As a performer, Waite first came to attention as the lead singer and bassist of the Babys, a British rock band that had moderate chart success.

[4][better source needed] Waite subsequently launched his solo career with his 1982 debut album Ignition, which produced the hit single "Change".

[5] The Chrysalis 45 failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 during its initial release (May 1982) but was a top track on AOR radio stations, as well as a very popular music video on MTV as the 'new' cable channel celebrated its first full year of operation.

The song was originally recorded in 1981 (with slightly different lyrics) by the American rock band Spider (which featured Amanda Blue, Holly Knight, and Anton Fig) and in 1985 was included on the platinum-selling Vision Quest soundtrack.

In 1988, Waite joined former Babys bandmates Jonathan Cain and Ricky Phillips, along with Neal Schon and drummer Deen Castronovo from Journey, to form the supergroup Bad English.

He released the album Temple Bar (1995), When You Were Mine (1997), Figure in a Landscape (2001), The Hard Way (2004), Downtown: Journey of a Heart (2007) and Rough & Tumble (2011).

In 2006, "Missing You" was released as a duet with Alison Krauss and reached the Top 40 on the Country Charts in the United States.

On 5 February 2019, Waite and Joe Ely filed a class-action lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) claiming the company had violated their right to terminate grants of copyright.

[7][8] In January, 2023 a federal judge ruled that Waite and hundreds of other artists cannot join forces to sue UMG to regain control of their masters, saying the case raised big questions about “fairness” but that it was ill-suited for class-action litigation.

[10] Previously a longtime resident of New York City, since 2014 Waite has made his home in Santa Monica, California.