Journey: Whatever Happened to Frontman Steve Perry?

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You can’t really talk about the band Journey without mentioning frontman Steve Perry. He led the band to massive success in the 80’s, then quit, and then returned in the 90’s until finally saying goodbye to the band and becoming a recluse for almost 2 decades. So why did he quit Journey and whatever happened to him? Stay tuned to find out!

Journey was massive in the 80’s. They seemed to release an album almost every year, had numerous hit singles, and even had their own video game released, which was a pretty big feat back then considering this was decades before guitar hero released standalone band games. That’s not to say the game was very good, in fact it wasn’t.

Perry would lead Journey during the group’s most commercially successful periods from 1977 to 1987, and again from 1995 to 1998. In between his stints with the band he also launched a successful solo career, but also became reclusive for almost 2 decades before finally returning to music just a few years ago.

Steve Perry was the son of Portguese parents in California and his dad being a vocalist and cowner of a radio station KNGS. Following his parents ending their relationship he grew up on his grandparents farm with his mother. The defining moment for his life would be at age 12 when he heard the Sam Cooke song “cupid” and it was that moment that inspired him to begin a career in music.

In his early 20’s Perry moved around California playing in different bands. The moment that really changed his life was when he received a phone call from Journey’s manager who had been given a tape of one of Perry’s previous bands and was impressed with the singer’s voice. Journey at this point in time was more progressive in their sound and was fronted by Robert Fleishman. Fleishman didn’t prove to be a good fit for the band and didn’t get along with the group’s manager. The bands manager Herbie Herbert thought that he was cocky and believed Perry would be a great replacement. That’s not to say Fleishman wasn’t important to to the band , in fact he co-wrote one of the band biggest hits “Wheel in the Sky”

Surprisingly Perry would tour with the band while Fleishman was still fronting the band, but to avoid arousing any suspicion Fleishman was told he was a roadie’s portugese cousin. Then during a sound check ahead of a gig in Long Beach, California, Perry sang with the band on stage while Fleishcman was off stage. Fleischman was informed shortly afterwards that Perry was the new singer and he was out of the band.
Perry brought a much more pop influenced sound to the group and the addition of the singer alienated the group’s long time fans of their progressive sound. Not that it really mattered though considering Perry appeared to be the missing piece to the band needed to reach a new level of success. Following the addition of Perry, the band would go on to dominate the 80’s rock scene with hit album after hit album.
Between the time he joined the band and 1984 Journey essentially released an album almost every year. By 1984 the band finished touring on their 1983 record Frontiers and it’s members took a much needed break while Perry pursued a solo career with his debut record Street Talk which was pretty successful, selling over 2 million copies and featuring hits including Oh Sherrie and Foolish Heart. During his time in Journey Perry also worked with other artists singing on several Sammy Hagar tracks and in 1985 he sang on the benefit song we are the world. After a long hiatus, Journey would reassemble in 1985 to work on their follow up record Raised on Radio. It was during the sessions the wheels came off as Perry’s mother had fallen ill, making the singer unavailable for large periods of time as he was attending to his ill parent. His mother would pass away during this time and the band would manage to finish the album and Raised on Radio would be the group’s final record with Perry for the decade. The band toured to support the album, but by the end of the album cycle Perry was done with the band as he was mentally exhausted from the whole ordeal and the band disbanded in 1987

Following his departure from the group Perry in 1988 began recording his second solo album Against the Wall, which would be temporarily shelved. According to Perry he didn’t have the passion to continue to work on new music at the time and between 1988 and 1994 he largely kept out of the spotlight for the most part making one off appearances on stage with Bon Jovi and his former bandmates.

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