Bad English

John Waite – Vocals, Neal Schon – Guitars, Jonathan Cain – Keyboards, Ricky Phillips – Bass & Deen Castronovo – Drums

Bad English can be seen as ‘The Return of The Baby’s” or “Journey II.”

The Babys were best remembered for the pop hits “Isn’t It Time,” and “Every Time I Think Of You.” The band included singer John Waite, keyboardist Jonathan Cain and bassist Ricky Phillips.

Following The Babys’ demise, Cain landed in Journey making significant contributions to the group’s biggest albums, “Escape” and “Frontiers.”

As a solo, Waite scored a #1 hit with ‘84’s “Missing You.”

Just a couple years later, Waite’s career was running on fumes and Journey had disbanded. Cain and Waite reunited and were recording demos in a San Francisco studio when Journey’s Neal Schon stopped by to visit. The guitarist was asked to play on a couple tracks and that led to Schon becoming part of Bad English. Phillips was added and Schon recruited drummer Deen Castronovo.

When Waite missed a pool shot, Cain commented that Waite had ‘bad English’ on the cue ball. Naturally, the name stuck.

The group’s lead single “Forget Me Not” was a blazing Rock song and a good introduction. But it was the second single, “When I See You Smile,” a ballad written by pop songwriting machine Diane Warren, that went to #1.

The ballad singles “Price Of Love” (#5) and “Possession”(#21) also fell out of the album while “Best Of What I Got” was featured on the soundtrack of the ‘89 film “Tango and Cash.”

With Schon and Phillips particularly displeased with the group’s Corporate Rock image, Bad English disbanded prior to the release of ‘91’s “Backlash.” Not surprisingly, the album, which failed to yield a Top 40 hit, had disappointing sales.

Waite returned to his solo career. Schon, Cain and drummer Deen Castronovo reformed Journey, with Steve Augeri replacing that group’s signature vocalist, Steve Perry.

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