Wetton (left) played on some of King Crimson's most powerful recordings, including Red, which some consider the gold standard for prog rock.
Wetton (left) played on some of King Crimsons most powerful recordings, including Red, which some consider the gold standard for prog rock.
Wetton (left) played on some of King Crimson’s most powerful recordings, including Red, which some consider the gold standard for prog rock.

Best known for his mid-’70s tenure as bassist/vocalist with British prog-rock titans King Crimson and for his time in the much more commercially successful prog outfit Asia, John Wetton passed away January 31 from colon cancer. He was 67. Besides playing on King Crimson’s powerful, complex trilogy of Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, Starless and Bible Black, and Red, Wetton contributed his inventive bass lines to Brian Eno‘s “Baby’s on Fire” and “Driving Me Backwards,” Phil Manzanera‘s Diamond Head, four Bryan Ferry solo LPs, Roxy Music’s 1976 live record Viva!, two Family albums, two Uriah Heep full-lengths, and many more releases. Wetton was an important figure in the UK’s prog-rock scene for over four decades, helping to create some of the most technically dazzling and enduring songs of the genre. RIP, John Wetton.

Dave Segal is a journalist and DJ living in Seattle. He has been writing about music since 1983. His stuff has appeared in Gale Research’s literary criticism series of reference books, Creem (when...