John Waldo "Fee" Waybill (born September 17, 1950 in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest ...

) is the lead singer and songwriter of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

band

The Tubes The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band. Their eponymous 1975 debut album included the single " White Punks on Dope," while their 1983 single " She's a Beauty" was a top-10 U.S. hit and its music video was frequently played in the early ...

. Waybill has also worked with other acts, including Toto,

Richard Marx Richard Noel Marx (born September 16, 1963) is an American adult contemporary and pop rock singer-songwriter. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Marx's self-titled debut album went triple-platinum in 1987, and his first single, " D ...

, and

Billy Sherwood William Wyman Sherwood (born March 14, 1965) is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, record producer and mixing engineer. He is best known for his tenures in the English progressive rock band Yes as guitarist and keyboardist fr ...

Early life and education

Waybill moved to Scottsdale, Arizona in the 1950s and grew up in the Southwest Village area. He then attended

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

, where he had planned to study oceanography. Ultimately, he discovered acting and decided to pursue that as a field of study. Waybill eventually dropped out of college and, while hanging out in the Verde Valley of Arizona, got to know his future bandmates, Roger Steen and Prairie Prince.

Career

Waybill, along with the Tubes, appeared in Robert Greenwald's '' Xanadu'' (1980), and

Lou Adler Lester Louis Adler (born December 13, 1933) is an American record and film producer and the co-owner of the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, California. Adler has produced and developed a number of iconic musical artists, including The Grass R ...

's ''

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains ''Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains'' is a 1982 teen musical drama film about three teenage girls, played by Diane Lane, Laura Dern and Marin Kanter, who start a punk band. The film also features acting roles by real-life punk musicians ...

'' (1982). In the latter film, he played the character Lou Corpse, the washed-up frontman of a band called the Metal Corpses. In 1984, a year after the Tubes released one of their most successful albums, Waybill released his first solo album called ''Read My Lips''. In 1996, Waybill released another album called ''Don't Be Scared By These Hands''. With the Tubes, Waybill would perform as crippled Nazi Dr. Strangekiss, country singer Hugh Heifer, glam rocker Quay Lewd, and punk parody Johnny Bugger. During the early 1980s, Waybill appeared as himself on a short-lived television program called ''

Rock 'N' America ''Rock 'N' America'' is an American sketch comedy and music video show. In most markets that syndicated the program, it was usually aired Friday or Saturday evenings, usually at midnight or later. During Smith's run as host, much of the show's ...

'', usually performing as a street reporter who annoyed pedestrians with nonsensical interviews. He also made a cameo in '' Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'' as one of "The Three Most Important People in the World", and appeared, both acting and performing with The Tubes, in one of the "Fishin' Musician" skits on ''

Second City TV ''Second City Television'', commonly shortened to ''SCTV'' and later known as ''SCTV Network'' and ''SCTV Channel'', is a Canadian television sketch comedy show that ran intermittently between 1976 and 1984. It was created as an offshoot from T ...

''. In addition to his work with the Tubes, Waybill now works as a record producer. He was the producer for a number of pop music artists including singer-songwriter

Personal life

Waybill and his wife, Elizabeth, live in Los Angeles' Hollywood Hills area.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Read My Lips'' (1984) * ''Don't Be Scared by These Hands'' (1996) * ''Fee Waybill Rides Again'' (2020)

with The Tubes

* ''

'' (1975) * '' Young and Rich'' (1976) * '' Now'' (1977) * What Do You Want From Live? (1978) * ''

Remote Control In electronics, a remote control (also known as a remote or clicker) is an electronic device used to operate another device from a distance, usually wirelessly. In consumer electronics, a remote control can be used to operate devices such ...

'' (1979) * ''

The Completion Backward Principle ''The Completion Backward Principle'' is the fifth studio album by the American rock group the Tubes. It is the group's first for Capitol Records. It was accompanied by a long form music video release of the same name, although it did not contain ...

'' (1981) * '' Outside Inside'' (1983) * '' Love Bomb'' (1985) * ''

Genius of America ''Genius of America'' is the eighth and most recent studio album to date by The Tubes and marked their return to the studio for the first time since 1985's '' Love Bomb''. The band self-produced the album and is their first body of work to inclu ...

'' (1996) *

Tubes World Tour 2001 Tube or tubes may refer to: * ''Tube'' (2003 film), a 2003 Korean film * ''The Tube'' (TV series), a music related TV series by Channel 4 in the United Kingdom * "Tubes" (Peter Dale), performer on the Soccer AM television show * Tube (band), a ...

(2001) *

Wild in London ''Wild In London'' is the third live album by The Tubes released in 2005. It was recorded on December 6, 2004 at Londons' Shepherd's Bush Empire and features some newer Fee Waybill characters such as "Russell Chaps". The CD featured a guest appea ...

(2005) * ''Mondo Birthmark'' (2009)

Singles

* "You're Still Laughing" (1984) * "I Don't Even Know Your Name (Passion Play)" (1984) * "Meeting Half the Way" (1990) * "Faker" (2020)

Soundtrack appearances

* "You're Still Laughing" & "Saved My Life" (from ''St. Elmo's Fire'') (1985) *"Running Scared" (from '' Running Scared'') (1986) *"You'd Better Wait" (from '' Dream a Little Dream'') (1989)

References

External links

The Tubes official website

Exclusive Fee Waybill Radio Interview

Steve Lukather website news
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Waybill, Fee 1950 births Living people American rock singers Songwriters from Nebraska Record producers from Nebraska The Tubes members Musicians from Omaha, Nebraska