John Waite says he had a good feeling about the song from the beginning.
"Missing You" reached the top of the record charts in 1984, a tune most anyone in a relationship that ended has sung or hummed or at least knows a few lines, a song that begins with: "Every time I think of you, I always catch my breath, And I'm still standing here, And you're miles away."
"The moment it was finished I knew it was No. 1," Waite said in a telephone interview this week. He performs Sunday night at the Southwest Florida Event Center in Bonita Springs.
"I don’t want to sound like I’m blowing my own horn here, but when you came across something that's so original and so real ... It was very spontaneous and wasn’t planned.”
Waite, 65, began his career in the 1970s with a British band, The Babys, which scored hits including "Isn't It Time" in 1977 and "Every Time I Think of You" in 1979 and sold out concert halls worldwide.
The Babys disbanded in the fall of 1980, and Waite said he was content at the time after just marrying and living in the Lake District of northwest England.
"I never thought I’d record again. I wasn't quite interested in any more music business. I had enough," he said. "Sometimes it was overwhelming."
Waite said he continued writing music because "my natural instincts as an artist was to keep creating."
Five months passed, and then his attorneys told him they managed to secure his release from his longtime record label. He now was free to manage his career without restrictions.
"I kind of jumped at that, really," Waite said.
He moved to New York City and began recording music about the time the cable and satellite television channel MTV — which early on primarily broadcast music videos — was starting to reach more households.
“I always believed in video, and we actually had done a video," Waite said. "By the time MTV became big I had one ready to go."
His second solo album, "No Brakes," dropped in 1984 and featured the mega-hit "Missing You." The album eventually went gold.
“I was living in a hole-in-the-wall-apartment crash pad on 72nd Street," he said.
"Nationwide on MTV and sleeping on the floor in a crash pad in New York City. It was a great time and in step of what was happening."
By 1988 Waite reunited with a few of his Babys' bandmates Jonathan Cain (who was with Journey and co-wrote "Don't Stop Believin' ") and Ricky Phillips (now with Styx) to form the group Bad English with Neal Schon of Journey and drummer Deen Castronovo.
Bad English lasted just four years but did churn out a No. 1 hit in 1989, "When I See You Smile."
Waite said he now enjoys performing for fans who have followed his career for more than four decades.
“We just did a gig in Detroit and the audience sang every word to every song," he said. "There's a huge connection with the audience. You put the dots together and create the picture and you realize what you’ve meant to people.
"It makes it all worthwhile. You don’t feel like you’re doing it just because you can."
John Waite
When: 8 p.m. Sunday
Where: Southwest Florida Event Center, 11515 Bonita Beach Road SE, Bonita Springs
Cost: $30-$65
Information: 239-245-9910 or swfleventcenter.com