WELCOME TO THE ASIA FEATURING JOHN PAYNE MYSPACE PROFILE
John Payne became the frontman of the supergroup ASIA in 1992 at the invitation of keyboardist Geoff Downes, replacing vocalist/bassist John Wetton. ASIA extensively toured the world for the next 14 years performing new classics and old favorites. With John Payne fronting the band, ASIA released 8 stunning studio albums and several live recordings. In 2006, Geoff Downes left the band to reform the 1982 line up for their 25th anniversary. On the 9th of May 2006, John Payne, Geoff Downes, John Wetton, Carl Palmer and Steve Howe contractually agreed that John Payne would continue his 14 year legacy with ASIA as ”ASIA Featuring John Payne”. ASIA Featuring John Payne have commenced touring in North America and a new studio album is planned for release in late 2009.
ASIA Featuring John Payne Member Bios
Guitarist Mitch Perry joins ASIA Featuring John Payne for the 2009 summer tour. Gold records, sold out concert tours, MTV video and network TV appearances, numerous magazine features and recognition in the form of several guitar awards, over the last 25 years Mitch Perry has accomplished all of the above in a career working alongside some of the most renowned and popular musicians in the world. Mitch's discography and touring experience reads like a who's who of rock ranging from Aerosmith to Michael Schenker Group to Cher and Edgar Winter. His performances both live and in the studio show him to be a truly world class guitarist. www.myspace.com/mitchperry
Drummer Jay Schellen joined as ASIA’s premiere drummer in 2005, toured in Europe with the band and recording the album ASIA Featuring John Payne EXTENDED VERSIONS for Sony in 2006 when he remained with ASIA Featuring John Payne. Before joining ASIA, Jay played drums for Hurricane, Unruly Child, Badfinger and Conspiracy with Chris Squire from Yes. www.jayschellen.com
Keyboardist Erik Norlander joined ASIA Featuring John Payne in November of 2007. Erik's evocative synthesizer technique is reminiscent of the legendary Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson and Jon Lord while still very unique made him an obvious choice for the band. His works include over 25 releases with Lana Lane, Rocket Scientists and solo titles www.eriknorlander.com
Vocalist/bassist John Payne fronted ASIA for 14 years replacing John Wetton in 1992. 8 studio albums and 6 live albums followed including extensive world touring with the band. In 2006, John formed "ASIA Featuring John Payne" and is performing shows with his current lineup. Previous to ASIA, John sang with Roger Daltrey, CCCP, ELO Part 2 and more recently GPS plus being chosen as the Parson in Jeff Wayne’s The War Of The Worlds stadium tour. www.johnpaynemusic.com
Booking Agency currently representing ASIA Featuring John Payne: MPI
Publicist currently representing ASIA Featuring John Payne: Serge Entertainment PR. Please contact SergeEnt@aol.com with all media inquiries.
John has released a compilation CD 'Different Worlds' covering all aspects of his career to date . It is available through the
Devgel Merchandising webstore and Voiceprint. More information about this release can be found on John's website.
Check out the GPS website for photos and reviews of their recent appearance at RoSfest with Erik standing in for Ryo ,plus all the latest GPS news including progress reports on their upcoming album 'Dreamscape',due to be released in 2008 on the Insideout label.
A record of John's appearance as 'Parson Nathaniel' in Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds in December 2007 can now be found on their recently updated website : thewaroftheworlds.com
Hey John Let me be the first to wish you Happy Birthday. I hope you have a great day. My son (who also has the same b-day and MaryJane also send their best
Hey John! Military Man EP is at last in my hands and it sounds really great! Looking forward to Architect Of Time, which I'm sure will be mind blowing! Take care!!!
Hi Asia featuring John Payne, Heaven & Earth is on hiatus now as Stuart Smith and Richie Onori have joined forces with bassist Steve Priest to reform "Sweet". For those of you unfamiliar with the band, Sweet originally formed in the early 70s and went on to sell over 40,000,000 albums with 11 International Top Ten Hits such as "Ballroom Blitz", "Little Willy", "Love is Like Oxygen", "Fox on the Run", "Teenage Rampage", "Action", "Blockbuster", "Hellraiser" and many others.
This reincarnation of the band reformed last year, playing their first show in June, and went on to play festivals throughout Canada and the States and had played to over 300,000 people before the year was out. During this tour last year they recorded a live CD available on Amazon entitled "Sweet, Live in America" which has received rave reviews - pick up a copy and please Add Sweet As Your Friend On Myspace!
Online Now!
THANKS TO ADD...MY NEW FRIEND
GOOD MUSIC 
M A M Y K Ô 
