Steve Perry

SAN FRANCISCO, CA-MARCH 21: Steve Perry at the podium as Journey receives the Outstanding Group award at the Bay Area Music Awards (BAMMIES) at the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco on March 21, 1987. (Photo by Clayton Call/Redferns)

Who Is Steve Perry?

Steve Perry played in several bands before joining Journey in 1977. The band achieved tremendous pop rock success with its 1981 album Escape , which featured the now-classic "Don't Stop Believin'." As the group's lead singer, Perry became one of the era's most famous singers. He also had some hits on his own, including "Oh Sherrie." Perry left Journey in 1987, and except for a brief reunion, he remains a solo artist.

While attending high school in Lemoore, California, Perry played drums in the marching band. He tried college for a while, performing in the choir, but eventually abandoned school for his musical dreams. Hoping to break into the business, he moved to Los Angeles for a time. There, he worked a number of jobs, including singing on commercials and serving as an engineer in a recording studio. All the while, Perry played with a number of different groups as a vocalist and drummer. He seemed to be on the edge of a breakthrough with the group Alien Project, when it suddenly disbanded — tragically, one of its members was killed in a car crash.

Journey: "Oh Sherrie" and "Don't Stop Believin'"

In 1977, Perry caught his big break, landing a gig as the vocalist for Journey, which began performing as a jazz rock group in the early 1970s, in San Francisco. With Perry on board, the band moved more toward mainstream rock, and began to see some chart success with the first album with Perry, 1978's Infinity . The band's ode to San Francisco, "Lights," became a minor hit as did "Wheel in the Sky" and "Anytime."

Journey broken into the Top 20 with "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" on their next album, Evolution (1979). Buoyed by such hits as "Open Arms," "Who's Crying Now" and "Don't Stop Believin'," Escape (1981) became the band's first No. 1 album, selling more than 7 million copies. While the band was hugely popular with music fans, many critics were less than kind.

By the early 1980s, Journey had emerged as one of rock's top acts. Perry proved that while he may have been short in stature, he possessed one of the era's biggest and most versatile voices. He was equally adept at ballads, such as "Open Arms," and at rock anthems, such as "Any Way You Want It." Behind the scenes, Perry helped write these songs and many of the band's other hits. He penned their most enduring song, "Don't Stop Believin'," with guitarist Neal Schon and keyboardist Jonathan Cain.

Journey continued to be one of the era's top-selling acts, with 1983's Frontiers . The album featured such songs as "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" and "Faithfully." To support the recording, the band undertook an extensive world tour. Around that time, Journey also became the first band to license their music and likenesses for a video game.

With 1986's Raised on Radio , Journey enjoyed another wave of success. However, Perry was ready to part ways with his bandmates. Perry left the band in 1987 after the album tour. In a statement to People magazine, Perry explained: "I had a job burnout after 10 years in Journey. I had to let my feet hit the ground, and I had to find a passion for singing again." Perry was also struggling with some personal issues at the time; his mother had become very sick, and he spent much of his time caring for her before her death.

Perry reunited with Journey in 1996, for the reunion album Trial By Fire , which reached as high as the No. 3 on the album charts. But health problems soon sidelined the famous singer—a hip condition, which led to hip replacement surgery—and his bandmates decided to continue on without him.

Solo Projects

While still with Journey, Perry released his first solo album, Street Talk (1984). The recording sold more than 2 million copies, helped along by the hit single, "Oh Sherrie." Burnt out after splitting with Journey, Perry took some time out before working on his next project.

Nearly a decade later, Perry re-emerged on the pop-rock scene with 1994's For the Love of Strange Medicine . While the album was well-received—one ballad, "You Better Wait," was a Top 10 hit—Perry failed to reach the same level of success that he had previously enjoyed. In 1998, he provided two songs for the soundtrack of Quest for Camelot , an animated film. Perry also released Greatest Hits + Five Unreleased that same year.

Recent Years

While he has largely stayed out of the spotlight, Perry continues to be heard in movies and on television. His songs are often chosen for soundtracks, and Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" even played during the closing moments of the hit crime-drama series The Sopranos in 2007. In 2009, a cover version of the song was done for the hit high school musical show Glee , which introduced a new generation to Perry's work.

According to several reports, Perry began working on new material around 2010. He even built a studio in his home, which is located north of San Diego, California. "I'm finishing that room up and I've written a whole bunch of ideas and directions, all over the map, in the last two, three years," Perry told Billboard in 2012.

In 2014, Perry broke from his self-imposed exile from the concert stage. He appeared with the Eels at several of their shows. According to The Hollywood Reporter , Perry explained that "I've done the 20-year hermit thing, and it's overrated." His return to performing "has to do with a lot of changes in my life, including losing my girlfriend a year ago and her wish to hear me sing again" — referring to his romance with Kellie Nash, who died in late 2012 from cancer.

Although Perry and his old bandmates had long since ventured in separate directions, the group did reunite for their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2017.

In the meantime, the singer began recording again. On August 15, 2018, he released his first new song in 20 years, the ballad "No Erasin." The track arrived ahead of his new album, Traces , his first full-length studio recording since For the Love of Strange Medicine in 1994.

Regardless of what the future holds, Perry has already earned a place in rock history. Rolling Stone magazine named him one of music's top 100 singers. According to American Idol judge and former Journey bassist, Randy Jackson, Perry's voice is one of kind. "Other than Robert Plant, there's no singer in rock that even came close to Steve Perry," Jackson said. "The power, the range, the tone—he created his own style. He mixed a little Motown, a little Everly Brothers, a little Zeppelin."

QUICK FACTS

  • Name: Steve Perry
  • Birth Year: 1949
  • Birth date: January 22, 1949
  • Birth State: California
  • Birth City: Hanford
  • Birth Country: United States
  • Gender: Male
  • Best Known For: Steve Perry was the lead singer of pop rock band Journey from 1977 to 1987. He is known for having a wide vocal range, which can be heard on such popular hits as "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Oh Sherrie."
  • Astrological Sign: Aquarius

We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us !

CITATION INFORMATION

  • Article Title: Steve Perry Biography
  • Author: Biography.com Editors
  • Website Name: The Biography.com website
  • Url: https://www.biography.com/musicians/steve-perry
  • Access Date:
  • Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
  • Last Updated: July 23, 2020
  • Original Published Date: April 2, 2014

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“It was a total triumph as a soft rock masterpiece and a deeply personal statement”: how Journey singer Steve Perry’s stepped away from his day job to deliver an AOR classic with Street Talk

Featuring the hit single Oh Sherrie, Steve Perry’s 1984 debut album Street Talk was an AOR landmark released in a year of AOR landmarks

Years ago, guitarist Mick Mars read a review of a gig by his band Mötley Crüe that stuck in his mind. It wasn’t what the journalist wrote about the show that stood out, it was what they wrote about him. “It said: ‘Mick Mars comes out to the front of the stage with his little troll body,’” he recalls. Other people might have been offended by that, but not the guitarist. “I thought: ‘Cool!’ It sounded creepy.” He laughs. “I’m the little goblin guy.” What the reviewer didn’t mention, or more likely didn’t know, was that in his twenties Mars had been diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), a genetic condition that over time fuses bones in the body together. “What I have now is bamboo spine,” he says, referring to his spine now effectively being one single bone – something borne out by his rigid posture and the occasional grimaces of discomfort during our chat. Yet despite his physical condition, he’s funny, wry and far more self-deprecating and egoless than any man who spent 42 years as member of Mötley Crüe should be. In many ways, Mars – born Robert Alan Deal in Indiana in 1951 – was an unlikely 80s-metal superstar. He was 29 and had already been around the block several times when his future bandmates responded to an ad he’d placed in local newspaper The Recycler in which he described himself as a “loud, rude and aggressive guitar player”. But it was Mars who helped get the band off the ground, via financial backing from a mysterious benefactor he refers to today only as “Alan”. And it was Mars, hunched and glowering, who brought a malevolent edge to the Crüe’s cartoon glam-metal pirate ride. He can’t talk about last year’s messy departure from the band, amid claims and counter-claims of backing-tape use and general inability to play. This is partly due to impending litigation, but also partly due to an unspoken sense that he’s still hurt by it. Instead his attention is focused on his imminent, and long-gestating debut solo album, The Other Side Of Mars. Co-written with former Winger keyboard player Paul Taylor, it’s a blast of melodic yet surprisingly convincing modern metal. Not that the man behind it is about to toot his own horn. “My number-one rule has always been never, ever believe your own hype,” he says. “That will wreck everything.” When did you decide to make a solo album? A long time ago. When we did the final tour [in 2016, which turned out not to be the final tour] was when I really started dedicating myself to coming up with a solo record. But it kind of got stopped. I didn’t like the direction it was going. I said: “No, it’s gotta be more than that.” It came together a little slow, but it was growing – crunchy songs, cinematic songs. It’s not progressive rock, but it’s progressing me. I’ll never be able to do what Steve Vai or any of those guys do. I’m just me. I play very simple stuff. Who made you want to pick up the guitar in the first place? Way, way, way back, when I was maybe three or four years old and we lived in Huntington, Indiana, we went to a fair. This guy named Skeeter Bond happened to be playing. He had this bright orange suit with sequins and stuff, he was wearing a big white Stetson, the old country-and-western thing. He got up there and did this stuff. I was, like: “Wow, that’s what I wanna do.” When was the first time you played guitar on stage? I had a school band that I did in junior high school, right around the seventh or eighth grade. There was this talent show thing, so I borrowed my cousin’s electric guitar and this teeny-tiny amp, and wrote a surf song called Conflict. Did you win the talent show? Heck no. They couldn’t even hear me. They were sitting five feet away, going [cups ear, mimes straining to listen]. The first band I played a gig with was The Jades. We copied a lot of British Invasion stuff. It was when bands still had ‘The’ in front of their name – The Beatles, The Stones. The Jades… What were the teenage Mick Mars’s ambitions? Were you fixated on becoming a successful musician? I went through surf music and British Invasion, and then I discovered blues and jazz. All the drummers in those days were into jazz, so I thought, okay, I‘ll listen to some jazz. I listened to Wes Montgomery, Miles Davis, all those people, just learning a lot of different ways of doing things and different kinds of music. And stumbling on King Crimson and Gentle Giant was pretty eye-opening for me. When I heard [King Crimson guitarist] Robert Fripp, and the way that he played, I went: “How can you do that and do it so fast?” It was so different. Everybody knows 21st Century Schizoid Man, but when you hear something like Cat Food [from 1970’s In The Wake Of Poseidon] you go, this is really off, but it’s so cool. Did you ever have your own progressive rock phase? I listened to it. I couldn’t grasp it. Well I could grasp it, but I couldn’t do it. I went to see Gentle Giant in California, and you’ve got them lined up across the stage, Kerry Minnear here and Gary Green there, and they’d go: ‘da-da-da-da-da-da’ and it would go straight across the stage – this guy plays three notes, this guy plays four notes, this guy plays one note. My jaw dropped. I was thinking: “How do you do that?” But I loved it because I couldn’t do it. What kind of guy were you then? I did my share of partying, but I’d stay out of trouble and play my guitar instead of being a clown. I was kind of a comedian, but I was never the dominant person in a roomful of people, never a ‘Look at me!’ kind of person. But I liked to laugh and have fun. Everybody does. Well, not everybody, there’s some miserable bastards out there. You had a son with your first girlfriend when you were nineteen. How hard was it to balance a young family with your rock’n’roll ambitions? We were both on a different page. I wanted to do this, she wanted me to work. We didn’t fight, we didn’t get in arguments. We decided we weren’t a match. So I went my way and she went her way. I made my child support payments. Before Mötley Crüe happened, you were the textbook struggling musician, playing in a string of bands in the seventies. How tough did things get? Pretty tough. No money, living on Bennies [Benzedrine, an amphetamine] on the street, sleeping on floors using my guitar case as a pillow. One band I was in, we all lived in the same apartment. I used to sleep behind my Marshalls, using them as a wall. I used to hang out with… I don’t want to say gangs, but biker-type people. I was doing a lot of partying with those guys. A lot of musicians must feel that void: “Is this the way it’s going for be? Am I going to do anything with my life?” What I learned is, if the chance to do something comes up, you gotta take it. You gotta keep at it. That’s what I was thinking all the time. Did you ever come close to quitting? Never. Not once. It was a lesson I needed to learn, I guess. I was being tested: you really want this this bad? Like the blues guys, you gotta pay your dues. What kept you going? Determination. I was obsessed: “I need to do this.” I wanted it so bad. No matter what the conditions were, I’m still doing this. I’d get afraid sometimes. I had a few jobs that were dangerous. I smashed my hand in one place. I was working at an industrial laundromat on the extractor, the ones that wring out the clothing in this six-hundred-pound tub. One day this tub came back and hit me in the left hand. It could have crushed my hand if it had hit a bit harder. It would have been the end of my career. I was like: “That’s it, I’m done,” and I walked out. And that night, at two o’clock in the morning, I played an after-hours show. You were playing on the same circuit as Van Halen in their early days. Did you know Eddie Van Halen back then? I’d known Edward since he was nineteen years old. When I first met them, they’d pretty much just got David [Lee Roth] in the band. I knew they were going to make it the first time I heard them. I was like, man, what a great band. We’d play in places like Gazzarri’s and the Golden West Ballroom. Me and the drummer from White Horse would go: “God, I hope Van Halen’s playing with us tonight, those guys kick ass.” Watching Edward grow into different areas was great. Is it true that you almost joined Sparks before Mötley Crüe got off the ground? What happened with that was that the guy from Sparks with the moustache [Ron Mael] called me from the ad I’d put in The Recycler. I told them straight up that it wasn’t the kind of music I played and they would be disappointed in me. They were more of a glam-rock band – David Bowie, T.Rex. I love that stuff, but I don’t play like that. What would Sparks with Mick Mars on guitar have sounded like? Oh, it would have been a train wreck [laughs]. Another person to answer your ad was Nikki Sixx. What did you make of him the first time you met him? I already had ‘Mötley Crüe’ in my mind as a band name. I’d had it since 1977, maybe 1976. So I went up there and auditioned them. I liked the way Nikki was playing – no amp, just slapping around and stuff. It was pretty cool. He said: “I’ve got a drummer too.” Ironically enough, Tommy Lee had been in a band called Suite 19, and we had a mutual friend named Freddy who gave me his number when I said I was gonna put an original band together. But I lost the number, so I never met him. And now here’s this guy who I was supposed to meet a long time ago, with Nikki. When we started playing it just went ‘Wooof!’ Instant. Kind of like the same story as Cream with Clapton and those guys. The story goes that you wanted to get rid of their original singer, O’Dean Peterson, because he was “a fucking hippie”. What was your problem with hippies? With O’Dean it was just that I didn’t feel he was right. Not that he sang horribly, he just had a more Roger Daltrey-type voice. I told Tommy and Nikki that I wasn’t sold on O’Dean, and they were stumbling around going: “Well, whadda we do?” And I go: “That skinny kid that I saw on stage last night in Rock Candy? Did you see those girls? They were going nuts over him. Sex sells.” And they went: “Oh yeah…” So that’s how we got Vince [Neil]. He fit well. When did Bob Deal become Mick Mars? It was before Mötley. I was calling myself Mick Mars in a cover band called Vendetta. ‘Bob Deal’ didn’t fit. I thought: ‘Mick Mars, that’s me.’ Did you become a different person when you renamed yourself Mick Mars? Nope. I only have one personality. Two names, one personality. I try to be pretty honest about who I am. I’m just a musician. I’m not a “look at me!” kind of person. Listen to me. You don’t have to look at me. You were twenty-nine when Mötley Crüe started. Did it feel like it was your last roll of the dice? No. If Mötley hadn’t panned out the way it did I would have moved on to something else. I’d still move on. I’d become stagnant if I didn’t. What was it like being in Mötley Crüe in the early days? There was electricity. We were feeding off each other like… I dunno, a rat with cheese. One of the first songs that came out when we were first getting together was Live Wire. There were a few that were pretty good, but when we did Live Wire we went: “Oh shit!” It went: ‘Kaboom!’ What do you remember about recording the first Mötley Crüe’s album, Too Fast For Love, in 1981? Working with [engineer and former Accept guitarist] Michael Wagener. I’d met Michael when I was still in my cover band Vendetta. Anyway, we recorded Too Fast For Love with this bonehead who didn’t know how to record anything, and he messed it up. I told the guys about Michael, and he fixed it all up. People loved that record. Michael lives up the street from me. He did the first Mötley Crüe album, and he did this new album. He’s done my first and last records. Were you hanging out on the Sunset Strip in the early days of Mötley Crüe? No. Whenever I would go up to the Strip and hear the bands, I don’t think they’d got away from what was going on. They all just wanted to be Van Halen or something. When we came out, it changed – the sound of the Sunset Strip, the look and the music and the rest of it. It’s like, ‘Oh, there is different music.’ That’s how it see, anyway. Did you hear a lot of bands suddenly sounding like Mötley Crüe? Yeah. Not exactly trying to copy us, but… I’m not saying that Mötley Crüe changed the world, but the sound was taking on an awareness. Mötley did well, and a lot of record companies were searching for that again. When we were going on an incline like this [draws sharp upwards line in the air] they were still like that [draws level line]. There was a lot of [jealously]. What was it like being in the eye of the hurricane? Did it screw with your head? No. It was cool to go: “I’m finally doing it.” And it was climbing and climbing. Seeing all these people going [makes cheering noise] is pretty overwhelming. We played the US Festival in 1983, there were 300,000-plus people there. Going out on that stage and playing was just… wow. The band toured with Ozzy in 1984. What do you remember about that? Not much, ha! I remember Ozzy being in my room. He was pretty high. He goes: “Mick, don’t answer the door if Sharon knocks.” And did she knock? Oh yes. There was no way I was answering it. Mötley Crüe took hedonism to the extreme in the eighties, but it seemed like you didn’t go as all-in as the other three. Is that accurate? Yeah, I did live in my own little world. I’d already done what they were doing. I was a few years ahead. Did I drink? [Laughs] Quite a bit. But then I went: “Hmmm… I don’t think this is for me.” Did you enjoy being in Mötley Crüe in the eighties? It was two-thirds fun. There’s always that part where it’s: “Get away from me, you’re bothering me.” What were the best bits? Playing all these places you never, ever thought you’d play in, things escalating until they seem almost bigger than life. You’re just some guy sitting there, and people are looking at you, going: “Wow, there he is!” I remember in Mexico City being a car with bulletproof glass and there were a few hundred people surrounding it. I don’t think they realised what it was like for us. What about the bits that weren’t so great? Well, sometimes it was younger guys being younger guys and an older being: “I just wanna sleep.” Pouring hairspray on my door and setting it on fire, that wasn’t fun. Though it’s kind of funny now. Tommy running down a corridor naked and all these old women popping their heads out the doors. Looking back it’s funny, but at the time it’s like: “Can you guys be a little bit more mellow?” You were diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis in your twenties, but you started experiencing symptoms even before that. How did it impact on your life? In my early teens my lower back would hurt. I thought it was from sunburn, crazy as that sounds. Later on it felt like somebody had come up and hit me on the back of the neck with a bat. And it really frigging hurt. I’d look around and there’d be nobody there. Gradually it did its thing. As time went on, everything stopped. My head stopped moving, walking stiff… Not too long ago I couldn’t look at any film of myself, I didn’t like the way I was looking. It’s so hideous. You see yourself on film and go: “Oh my god, no.” You can’t help that. Yeah, it’s my body beating me up. How did you cope with the AS? It was a little difficult. I’d drown some pain in alcohol, that sort of stuff. But I ended up getting hooked on opiates. I was so badly hooked on them. I would recommend never going down that street, ever. That was in the early 2000s. How did you end up in that place? We were touring, and I was in a lot of pain. You couldn’t imagine how much pain. If I stood up my whole back would just go into tension, what I call a Charlie horse [a cramp]. How you get it in your leg or on your thigh, my whole body, my whole back would get like that. A lot of times I would just stay in my bed, it was very hard to get up. This particular doctor was giving me Oxycontin, and I was taking way too many, of course. They gave me Vicodin, and this particular opiate called Lortab… I got so addicted to those. I just wanted the pain to stop. That stuff’s brutal. How did you clean up? I went to a bunch of doctors, cos we were going back on tour. The band and the manager was helping me, because I was helpless – I’d be a hundred pounds or something, I couldn’t drive a car, I’m an addict. They came in and helped me get clean cos they needed me. I go to the doctor’s and he says: “He needs a double hip replacement.” I ended up getting one hip replaced. But the time I spent in the hospital, they ended up giving me morphine for the pain. That helped me a lot with getting off that stuff. When I got out of the hospital they gave me something that acted in the same way that a Vicodin would do but wasn’t really addictive. I’d have one, then a half, then a quarter. It took me four months to totally get off of that. It was difficult. Don’t go there. How do you manage it now? Advil. Only four a day. I’m not a youngster any more. You gave forty years of your life to Mötley Crüe. Is there part of you that misses it? It’s a difficult one to answer. I got a little too beat up touring… I wanted to do my solo thing. Do I miss touring? It’s one of those kinds of things that there’s a time to step back, and it was my time to step back. Despite everything that’s happened with Mötley Crüe recently, are you proud of what you achieved with the band? Absolutely. My whole studio is covered with all our albums – quadruple-platinum, hundred-million albums, all our stuff from the US Festival and the Moscow Peace Festival. Do you wish you’d been given more respect as a guitarist? I wouldn’t say so. It’s like this: do you like Coke, or Pepsi? Some people really dig me, some people don’t. It’s all good to me. Do you think you’ll ever play live again? I would say if I don’t get too old first I could do a one-off show easily. I could do a residency easily enough, you just go downstairs and play. If I needed it I could sit on a stool or chair, then go back to my room and relax and watch a monster movie and go to sleep. But the intense travelling, I just can’t do that any more. It’s too much. I guess it was a choice. You can be a guitar player with AS, or a worker with no AS. Do you wish you could go back and swap it? I got the deal I got. There was no choice. The Other Side Of Mars is released on February 23 and will be reviewed next issue.

It was a golden year for melodic rock. In January 1984 came the debut album from a young band out of New Jersey named Bon Jovi , and in the months that followed, so many other great albums arrived. Survivor , with new singer Jimi Jamison, hit a new peak with Vital Signs . Bryan Adams released Reckless , the album that would make him a superstar. Pat Benatar’s Tropico was a thing of beauty.

There were also fine albums that somehow flew under the radar or slipped through the cracks, but which later become cult classics – Dakota’s Runaway , and self-titled debuts from Giuffria, White Sister and Boston spin-off Orion The Hunter. 

At the other end of the spectrum there were huge hit singles for Night Ranger with Sister Christian and John Waite with Missing You . And at the end of the year came the release of two monumental power ballads, both of which would top the US chart: Foreigner’s I Want To Know What Love Is and REO Speedwagon’s Can’t Fight This Feeling .

For AOR connoisseurs it was the best of times. There was, however, one great record from 1984 that had a sting in the tail: Journey singer Steve Perry’s solo album Street Talk . 

Perry wasn’t the only member of Journey who was moonlighting that year; guitarist Neal Schon hooked up with his buddy Sammy Hagar in the brief-lived supergroup HSAS, while drummer Steve Smith busied himself with his jazz project Vital Information. But Perry’s record would have a huge impact on Journey’s career. 

Street Talk was heavily influenced by the soul and R&B he had loved since he was a teenager, and after the album hit big – selling two million copies in the US alone – Perry steered Journey in a similar direction on the band’s subsequent album, Raised On Radio . As a result, Schon ended up sidelined in what had always been his band, and the definitive Journey line-up that made the classic albums Escape and Frontiers fractured with the exits of Smith and bassist Ross Valory.

But while Street Talk might have been a problem for Journey, it was a total triumph for the singer – as both a soft-rock masterpiece and a deeply personal statement. The album was written and recorded with a cast of famous and not-so-famous musicians, including guitarist Waddy Wachtel and drummer Craig Krampf, the latter from Perry’s pre-Journey band Alien Project. 

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At the absolute peak of his powers, for Street Talk Steve Perry put everything he had into a series of perfectly crafted songs: Oh Sherrie , written for his then partner Sherrie Swafford, became a massive hit single; Captured By The Moment , a beautiful eulogy for lost heroes such as Martin Luther King and soul legend singer Sam Cooke; Strung Out , a heartbreak song that rounded off the record in a hard-rocking fashion that Neal Schon might have found a little ironic.

In a year so full of amazing music, Steve Perry delivered one of the greatest AOR albums of all time. 

Paul Elliott

Freelance writer for Classic Rock since 2005, Paul Elliott has worked for leading music titles since 1985, including Sounds, Kerrang!, MOJO and Q . He is the author of several books including the first biography of Guns N’ Roses and the autobiography of bodyguard-to-the-stars Danny Francis. He has written liner notes for classic album reissues by artists such as Def Leppard, Thin Lizzy and Kiss, and currently works as content editor for Total Guitar . He lives in Bath - of which David Coverdale recently said: “How very Roman of you!”

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steve perry journey behind the music

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Journey – Only The Young – The Story Behind the Song

October 11, 2020 By the80sruled Leave a Comment

Journey Only the Young

Journey’s Jonathan Cain, Steve Perry, and Neal Schon wrote the song ‘Only The Young’ in 1983 and sold it to another one of our favorite ’80s bands, Scandal . Scandal released it on their 1984 Warrior album. Journey also recorded and released the song as a single in 1985, and Journey’s version was included on the soundtrack to the 1985 movie ‘Vision Quest’. Scandal was actually given a large settlement in the legal aftermath of Journey releasing the song themselves.

Journey’s version reached number nine on the Hot 100 charts in March 1985. Scandal didn’t release the song as a single.

The song had a tremendous impact on a 16 year-old boy and subsequently changed Cain, Perry, and Schon’s lives forever:

The first individual outside the band to hear the song was sixteen-year-old Kenny Sykaluk of Rocky River, Ohio, who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. His mother wrote a letter to the band telling them about her son’s terminal condition, and how big a fan he was of Journey. The band flew to his hospital bedside in Cleveland, Ohio at the request of the Make a Wish Foundation. Along with a Walkman containing the new track, the band also brought Kenny a football helmet signed by the San Francisco 49ers and an autographed Journey platinum record award. The experience of playing the song for Kenny left Steve Perry and Jonathan Cain deeply affected. Perry said, “As soon as I walked out of the hospital room, I lost it. Nurses had to take me to a room by myself.” On the band’s episode of VH1’s Behind the Music, Cain broke down in tears recalling the event, remarking that “children should not have to live with that kind of pain”. Kenny died the next day, with the Walkman still in his hand. The song brought life into perspective for the band and left them humbled. Neal Schon said that Kenny’s death affected Journey by making them re-evaluate the issues that were causing friction inside the band itself. In honor of Kenny Sykaluk, the band used the song as their opener for the Raised on Radio Tour. via Wikipedia

steve perry journey behind the music

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Steve Perry Walked Away From Journey. A Promise Finally Ended His Silence.

steve perry journey behind the music

By Alex Pappademas

  • Sept. 5, 2018

MALIBU, Calif. — On the back patio of a Greek restaurant, a white-haired man making his way to the exit paused for a second look at one of his fellow diners, a man with a prominent nose who wore his dark hair in a modest pompadour.

“You look a lot like Steve Perry,” the white-haired man said.

“I used to be Steve Perry,” Steve Perry said.

This is how it goes when you are Steve Perry. Everyone is excited to see you, and no one can quite believe it. Everyone wants to know where you’ve been.

In 1977, an ambitious but middlingly successful San Francisco jazz-rock band called Journey went looking for a new lead singer and found Mr. Perry, then a 28-year-old veteran of many unsigned bands. Mr. Perry and the band’s lead guitarist and co-founder, Neal Schon, began writing concise, uplifting hard rock songs that showcased Mr. Perry’s clean, powerful alto, as operatic an instrument as pop has ever seen. This new incarnation of Journey produced a string of hit singles, released eight multiplatinum albums and toured relentlessly — so relentlessly that in 1987, a road-worn Mr. Perry took a hiatus, effectively dissolving the band he’d helped make famous.

He did not disappear completely — there was a solo album in 1994, followed in 1996 by a Journey reunion album, “Trial by Fire.” But it wasn’t long before Mr. Perry walked away again, from Journey and from the spotlight. With his forthcoming album, “Traces,” due in early October, he’s breaking 20 years of radio silence.

Over the course of a long midafternoon lunch — well-done souvlaki, hold all the starches — Mr. Perry, now 69, explained why he left, and why he’s returned. He spoke of loving, and losing and opening himself to being loved again, including by people he’s never met, who know him only as a voice from the Top 40 past.

And when he detailed the personal tragedy that moved him to make music again, he talked about it in language as earnest and emotional as any Journey song:

“I thought I had a pretty good heart,” he said, “but a heart isn’t really complete until it’s completely broken.”

IN ITS ’80S heyday, Journey was a commercial powerhouse and a critical piñata. With Mr. Perry up front, slinging high notes like Frisbees into the stratosphere, Journey quickly became not just big but huge . When few public figures aside from Pac-Man and Donkey Kong had their own video game, Journey had two. The offices of the group’s management company received 600 pieces of Journey fan mail per day.

The group toured hard for nine years. Gradually, that punishing schedule began to take a toll on Journey’s lead singer.

“I never had any nodules or anything, and I never had polyps,” Mr. Perry said, referring to the state of his vocal cords. He looked around for some wood to knock, then settled for his own skull. The pain, he said, was more spiritual than physical.

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As a vocalist, Mr. Perry explained, “your instrument is you. It’s not just your throat, it’s you . If you’re burnt out, if you’re depressed, if you’re feeling weary and lost and paranoid, you’re a mess.”

“Frankly,” Mr. Schon said in a phone interview, “I don’t know how he lasted as long as he did without feeling burned out. He was so good, doing things that nobody else could do.”

On Feb. 1, 1987, Mr. Perry performed one last show with Journey, in Anchorage. Then he went home.

Mr. Perry was born in Hanford, Calif., in the San Joaquin Valley, about 45 minutes south of Fresno. His parents, who were both Portuguese immigrants, divorced when he was 8, and Mr. Perry and his mother moved in next door to her parents’. “I became invisible, emotionally,” Mr. Perry said. “And there were places I used to hide, to feel comfortable, to protect myself.”

Sometimes he’d crawl into a corner of his grandparents’ garage with a blanket and a flashlight. But he also found refuge in music. “I could get lost in these 45s that I had,” Mr. Perry said. “It turned on a passion for music in me that saved my life.”

As a teen, Mr. Perry moved to Lemoore, Calif., where he enjoyed an archetypally idyllic West Coast adolescence: “A lot of my writing, to this day, is based on my emotional attachment to Lemoore High School.”

There he discovered the Beatles and the Beach Boys, went on parked-car dates by the San Joaquin Valley’s many irrigation canals, and experienced a feeling of “freedom and teenage emotion and contact with the world” that he’s never forgotten. Even a song like “No Erasin’,” the buoyant lead single from his new LP has that down-by-the-old-canal spirit, Mr. Perry said.

And after he left Journey, it was Lemoore that Mr. Perry returned to, hoping to rediscover the person he’d been before subsuming his identity within an internationally famous rock band. In the beginning, he couldn’t even bear to listen to music on the radio: “A little PTSD, I think.”

Eventually, in 1994, he made that solo album, “For the Love of Strange Medicine,” and sported a windblown near-mullet and a dazed expression on the cover. The reviews were respectful, and the album wasn’t a flop. With alternative rock at its cultural peak, Mr. Perry was a man without a context — which suited him just fine.

“I was glad,” he said, “that I was just allowed to step back and go, O.K. — this is a good time to go ride my Harley.”

JOURNEY STAYED REUNITED after Mr. Perry left for the second time in 1997. Since December 2007, its frontman has been Arnel Pineda, a former cover-band vocalist from Manila, Philippines, who Mr. Schon discovered via YouTube . When Journey was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last April, Mr. Pineda sang the 1981 anthem “Don’t Stop Believin’,” not Mr. Perry. “I’m not in the band,” he said flatly, adding, “It’s Arnel’s gig — singers have to stick together.”

Around the time Mr. Pineda joined the band, something strange had happened — after being radioactively unhip for decades, Journey had crept back into the zeitgeist. David Chase used “Don’t Stop Believin’” to nerve-racking effect in the last scene of the 2007 series finale of “The Sopranos” ; when Mr. Perry refused to sign off on the show’s use of the song until he was told how it would be used, he briefly became one of the few people in America who knew in advance how the show ended.

“Don’t Stop Believin’” became a kind of pop standard, covered by everyone from the cast of “Glee” to the avant-shred guitarist Marnie Stern . Decades after they’d gone their separate ways, Journey and Mr. Perry found themselves discovering fans they never knew they had.

Mark Oliver Everett, the Los Angeles singer-songwriter who performs with his band Eels under the stage name E, was not one of them, at first.

“When I was young, living in Virginia,” Mr. Everett said, “Journey was always on the radio, and I wasn’t into it.”

So although Mr. Perry became a regular at Eels shows beginning around 2003, it took Mr. Everett five years to invite him backstage. He’d become acquainted with Patty Jenkins, the film director, who’d befriended Mr. Perry after contacting him for permission to use “Don’t Stop Believin’” in her 2003 film “Monster.” (“When he literally showed up on the mixing stage the next day and pulled up a chair next to me, saying, ‘Hey I really love your movie. How can I help you?’ it was the beginning of one of the greatest friendships of my life,” Ms. Jenkins wrote in an email.) Over lunch, Ms. Jenkins lobbied Mr. Everett to meet Mr. Perry.

They hit it off immediately. “At that time,” Mr. Everett said, “we had a very serious Eels croquet game in my backyard every Sunday.” He invited Mr. Perry to attend that week. Before long, Mr. Perry began showing up — uninvited and unannounced, but not unwelcome — at Eels rehearsals.

“They’d always bust my chops,” Mr. Perry said. “Like, ‘Well? Is this the year you come on and sing a couple songs with us?’”

At one point, the Eels guitarist Jeff Lyster managed to bait Mr. Perry into singing Journey’s “Lights” at one of these rehearsals, which Mr. Everett remembers as “this great moment — a guy who’s become like Howard Hughes, and just walked away from it all 25 years ago, and he’s finally doing it again.”

Eventually Mr. Perry decided to sing a few numbers at an Eels show, which would be his first public performance in decades. He made this decision known to the band, Mr. Everett said, not via phone or email but by showing up to tour rehearsals one day carrying his own microphone. “He moves in mysterious ways,” Mr. Everett observed.

For mysterious Steve Perry reasons, Mr. Perry chose to make his long-awaited return to the stage at a 2014 Eels show at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minn. During a surprise encore, he sang three songs, including one of his favorite Eels tunes, whose profane title is rendered on an edited album as “It’s a Monstertrucker.”

“I walked out with no anticipation and they knew me and they responded, and it was really a thrill,” Mr. Perry said. “I missed it so much. I couldn’t believe it’d been so long.”

“It’s a Monstertrucker” is a spare song about struggling to get through a lonely Sunday in someone’s absence. For Mr. Perry, it was not an out-of-nowhere choice.

In 2011, Ms. Jenkins directed one segment of “Five,” a Lifetime anthology film about women and breast cancer. Mr. Perry visited her one day in the cutting room while she was at work on a scene featuring real cancer patients as extras. A woman named Kellie Nash caught Mr. Perry’s eye. Instantly smitten, he asked Ms. Jenkins if she would introduce them by email.

“And she says ‘O.K., I’ll send the email,’ ” Mr. Perry said, “but there’s one thing I should tell you first. She was in remission, but it came back, and it’s in her bones and her lungs. She’s fighting for her life.”

“My head said, ‘I don’t know,’ ” Mr. Perry remembered, “but my heart said, ‘Send the email.’”

“That was extremely unlike Steve, as he is just not that guy,” Ms. Jenkins said. “I have never seen him hit on, or even show interest in anyone before. He was always so conservative about opening up to anyone.”

A few weeks later, Ms. Nash and Mr. Perry connected by phone and ended up talking for nearly five hours. Their friendship soon blossomed into romance. Mr. Perry described Ms. Nash as the greatest thing that ever happened to him.

“I was loved by a lot of people, but I didn’t really feel it as much as I did when Kellie said it,” he said. “Because she’s got better things to do than waste her time with those words.”

They were together for a year and a half. They made each other laugh and talked each other to sleep at night.

In the fall of 2012, Ms. Nash began experiencing headaches. An MRI revealed that the cancer had spread to her brain. One night not long afterward, Ms. Nash asked Mr. Perry to make her a promise.

“She said, ‘If something were to happen to me, promise me you won’t go back into isolation,’ ” Mr. Perry said, “because that would make this all for naught.”

At this point in the story, Mr. Perry asked for a moment and began to cry.

Ms. Nash died on Dec. 14, 2012, at 40. Two years later, Mr. Perry showed up to Eels rehearsal with his own microphone, ready to make good on a promise.

TIME HAS ADDED a husky edge to Mr. Perry’s angelic voice; on “Traces,” he hits some trembling high notes that bring to mind the otherworldly jazz countertenor “Little” Jimmy Scott. The tone suits the songs, which occasionally rock, but mostly feel close to their origins as solo demos Mr. Perry cut with only loops and click tracks backing him up.

The idea that the album might kick-start a comeback for Mr. Perry is one that its maker inevitably has to hem and haw about.

“I don’t even know if ‘coming back’ is a good word,” he said. “I’m in touch with the honest emotion, the love of the music I’ve just made. And all the neurosis that used to come with it, too. All the fears and joys. I had to put my arms around all of it. And walking back into it has been an experience, of all of the above.”

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Journey

Behind the Music

  • Traveling in this documentary about a California band, Journey. Formed in 1973 and, released LP's from 1975-1977 were commercial failures. To release a fifth LP, CBS Records issued the band an ultimatum "if you don't come up with hits, or we'll drop you." Manager Herbie Herbert, listened to a demo of a band called "Alien Project" and, hears a voice that would take the band to a brand new direction. The singer was Steve Perry and, he was hired to be Journey's lead singer. Journey released "Infinity" in 1978 and, the album was a hit. The album spawned hits; "Wheels in the Sky", "Lights", "Feeling That Way" and, "Anytime". Journey, became a household name. In 1981, Journey's career boosted when they released their best selling album to date "Escape" with singles, "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Open Arms". More hit albums and singles followed, personal matters were affecting Steve Perry while on the road. His mother was dying from a rare disease and, the split with his girlfriend Sherry Swafford. In 1985, problems within the band begun to fester. Steve Smith and Ross Vallory were dismissed and, the band was streamlined as a trio. One year later, Journey released "Raised on Radio" and, the album unleashed hits; "Girl Can't Help It", "I'll Be All Right Without You", "Be Good To Yourself" and, "Suzanne". In 1987, Journey had disappeared from view. In 1996, the classic lineup recorded "Trial By Fire" and, the band wanted to tour to support the album. Unfortunately, it became impossible to tour because, Steve Perry suffered a degenerative bone disease while hiking in Hawaii. Neil Schon and Johnathan Cain, re-formed the band and hired Steve Augieri as their frontman in 1998.

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Ultimate Classic Rock

How a Leftover Song Changed Journey Forever

"Only the Young" became an inspirational touchstone, a homecoming spark, then an in-concert triumph. But first, it got left off one of Journey 's biggest albums.

"It was actually written for the Frontiers record," Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain told WCSX in 2018. "And some people, when we put the album together, thought it didn't work on the album and they wanted to put some other song in place of it. And I was kinda like opposed to it and I got outvoted, and it just sat on the shelf there in the vaults."

The first person outside of Journey's inner circle to hear the still-unreleased song was Kenny Sykaluk, a 16-year-old Ohio native battling terminal illness. His mother wrote the Make a Wish Foundation in the hopes that the band could visit Sykaluk.

"Back in 1983, when Make a Wish first began, one of the boys who was sick wanted to meet Journey," Cain told One One 7 in 2013. "He was in a cystic-fibrosis clinic in Cleveland, and we went off to see him. We had no idea how bad he was, but he was dying."

They brought an autographed platinum-album award, a football helmet signed by the San Francisco 49ers, and a Walkman. Inside the Walkman was a cassette recording of "Only the Young."

"Slipping the headphones over Kenny's ears, we watched as the kid began to listen to our unreleased song," Cain said in 2018's Don't Stop Believin': The Man, the Band, and the Song that Inspired Generations . "While the tune played, Kenny looked up and his eyes got huge."

Written by Cain, ex-frontman Steve Perry and guitarist Neal Schon , "Only the Young" eventually saw release, eventually became a hit, eventually turned into a concert staple. But in that moment, it became Sykaluk's song.

"As soon as I stepped out of that hospital room, I lost it," Perry said in the liner notes to the Time3 box set. "Nurses had to take me to a room by myself."

Listen to Journey Perform 'Only the Young'

Sykaluk died hours later. "When we did VH1's Behind the Music ," Cain told One One 7, "I was asked about the most powerful things that happened to me as a member of Journey, and it had to be with Kenny Sykaluk on that last day."

A leftover song suddenly took on deep new meaning within the group. "The lyrics to 'Only the Young' are powerful lyrics," Perry says in Don't Stop Believin' . "I really have to give credit to Jonathan Cain for coming up with the concept to write about, before we even knew about Kenny, about ' only the young can say they're free to fly away .' Because there's a certain innocence that the youth have. That's just a wonderful gift."

Journey was in the midst of a period marked by solo projects and internal strife. "Only the Young" ended up being covered on Scandal's debut album, while the original version – and Journey itself – continued to languish. They'd essentially split following Frontiers .

Then "Only the Young" was released on the soundtrack for Vision Quest on Feb. 12, 1985, and belatedly soared to No. 9 on the Billboard charts. Months later, sessions began for Journey's reunion on 1986's Raised on Radio .

Syaluk's passing put things in perspective. "It changed my outlook on life," Schon said on Behind the Music . "It makes you realize that the things you were making a big deal out of, maybe, were not so big."

Credit a label guy for finally smoothing the way for the release of "Only the Young." "David Geffen somehow got ahold of it and called our manager and said, 'I have this movie, Vision Quest ," Cain told WCSX. "And so we ended up taking it to New York to mix for Vision Quest ."

Journey subsequently opened every show on the Raised on Radio tour with "Only the Young." Later reissues of Frontiers also included it as a bonus track. For Cain, that winding path came to make perfect sense.

"Each song has its place and purpose," Cain said in Don't Stop Believin' , "and 'Only the Young' was meant to stay off Frontiers initially, simply because it belonged to Kenny."

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Journey’s Top 20 Post-Steve Perry Songs

Watch CBS News

How Steve Perry started believin' again

October 7, 2018 / 9:55 AM EDT / CBS News

If you were alive in the 1980s (or really any time in the last 30 years), you probably know the words to at least one Journey song. And for some fans, Steve Perry is, once and forever, "the voice."

"What were you hoping for when you joined Journey?" asked correspondent Tracy Smith.

"I just wanted to write music with the guys that mattered," the 69-year-old said, "that people would love and embrace and take into their hearts. There's nothing else that meant more to me than to be part of that."

Steve Perry and Journey perform "Don't Stop Believin'":

With Perry out front, the band had a slew of Top 40 hits in the '80s, and was back on a commercial roll in the '90s, when he left it all behind.

What was that like? "It was tough, really tough," he said.

Smith asked, "What'd you do?"

"Therapy!" he laughed. "Went back to my hometown, went to the fair in the summertime that comes to Hanford."

steve-perry-with-tracy-smith-620.jpg

You might understand a little more about why Perry left when you know where he came from.

Hanford, California, population 56,000, is in the heart of the Golden State's sprawling farm country. For young Steve Perry, it was the world. "When I was living here, I was really loving being here," he said.

But Perry's father left when he was seven. At Hanford's historic Fox Theatre , he talked about how it's a loss he still feels today. 

"He used to sing to me. He used to sing to me, yeah, like when I was three or four years old he'd sing to me," Perry said. "And when the divorce happened it was an incredible loss to me."

There are happier memories in Hanford, too, where much has stayed the same. 

steve-perry-with-tracy-smith-hanford-california-620.jpg

Hanford's Superior Dairy has been in the same spot for nearly 90 years. And around here, they do ice cream in a big way: A single scoop is roughly the size of a cantaloupe. Sundaes are colossal … and Steve Perry is still a favorite son. 

And of course they still make his favorite flavor. "It's like a milk chocolate. One bite and I'm home. That's all there is to it."

The ice cream made Perry emotional. "Excuse me for a second … It's so good.  Wow. Sorry."

Smith asked, "Is there kinda like a flood of memories and feelings?"

"I've had so many memories in this place and it's still the same. No matter what happens, no matter how successful or unsuccessful, you can always come back and have some ice cream. And it's gonna be okay."

And he was living here in Hanford when he got the call that would change his life forever.

After bouncing around a series of small-time bands, Perry joined up with Journey in 1977, and helped give the world some of its best-loved songs.

Journey performs "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'":

But after years of touring, he was getting tired of the grind. He was also nursing a severely injured hip, and when the band pressed him to get it fixed, he balked.

"It was really your heart, not your hip?" asked Smith

"It was my heart," he said. "It became a group decision, major surgery, and I wasn't very happy about that. So I chose to put it off and decided when to do it, and they checked out some other singers, and we went our separate ways."

In time, Journey settled on Arnel Pineda – who sounds a lot like Perry – to be their new lead singer.

And except for a few things, like the 2005 Walk of Fame ceremony, Perry stayed out of sight, and away from music.

He stopped singing.  "Completely, Tracy, I swear," he said.

 "Were there moments where you thought, 'What have I done?'"

"No. I just wanted to move forward. And in moving forward, I found Kellie."

"Kellie" was psychologist Kellie Nash, whom Perry spotted in a made-for-TV movie about the impact of cancer, "Five."

They connected through mutual friends, and the sparks flew.

kellie-nash-and-steve-perry-660.jpg

"And when someone who has stage 4 cancer turns to you and says, 'I love you,' you're gonna feel it for the first time, which is what happened," he said.

For a time, a new clinical trial kept Kellie alive, but in the fall of 2012 things got worse, and she and Steve had the talk that would bring him out of retirement.

Perry said, "One night she said that, 'If something was to ever happen to me, promise that you won't go back into isolation, for I think that would make this all for naught.' I had to make the promise, and I said, 'I promise.'"

Kellie Nash died in December 2012.  Perry says he mourned for two years … and then headed for the studio.

To hear Steve Perry perform "No More Cryin'," click on the video player below:

"Traces" is his first new studio album in more than 20 years – and it's a promise kept.

Smith asked, "I'm sure you think, when you're playing this music, 'What would she think of all this?'"

steve-perry-traces-album-cover-fantasy-244.jpg

"I think she would love it. I really do," he replied.

"The voice" seems as strong as ever, but there aren't solid plans for a tour yet … or anything else.

"So, have you totally closed the door on playing with Journey again and singing with Journey again?"

"Look at you!  I can't believe you'd go – you open my heart and then you just completely, like, you know, stick a poker in there, you know?" he laughed. 

"Because this is about passion, and we're talking about the same thing."

"I know. I know. I understand your question. All I can think about is where I'm at right now."

"But at least you're not closing any doors? I mean, you know there are millions, literally millions of people out there who would love to see it happen. So, I guess I'm asking from their perspective: Is the door at least still open?"

Perry said. "I love going forward. I love going to the edge of what's next. And for me, that would be a return. I have to do, at this point in my life, what really makes me feel purposeful at this moment and on the right track for me."

"That sounds like a no."

"If you're looking for the answer I have right now, then that's the answer I have."

So yes, Steve Perry is back, but looking ahead: Happy to be making music again even if he's doing it alone.

"Look, I'm not doing this for money, honey. I don't need any money. I eat too much already! I can only drive one car at a time. This is about the passion. But maybe it took a broken heart to get there, a completely broken heart."

Smith asked, "Is your heart still broken?"

"Yes! Yes, it is still broken," he said. "But it's open . That's okay."

To hear Steve Perry perform "No Erasin'," click on the video player below:

See also: 

  • A Journey back ("Sunday Morning," 06/01/08)

      For more info:

  • steveperry.com
  • "Traces" by Steve Perry (Fantasy), available on CD ( Amazon ,  Barnes & Noble ), Vinyl ( Amazon ,  Barnes & Noble ), and via Digital Download ( Amazon ,  iTunes ) and Streaming ( Spotify )
  • Follow  @StevePerryMusic on Twitter , Facebook and YouTube

      Story produced by John D'Amelio.

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Steve Perry Quit Journey And Never Looked Back. Then Music Saved His Life Again.

Steve Perry returns with his first new solo album since 1994.

Imagine riding a motorcycle down an open road in the country, with alfalfa fields on both sides as far as the eye can see ― with a warm wind blowing in your hair and the sun beating down on your face.

That’s a lot of what singer Steve Perry has done since playing his last show with Journey in 1987. At the top of his game, he decided to walk away, leaving one of the biggest bands around. This after scoring hit after hit with “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Faithfully,” “Open Arms” and “Separate Ways” ― on top of solo singles “Oh Sherrie” and “Foolish Heart.”

“I wasn’t going to walk away through the back door,” Perry told HuffPost. “That’s not walking away. That’s not returning to my hometown, my farm community and smelling the alfalfa again and going to my favorite ice cream parlor that my grandfather took his son ― my dad ― and my dad took me. And having delicious chocolate chip ice cream in Hanford [California]. I had to walk away.”

Though he has made a couple of appearances with Journey (most recently at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2017) and reunited for the 1996 Journey album, “Trial by Fire,” Perry has stayed largely quiet on the music front.

But now he’s finally ready to walk into the spotlight again. After more than two decades, Perry will unveil a full-length solo album. Called “Traces,” the set ― due Oct. 5 ― finds the former Journey singer performing his own material with that signature voice that has long been missing from music. For the first time in a long time, Perry found his passion for writing and recording again. The result is a new 10-track album with five bonus songs.

“They all have a special place in my heart … They are like children to me,” Perry said of his new songs. “We gave them the best that they needed before I let them go because once you send them out into the world, there’s not much you can do. … You got to kiss it goodbye and hope that it’s charged with the honest sincerity that you hope other people will experience.”

We caught up with Perry about his new music and what he’s been up to since leaving Journey.

How are you feeling in the lead-up to this release?

You know what? That is so kind of you to ask you how I’m feeling. Most people don’t do that. I’m all over the map emotionally. It’s so strange. I’m exhilarated. I’m anxious and excited. And I’m just pensive. There are just so many feelings coming out at the same time because it’s been so many years — I would say over 31 — that I’ve really gotten into this with the passion I have now. So I didn’t know that the passion for music would return. When I left the group, I left because the passion had left my heart and I felt like I was sort of singing by numbers, emotionally. I don’t think anybody noticed, but toward the end there, I was not connecting, and my passion for music that I had found when I was 5 or 6 years old that I brought with me into my life, and I just started to lose that, and it scared the hell out of me, and I couldn’t connect with my foundation, which I was pulling my singing from and my passion for writing music too. So it has so excitedly returned to me, and I’m really, really excited about it.

I think the fans — based on chatter online — are just as excited to hear from you. So I imagine that’s a good feeling too.

It is a very good feeling. It was not a popular thing to do. I had to walk away, but I knew in my heart that ... all I had left, really, as an option was to walk into the abyss of not knowing where I’m going, and I just knew I couldn’t stay where I was. And so I just threw my fate to the wind and went back to my hometown, which was a farm community in the central San Joaquin Valley in Hanford, California, where I was raised. It’s always been an agricultural town. It’s always been the cornucopia of the world, they used to call it back in those days, because it’s just amazing what grows there, from almonds to peaches to grapes to cotton and alfalfa. I tried to reconnect and though my family was all deceased, I needed to go home and reconnect to some of the feelings and the environment. I really emotionally needed that ― really bad. So I bought a Harley-Davidson and a storage unit, and I drove my Harley through the country roads of that area.

Perry built a studio in his house, where he recorded “Traces.”

The album kicks off with the lyric “I know it’s been a long time comin’ since I saw your face.” It’s been so long since we’ve seen your face. You’ve said you’ve been invisible for 30 years. I know you had a girlfriend, Kellie Nash, who passed away and she was among the influences who got you back into music. Why did now feel like the right time to release “Traces”?

Well, Kellie and I found each other through [writer-director] Patty Jenkins, and we were together for a year and a half. And she had already been fighting stage 4 breast cancer, but you would never know it. We were living in Manhattan, and she was getting some treatment there that was actually working for her. We lived there for almost 10 months. But she knew something had changed, just before the time Hurricane Sandy hit. We came back to the West Coast. And then about two months later, I lost her on Dec. 12, 2012. So that was the big change in my life that … a heart isn’t really broken until it’s completely broken, and that was when it got completely broken. And I thought I had a pretty good heart, but it took me two, almost three years of grieving. And slowly I got the passion back for music that I had lost when I left the group years before. I just found this songwriting thing came back. You gotta understand how much that meant to me emotionally. And I started writing these songs. Some are happy. Some are sexy. Some are rock ’n’ roll. Some are about loss, but the record has all sorts of tones to it.

Perry says a possible tour will be discussed toward the end of the year.

How did the writing and recording process come to be?

Once I built the studio in my house and I got an engineer ... named Thom Flowers, he and I got together and started putting together all these sketches I had written. We just started accumulating and recording songs and reaching, I think, for the sincerity that I remember was the most important element of music that touched me when I was 5 years old. I remember when I was in Journey, there was a sincerity in the music, with my solo projects … and so we worked hard to reach that believable sincerity in the drum performance, in the guitar performance, with the bass, the background vocals, the lead vocals and the lyrics.

When you decided to take that break, did you ever imagine that it was going to be this long of a break?

I walked away with a sincere commitment to not ever come back. That’s the only real honest walk away that had to happen … I had to walk away. And yes, I buzzed my head. And yes, I gained 60 pounds. [Laughs.] I was walking into the wind as much as possible, and if, in fact, I was ever going to experience anything ― love and passion for music — again, then I’ll figure it out. And if not, I’m OK, because we could not have done what we did any better than we already did it in the time that was right to do it.

At the time, though, even though you were away, the music you created with Journey and your solo projects from earlier in your career lived on. What was that like, watching from afar?

That’s a great question, because they did have a life. They did have something in them that continued to touch people while the music business went into boy-band land and electronic drums. I must admit, though, I was slowly opening my heart to music, because in the beginning, all I could listen to was ambient music. I couldn’t listen to anything with vocals or melodies or singers. I was kind of PTSD for music when I quit. So slowly all this stuff started to change. And here comes this era of boy band and electronic music, and I really liked the songwriting of some of it. They were well-crafted, sweet songs. One that comes to mind is [singing the Backstreet Boys’ “As Long As You Love Me”] “I don’t care who you are, where you’re from, what you did, as long as you love me.” It was this whole other landscape with garage, alternative, boy bands, and somewhere on other channels, Journey stuff was still going on. I don’t know what to say about that except that I was doing the best I could to keep walking and not feel too bad about taking care of myself, because I needed to get out. It wasn’t easy to keep walking.

Would you consider that one of the biggest risks you’ve ever taken in your life ― to walk away?

I think “risk” would be the wrong word. I would say the biggest necessity. I think that emotionally and foundationally I needed to throw myself into my hometown ― see friends, go to the fair in the summertime. At that time, my aunt was still alive. I used to take her to lunch in the ice cream parlor. … I was doing family stuff.

When you look at your life, what do you want your legacy to be? What do you want people to know about you?

Wow, I never thought about [that]. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know. I am getting older — I should start thinking about that, perhaps. Uncle Steve is no spring chicken, that’s for sure. … Well, I think it’s just ― Steve Perry was someone who was touched by music when he was 4 or 5 years old. His father was a singer, and I think in his DNA something resonated with him too. And from that point on, I was never the same. I started listening to radio at an early age. I started buying music at an early, early age. And when I got into the double digits — 10, 12, 13 years old — I was into 45s. Through some of my friends of color, I discovered R&B music. And I wanted to know why it felt the way it did, why it made me feel the way it did. And I wanted to know why Sam Cooke killed me the way he did. And why Jackie Wilson was slaying it like he did. And why Aretha [Franklin], what is she doing? And Nancy Wilson. What is going on with the Four Tops? What do you mean, ‘Baby, I need your lovin’”? ... Do you know how hard it is to this day to write a lyric that rhymes one into the next, into the next ― to where it strings together like a golden thread and you’re just along for the ride? That’s tough! So those kinds of moments changed my life. They were life-sustaining. Especially when my parents got a divorce when I was 7. So my legacy is that music saved my life. And it continues to now.

“ Traces ” will be released on Oct. 5.

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Journey Frontman Arnel Pineda on the Band’s New Record, Dreams of a Steve Perry Reunion

  • By Andy Greene

Andy Greene

In early 2020, Journey frontman Arnel Pineda flew back to his native Manila after playing a corporate gig in Texas. He was gearing up for a big year in which Journey would cut their first new record since 2011’s Eclipse and play amphitheaters all over North America with the Pretenders.

The pandemic changed all that and he’s been in Manila ever since, but Journey still found a way to work remotely on the record. It’s their first full-length since parting ways with drummer Steve Smith and bassist Ross Valory. They were replaced by bassist Randy Jackson (who briefly toured and recorded with Journey in 1986–87) and drummer Narada Michael Walden, who’s doubling as the album’s producer.

We checked in with Pineda via Zoom to talk about his lockdown life in Manila, the in-progress Journey record, the upcoming biopic about his life, and why he still dreams about a Journey reunion with Steve Perry.

How are things going? Good. I arrived here in Manila last year just a week and a half before the lockdown began. I was lucky. Otherwise, I would have been stuck in America for six months before they let me back.

This must be the longest stretch of time you’ve been home since you joined Journey in 2007. Yeah. This is the longest. I like it because I got to spend a lot of time with family and the kids and more time with myself and my wife. There are other things I would rather do than tour, so I got the chance to be here. In a negative way, it’s quite bad. The survival here is a day-to-day deal. I’m the one that goes out a lot. I’m the one that goes to the market and the grocery to refill our food stocks.

You wonder if you have the virus every day. There’s a lot of paranoia going around. It’s like what is happening in America.

Do you miss playing live? Yeah. I especially miss the energy and the adrenaline of doing it. I’m delivering on the legacy that the Voice [Steve Perry] has left behind. Especially now that he formally passed the torch to me in 2017 [at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction], he made that known and he was very gracious. It was very kind of him. It was so generous of him to say that in public. It was really an honor.

What was it like to finally meet Steve after all these years? I posted on Instagram that I had waited 35 years for that. It was dreamy. I couldn’t believe I met him since he’s very reclusive and he avoids people. He didn’t want to get interviewed, at least until he released his new record [ Traces ] and then suddenly he was out there, going to radio stations and accepting interviews.

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I was really surprised that he agreed to meet me. It’s one of the most special things that happened in my life. He’s one of my heroes when it comes to singing. I remember back in the Eighties, I would sleep on the bus with my Walkman on in my ears as his voice sang all these favorite songs from Journey.

I really dug his new record. It was amazing. I’ve been teasing Jonathan [Cain] and Neal [Schon]. “Why don’t you invite Steve Perry over for a tour?” Oh, my God. I never saw them back in the Eighties. I was just a young kid in Manila, just playing around, with no chance of going to the States and seeing their show, but they were one of my favorite bands.

I’ve spoken to Steve a bunch of times in the past few years. We even talked just a few weeks ago. Oh, my God!

Judging by our talks, I’m extremely confident that he’s happy to leave the Journey baton with you. That’s even more pressure I’m getting, hearing this from you. At the same time, I’m truly honored. But I’m not losing [the hope] that one day he’ll join the band for two or three songs. It would be one of the highlights of my life if that happens.

It would almost be on the scale of Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd re-forming at this point. My God. It would be the same thing for me with Led Zeppelin because I haven’t seen them either, or Pink Floyd. I wish they would be complete again. It’s like completing a circle, being back up onstage again.

Do you think this long break has been good for your singing voice? Has it given you time to rest the muscle? I think so. At the same time, I can’t help but sing four or five songs here every day. The problem with the voice is that it changes as you grow older. It’s like athletes. They reach their peak on their 30th birthday. As they approach 31 or 32, it starts to change. It’s the same with my voice. I just want to make sure I can be of use to the band until they decide to throw the towel in.

Those are hard songs to sing for any singer. You guys go out and do 60 straight concerts in the summer and you need to hit the high notes on “Faithfully” every single time. That would be hard for anyone at any age. We’ll do five or six shows a week. I’m just quite amazed with myself a little. Somehow I was able to take it for 13 years. Let’s see what’s going to happen in the coming days. We’re on to finishing the album. We finished six songs so far. There’s talk of going out somewhere first, maybe Las Vegas for a residency. We don’t know yet. We haven’t decided. Just to break the ice between the new members and us.

You have six songs totally done? Yeah. And maybe seven songs to go.

Journey's Bassist Ross Valory Opens Up About the Band's Saga — And His Adventurous Solo Album

Watch miley cyrus cover journey's hit '80s anthem 'faithfully'.

Are these ballads? Rockers? For now, we’re doing the rocker songs first, not the ballads. I think the seven songs they’re working on, they’re working on something huge, like how you’ve known Journey doing ballads. It’s between [1981’s ] “Mother, Father” and [1978’s] “Winds of March.” We’re working on that song. We’ll see what happens. I’m waiting for them to send me the demos so that we can record it next week.

Working remotely like this must have been an adjustment. Normally, you’d be in the room together. I know. It’s quite hard right now. I have a few melody ideas that I’m into and want to share with them, but you can’t right now because of what is happening. I just have to listen to it and learn it. We use Zoom to record and I turn on my laptop and go into Logic Pro. They get ahold of it. If there’s something I want to change, I tell them. But it’s all pretty much done and I just record with them.

Are you doing the vocals on your laptop? Yeah. I’ll show you [ turns camera around and shows a microphone plugged into a computer in front of soundproofing foam ]. I share my computer, like mirroring. They can see what’s happening in my laptop. It allows them to hack it for a moment and then they can hear it. It happens in real time.

There’s no lag. I can hear that right now while we talk. It’s like you’re in the next room and you’re actually more than 8,000 miles away. Yeah. Thank God for the technology.

Do you think the album will come out this year? I think so. Neal thinks so. He can’t wait to release it before we do a full-on tour.

How do things sound different now that Randy Jackson and Narada Michael Walden are in the band? It’s somewhat like the sound back in the Eighties when Randy Jackson joined the band for the Raised on Radio album. It’s kind of like that, but it’s also more updated. Narada is producing my vocals and mentoring me on how to do it. He’s telling me to sing it this way and that way. It’s amazing. I’m learning a lot from Narada. It’s truly an honor and I appreciate him for doing so. It’s amazing.

Has the band even been in the same room yet? Have you met Randy and Narada in person? Right now, it’s just been virtual. It’s tough. I wanted to do it. I keep telling Neal, “If only I had been there, we would have done this in two months. Sorry it’s taking so long.” But with all these health protocols where you need to quarantine for two weeks, and then I come back and I’d be quarantined for another two weeks before I can join my family. It’s too much of a hassle, so we decided to do it this way even though Neal isn’t too happy about it. He wants it the old, classic way of making an album.

Moving on here, what’s the status of the movie about your life? It’s going to happen. I think they’re gonna start. Some people from Warner will start coming here. I think maybe with [ Crazy Rich Asians director] Jon Chu and [ Joker and The Fighter screenwriter] Scott Silver. They might come here to audition actors and actresses that will take part in my biopic.

Are you going to take them around town and show them the places you grew up? Yes. That’s the deal, of course. I want to show them where I grew up, where I was born, where everything happened before this whole magical thing.

Do you think the story will start in your childhood and show all your early bands and struggles and focus on the pre-Journey period? I think so, yeah. That’s the plan. I’ve spoken many times with Scott Silver. What’s interesting about my story is that I’ve survived two coup attempts here in the Philippines before I went to Hong Kong for 10 years. I don’t know he if plans to tell what happened to me in Hong Kong, but I had 10 years there. He might focus on my love story with my wife now.

I can see the grand finale in my head. It’ll be you walking onstage in Chile at your first Journey show. You’re nervous and they push you out and you burst into “Separate Ways.” Yeah. I was trying to back out five minutes before. I was like, “Neal, I cannot do this. This is not built for me.” They were like, “No. It’s too late. Get out there and do it.”

It was the turning point of your life. Everything is either before that moment or after that moment. You should tell Scott Silver about this idea. I’ve been implying it to him that we should end everything in Chile. And I remember when my wife decided to join me on tour in 2011. We were playing to a 30,000 crowd that night. I was telling my wife, “Remember Hard Rock Cafe when there were only three tables? Now it’s 30,000 people.” It was just unbelievable. It doesn’t get old to me. It’s still so surreal and bizarre.

I saw you at Citi Field with Fleetwood Mac and Madison Square Garden with Def Leppard. I could tell you were still having a blast. It’s still unbelievable. I’m just so blessed. I can’t thank them enough, especially Neal Schon. He was the one that was really sold that I am the one since 2007. But then again, I still think, “If only they could bring back Steve Perry.” You know what I mean?

I do, but if he came back, that would mean … I know, but I miss them so much together. Every now and then, I watch their videos together. It’s always them with Steve Perry that I watch. I mean, no offense to Adam Lambert. He’s an amazing performer and he has an amazing voice, but I still watch the old [Queen] ones with Freddie Mercury. That’s why when people say things like “No Perry, No Journey,” I understand it. Where I come from, we’re so influenced by Western music. We loved the originals, if you know what I mean.

His return would put you out of a job. That would be OK to me! I’m telling you. That’s how much I adore him and I adore Journey and how much I adore Steve Perry. Back in 2005, I resigned from my job in Hong Kong because I lost my voice due to acid reflux. I was telling my friends back then that my only regret was I lost my voice before I had the chance to sing side-by-side with Steve Perry. I was joking with them, but then a different situation happened. I just wish that one show with him … it would change my life forever. It’s been 30 years now and the band keeps changing my life in ways nobody would ever guess would happen.

Do you miss Ross Valory and Steve Smith now that they’re out of the band? I do, of course. We had a real bond that nobody can deny. [ Sighs ] When the first day came that Steve Smith went back, I could feel that he was trying to feel everything out and observe. When he got the good vibe again, we clicked. Four years with him was very special. And 11 years with Ross was amazing. I cannot ask for anything more. Those friendships I’ll take with me until the end of time.

The group has dealt with a lot of tensions and feuds during your time with them, but you always remain neutral and out of the fray. How do you do that? I try to stay away. It’s like, “Oh, the big boys are fighting.” I’d rather stick to my guns, which is just singing and delivering the legacy with them onstage. When we’re up onstage, I think everyone forgets their differences behind the scenes. That’s my happy place. When they’re having some petty quarrels, I try to stay away. I talk to everybody without having to talk about their differences.

Your White House visit caused a bit of controversy. Do you have any regrets about going there and meeting Trump? I do not. As a Filipino, I am such a big fan of the White House. It’s not about Trump. It’s not about who the president is. It’s the whole history of the White House. I was just amazed. When I went there, I looked at all the pictures of past presidents and how old everything was. And then the table where President Trump was seated was about 100 years old. Who wouldn’t want to see that? Who wouldn’t want to touch that?

His presidential guard was laughing at me because President Trump was talking to the other members [of the band] and I was just mesmerized by the table. I was like, “Wow! This is truly 100 years old?” I’m just a kid from Manila and I was in the White House for the first time, so no regrets. I guess I didn’t even have a chance to apologize to Neal. He must understand. I’m just a kid from Manila that wants to see the White House, in general.

What’s the status of your next solo record? I’m doing it right now. I’m just waiting on a couple of friends that are helping me finish it from the States. Because of the recent banning of some countries from coming in here, we got delayed. I’m expecting them to arrive here at the end of March instead of the end of January. Even my online streaming concert was moved to April 18th. It was supposed to happen in February. To those who want to get a ticket, it’ll be at sanrestreaming.com .

Back to the movie, do you think being on set and watching someone play a younger version of you will be a surreal experience? It will be weird, but it’ll be weirder if I am there portraying myself! [ Laughs ] I will not be able to stand there and look at myself. I don’t really listen to myself singing either. When the documentary Everyman’s Journey came out, I could barely watch it. The premier was in Tribeca. I was like, “Do I really have to watch this and see myself on the big screen?” I was cringing.

Do you think the actor in the movie will actually sing, or will you provide the vocals? I think I’m going to use my voice. Do you remember the Queen movie [ Bohemian Rhapsody ]? Marc Martel did the voice. I think I’m going to do that too.

I can’t wait. Crazy Rich Asians is a great movie. Jon Chu really knows what he’s doing. It’s unbelievable that he took notice of my life and my story and wants to make a movie out of it. It really humbled me.

They should film it in Manila and not somewhere else. It should look authentic. They definitely will. There’s so much to remember, I’m telling you. At one point in my life, I was really on drugs. It quite affected my memory. I need to recover all those things that happened to me when I was young. But I’ve recovered a lot of my childhood memories. Scott Silver is quite happy with what I was able to tell him.

I’m very hopeful that before 2021 ends, you’ll be back onstage with Journey. Me too. I can’t wait to see those smiling faces and that rolling-thunder sound of the audience. It’s quite an adrenaline [rush] when you experience that every night. That’s what keeps you going.

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The Real Reason Steve Perry Left Journey

Journey waves to New Jersey crowd.

For years, Journey singer Steve Perry used to wear a necklace of a gold musical eighth-note. In 2018, he explained to Rolling Stone it was a gift he received from his mom when he was 12 years old.

"She always believed in me. I wore it for years and years, but hung it up in May of 1998, just after the band and I legally split and I had a complete contractual release from all my obligations to the band and label."

Perry fronted Journey to its greatest commercial success in the '80s, catapulting the band to arena rock stardom through the likes of "Open Arms" and "Don't Stop Believin'." However , by 1987, even with the triumph of Raised by Radio tour, the band was greatly fractured and went on hiatus for nearly ten years. 

As time heals all wounds, Perry reunited in the mid-90s with bandmates Jonathan Cain, Ross Valory, and Steve Smith. Now under the management of Irving Azoff, Journey released Trial by Fire. The Recording Industry Association of America certified the album platinum and the Recording Academy nominated one of its hit singles, "When You Love a Woman," for a Grammy.

Through pain, Steve Perry came back to music

Just before tour arrangements could be made, Perry collapsed while on a hike. He learned he needed hip surgery due to a degenerative bone condition. The band could not wait for Perry to heal, and so he was replaced by Steve Augeri and later Arnel Pineda .

For years, Perry's surgery explained his reason for officially leaving Journey. But in 2018, he made a revelation. Ahead of the release of his solo album Traces , Perry admitted his actual motive.

"The truth is, that I thought music had run its course in my heart," Perry said. "I had to be honest with myself, and in my heart, I knew I just wasn't feeling it anymore."

Perry , in soul and spirit, was tired. But like any true rockstar, he could not be away from the limelight too long. Traces allowed Perry to find music again. In a promise to his late girlfriend Kellie Nash, who died in 2012 from breast cancer, this was the moment he stopped isolating himself from the world. 

"I found myself with not only just a broken heart but an open heart," Perry told Billboard . "And from that came rock and roll."

steve perry journey behind the music

Ex-JOURNEY Singer STEVE PERRY Was 'Emotionally Stunned' By 'Don't Stop Believin'' Achievement

Former JOURNEY singer Steve Perry has reacted to the news that the band's timeless rock anthem "Don't Stop Believin'" has officially been declared the "Biggest Song Of All Time" by Forbes . According to the RIAA ( Recording Industry Association of America ),the hit rock song likely heard by everyone around the world is now an 18-times-platinum-certified single.

Earlier today (Wednesday, March 20), Perry shared a link to the Forbes article and he included the following message: "When this 'Don't Stop Believin'' , 'The Biggest Song of ALL Time' article came out yesterday {3/19/24}I was so emotionally stunned. To be part of such a moment as this made me reflect on my parents. By that I mean, though I lost them both years ago, I was so happy for them because they are truly the reason this is happening. My dad was a singer and both of them were very musical. So on behalf of my Mom and Dad, I thank every one of you for so many years of support."

JOURNEY co-founder and lead guitarist Neal Schon was one of the musicians who commented below Perry 's post on Instagram , writing: "That's great Steve . God Bless. I myself reflect on the great time we had writing this song. Respectfully Neal Schon ".

You've heard "Don't Stop Believin'" literally everywhere since the 1980s: on the radio of every car you've ever owned, at every major sporting event you've attended in the last 20 years (including a live performance by the band at this year's NFC Championship Game between the Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers ),sung by Tom Cruise , Alec Baldwin and Mary J. Blige in the film "Rock Of Ages" , and covered by the cast of the TV show "Glee" . You heard it and then stared at a black screen in horror for a full 10 seconds wondering whether your DVR wasn't set to record the full episode, and then had it running through your head while you argued with friends over whether Tony Soprano got whacked in the diner or not.

Released in October 1981 for JOURNEY 's seventh studio album "Escape" through Columbia Records , "Don't Stop Believin'" quickly became the band's signature song. Critical acclaim was instant, with Billboard praising the "fluid guitar and vocal." AllMusic declared "Don't Stop Believin'" a "perfect rock song" and an "anthem", featuring "one of the best opening keyboard riffs in rock." Schon wrote the instantly recognizable bass line, and keyboardist and rhythm guitar Jonathan Cain had kept the song title from encouragement his father gave him as a struggling musician living on Sunset Boulevard. Decades after its release, the song became the best-selling digital track from the twentieth century, with over seven million downloads.

In a 2009 interview with CBC 's "Q" cultural affairs show, Perry said he always thought "Don't Stop Believin'" had potential as a single. It was always a hit with live audiences, though it didn't get great radio play at the time it was issued, he said.

"When we were doing the song in 1981, I knew something was happening, but honestly, when I saw it in the film 'Monster' with Patty Jenkins , I started think, 'Oh my goodness there's really something.'"

He added: "The lyric is a strong lyric about not giving up, but it's also about being young, it's also about hanging out, not giving up and looking for that emotion hiding somewhere in the dark that we're all looking for. It's about having hope and not quitting when things get tough, because I'm telling you things get tough for everybody."

Current JOURNEY singer Arnel Pineda , who has been fronting the band for 17 years, told CBS News in 2012, "Even before I discovered 'Don't Stop Believin'' , it has been my motto — you know, to never stop believing in myself. The life that I've gone through, all those hardships, I never stopped believing that someday there is something magical that will happen in my life."

In 2020, at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, "Don't Stop Believin'" became a rallying call for patients recovering from COVID-19 at two hospitals in New York and Michigan. The 1981 hit was being played at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan and the New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital during celebrations for patients prevailing over the coronavirus.

Perry reunited with JOURNEY for the first time in years as they were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in April 2017. The iconic singer appeared onstage with his former bandmates as they each gave speeches, but did not perform with the group later in the event.

Perry 's final full concert with JOURNEY took place in early 1987. He later rejoined his bandmates for a brief performance in 1991 to honor late concert promoter Bill Graham . He also appeared with JOURNEY when they received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in 2005.

JOURNEY will team up with DEF LEPPARD for a 2024 stadium concert tour of North America. The 23-city tour opens July 6 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis and concludes September 8 at Coors Field in Denver. The opening act for most of the tour dates will be fellow Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer Steve Miller and his band. Two other Rock Hall inductees will alternate as opening acts for the seven shows Miller is not playing — CHEAP TRICK and HEART .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Steve Perry (@steveperrymusic)

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steve perry journey behind the music

Former Journey Singer Steve Perry Shocked by Recent “Don’t Stop Believin” Milestone

S pending over a decade with the band, Steve Perry helped propel Journey into the spotlight with albums like Infinity , Departure , and Frontiers . Although leaving the group in the 1980s, he eventually returned in 1995. He was even inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Journey. Considered “The Voice” by Jon Bon Jovi, Perry recently shared his astonishment after Forbes listed the hit song “Don’t Stop Believin” as the “Biggest Song Of All Time.” 

While the song is an 18-time-platinum-certified single, the announcement from Frobes caused even Perry to fall silent. Sharing the news on Instagram, Perry wrote,  “When this ‘Don’t Stop Believin”, ‘The Biggest Song of ALL Time’ article came out yesterday {3/19/24}I was so emotionally stunned. To be part of such a moment as this made me reflect on my parents.”

Taking a moment to honor his parents for supporting him along the way, Perry added,  “By that I mean, though I lost them both years ago, I was so happy for them because they are truly the reason this is happening. My dad was a singer and both of them were very musical. So on behalf of my Mom and Dad, I thank every one of you for so many years of support.”

[RELATED: 4 Songs You Didn’t Know Former Journey Singer Steve Perry Wrote for Other Artists in the ’80s]

Steve Perry Details Why “Don’t Stop Believin'” Was So Popular

Having discussed the iconic song over the decades, in 2009, Perry explained how he knew the potential behind “Don’t Stop Believin’” given the recreation of audiences with CBC’s Q . “When we were doing the song in 1981, I knew something was happening, but honestly, when I saw it in the film ‘Monster’ with Patty Jenkins, I started think, ‘Oh my goodness there’s really something.'”

Dissecting why the hit song connected with so many people, Perry stated, “The lyric is a strong lyric about not giving up, but it’s also about being young, it’s also about hanging out, not giving up and looking for that emotion hiding somewhere in the dark that we’re all looking for. It’s about having hope and not quitting when things get tough, because I’m telling you things get tough for everybody.” 

Receiving over 30,000 likes, Journey co-founder, Neal Schon, commented on the post, writing, “That’s great Steve. God Bless. I myself reflect on the great time we had writing this song. Respectfully Neal Schon”.

(Photo by Theo Wargo/WireImage for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

The post Former Journey Singer Steve Perry Shocked by Recent “Don’t Stop Believin” Milestone appeared first on American Songwriter .

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They’re still believin’: Voyage, Journey tribute band, to play MGM Springfield

  • Updated: Mar. 21, 2024, 5:02 a.m. |
  • Published: Mar. 21, 2024, 5:00 a.m.

They’ve never stopped believing in the lasting musical legacy of Journey.

Voyage, which has been hailed as the “No. 1 Journey tribute band in the world,” according to the group’s website, features lead vocalist Hugo Valenti – who, powerhouse vocals and all, is a dead ringer for Steve Perry.

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IMAGES

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COMMENTS

  1. "Behind the Music" Journey (TV Episode 2001)

    Journey: With Steve Perry, Neal Schon, Jonathan Cain, Ross Valory. Traveling in this documentary about a California band, Journey. Formed in 1973 and, released LP's from 1975-1977 were commercial failures. To release a fifth LP, CBS Records issued the band an ultimatum "if you don't come up with hits, or we'll drop you." Manager Herbie Herbert, listened to a demo of a band called "Alien ...

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  5. Steve Perry

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  10. "Behind the Music" Journey (TV Episode 2001)

    The singer was Steve Perry and, he was hired to be Journey's lead singer. Journey released "Infinity" in 1978 and, the album was a hit. The album spawned hits; "Wheels in the Sky", "Lights", "Feeling That Way" and, "Anytime". Journey, became a household name. In 1981, Journey's career boosted when they released their best selling album to date ...

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    After more than two decades, Perry will unveil a full-length solo album. Called "Traces," the set ― due Oct. 5 ― finds the former Journey singer performing his own material with that signature voice that has long been missing from music. For the first time in a long time, Perry found his passion for writing and recording again.

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  18. The Meaning Behind The Song: Lights by Journey

    The Meaning Behind The Song: Lights by Journey Introduction Lights, written by Neal Schon and Steve Perry, is a classic rock ballad that resonates with fans around the world. Released in 1978 as part of the album Infinity, this iconic song captures the heartfelt emotions of longing for home and the desire to be reunited … The Meaning Behind The Song: Lights by Journey Read More »

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    Rumor had it that lead singer Steve Perry had taken control of the band, except specifics were hard to come by. Try searching "Journey fire Steve Smith and Ross Valory" on Google, and most of what you'll find are brief sentences summarizing the event and little of substance even from former band members. ... VH1's "Journey Behind the ...

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    With its soaring vocals by Steve Perry, the song takes listeners on a journey through pain, longing, and ultimately, triumph. The iconic guitar solo adds an extra layer of emotion, creating a timeless masterpiece. As the years go by, "Faithfully" remains a staple in Journey's discography and a fan favorite during their live performances.

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