of these sold out, including all seven dates in Japan. Also in 2007, the band released Fantasia: Live In Tokyo on CD and DVD through Eagle Records, commemorating the 25th Anniversary and documenting the success of the 2006–2007 tour.

In mid-2007, all four original members (Wetton, Downes, Howe and Palmer) went into the studio to record a new album, marking the first recorded material from all four original members since 1983's Alpha.[25] The band continued to tour until major heart surgery for Wetton in the second half of the year saw remaining tour dates rescheduled for 2008.

The new studio album, entitled Phoenix, was released on Frontiers Records on 14 April 2008 (via EMI/Capitol on 15 April in North America[26]), along with a world tour to promote. The 12-track album includes "An Extraordinary Life", based on Wetton's experience of ill health; rockers such as "Never Again" and "Alibis"; and power ballads such as "Heroine" and "I Will Remember You". The world tour also featured a couple of the new songs. The album cover featured Roger Dean's illustration and design.[25] The Phoenix album did well in both the American and European/Japanese markets. It debuted at No.73 on the American Billboard 200; the band had not charted with a studio album since 1985.

As a special finale to the US Phoenix tour, the band performed, for the first time ever, the entire first Asia album from beginning to end at their San Francisco concert at The Regency Center on 5 May. The album comprised the entire second set of the evening's concert.

In summer 2009, Asia toured the United States with Yes. Asia opened with a 55-minute show, while Yes closed with a 1-hour and 50-minute set. Asia's set included only "An Extraordinary Life" from Phoenix, the rest of the songs coming from the first two albums plus one cover each from The Buggles ("Video Killed the Radio Star" with Wetton on lead vocals and Downes on vocoder), King Crimson ("The Court of the Crimson King", which was recorded by the original incarnation of that band with Greg Lake on lead vocals) and Emerson, Lake & Palmer ("Fanfare for the Common Man"). Yes songs were omitted from this tour's setlist, though Asia also covered "Roundabout" on earlier legs of the "Four Original Members" tour. Contrary to some early expectations, Downes did not perform with Yes, although their set list included two songs from the 1980 album Drama, which featured Downes on keys. A series of shows late in the tour featured a special appearance by Ian McDonald (flute and vocals on "The Court Of The Crimson King", which he co-wrote, and backing vocals on "Heat Of The Moment").

In late 2009, the band began working on their follow-up CD to Phoenix. According to Wetton's website in late November 2009: "Good news is that the new album is starting to leap, rather than creep (or sleep) in terms of progress. This week I have two completed lead vocals, with complete harmony/chorus voxes on three. It's just me, Geoff [Downes], Steve R[ispin], and Mike Paxman in the studio--- Carl [Palmer] is pretty much all done, Steve H[owe] is half done, and returns to the fold after Yes tour. It sounds absolutely wonderful". The follow-up, titled Omega, was released in the UK on 26 April 2010.

The band finished a new studio album timed to coincide with the band's thirtieth anniversary, titled XXX, and released in the U.K. on 2 July 2012 and worldwide around the same time.[27] In September 2012 they played four shows in Japan and a North American tour started on 11 October 2012. The UK tour, however, had to be cancelled after a number of shows due to Palmer contracting a serious case of E. coli.[28]

2013–2017: Howe's retirement, Gravitas and hiatus

On 10 January 2013, Steve Howe announced his retirement from the band to focus on other projects,[29] including Yes, bringing an end to the reunion of the original lineup. Asia in turn announced they would be continuing with new guitarist Sam Coulson, with a new album in the works entitled Gravitas.[30][31][32] The new lineup performed live in 2013.[3]

On the website ultimateclassicrock.com, Howe explained his decision to leave Asia:

Something had to give. Because I'd just done five years with both bands and then Geoff had joined [Yes] when we did Fly From Here, which is maybe a lot shorter, only a quarter of that time for him. He only experienced the tip of the iceberg of being on call for two bands. But there were times in the first three years — it actually got easier when Geoff joined. It was easier because we were both in the band and we could both wrestle with the schedules — but before that, at times, Yes or Asia would extend a tour by a day and then Yes or Asia would then expand the start of the tour, so the gap would start to close.

And I would start freaking out saying "yeah, but hang on ... if you add that date here and they've just added this date here, I'm now squeezed like a concertina." So there was going to be a time at some point when this was unworkable and unfortunately it was the end of last year that made me realize that this being on call was really too much. I couldn't keep either really happy. I was either making Yes miserable or Asia miserable, because of the other one being in existence.

So I think that Asia had a terrific run and we made three great albums. In fact, XXX, I think, is a fantastic record.

— Steve Howe

The band finished the recording sessions for Gravitas in December 2013[33] and in January 2014 they started shooting the music video for "Valkyrie", which was released as a single. The album's cover artwork was designed by Asia longtime collaborator Roger Dean. On 30 January 2014, Wetton revealed the album's track listing through Asia's official website and talked about each song from the album.[34] The album was released on 24 March 2014[35] and reached Number 1 in the Progressive Rock Chart for emusic on 27 March.[36]

Following Gravitas and the subsequent tour, the band went on an almost three-year hiatus due to Wetton having cancer and undergoing chemotherapy.[32][37][38] On 5 December 2016, Asia announced a US tour opening for American rock band Journey, beginning with 12 dates from 15 March 2017 at the Yakima Valley Sundome in Yakima, Washington,[39] and four days later, announced their live album Symfonia: Live in Bulgaria 2013, upon which they performed with the Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra.[40]

2017–2018: Wetton's death and tour with Journey

On 11 January 2017, Wetton released a statement that, due to receiving another round of chemotherapy, he would be unable to perform on the 12 dates announced for the Journey tour, and that he would be substituted by Billy Sherwood, one of Downes' Yes bandmates, and Wetton's own co-writer and producer of the album Raised in Captivity.[41] The band originally wanted to cancel the tour altogether, but Journey's management and agents refused, forcing them to pick Sherwood as last-minute replacement.[42]

Wetton died on 31 January 2017 at the age of 67;[43][4] Palmer later stated "So, we used Billy and we had a phenomenal time. It was a great experience all 'round, and I'm pleased we did it. John would have loved to be on that tour, so I'm pleased we did it for him, anyway."[42] On 17 June 2017 Asia performed a show in homage to Wetton, titled An Extraordinary Life.[44] The show was an interactive celebration of Wetton's music and life. Fan dedications were sent into management and shown on a large projection screen above the stage.

After Wetton's death, Downes stated that the duo had been working on another Asia album and stated that he hopes to eventually finish and release it as a final testament to Wetton. It is unclear whether Wetton had recorded any parts, or if the album had only been in the songwriting process.[45] In August 2017, Palmer stated that there were no immediate plans for Asia to continue, as it was too soon to make any decisions and the band members would be busy on other projects in the meantime.[42]

2019–present: Lineup changes, tour with Yes, and 40th Anniversary Tour

 
Guitarist and vocalist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal joined the band in 2019.

On 2 April 2019, the band announced it would join Yes, John Lodge, and Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy as part of The Royal Affair Tour, a 26-date Summer 2019 North American joint tour, with founding guitarist Steve Howe rejoining the band for a portion of the set. The band also confirmed that Sam Coulson had amicably left Asia to focus on solo projects and that he'd be replaced as guitarist by Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, specifically for the tour also took over lead vocals, with Sherwood remaining on bass but moving to backing vocals. Coulson confirmed his departure on Twitter the same day.[46][47][48]

In 2019, a New York Times investigation revealed that Asia was among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire. While Universal Music has generally disputed the severity of the fire's damage, they have yet to publicly confirm or deny the status of Asia's masters as a result, while Downes has stated that he has it "on good authority" that the masters survived.[49][50][51]

In 2022, Asia announced a 40th Anniversary Tour, with Marc Bonilla on guitar and vocals.[7] However, the tour was later cancelled due to Alan Parsons, the band's opening act, backing out in order to undergo surgery. Following the cancellation, Palmer said in February 2023 that there were no plans for any activity for the rest of the year.[52]

Personnel

Throughout the years, Geoff Downes has been the longest serving member of the band and is the only one to appear on every studio album. However, he was out of the band from its 1989 reunion to 1990 due to prior commitments at the time.

The original line-up initially lasted from 1981 until 1983 when John Wetton left. It was reunited on two occasions: first, one year later when Wetton rejoined, but Steve Howe left before the band could work together again, and a second time in 2006, when Downes, the last original member in the band, replaced the rest of the band with his original bandmates. This last original reunion lasted until 2013, when Howe left once again. Wetton died from cancer in 2017, making another reunion of the original lineup impossible.[53]

Several musicians have joined and left after a short time without recording any studio material with the group. The most notable collaboration of this kind was the participation of Greg Lake in the "Asia in Asia" concert on bass guitar and lead vocals. Yet more musicians have played as session musicians or have guested with the band without formally joining. Some of these artists include: Robert Fleischman, Vinnie Colaiuta, Francis Dunnery, Ant Glynne, Scott Gorham, Tomoyasu Hotei, Luís Jardim, Ron Komie, Tony Levin, Steve Lukather, Thomas Lang, Kim Nielsen-Parsons, Nigel Glockler, Simon Phillips, and Alex Thomas.

Lineup

Timeline

This is an approximate timeline of the members of Asia. Thinner bars indicate guest appearances, either on recordings or live.

Discography

Main article: Asia discography
Studio albums

Remixes

  • In 2005, DJ Manian's dance remix of "Heat of the Moment" was released to nightclubs.

Soundtracks and other uses

See also

  • Rodney Matthews, a fantasy artist responsible for some of the album covers during the 1990s.

References

  1. ^ Deggans, Eric (1998). "Asia". In Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds.). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Detroit: Visible Ink Press. pp. 44–45.
  2. ^ "ASIA Featuring John Payne Official Website | Classic and Modern Progressive Rock". Theasiaband.com. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  3. ^ a b "ASIA Announce New Guitarist and 2013 Plans". Originalasia.com. 10 January 2013. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  4. ^ a b "ASIA's JOHN WETTON Dies After Battle With Cancer". Blabbermouth.net. 31 January 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  5. ^ . Johnwetton.com. 11 January 2017. Archived from the original on 26 April 2017. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
  6. ^ "YES Announces "The Royal Affair Tour" Launching June 12 In Bethlehem, Pa". Yesworld.com. 2 April 2019.
  7. ^ a b c "ASIA with original members Carl Palmer & Geoff Downes Announces 40th Anniversary Celebration". Cision/PR Newswire (Press release). Cision Distribution/Pilato Entertainment. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
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  47. ^ Coulson, Sam. "Wishing ASIA the very best on their 2019 tour with Steve Howe returning to guitar duties. I'm so thankful for the incredible mentoring from John, Geoff & Carl over the years and I'm excited to watch the band as a fan this year ❤️". Twitter. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
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External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Asia (musical group).
  • Official website  

April 14, 2023
asia, band, confused, with, asia, featuring, john, payne, asia, english, rock, supergroup, formed, london, 1981, most, commercially, successful, line, original, which, consisted, four, members, different, progressive, rock, bands, enjoyed, great, success, 1970. Not to be confused with Asia featuring John Payne Asia are an English rock supergroup formed in London in 1981 The most commercially successful line up was its original which consisted of four members of different progressive rock bands who had enjoyed great success in the 1970s lead vocalist and bassist John Wetton King Crimson and U K guitarist Steve Howe Yes keyboardist Geoff Downes Yes and the Buggles and drummer Carl Palmer Emerson Lake amp Palmer Their debut album Asia released in 1982 remains their bestselling album and went to number one in several countries Billboard listed it as the top album in the U S in 1982 The lead single from the album Heat of the Moment remains their top charting and best known song reaching the top 40 in over a dozen markets It peaked at 4 in the U S on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit 1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart AsiaOriginal lineup in 1982 clockwise from bottom left John Wetton Carl Palmer Geoff Downes Steve HoweBackground informationOriginLondon EnglandGenresProgressive rockart rock 1 arena rockhard rockpop rockYears active1981 19861989 presentLabelsGeffenGreat PyramidMusidiscWEA JapanMayhem RecordingsResurgenceSnapperInside OutFrontiersEMI AmericaKingSony Music EntertainmentSpinoffsWorld TradeQangoWetton DownesAsia featuring John PayneSpinoff ofYesU K Emerson Lake and PalmerKing CrimsonMembersGeoff DownesCarl PalmerBilly SherwoodMarc BonillaPast membersJohn WettonSteve HoweJohn PayneothersWebsiteoriginalasia wbr comThe band underwent multiple line up changes before the original four members reunited in 2006 As a result a band called Asia Featuring John Payne exists as a continuation of John Payne s career as Asia s frontman from 1991 until Wetton s return in 2006 2 In 2013 the original line up was broken once again when Howe retired from the band and was replaced by guitarist Sam Coulson 3 After a few years of inactivity Billy Sherwood of Yes World Trade and Circa replaced an ailing Wetton who died shortly thereafter in Asia for a summer 2017 tour with Journey 4 5 Following the end of the tour the band went on hiatus again re emerging in 2019 with Ron Bumblefoot Thal replacing both Sherwood on vocals and Coulson on guitar 6 In 2022 Marc Bonilla joined the group as guitarist and vocalist in place of Thal 7 Contents 1 History 1 1 Formation 1 2 1981 1985 Heat of the Moment and early success 1 3 1985 1991 Astra break up and new lineups 1 4 1991 2006 Downes Payne era 1 5 2006 2013 Original Asia reunion 1 6 2013 2017 Howe s retirement Gravitas and hiatus 1 7 2017 2018 Wetton s death and tour with Journey 1 8 2019 present Lineup changes tour with Yes and 40th Anniversary Tour 2 Personnel 2 1 Lineup 2 2 Timeline 3 Discography 4 Remixes 5 Soundtracks and other uses 6 See also 7 References 8 External linksHistory EditFormation Edit Asia began in early 1981 after the apparent ending of Yes and Emerson Lake amp Palmer two of the founding bands of British progressive rock After the break up of King Crimson in 1974 various plans for a supergroup involving bassist John Wetton had not been successful including the abortive British Bulldog project with Bill Bruford and Rick Wakeman in 1976 In 1977 Bruford and Wetton were reunited in U K augmented by guitarist Allan Holdsworth and keyboardist violinist Eddie Jobson Their self titled debut was released in 1978 But by January 1980 U K had folded after one lineup change and three recordings A new project was then suggested involving Wetton Wakeman drummer Carl Palmer and then little known guitarist singer Trevor Rabin but Wakeman left this project shortly before they were due to sign to Geffen and before they had played together 8 In early January 1981 Wetton and former Yes guitarist Steve Howe were brought together by A amp R man John Kalodner and Geffen Records to start writing material for a new album 9 They were eventually joined by drummer Carl Palmer and finally by Howe s fellow member of Yes keyboardist Geoff Downes Two other players auditioned and considered during the band s formation were former The Move and ELO founder Roy Wood and the aforementioned guitarist singer Trevor Rabin who would end up replacing Steve Howe in a reformed Yes in 1983 Rabin in a filmed 1984 interview included in the DVD 9012Live said that his involvement with Asia never went anywhere because there was no chemistry among the participants The band s first recordings under the auspices of Geffen record label head David Geffen and Kalodner were extremely popular with record buyers while considered disappointing by music critics 10 and fans of progressive rock who found the music closer to radio friendly album oriented rock AOR 11 However Asia clicked with fans of popular arena acts such as Journey and Styx Kalodner had once introduced Wetton to Journey s short lived frontman Robert Fleischman with a view to Fleischman becoming Asia s lead singer As they worked on material together Fleischman was impressed by Wetton s singing and felt the voice best suited to the new material was Wetton s own He left Asia amicably 12 Rolling Stone gave Asia an indifferent review 13 while acknowledging the band s musicianship was a cut above the usual AOR expectations 1981 1985 Heat of the Moment and early success Edit Asia s debut album Asia released in March 1982 gained considerable commercial success spending nine weeks at number one on the United States album chart and selling over four million copies in the States alone The album sold over 10 million worldwide and has never been out of print The singles Heat of the Moment and Only Time Will Tell became Top 40 hits both boosted by popular MTV music videos Both tracks went on to become stadium favourites at United States sporting events citation needed Sole Survivor also received heavy air play on rock stations across the United States as did Wildest Dreams another MTV video and Here Comes The Feeling The band s best performing single and perhaps their most recognised and popular hit song Heat of the Moment spent six weeks at No 1 on Billboard s Album Rock Tracks chart and climbed to No 4 on the Hot 100 In the United States the band sold out every date on their debut tour which began at Clarkson University in Potsdam New York 14 on 22 April 1982 and continued in theatres but quickly expanded into massive arenas because of high ticket demand Asia would go on to receive a Grammy Award nomination as Best New Artist of 1982 MTV also played Asia videos on heavy rotation as many as five times a day Both Billboard and Cash Box named Asia s debut the No 1 album of the year Asia s logo and cover art were created by illustrator Roger Dean of Yes and Uriah Heep fame Asia s second album Alpha released in July 1983 and future Asia albums did not achieve the chart success of their debut release however Alpha s Don t Cry was a No 1 Album Rock Track and Top 10 Pop hit in the summer of 1983 and the video received considerable attention on MTV while The Smile Has Left Your Eyes was another Top 40 hit for the band The video for Smile also scored heavy MTV play However Rolling Stone criticized Alpha as an over produced commercial album 15 while others stated that Howe and Palmer were effectively reduced to session musicians Alpha received indifferent reviews from various critics while attaining platinum status and reaching No 6 on the Billboard album chart In October 1983 Wetton left the group after the comparatively disappointing sales of Alpha The band says that Wetton quit Wetton stated that he was fired by phone There is no universally agreed version of what happened Wetton later stated a factor may have been his alcohol dependency Howe in his 2021 autobiography All My Yesterdays says that tensions had been building gradually as songs began to work out differently on stage than they had while recording the album which had itself not gone smoothly After a show in New York where some members of the band had after giving an interview taken the stage and given a subpar performance Howe recalls that he Downes and Palmer confronted Wetton about his increasing mistakes on stage 16 The next leg of their 1983 United States tour which had begun in the summer but shut down suddenly on 10 September following a performance at Pine Knob outside Detroit scheduled for the autumn was abruptly cancelled reportedly because of low ticket sales Howe says this was because Wetton s issues had worsened the ensuing two month break in the tour marked Wetton s departure from the band as a practical matter regardless of who had initiated it 16 In December 1983 ex King Crimson and ELP lead singer and bassist Greg Lake replaced Wetton for a few concerts in Japan including the highly publicised Asia in Asia concert at the Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo Japan on 6 December 1983 which was the first concert broadcast over satellite to MTV in the United States and was later made into a home video Some songs were played in a lower key to suit Lake s voice He sang some lyrics assisted with a teleprompter as he had been asked to cover Wetton s parts on short notice as a favour to Carl Palmer although he initially declined due to the short preparation time eventually he accepted because Geffen Records offered me so much money there was no way I could refuse it In a 2011 interview asked why he hadn t stayed a member of Asia he stated I did a brief stint with them and didn t want to go in that corporate rock direction I didn t believe in that sort of music so I didn t continue 17 18 Howe says Lake was interested in remaining a member and recording with the band but Palmer was opposed to that 16 Following Lake s departure Wetton was asked to return in Howe s account Wetton approached the band via management 16 to Asia after his three month absence he returned on the condition that Steve Howe was ousted from the band For a while the group considered continuing as a three piece without a permanent guitarist inviting guest guitarists such as Jeff Beck and David Gilmour into the studio Geffen Records suggested recruiting Krokus guitarist Mandy Meyer who got on well with the band and was offered a permanent position his playing style was more inclined to straightforward hard rock thus changing the sound of the band Meanwhile Howe went on to brief success with GTR another supergroup this one formed with former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett and produced by Downes 1985 1991 Astra break up and new lineups Edit The third Asia album was tentatively titled Arcadia but during production it was discovered that that name was being used by a forthcoming spin off project from Duran Duran The retitled Astra released in November 1985 was not as commercially successful as the first two albums The record label cancelled the projected tour because of lack of interest The band charted another single with Go No 46 featuring Meyer s guitar work as a primary element The music video was another hit with MTV but in 1986 this Asia lineup folded bringing the group to an end for the time being Wetton is quoted as saying Astra did really well in Sweden but Swedish sales aren t that large 19 Wetton resurfaced in January 1987 with an album recorded with guitarist Phil Manzanera Wetton Manzanera based on material that had been originally intended for Asia Also in 1987 Wetton played with Phenomena on their Dream Runner album and landed a number one hit in South America with the Phenomena single Did It All for Love also appearing in the related music video Asia were also credited with contributing the Giorgio Moroder produced track Gypsy Soul to the Sylvester Stallone film soundtrack to Over the Top although Wetton was the only band member involved Wetton and Downes attempt to restart the group in 1987 with guitarist Scott Gorham formerly of Thin Lizzy and drummer Michael Sturgis ex A ha failed when they were unable to land a worldwide recording deal Wetton and Palmer reunited the band for tours of Europe in the summer and autumn of 1989 Downes working on a project with Greg Lake was not available so keyboards were played by John Young Guitars on the tour were handled by Alan Darby replaced by German guitarist Holger Larisch and Zoe Nicholas and Susie Webb were brought aboard to provide back up vocals Unlike Wetton s later anger at Asia continuing without him in the 1990s this lineup was viewed favourably by other Asia band members Asia returned to the studio in 1990 with Downes Toto guitarist Steve Lukather and other studio musicians and released Then amp Now August 1990 a best of with four new tracks Days Like These from the disc received substantial airplay during the summer of 1990 on AOR radio stations and re sparked some interest in the band Pat Thrall joined Downes Palmer and Wetton on tour and they performed classic material including King Crimson and U K songs The band toured the former Soviet Union in November 1990 to play in front of 20 000 fans on two sold out nights Days Like These charted in the United States at No 64 in 1990 and No 2 on the United States Album Rock Tracks chart A video was planned but scrapped when various problems hampered the single s chance at the Top 40 Asia received the RIAA Gold album award for Then and Now years later but initially the album did not reach the Top 100 A DVD and CD are available of the Asia concerts in the USSR featuring a bonus studio track Kari Anne recorded by the 1987 Wetton Downes Gorham Sturgis lineup and with Francis Dunnery contributing a guitar solo 20 21 Wetton left the group in April 1991 after a South American tour discouraged by Asia s lack of success in the United States 1991 2006 Downes Payne era Edit John Payne pictured in 2011 replaced John Wetton as Asia s frontman between 1991 and 2006 and now continues with the spin off group Asia featuring John Payne After Wetton s departure vocalist bassist John Payne joined the band and together with Downes enlisted new musicians and led Asia through to 2006 The first album with this lineup was Aqua released in June 1992 In addition to Downes and Payne the album featured Howe Palmer and guitarist Al Pitrelli of Danger Danger Megadeth and Alice Cooper Howe returned during the sessions having just left Yes again but Palmer would leave soon committing to an ELP reunion and was able to play on just three songs Drummers Simon Phillips and Nigel Glockler then completed the sessions Downes environmentalist single Who Will Stop the Rain originally written for Max Bacon and the aborted Rain project later appearing on Bacon s album From the Banks of the River Irwell attracted some radio attention The Aqua club tour featured Howe whose presence was heavily promoted who took the stage after the fifth song The tour was successful enough to warrant the band s continuation The 1992 93 tour featured Downes Howe Payne guitarist Vinny Burns and drummer Trevor Thornton Before a European festival tour in late 1993 Howe and Burns left and were replaced by guitarist Keith More The group released Aria in May 1994 which featured lead guitarist Al Pitrelli once again who would leave Asia during the short Aria tour The Aria album did not fare well commercially and the ensuing tour was limited to four concerts Ex Simply Red guitarist Aziz Ibrahim took over during the tour Aria also introduced new drummer Michael Sturgis who had been involved during the band s aborted 1987 reunion and had appeared on some of the sessions for Aqua Aria was not released in the United States until May 1995 Over New Year s Eve 1995 1996 a broken pipe inundated the control room in Downes and Payne s recording studio Electric Palace in London Amid the lost equipment a vault containing unreleased material was found intact The band decided to release the material in two discs Archiva 1 and Archiva 2 The Archiva sets were collections of unreleased tracks recorded during the first three Downes Payne albums Next Arena released in February 1996 featured Downes Payne Sturgis Ibrahim and guest guitarist Elliott Randall ex Steely Dan and Randy Crawford The album was released on Resurgence Records but there was no tour because of lack of interest The group s lone promotional performance in conjunction with the album occurred on 19 April 1996 when Downes and Payne appeared with guitarist Elliott Randall on the Virgin FM radio programme Alive in London to play the song Never An all acoustic album Live Acoustic was recorded by the group at Stadthalle Bruchsal Germany on 21 September 1997 and released in December 1999 that featured a lineup of Downes Payne Ibrahim and drummer Bob Richards Also in 1997 a best of album Anthology featuring songs from the past six albums was released However a lawsuit from Wetton meant that songs from the first three albums needed to be re recorded In 1999 there was talk of a reunion of the original lineup minus Howe The original proposition included Dave Kilminster on guitar who had previously toured and recorded with Wetton While Howe was interested in participating he was unable to because of his busy schedule with Yes This reunion did not take place and John Payne continued to carry on Asia with Downes uninterrupted Wetton and Palmer did however get together to form Qango which included Kilminster and John Young although the band was short lived Kilminster went on to work with Keith Emerson The Nice and Roger Waters Also in 1999 Rare Asia s seventh studio album was released on Resurgence It was made up of the instrumental music which Downes and Payne had composed for the soundtrack for David Attenborough s documentary nature film Salmon Against the Tides tracks 1 16 and for an unreleased CD ROM video game tracks 17 22 22 In 2000 Geffen Universal released a best of entitled The Very Best of Asia Heat of the Moment 1982 1990 which also included three rare B sides from the early days Asia in 2001 left to right Downes Payne Chris Slade and Guthrie Govan 2001 s Aura featured three different session guitarists including Ian Crichton of Canadian progressive rock band Saga who d briefly joined Asia in 1998 1999 Aura took a more progressive rock form but still did not recapture the commercial success of the first album Former members Howe Thrall Sturgis and Elliott Randall also made guest appearances The single Ready to Go Home was barely distributed Asia then signed with Recognition Records 2001 did see the band with a stable lineup achieved during the Aura sessions featuring Downes Payne guitarist Guthrie Govan and ex Manfred Mann s Earth Band The Firm Uriah Heep Gary Numan AC DC drummer Chris Slade who had first joined Asia in 1999 briefly In 2001 and 2002 Asia toured for the first time since 1994 including their first United States dates since 1993 A live album and DVD both titled America Live in the USA were released in 2003 recorded at the Classic Rock Productions Classic Rock Festival at The Patriots Theater at the Trenton War Memorial in Trenton New Jersey on 5 October 2002 which they co headlined with Uriah Heep In the summer of 2003 Downes and Payne undertook the Asia Across America Tour which received some media attention Performing unplugged the duo would reportedly play anywhere in the United States that fans requested provided there was a venue and the fans put up 3 000 to cover costs Marking a departure from convention for the first time a studio release was not titled as a single word starting and ending with the letter A excepting the partial compilation partial new album Then amp Now Released on Asia s newly signed label SPV Inside Out Records 2004 s Silent Nation name influenced by the Howard Stern vs FCC incident picked up some unexpected exposure on the Internet In 2004 an acoustic Asia toured once again featuring only Downes and Payne In 2005 the full band toured in Europe and the Americas playing settings ranging from small clubs to medium sized theatres In the United States attendance was poor at best In August 2005 Slade left Asia to be replaced by drummer Jay Schellen The new band started work on an album tentatively entitled Architect of Time which was originally planned for release early in 2006 though subsequent developments would cause this project to be shelved Half of this material ended up being released on the album Window to the Soul in August 2006 under the new band name of GPS which was an acronym for the three players involved Govan Payne and Schellen After this the three continued on as Asia Featuring John Payne in 2007 Meanwhile Wetton and Downes had released some archival Asia material under the name Wetton Downes in September 2002 and they then reunited to record a full length album Icon released in August 2005 and an accompanying EP and DVD Two additional Icon projects have since followed Icon II Rubicon November 2006 and Icon 3 March 2009 2006 2013 Original Asia reunion Edit See also Asia Featuring John Payne In early 2006 Downes left for a reunion of the original band lineup under the Asia name a breakup that Payne described as painful 23 The existing lineup minus Downes continued for a short while before morphing into the aforementioned GPS Following Downes departure on 9 May 2006 John Payne Geoff Downes John Wetton Carl Palmer and Steve Howe contractually agreed that John Payne could continue his 15 year period with Asia as Asia Featuring John Payne Asia featuring John Payne debuted in 2007 with Payne on vocals bass Guthrie Govan on guitar Erik Norlander on keyboards and Jay Schellen on drums Downes Wetton Palmer and Howe continued to perform and record as Asia thereafter The official websites of each band reflect a split between the shared history of Payne s tenure with the band as the reunited Asia acknowledge only pre and post Payne albums whereas Asia Featuring John Payne claim Payne era 1991 2006 albums Aqua 1992 through Silent Nation 2004 as part of their own discography 24 Asia Featuring John Payne perform songs from the entire history of Asia 23 Downes and the other three original members Wetton Palmer and Howe convened a group meeting in England in early 2006 in anticipation of formally reforming for work that year And after a slew of rumours they announced that this original lineup of Asia were planning a CD DVD and world tour to celebrate the band s 25th anniversary The band appeared in October 2006 on United States cable channel VH 1 Classic and began a world tour largely focused on the United States The band secured ownership of the Asia name and toured under the description of the Four Original Members of Asia The set list featured most of the first album as well as a couple of songs from the second along with one selection each from Yes ELP King Crimson and the Buggles to acknowledge the history of each member of the band In a 2006 interview guitarist Steve Howe states This is the real Asia There have been other incarnations of the band but this is the one that the public truly embraced Asia in 2006 left to right Howe Palmer and Wetton off camera Downes The tour began on 29 August 2006 in Rochester New York The Definitive Collection was released by Geffen Universal to tie into the tour in September and peaked at No 183 on the United States album charts the first time Asia had made the charts since 1990 A limited edition release available only at Best Buy stores also included a DVD of all the band s music videos The reunion tour continued into 2007 with venue size based on the success of the 2006 shows where the band was mainly playing in clubs and theatres Many of these sold out including all seven dates in Japan Also in 2007 the band released Fantasia Live In Tokyo on CD and DVD through Eagle Records commemorating the 25th Anniversary and documenting the success of the 2006 2007 tour In mid 2007 all four original members Wetton Downes Howe and Palmer went into the studio to record a new album marking the first recorded material from all four original members since 1983 s Alpha 25 The band continued to tour until major heart surgery for Wetton in the second half of the year saw remaining tour dates rescheduled for 2008 The new studio album entitled Phoenix was released on Frontiers Records on 14 April 2008 via EMI Capitol on 15 April in North America 26 along with a world tour to promote The 12 track album includes An Extraordinary Life based on Wetton s experience of ill health rockers such as Never Again and Alibis and power ballads such as Heroine and I Will Remember You The world tour also featured a couple of the new songs The album cover featured Roger Dean s illustration and design 25 The Phoenix album did well in both the American and European Japanese markets It debuted at No 73 on the American Billboard 200 the band had not charted with a studio album since 1985 As a special finale to the US Phoenix tour the band performed for the first time ever the entire first Asia album from beginning to end at their San Francisco concert at The Regency Center on 5 May The album comprised the entire second set of the evening s concert In summer 2009 Asia toured the United States with Yes Asia opened with a 55 minute show while Yes closed with a 1 hour and 50 minute set Asia s set included only An Extraordinary Life from Phoenix the rest of the songs coming from the first two albums plus one cover each from The Buggles Video Killed the Radio Star with Wetton on lead vocals and Downes on vocoder King Crimson The Court of the Crimson King which was recorded by the original incarnation of that band with Greg Lake on lead vocals and Emerson Lake amp Palmer Fanfare for the Common Man Yes songs were omitted from this tour s setlist though Asia also covered Roundabout on earlier legs of the Four Original Members tour Contrary to some early expectations Downes did not perform with Yes although their set list included two songs from the 1980 album Drama which featured Downes on keys A series of shows late in the tour featured a special appearance by Ian McDonald flute and vocals on The Court Of The Crimson King which he co wrote and backing vocals on Heat Of The Moment In late 2009 the band began working on their follow up CD to Phoenix According to Wetton s website in late November 2009 Good news is that the new album is starting to leap rather than creep or sleep in terms of progress This week I have two completed lead vocals with complete harmony chorus voxes on three It s just me Geoff Downes Steve R ispin and Mike Paxman in the studio Carl Palmer is pretty much all done Steve H owe is half done and returns to the fold after Yes tour It sounds absolutely wonderful The follow up titled Omega was released in the UK on 26 April 2010 The band finished a new studio album timed to coincide with the band s thirtieth anniversary titled XXX and released in the U K on 2 July 2012 and worldwide around the same time 27 In September 2012 they played four shows in Japan and a North American tour started on 11 October 2012 The UK tour however had to be cancelled after a number of shows due to Palmer contracting a serious case of E coli 28 2013 2017 Howe s retirement Gravitas and hiatus Edit On 10 January 2013 Steve Howe announced his retirement from the band to focus on other projects 29 including Yes bringing an end to the reunion of the original lineup Asia in turn announced they would be continuing with new guitarist Sam Coulson with a new album in the works entitled Gravitas 30 31 32 The new lineup performed live in 2013 3 On the website ultimateclassicrock com Howe explained his decision to leave Asia Something had to give Because I d just done five years with both bands and then Geoff had joined Yes when we did Fly From Here which is maybe a lot shorter only a quarter of that time for him He only experienced the tip of the iceberg of being on call for two bands But there were times in the first three years it actually got easier when Geoff joined It was easier because we were both in the band and we could both wrestle with the schedules but before that at times Yes or Asia would extend a tour by a day and then Yes or Asia would then expand the start of the tour so the gap would start to close And I would start freaking out saying yeah but hang on if you add that date here and they ve just added this date here I m now squeezed like a concertina So there was going to be a time at some point when this was unworkable and unfortunately it was the end of last year that made me realize that this being on call was really too much I couldn t keep either really happy I was either making Yes miserable or Asia miserable because of the other one being in existence So I think that Asia had a terrific run and we made three great albums In fact XXX I think is a fantastic record Steve Howe The band finished the recording sessions for Gravitas in December 2013 33 and in January 2014 they started shooting the music video for Valkyrie which was released as a single The album s cover artwork was designed by Asia longtime collaborator Roger Dean On 30 January 2014 Wetton revealed the album s track listing through Asia s official website and talked about each song from the album 34 The album was released on 24 March 2014 35 and reached Number 1 in the Progressive Rock Chart for emusic on 27 March 36 Following Gravitas and the subsequent tour the band went on an almost three year hiatus due to Wetton having cancer and undergoing chemotherapy 32 37 38 On 5 December 2016 Asia announced a US tour opening for American rock band Journey beginning with 12 dates from 15 March 2017 at the Yakima Valley Sundome in Yakima Washington 39 and four days later announced their live album Symfonia Live in Bulgaria 2013 upon which they performed with the Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra 40 2017 2018 Wetton s death and tour with Journey Edit On 11 January 2017 Wetton released a statement that due to receiving another round of chemotherapy he would be unable to perform on the 12 dates announced for the Journey tour and that he would be substituted by Billy Sherwood one of Downes Yes bandmates and Wetton s own co writer and producer of the album Raised in Captivity 41 The band originally wanted to cancel the tour altogether but Journey s management and agents refused forcing them to pick Sherwood as last minute replacement 42 Wetton died on 31 January 2017 at the age of 67 43 4 Palmer later stated So we used Billy and we had a phenomenal time It was a great experience all round and I m pleased we did it John would have loved to be on that tour so I m pleased we did it for him anyway 42 On 17 June 2017 Asia performed a show in homage to Wetton titled An Extraordinary Life 44 The show was an interactive celebration of Wetton s music and life Fan dedications were sent into management and shown on a large projection screen above the stage After Wetton s death Downes stated that the duo had been working on another Asia album and stated that he hopes to eventually finish and release it as a final testament to Wetton It is unclear whether Wetton had recorded any parts or if the album had only been in the songwriting process 45 In August 2017 Palmer stated that there were no immediate plans for Asia to continue as it was too soon to make any decisions and the band members would be busy on other projects in the meantime 42 2019 present Lineup changes tour with Yes and 40th Anniversary Tour Edit Guitarist and vocalist Ron Bumblefoot Thal joined the band in 2019 On 2 April 2019 the band announced it would join Yes John Lodge and Carl Palmer s ELP Legacy as part of The Royal Affair Tour a 26 date Summer 2019 North American joint tour with founding guitarist Steve Howe rejoining the band for a portion of the set The band also confirmed that Sam Coulson had amicably left Asia to focus on solo projects and that he d be replaced as guitarist by Ron Bumblefoot Thal specifically for the tour also took over lead vocals with Sherwood remaining on bass but moving to backing vocals Coulson confirmed his departure on Twitter the same day 46 47 48 In 2019 a New York Times investigation revealed that Asia was among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire While Universal Music has generally disputed the severity of the fire s damage they have yet to publicly confirm or deny the status of Asia s masters as a result while Downes has stated that he has it on good authority that the masters survived 49 50 51 In 2022 Asia announced a 40th Anniversary Tour with Marc Bonilla on guitar and vocals 7 However the tour was later cancelled due to Alan Parsons the band s opening act backing out in order to undergo surgery Following the cancellation Palmer said in February 2023 that there were no plans for any activity for the rest of the year 52 Personnel EditThroughout the years Geoff Downes has been the longest serving member of the band and is the only one to appear on every studio album However he was out of the band from its 1989 reunion to 1990 due to prior commitments at the time The original line up initially lasted from 1981 until 1983 when John Wetton left It was reunited on two occasions first one year later when Wetton rejoined but Steve Howe left before the band could work together again and a second time in 2006 when Downes the last original member in the band replaced the rest of the band with his original bandmates This last original reunion lasted until 2013 when Howe left once again Wetton died from cancer in 2017 making another reunion of the original lineup impossible 53 Several musicians have joined and left after a short time without recording any studio material with the group The most notable collaboration of this kind was the participation of Greg Lake in the Asia in Asia concert on bass guitar and lead vocals Yet more musicians have played as session musicians or have guested with the band without formally joining Some of these artists include Robert Fleischman Vinnie Colaiuta Francis Dunnery Ant Glynne Scott Gorham Tomoyasu Hotei Luis Jardim Ron Komie Tony Levin Steve Lukather Thomas Lang Kim Nielsen Parsons Nigel Glockler Simon Phillips and Alex Thomas Lineup Edit Current membersGeoff Downes keyboards backing vocals 1981 1986 1990 present Carl Palmer drums percussion 1981 1986 1989 1992 2006 present Billy Sherwood bass 2017 present guest 2004 backing vocals 2019 present lead vocals 2017 2019 guitar guest 2004 Marc Bonilla lead vocals guitar 2022 present 7 Former membersJohn Wetton lead vocals bass acoustic guitar 1981 1983 1984 1986 1989 1991 2006 2017 his death Steve Howe guitar pedal steel guitar mandolin backing vocals 1981 1984 1992 1993 2006 2013 guest 2000 2019 46 Greg Lake lead vocals bass 1983 1984 died 2016 Mandy Meyer guitar backing vocals 1984 1986 Pat Thrall guitar backing vocals 1990 1991 John Payne lead vocals bass guitar 1991 2006 Al Pitrelli guitar 1991 1992 1993 1994 Mike Sturgis drums percussion 1994 1997 1998 1999 Chris Slade drums percussion 1999 2000 2005 Guthrie Govan guitar backing vocals 2000 2006 Jay Schellen drums percussion 2005 2006 Sam Coulson guitar backing vocals 2013 2018 Ron Bumblefoot Thal lead vocals guitar 2019 2021 46 Credited guest musiciansJohn Young keyboards backing vocals 1989 Zoe Nicholas backing vocals 1989 Susie Webb backing vocals 1989 Alan Darby guitar 1989 Holger Larisch guitar 1989 Steve Lukather guitar 1990 Trevor Thornton drums 1992 1994 Vinny Burns guitar backing vocals 1992 1993 Keith More guitar backing vocals 1993 Aziz Ibrahim guitar backing vocals 1994 1998 Elliott Randall guitar 1996 Bob Richards drums 1997 Ian Crichton guitar 1998 1999 Tony Levin bass 2001 Timeline Edit This is an approximate timeline of the members of Asia Thinner bars indicate guest appearances either on recordings or live Discography EditMain article Asia discography Studio albumsAsia 1982 Alpha 1983 Astra 1985 Aqua 1992 Aria 1994 Arena 1996 Rare 1999 Aura 2001 Silent Nation 2004 Phoenix 2008 Omega 2010 XXX 2012 Gravitas 2014 Remixes EditIn 2005 DJ Manian s dance remix of Heat of the Moment was released to nightclubs Soundtracks and other uses EditIn the episode Kenny Dies of the animated TV series South Park Eric Cartman and the United States Congress sing Heat of the Moment a cappella 54 A cover of the song Heat of the Moment is playable in the PlayStation 2 game Guitar Hero Encore Rocks the 80s In the film The 40 Year Old Virgin main character Andy Stitzer is mocked for having a framed Asia poster in his apartment Also Heat of the Moment is played during the scene in which Andy chases Trish s car after she leaves his home In the film The Matador Heat of the Moment plays as Julian and Danny arrive in Tucson In the episode The Splendid Source of the animated TV series Family Guy the song Only Time Will Tell plays and John Payne is introduced simply as Lead Singer of Asia Payne gleefully takes advantage of the fact that the ex wife of REO Speedwagon s lead singer Kevin Cronin will get money if the song Time for Me to Fly plays The song Lay Down Your Arms was used by the animated film Freddie the Frog 1992 starring Ben Kingsley Jenny Agutter and Brian Blessed In the film Over the Top with Sylvester Stallone a song called Gypsy Soul is credited to Asia although John Wetton was the only member involved as the song was written and recorded by Giorgio Moroder In the episode Mystery Spot of the CW series Supernatural every Tuesday morning Sam is awakened by Heat of the Moment coming from the radio followed by a Rise and shine Sammy from Dean In JoJo s Bizarre Adventure Diamond is Unbreakable the stand Aqua Necklace is named after the album Aqua See also EditPortal 1980s Rodney Matthews a fantasy artist responsible for some of the album covers during the 1990s References Edit Deggans Eric 1998 Asia In Graff Gary Durchholz Daniel eds MusicHound Rock The Essential Album Guide Detroit Visible Ink Press pp 44 45 ASIA Featuring John Payne Official Website Classic and Modern Progressive Rock Theasiaband com Retrieved 21 February 2013 a b ASIA Announce New Guitarist and 2013 Plans Originalasia com 10 January 2013 Retrieved 21 February 2013 a b ASIA s JOHN WETTON Dies After Battle With Cancer Blabbermouth net 31 January 2017 Retrieved 31 January 2017 A PERSONAL STATEMENT FROM JOHN WETTON Johnwetton com 11 January 2017 Archived from the original on 26 April 2017 Retrieved 1 April 2017 YES Announces The Royal Affair Tour Launching June 12 In Bethlehem Pa Yesworld com 2 April 2019 a b c ASIA with original members Carl Palmer amp Geoff Downes Announces 40th Anniversary Celebration Cision PR Newswire Press release Cision Distribution Pilato Entertainment Retrieved 28 January 2022 Wakeman R Say Yes About Original Asia 14 May 2012 Retrieved 28 January 2019 Asia Biography The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock amp Roll Simon amp Schuster 2001 Archived from the original on 5 January 2009 Stump Paul 1997 The Music s All that Matters A History of Progressive Rock Quartet Books Limited pp 258 9 ISBN 0 7043 8036 6 Nothing could have given anti Progressive forces a bigger target than this FM rock band Asia were luridly launched in April 1982 and the fact that the US AOR market took them to its heart speaks volumes Asia sold millions but their links with Progressive rock were as tenuous as George Formby s links with Mozart The Journey Zone The Journey Zone 14 August 2009 Archived from the original on 24 August 2010 Retrieved 14 September 2011 CD Reviews Archive Rolling Stone Archived from the original on 24 March 2006 About Originalasia com 17 April 2014 Retrieved 24 April 2014 J D Considine 15 September 1983 Asia Alpha album review Rolling Stone Archived from the original on 16 January 2009 Retrieved 24 August 2017 a b c d Howe Steve 2021 All My Yesterdays Omnibus Press pp 160 63 ISBN 9781785581793 The Greg Lake Interview 2012 Vintagerock com Retrieved 4 January 2018 Greg Lake New perspectives Innerviews org Retrieved 4 January 2018 Listen Live 106 5 The Arch Listen Live 106 5 The Arch Retrieved 20 November 2018 Live Mockba 09 X1 90 relayer35 com Asia 2 Live In Moscow 1990 Discogs Gallant David 1999 Asia The Heat Goes On A Complete and Authorised Biography Bournemouth Northdown Publishing ISBN 978 1900711111 a b Asia featuring John Payne Blog Archive Scranton Pocono 500 Fanfest Interview with John 28 August 2008 Archived from the original on 28 August 2008 Retrieved 4 January 2018 Discography ASIA featuring John Payne official website Theasiaband com Archived from the original on 8 January 2011 Retrieved 14 September 2011 a b Release of a brand new studio album on Frontiers Records Press release PDF Originalasia com Archived from the original PDF on 25 March 2009 Retrieved 22 June 2009 Asia s original supergroup line up returns PDF Originalasia com 27 February 2008 Archived from the original PDF on 28 May 2008 Retrieved 22 June 2009 Asia Official Reunion Site Originalasia com Retrieved 4 January 2018 A Message From Carl Palmer Originalasia com 14 December 2012 Retrieved 21 February 2013 Steve Howe quits Asia 3 News NZ 14 January 2013 Steve Howe Quits Asia News Prog Magazine Progrockmag com Archived from the original on 13 February 2013 Retrieved 21 February 2013 Asia Reveal Steve Howe s Replacement News Prog Magazine Progrockmag com Archived from the original on 13 February 2013 Retrieved 21 February 2013 a b The Official Asia Web Site Originalasia com 10 January 2013 Retrieved 21 February 2013 New Album Complete originalasia com Retrieved 3 February 2014 Gravitas Blow by Blow originalasia com Retrieved 3 February 2014 Asia Reveal Cover Artwork for New Studio Album Gravitas musicenthusiastmag com Retrieved 3 February 2014 Gravitas is 1 in the Progressive Rock Chart for emusic Gravitas originalasia Inagist com 27 March 2014 Archived from the original on 7 April 2014 Retrieved 24 April 2014 Asia s John Wetton undergoes cancer surgery Kshe95 com 27 May 2015 Archived from the original on 5 January 2018 Retrieved 27 August 2015 Kielty Martin 25 August 2015 John Wetton issues cancer warning TeamRock Retrieved 21 January 2016 Journey amp Asia 2017 Tour Dates Originalasia com 5 December 2015 Retrieved 12 December 2016 Symfonia Live In Bulgaria 2013 Originalasia com 9 December 2015 Retrieved 12 December 2016 A PERSONAL STATEMENT FROM JOHN WETTON Johnwetton com 11 January 2017 Archived from the original on 26 April 2017 Retrieved 18 January 2017 a b c Carl Palmer Says Asia s Future Is Still Undecided Ultimate Classic Rock Retrieved 4 January 2018 John Wetton of King Crimson has died DemonsZone Demonszone com 31 January 2017 Archived from the original on 25 April 2017 Retrieved 4 January 2018 An Extraordinary Life Celebration Originalasia com 8 March 2017 Retrieved 4 January 2018 Geoff Downes of Yes talks future of Asia hall of fame induction Sunherald com Retrieved 4 January 2018 a b c yesadmin 2 April 2019 YES Announces The Royal Affair Tour Launching June 12 In Bethlehem Pa Coulson Sam Wishing ASIA the very best on their 2019 tour with Steve Howe returning to guitar duties I m so thankful for the incredible mentoring from John Geoff amp Carl over the years and I m excited to watch the band as a fan this year Twitter Retrieved 14 April 2019 The new ASIA set to embark on 2019 Royal Affair Tour with Yes John Lodge Band and Carl Palmer s ELP Legacy Asia Official Website originalasia com Retrieved 14 April 2019 Rosen Jody 25 June 2019 Here Are Hundreds More Artists Whose Tapes Were Destroyed in the UMG Fire The New York Times Retrieved 28 June 2019 Aswad Jem 11 June 2019 Universal Music Disputes Severity of 2008 Fire Cited in New York Times Article Variety Retrieved 11 June 2019 Geoff Downes asiageoff 26 December 2019 Actually I have it on good authority that the original Asia masters are intact and were not part of the devastating fire in Universal Studios 2008 that claimed 100 s of 1000 s of album masters Tweet via Twitter Todd Laurence 19 February 2023 Carl Palmer of Asia The heat goes on RAMzine Retrieved 8 March 2023 John Wetton dies aged 67 Teamrock com 31 January 2017 Retrieved 4 January 2018 South Park Kenny Dies Comedy Central 5 December 2001External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Asia musical group Official website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Asia band amp oldid 1146001118, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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