English singer and songwriter John Waite has seen the upper echelons of the Top 100 in three different capacities: as a member of The Babys in the late 70s and early 80s, as a solo artist in the 80s, and as a member of the supergroup Bad English as the 80s turned into the 90s. Waite returned to making solo records, but his final chart appearance was back in 1995 when "How Did I Get By Without You?" stalled at #89. Waite's biggest hit as a solo artist is the 80s classic, "Missing You," which spent one week at #1 in 1984. Strangely, Waite never saw the Top 10 again as a solo artist and in fact only breached the Top 40 twice more: "Tears" went to #37 in 1984 and "Every Step Of The Way" went to #25 in 1985. "Change" is one of several tunes Waite performed that graced movie soundtracks. This great song only reached #54 in 1985, thanks to being featured in the movie Vision Quest. The song, penned by Holly Knight, originally appeared on his debut solo record, 1982's "Ignition."
Tina Turner has been churning out chart hits since the 1960s as part of the husband-wife duo, Ike & Tina Turner. After they split in 1976, Tina Turner continued to perform and slowly put pieces into place for one of the biggest comebacks in pop music history. The comeback arrived in 1984. Her cover of Al Green's #1 hit from 1971, "Let's Stay Together," reached #26 in 1984, nearly a decade since her last chart appearance with Ike. But what really launched her comeback was the next single, "What's Love Got To Do With It," which spent three weeks at #1 and won all kinds of awards. Turner was on fire for the remainder of the decade, nearly hitting the top spot twice more with "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)" and "Typical Male." She scored more hits teaming up with other famed songwriters and performers like Holly Knight (of Spider and Device), Bryan Adams (who wrote and sang with Tina on "It's Only Love" (#15) and wrote her #97 song from 1993, "Why Must We Wait Until Tonight?"), and Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits (who wrote the #7 title track to her comeback album, "Private Dancer"). While Turner is largely known for her soft pop, she always put a rocker or two on her releases. "Back Where You Started," another one written by Bryan Adams, is one of best rock songs of 1986. It comes from the album "Break Every Rule" and won a Grammy for Rock Female Vocal, yet remains largely unknown.
Spider was a terrific rock band that might have been just a tad ahead of its time when they arrived on the scene in 1980. They scored their one and only Top 40 hit with "New Romance (It's A Mystery)," which went to #39. The follow-up single, "Everything Is Alright," stalled at a disappointing #86. I think the catchy mid-tempo number, "Little Darlin'" might have done better and given them more attention. In 1981, Spider returned with a modest hit, "It Didn't Take Long." It reached #43 and became the band's final chart appearance. Keyboardist and primary songwriter Holly Knight went on to form a new band called Device that would see her return to the charts for another brief stay. After that, she scored a single chart hit as a solo artist with "Heart Don't Fail Me Now" (#59) in 1988. While Knight might not have had a smash hit on her own, she wrote tons of them like Aerosmith's "Rag Doll," Tina Turner's "Better Be Good To Me" (which Spider first performed on their 1981 album), Heart's "Never," Pat Benatar's "Love Is A Battlefield," and many more.
