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

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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The Real Reason Steve Perry Left Journey

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."

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When and why did Steve Perry leave Journey?

Journey helped set the soundtrack for the 1970s and 1980s, with hits that are still remembered as some of the best songs ever written. However, the band couldn’t count on lead singer Steve Perry for most of their existence.

Journey was formed in 1973, a union of several experienced musicians trying to create a new sound experience. As the jazz fusion project didn’t work as well as Journey had hoped, the band was forced to experiment with new genres and invite new members. The version of Journey we all know and love began in 1977 when Perry joined as the band’s lead singer and songwriter. As the frontman, he made history, using his vocal talents to turn hits such as “Don’t Stop Believin’” and “Open Arms” into the anthems of a generation.

Though Journey’s explosive success established them as one of the biggest musical influences of the 1980s, Perry left the band in 1987. It would be the first time, but not the last, that Perry and Journey went in different directions.

Why did Steve Perry leave Journey in 1987?

In 1987, Journey was at the peak of its success. Since Perry joined the band, they released hit after hit, attracting millions of fans to their live performances worldwide. However, to fans’ despair, Perry left Journey to pursue a solo career. 

The lead singer position gave Perry the attention he needed to ensure he would succeed in his solo career. Furthermore, since Perry had creative differences with Journey, he could focus his creative energy by flying solo without making concessions or negotiating with other band members. In addition, things were somewhat tense within the band before Perry’s departure, with the lead singer firing founding bassist Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith during the recording of 1986’s Raised on Radio — the two would return to the band in 1995. Hence, his departure wasn’t entirely shocking. Still, Perry’s absence impacted Journey.

Journey would remain popular without Perry, but they never repeated the success of their 1980s run. Likewise, Perry is mainly remembered for the songs he wrote or co-wrote for the band, not for his solo career. Unsurprisingly, though, he would rejoin the group in 1995, a new partnership that lasted only three years.

Why Steve Perry and Journey parted ways in 1998?

With Perry back in the folder, Journey launched a new studio album in 1996, Trial by Fire . The album got three charting singles and a Grammy nomination , with fans eager to see the band hitting the road again for a new world tour. The tour plans derailed after Perry’s ski accident in the same year. He needed hip surgery to get back on stage in time for the tour, which he refused to get. His Journey companions waited for him until 1998, post which they decided the band’s future was more important than the selfish decisions of a single person.

The same year Journey hired voice-lookalike Steve Augeri, forging a successful partnership until 2006. In 2007, singer Arnel Pineda became the band’s lead singer, a role that is still his. As for Perry, he showed up on a few special presentations with the team but has primarily remained in the shadows. His story is a bitter reminder that a band is bigger than its frontman, no matter how important they think they are.

Source disclaimer : The article above is partly based on the book The Untold Story of Journey by Neil Daniels.

Steve Perry

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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After 20 Long Years Away, Steve Perry Finally Joins Journey Onstage

photo credit: rockaxis.com.co

Reunited And It Feels So, So Good

We’ve spent the last 20 years hoping, praying, pleading – even appealing to Steve Perry directly through the likes of Journey guitarist Neal Schon and even Carlos Santana to rejoin Journey, if only for a little while. As news of Journey’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame came to light late last year, the possibility of a Steve Perry reunion was closer to us than it had ever been but the former Journey frontman’s famed reticence when it came to anything related to his old band forced us to be realistic and prepare for the very real possibility that he wouldn’t show for Journey’s big moment.

Against all odds, however, Steve was there for Friday night’s festivities , just as excited to reunite with his former friends and bandmates as he was gracious to the legions of fans who propelled Journey to the top of the food chain and into rock and roll legend.

While Perry ultimately decided against performing with Journey and left the honor to current singer Arnel Pineda – who got his wish and finally met his idol for the very first time Friday night – his acceptance speech reflected a lifetime’s worth of love and gratitude to his bandmates as he gushed about their respective talents and thanked them individually and by name for “all the music we’ve written and recorded together.” Lastly, for the Journey fans who stopped believing that Steve heard them and cared, he had this to offer:

“You put us here,” he said. “We would not be here had it not been for you and your tireless love and consistent devotion. You never have stopped. I’ve been gone a long time, I understand that, but I want you to know that you’ve never not been in my heart.”

What a magical night! There’s no indication that Steve will ever be involved with Journey again, but who knows? It’s been an impossible year full of impossible events, and to forget that anything is possible would be absolutely foolish. Congratulations, Journey!

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The stories behind Journey's Infinity album - by Steve Perry

Singer Steve Perry goes through his debut album with Journey, track by track.

Steve Perry talks us through the songs that made up his debut album with Journey, Infinity .

“I was standing in Griffith Park Observatory as the sun was coming up, and I could see the lights going down. It came to me like that. When I got together with Neal to write the bridge, it dawned on me that it was really about San Francisco, a city by the bay. I always wanted to live there but I couldn’t afford it.”

Feeling That Way

“Written by myself and Gregg [Rolie] as a song we could both share vocals on. Back then, they would do 25 minutes of their fusion stuff and then I would walk out on to the stage and sing the second verse after Gregg’s intro.”

“They had that intro/bridge when I joined them. Gregg and I did the layered vocals and it became a beautiful segue from the ending of the Feeling That Way a cappella line. Those two songs were played back to back on radio and became sort of hit records.”

“I do have a bit of a knack for the obvious, and maybe that was just a little too obvious. It’s not a save the world track. I guess it worked in the scope of the whole record.”

“The first song I ever wrote with the band. Herbie had flown me out to see the band in Denver, Colorado. After the show, Neal and I went back to the hotel room and we sketched out that idea. The lyrics explain that I was waiting for their [Journey’s] light to shine on me. It’s about me waiting and ready to walk out there and become part of the band.”

Wheel In The Sky

“The way they did that song with Robert [Fleischman] was different from how I was going to interpret it. In the studio in LA with Roy I sang real high falsetto notes with echo in the background while Neal was playing a beautiful solo. Roy spent hours with Neal doing what we called ‘violin guitars’ – root notes, harmonies, doubling, sustaining and providing a thick texture to it all.”

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Something To Hide

“One of my favourites. When I first heard Coldplay, they had that same unique feeling and emotional promise that I felt on Something To Hide . Some people felt it didn’t belong on that record. But I loved what it was doing and the vocal/guitar stuff, singing higher harmonies than Neal. After you’ve been on tour for a while that high falsetto can wreak hell, though. That’s why that song really never made it live much.”

Winds Of March

“We were in the south and I had never experienced massive thunderstorms before – it was amazing. I had just gotten a cassette tape recorder; I opened the window and taped the rain and the incredible thunder and we used that recording at our live shows to start the song.”

“It’s funny, but I don’t really remember that song apart from the title. It’s not one that has stuck in my mind.”

Open The Door

“I always thought that there was something very Cream about it. The China Cymbal that Aynsley was playing gave it that feel and Neal did a bunch of violin guitar over it. It had a Middle Eastern edge to it, and a spiritual lyric.”

Derek’s lifelong love of metal goes back to the ’70s when he became a UK underground legend for sharing tapes of the most obscure American bands. After many years championing acts as a writer for  Kerrang! , Derek moved to New York and worked in A&R at Atco Records, signing a number of great acts including the multi-platinum Pantera and Dream Theater. He moved back to the UK and in 2006 started Rock Candy Records, which specialises in reissues of rock and metal albums from the 1970s and 1980s.

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Whatever Happened to Journey’s Original Singer Steve Perry?

W ith the recent announcement that Journey ‘s hit song “Don’t Stop Believin'” has been named the “Biggest Song of All Time” by Forbes, it begs the question… whatever happened to the band’s original singer and frontman Steve Perry ? He performed with Journey from 1977 to 1987, and again from 1995 to 1998 but in recent years has been either MIA or focusing on his solo work.

When Forbes declared the 18-times-platinum certified song the biggest ever, a tune that likely everyone around the entire world has heard, Perry admitted that he was “emotionally stunned.” He got emotional on social media, writing a post that read, in part, “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.”

Steve Perry opened up about the Journey song “Don’t Stop Believin'” being named the “Biggest Song of All Time”

While those young and old know the song to be a classic that you just can’t help but belt out, it wasn’t always a sure thing that it would be a hit. Perry admitted in an older interview that he felt it was a hit with live audiences but it wasn’t getting enough radio play in the 1980s. The song was released in 1981 on the band’s seventh studio album and was instantly praised by critics as “a perfect rock song.”

Perry said about the song, “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.” While Perry left Journey because he said he lost his passion for singing and had gotten into some party behaviors, he didn’t give up his singing career altogether. He has released several solo albums including 1994’s For the Love of Strange Medicine , 2018’s Traces (plus an alternate version of the album in 2020) and 2021’s The Season . Unfortunately for fans, he did not go on tour with his newer album releases.

Can you guess which one it is?

However, he did please fans when he reunited with his former bandmates to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005. Now, Journey continues to tour and play music without Perry. They are going out on a massive stadium tour this summer with Def Leppard including frontman Arnel Pineda, Neal Schon , Jonathan Cain, Deen Castronovo, Jason Derlatka and Todd Jensen. Although Perry is not involved in the upcoming tour, he has some exciting announcements of his own.

Steve Perry shares his upcoming plans for his solo music

In May of this year, Perry opened up about his career and admitted that he signed with a new label and has a renewed passion for singing. He joined the band The Effect as they released their version of Journey’s “It Could Have Been You” featuring new vocals by Perry.

Plus, Perry revealed , “I just signed with a new label. I’m very excited about it, and I’ll have an opportunity very soon to work with these very, very musically creative people. I’ll probably announce who I signed with very soon. That’s about as much as I can say, but I’m excited about that, and I am working on stuff.”

As to why he has been avoiding touring, he said, “Well, it’s a long story. Uncle Steve is up in age, and everybody at this age has some aches and pains and things like that. But it’s a really good question that I’ve been asking myself too. And Trev’s been busting my balls about it for a long time, to be honest with you. It’s something that I’m absolutely missing terribly. I can’t even tell you how much, but there’s been a big soulful reclaiming of this original feeling that I had about singing that I needed to get back to. I didn’t want to go out and just turn the wheel or turn the crank.” He added that it is his dream to tour once again, so here’s to hoping!

As far as his personal life goes, the 75-year-old is very tight-lipped about his family. He said in 2019 that he does have a daughter and grandchildren but will not share any details about them.

Thousands of fans respond to Steve Perry and Neal Schon's posts on Facebook.

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JOURNEY Legend Steve Perry Announces Return To Live Stage After 30 Years

• May 20, 2024
• 1 minute read

Former Journey singer, Steve Perry, just confirmed he has signed with a new label and hints a comeback to live stage, as it’s been 30 years since Perry’s last solo tour, and his last full-length concert with Journey was back in 1987.

Shared the new with  Rolling Stone , Steve Perry said:

“I just signed with a new label. I’m very excited about it, and I’ll have an opportunity very soon to work with these very, very musically creative people.

”I’ll probably announce who I signed with very soon. That’s about as much as I can say, but I’m excited about that, and I am working on stuff. […]

“It’s something that I’m absolutely missing terribly. I can’t even tell you how much, but there’s been a big soulful reclaiming of this original feeling that I had about singing that I needed to get back to. I didn’t want to go out and just turn the wheel or turn the crank.”

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• Steve Perry

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Yes 🙌🏿 so ready to see you back on stage because you never left my heart 💜 as well as many SP true fans

This is so exciting!! Welcome back to the stage. Come to central Pa!!!

We all love you Steve! We are die hard Journey Fans BUT only with YOU!!! Can’t wait to hear more new about you!!!

When will you be touring and when and where..? I want to see YOU!!!

It will be so nice to hear his voice again! His music is the best!!!! Thank-you, Steve!

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Steve Perry Hints at Long-Awaited Return to Touring

Steve Perry confirms that he's signed with a new label and he's now hinting at a return to concert stages. He hasn't mounted a solo tour in 30 years – and last performed a full-length concert with Journey in 1987.

"It's something that I'm absolutely missing terribly," Perry tells Rolling Stone . "I can't even tell you how much, but there's been a big soulful reclaiming of this original feeling that I had about singing that I needed to get back to. I didn't want to go out and just turn the wheel or turn the crank."

Perry returned to solo work after a couple of decades away with 2018's Traces , but a hoped-for tour failed to materialize. Instead, he released a stripped-down version of the album that used arrangements he'd originally worked out for shows that never happened.

READ MORE: Ranking All 81 Steve Perry Journey Songs

Asked why, Perry says "it's a long story. Uncle Steve is up in age, and everybody at this age has some aches and pains and things like that. But it's a really good question that I've been asking myself too."

At least some credit for this change of heart about the road goes to Trev Lukather, with whom Perry worked on the Effect's recent remake of Journey's "It Could Have Been You." "Trev's been busting my balls about it for a long time, to be honest with you," Perry admits.

Perry's most recent solo project was a holiday-themed album , 2021's The Season . He didn't reveal which imprint he's signed with but said he'll have the freedom to follow his muse. "These new label people are so supportive," Perry adds. "They said, 'We don't care what you do; we just want to do it with you.'"

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Steve Perry Signs to New Label, Contemplates Solo Tour: ‘I Miss It Terribly’

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Earlier this month, Trev Lukather and Nic Collins’ new band the Effect released their version of Journey ‘s 1986 deep cut “It Could Have Been You” — featuring new vocals by Steve Perry . When Rolling Stone hopped on Zoom to hear how the song came together, Perry told us that he has other projects in the works.

“I just signed with a new label,” Perry says. “I’m very excited about it, and I’ll have an opportunity very soon to work with these very, very musically creative people. I’ll probably announce who I signed with very soon. That’s about as much as I can say, but I’m excited about that, and I am working on stuff.”

“It’s something that I’m absolutely missing terribly,” he continues. “I can’t even tell you how much, but there’s been a big soulful reclaiming of this original feeling that I had about singing that I needed to get back to. I didn’t want to go out and just turn the wheel or turn the crank.”

In his mind, Traces was just one step on a long journey back toward rediscovering his voice after years of not knowing if he’d ever sing again. “My father was a singer that never got a chance to realize his dreams, and I did,” says Perry. “I got to tell him years ago, before he passed, that I was doing this not just for me, but for him too. This is the historical relevance to what I’m going through and rekindling, I think, about me and my voice and touring. [As far as touring again], I never say never at this point. My life has proven me just that.”

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“We don’t just talk about music,” adds Perry. “We talk about what motivates us, what is that deep drive in us that says, ‘This is what you are.’ And to not be what you are is cutting off a limb. I am starting to really feel that.”

The first order of business for Perry is getting into the studio and cutting a follow-up to Traces and his 2021 Christmas record, The Season , for his new label. “These new label people are so supportive,” says Perry. “They said, ‘We don’t care what you do, we just want to do it with you.'”

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Watching The Greatest Night in Pop brought memories like that flooding back to Perry, but it also made him a little morose. “I’m sad that can’t happen again today,” he says. “I don’t know if it would be the Effect, Tame Impala, the Killers … I don’t know. I just wish this could happen again today for a great cause. With the times we’re in, it saddens me that the possibility of such a thing seems remote.”

We signed off by telling Perry we continue to hope and dream that he’ll tour. “At this point, I’m also hoping,” Perry says. “And it’s my dream too.”

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