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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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Ranking All 81 Steve Perry Journey Songs

Journey had never gotten higher than No. 85 on the Billboard album chart when new frontman Steve Perry walked in the door in 1977.

They went on to sell an astonishing nine million albums in the U.S. alone before Jonathan Cain joined in 1980, and Journey somehow got even bigger. Their next four albums were all Top 5 smashes, and they were all platinum or multi-platinum. Perry's first record with Cain sold more than 10 million copies.

Journey had also never had a charting single before Perry arrived. By the time he split with the group in the late '90s, they'd racked up 16 Top 25 singles – including seven Top 10 smashes. "Open Arms" remained at No. 2 for an astonishing six weeks. "When You Love a Woman" was nominated for a Grammy. "Don't Stop Believin'" became a timeless classic.

READ MORE: Why Journey Stopped Making Videos

Which one was best? Our ranking of all 81 Steve Perry Journey songs counts them down, leaving out instrumentals (since those were showcases for Neal Schon ) as well as early-era Journey duets with Gregg Rolie or Schon where Perry wasn't the focus.

Steve Perry changed the band forever, setting them on a course to superstardom that Schon, Rolie and then Cain bolstered and enriched. As such, these rankings may differ slightly from lists devoted to Journey's larger catalog. For example, some of their ballads creep up higher – simply because they remain quintessential examples of Perry's genius. No. 81. "Back Talk" From: Frontiers (1983)

Drummer Steve Smith earned a songwriting co-credit on "Back Talk," and it's easy to see why as this Side 2 skip loudly rumbles along. There were much better songs left on the cutting room floor. No. 80. "Can Do" From: Infinity (1978)

Actually, can't. No. 79. "Baby I'm a Leavin' You" From: Trial By Fire (1996)

If you were wondering what Journey would sound like as a reggae band. No. 78. "I'm Cryin'" From: Departure (1980)

Gregg Rolie and Neal Schon do their best to prop up this draggy, frankly mawkish song, adding sharp gurgles of organ and knifing riffs. But it's no use. No. 77. "Positive Touch" From: Raised on Radio (1986)

Journey had always made music in a room together – until this album. Instead, initial demos for Raised on Radio were constructed with a click track, which Perry then asked Steve Smith to mimic. He succeeded all too well on this boringly metronomic song, before splitting with the group in frustration. No. 76. "La Do Da" From: Infinity (1978)

Perry's initial collaborations with Schon were a revelation. So many of the group's foundational songs emerged from those initial writing sessions. And then there was this.

No. 75. "Liberty" From: Time3 (1992)

If you were wondering what Journey would sound like as a country band. No. 74. "Troubled Child" From: Frontiers (1983)

They had "Only the Young." They had "Only Solutions." They even had "Ask the Lonely." Instead, for some reason, they chose this instead. No. 73. "Lady Luck" From: Evolution (1979)

Journey isn't the only act with a song called "Lady Luck," joining Rod Stewart , Deep Purple and David Lee Roth . Come to think of it, none of those are really any good either. No. 72. "Happy to Give" From: Raised on Radio (1986)

Cain's initial idea had the feel of a soundtrack, recalling too-atmospheric Vangelis, and "Happy to Give" never recovered. It's certainly not Perry's fault. He tried cutting the vocal so many times that Cain started calling it Perry's "pet song." No. 71. "La Raza Del Sol" From: B-side of "Still They Ride" (1981)

Always in touch with the common man, Cain became inspired by the plight of migrant farm workers in California. But his new bandmates were still in '70s jam-band mode, surrounding it all with a meandering music bed that felt like a leftover from the pre-Perry days.

No. 70. "Mother, Father" From: Escape (1981)

Another song with its heart in the right place, "Mother, Father" gave Neal Schon one more chance to work with his talented dad. The results were stitched together with ideas from both Perry and Schon, however, and became rather disjointed along the way. No. 69. "Colors of the Spirit" From: Trial By Fire (1996)

This seemed like it was going to be more intriguing. They begin (and end) with a vague world-music feel, but return to expected '80s-era Journey-isms in between. No. 68. "Homemade Love" From: Departure (1980)

They'd finally cracked the code for pop chart success with "Any Way You Want It," but Journey was still down for a few musical excesses of old. The worst part was placing the sludgy, clumsily salacious "Homemade Love" at the end of this album. Departure suddenly seemed to be looking backward instead of ahead. No. 67. "One More" From: Trial by Fire (1996)

The first in a number of Trial by Fire songs that made overt faith references. That became an underlying theme on the album, sparked when Perry arrived at the sessions carrying a Bible. No. 66. "Dixie Highway" From: Captured (1981)

"Dixie Highway" sounds like what it was: a throwaway track written on Journey's tour bus while traveling the eponymous interstate into Detroit. It was perhaps interesting enough to be tried out live, but not interesting enough to make it onto a studio album.

No. 65. "It's Just the Rain" From: Trial By Fire (1996)

Perry achieves a sweet sense of reverie, his most favored place, but the surroundings owe too much to rather boring solo forays into smooth jazz by Cain and Schon. No. 64. "Keep On Runnin'" From: Escape (1981)

A pedestrian rocker, "Keep on Runnin'" is the only stumble on Side One of Journey's biggest selling LP. No. 63. "Trial by Fire" From Trial by Fire (1996)

This made direct reference to verses in 2 Corinthians, underscoring again how Cain's long-dormant songwriting partnership with Perry was reborn through a shared interest in scripture. Cain's solo career returned to this theme as he began delving into faith-based songs with 2016's What God Wants to Hear . No. 62. "Still She Cries" From: Trial by Fire (1996)

See "It's Just the Rain." No. 61. "Dead or Alive" From: Escape (1981)

The second of two throwback-style songs on Escape that seek to approximate Journey's more rugged, fusion-leaning '70s-era, and the lesser of the pair. That "Dead or Alive" came directly after the too-similar "Lay It Down" also didn't do the song any favors.

No. 60. "City of the Angels" From: Evolution (1979)

"Lights," found later on this list of Steve Perry Journey songs, was originally about Los Angeles , before Perry shifted its locale to his new home base in San Francisco. He later returned to the idea of paying tribute to L.A., with much poorer results. No. 59. "I Can See It in Your Eyes" From: Trial by Fire (1996)

The obvious goal of getting the early-'80s lineup back together was to recreate the sound of that era – and they did that here. Unfortunately, it was the sound of their throwaway stuff on Side Two of Frontiers . No. 58. "Can't Tame the Lion" From: Trial by Fire (1996)

See "I Can See It in Your Eyes." No. 57. "Escape" From: Escape (1981)

Cain and Perry are credited as co-composers, but the title track from Escape still feels like the first of what became a series of not-always-successful attempts by Neal Schon to balance Journey's new knack for balladry with ballsier rock songs. It certainly served that purpose in later-era concerts. No. 56. "Winds of March" From: Infinity (1978)

Credited to a crowd including Matt and his son Neal Schon, Robert Fleischman, Gregg Rolie and Steve Perry, "Winds of March" actually sounds like a meeting of two minds: Perry, who deftly croons his way through the first two minutes, and his new bandmates – who absolutely tear through the remaining three.

No. 55. "Line of Fire" From: Departure (1980)

A perfunctory rocker best remembered for a rather on-the-nose sound effect at roughly the 2:10 mark that Perry cribbed from Junior Walker's chart-topping 1965 R&B hit "Shotgun ." No. 54. "Precious Time" From: Departure (1980)

Rolie adds a muscular harp squall, but not much else stands out. No. 53. "Lay It Down" From: Escape (1981)

One of two songs from Escape that could have seamlessly fit into a Rolie-era album. Steve Smith approximates co-founding drummer Aynsley Dunbar's thudding, heavy-rock approach while Schon swirls into the stratosphere. No. 52. "Chain Reaction" From: Frontiers (1983)

Schon finds a fusible groove, then joins Perry for a gutty vocal interplay. But "Chain Reaction" ends up getting lost somewhere along the way. No. 51. "Once You Love Somebody" From: Raised on Radio (1986)

They tried for a bluesy feel on a song echoing the relationship troubles that both Perry and Cain were then experiencing, but there's simply not enough grit to this.

No. 50. "Natural Thing" From: B-side of "Don't Stop Believin'" (1981)

Your average classic rock radio-loving fan might not peg Steve Perry as a died-in-the-wool R&B guy who can totally pull off this sometimes very un-Journey style. Tell them to start here. No. 49. "Easy to Fall" From: Trial by Fire (1996)

Presented in their classic arena-ballad style, but without much to differentiate it from other, better, more popular iterations, "Easy to Fall" is the sound of Journey trying to sound like Journey. There's a lot of that on Trial by Fire – and on every LP that followed it. No. 48. "Rubicon" From: Frontiers (1983)

This song drove a seemingly permanent wedge in the band. Schon was reportedly playing "Rubicon" when Perry came over and turned down his amplifiers. "They want to hear the voice," Schon remembered Perry saying . Perry and Schon put out only two more albums together, and it took them 13 years to do it. No. 47. "When I Think of You" From: Trial by Fire (1996)

"When I Think of You" appeared on Journey's Perry-curated Greatest Hits 2 not because of its chart history, but because of what it meant to him. Perry wrote this little-known deep cut after his late mother appeared, happy and healthy, in a particularly vivid dream . He told Cain he wanted to write create a song around the dream, and they finished the touching "When I Think of You" together. No. 46. "Frontiers" From: Frontiers (1983)

The second-best song on this album's deflating flip side. Singing in a clipped, coolly detached tone, Perry offers a great put-down for warmongers: "War is for fools; crisis is cool."

No. 45. "It Could Have Been You" From: Raised on Radio (1986)

Schon's riffy contributions work in brilliant counterpoint to Perry's inherent poignancy, underscoring why this partnership meshed so easily – and so well. No. 44. "Sweet and Simple" From: Evolution (1979)

Perry brought this dream-like song with him, having written it years before while looking out over Lake Tahoe. Journey completed it with a quickly ascending final segment that matched now-patented multi-tracked vocals with Schon's typical pyro. No. 43. "Where Were You" From: Departure (1980)

There's a reason Journey opened their concerts with "Where Were You" for so long. They were just coming off an opening gig with AC/DC at this point, and clearly the headliner's knack for outsized, riffy rockers rubbed off. No. 42. "Castles Burning" From: Trial by Fire (1996)

A badly needed rocker on an album that too often played down to their ballad- and mid-tempo-loving fan base. No. 41. "Little Girl" From: Dream After Dream (1981)

Dream After Dream , the last Journey album to feature contributions from Gregg Rolie, isn't really part of the band's catalog since it's otherwise filled with incidental music for a now-forgotten foreign film. Mostly, they dig back into the prog and fusion that defined their earliest era – except for "Little Girl," where Perry is showcased. This too-often-overlooked song later became known — if it was known at all — simply as a B-side to the "Open Arms" single.

No. 40. "Raised on Radio" From: Raised on Radio (1986)

Radio holds a talismanic place in Perry's imagination for two reasons. His dad owned a station and radio was a constant presence in the youthful places where Perry returns, time and time again, for creative sustenance. If things had gone another way, he's said he could see himself as a DJ, rather than a huge pop star. No. 39. "Message of Love" From: Trial by Fire (1996)

A continuation of the untroubled sleekness of Raised on Radio -era Journey, this could have easily passed as a Steve Perry solo track. No. 38. "Ask the Lonely" From: Two of a Kind (1983)

Jonathan Cain once said Perry could write songs like this in his sleep . Unfortunately, this only-okay leftover is an example of that assembly line-type approach. That said, "Ask the Lonely" is still better than most of the stuff on the back end of Frontiers . No. 37. "Lovin' You Is Easy" From: Evolution (1979)

Starts out as another cookie-cutter '70s-era Journey song, then Perry gets to the ear-worm title lyric and everything changes. No. 36. "When You Love a Woman" From: Trial by Fire (1996)

Featuring a saccharine sentiment with a too-sweet string section to match, this is Journey balladry at its limpest. Still, "When You Love a Woman" became a gold-selling No. 12 smash. Because, Steve Perry.

No. 35. "Don't Be Down on Me Baby" From: Trial by Fire (1996)

Again, nobody aches like Steve Perry. No. 34. "Why Can't This Night Go on Forever" From: Raised on Radio (1986)

Written in tribute to their fans, "Why Can't This Night Go on Forever" moved past its quite overt "Open Arms" / "Faithfully"-style ambitions on the strength of performances by Schon and Perry. No. 33. "Patiently" From: Infinity (1978)

Schon memorably gave Perry a ride home after sitting in with Azteca in San Francisco, but had no idea his passenger was a singer. Five years later, Perry finally got the chance to make an impression. He stopped by Schon's hotel the day after a Journey show in Denver, and they wrote this song. No. 32. "The Eyes of a Woman" From: Raised on Radio (1986)

Steve Smith only appeared on three Raised on Radio tracks, but that doesn't mean he didn't have an undeniable impact. His anticipatory rhythm builds a smart tension on the underrated "The Eyes of a Woman," as Schon's echoing chords surround the vocal. Perry has called this one of his favorite Journey songs, and that might be because "The Eyes of a Woman" is one of the very few here that fully recalls their Escape / Frontiers sound. No. 31. "Suzanne" From: Raised on Radio (1986)

If Steve Perry sounds a little overwhelmed on the second single from this album, there's a reason for that. This No. 17 hit was written as a fantasy encounter with an actual crush. Perry never revealed who she was, other than to call her a "film star who also had a vocal artist career ." No. 30. "Somethin' to Hide" From: Infinity (1978)

Journey's first attempt at a power ballad was devastatingly effective, though it arrived years before "Open Arms." Perry's final cry is simply astonishing.

No. 29. "Edge of the Blade" From: Frontiers (1983)

Disappointments loom but, boy, does Side Two of Frontiers get off to a roaring start.

No. 28. "Be Good to Yourself" From: Raised on Radio (1986)

A throwback rocker, "Be Good to Yourself" had little in common with the sleeker, more adult-contemporary feel found elsewhere on Raised on Radio . It didn't make for the most representative lead single either, but manager Herbie Herbert smartly prevailed . Journey returned to the Top 10.

No. 27. "If He Should Break Your Heart" From: Trial by Fire (1996)

One of the best-ever meldings of Solo Steve (verses) and Journey Steve (the rest).

No. 26. "Girl Can't Help It" From: Raised on Radio (1986)

Perry essentially took control of Journey in the run-up to this album, switching out band members for sidemen with whom he'd worked before then serving as the project's de facto producer. That led them to some song treatments that moved well away from anything Journey had done before, or since. "Girl Can't Help It," one of three Top 40 singles from Raised on Radio , was the exception. This was classic Journey, spit-shined up for a new era.

No. 25. "Only Solutions" From: Tron (1982)

Unjustly forgotten, and barely used in the film at all, the hooky "Only Solutions" would have greatly enlivened what turned out to be a letdown on Side Two of Frontiers .

No. 24. "Opened the Door" From: Infinity (1978)

The last song on the first album to feature Perry, "Open the Door" begins like every gorgeous, ear-wormy love song they ever hit with a few years later — but after Perry's initial three minutes, Rolie joins in a huge vocal bridge ( "Yeah, you opened ..." ), and from there Schon and company are loosened from those binding conventions. Drummer Aynsley Dunbar, on his final recording date with Journey, sets a thunderous cadence, and Schon powers the song — and this career-turning album — to its quickly elevating conclusion.

No. 23. "Faithfully" From: Frontiers (1983)

Cain said this No. 14 power-ballad smash, written in tribute to a happily married musician's life on the road, came to him in a dream. He wrote it in his own key, and that allowed Perry to explore a different vocal timbre. They finished the song with a memorable back-and-forth between Perry and Schon, also completely unrehearsed.

No. 22. "When You're Alone (It Ain't Easy)" From: Evolution (1979)

Perry chirps and coos his way through this winking tease of a song – that is, until about a third of the way through, when Schon provides a huge moment of release.

No. 21. "Forever in Blue" From: Trial by Fire (1996)

As with "Girl Can't Help It," found later on our list, "Forever in Blue" represents that rare moment when the latter-day edition puts it all together again.

No. 20. "Wheel in the Sky" From: Infinity (1978)

The ubiquitous "Wheel in the Sky" spent eight weeks on the Billboard chart, but somehow only got to No. 57. Journey was probably too busy touring to notice: They played more than 170 cities in North America and Europe on an accompanying tour. For Perry, it an unvarnished thrill to see "Wheel in the Sky" inside a jukebox. (It was a sign back then that any up-and-comer had finally made it.) He found the single at a pizza place he was visiting with Schon in 1978, put two quarters in, and then sat back down to see the look on his bandmate's face when their music filled the dining area. Schon didn't get it at first. When he did, Perry remembered Schon quipping, "I love this song," amid an uproar of laughter.

No. 19. "Walks Like a Lady" From: Departure (1980)

A great example of the way Journey songs evolved in the studio. Perry brought in a rough sketch, Schon added a blues-inspired riff, then Steve Smith picked up his brushes. All that was left to complete things was Rolie's greasy Hammond B3 groove, reportedly one of his favorites.

No. 18. "Too Late" From: Evolution (1979)

A delicate, beautifully conveyed song of encouragement, "Too Late" was aimed at a friend of Perry's who had fallen into drug abuse.

No. 17. "Daydream" From: Evolution (1979)

An episodic triumph, "Daydream" is defined by dreamy, Jon Anderson -esque verses, rangy guitar riffs and forward-thinking keyboard asides – very much in keeping with the prog-rock pretensions of the '70s. Unfortunately for Journey, that sound had already become decidedly passe.

No. 16. "I'll Be Alright Without You" From: Raised on Radio (1986)

Schon, who earned a co-writing credit with Cain and Perry, tried out a then-new guitar in search of a distinct sound for this song. Best known for using a 1963 Fender Stratocaster, Schon experimented with a graphite Roland 707 to see if he could get a different, more even tone. It worked: "I'll Be Alright Without You" remains Journey's penultimate Top 20 hit, followed by 1996's "When You Love a Woman." Cain, like Perry, was going through a breakup and called this track the other half of the emotions expressed in "Once You Love Somebody."

No. 15. "Good Morning Girl" / "Stay Awhile" From: Departure (1980)

Inextricably linked by their successive appearances on Departure , these two songs showcased Perry's dual gifts: "Good Morning Girl" was a fragile, impossibly beautiful ballad that emerged from a jam session with Schon, while "Stay Awhile" showed off his R&B chops.

No. 14. "Do You Recall" From: Evolution (1979)

Maybe the perfect blending of Journey's tough early sound and Perry's sun-flecked sense of reminiscence. Roy Thomas Baker's familiar stacked vocals propel the bridge to untold heights.

No. 13. "Open Arms" From: Escape (1981)

If you dislike power ballads, blame Jonathan Cain. He brought this seminal example of the genre to Journey after John Waite , the frontman in Cain's former band the Babys , rejected an early version. Schon didn't really want "Open Arms," either. But Perry intervened, and they turned it into a soaring paean to renewal. Oh, and Journey's highest-charting single ever.

No. 12. "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" From: 'Evolution' (1979)

A song with a real-life storyline, "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" came to life in another Journey jam session, then went on to become their very first Top 20 hit. Rolie's Nicky Hopkins-esque honky tonk piano rides atop a stuttering, 12/8 rhythm, building inexorably toward a cloud-bursting nah-nah-nah conclusion. Steve Smith has compared that blues shuffle to "Nothing Can Change This Love" by key Perry influence Sam Cooke. The heartbroken Perry, who's described the writing of this song as "love justice," again played the bass on the initial sessions. The results opened the pop-chart floodgates.

No. 11. "The Party's Over (Hopelessly in Love)" From: Captured (1981)

Journey's transformation into sleek hitmakers is typically associated with Cain's entry into the lineup, but it actually started with this song. "The Party's Over (Hopelessly in Love)," a studio song Journey tacked onto a live record Cain became a member, boasts every element of the new sound that would define their '80s era. The song came together as Perry ruminated on bass backstage at Cobo Hall in Detroit. He already had Schon's guitar line in his head, so he sang it to him. The ideas from this rough demo where completed with an accompanying narrative that Perry described as a "situation where a person is waiting for a phone call." The keyboard turn came courtesy of their friend Stevie "Keys" Roseman, a Bay Area musician who was working in an adjacent space at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley.

No. 10. "Stone in Love" From: Escape (1981)

Schon had a tape recorder going while he fooled around with the guitar during a party at his house in San Rafael. Perry and Cain did the rest.

No. 9. "After the Fall" From: Frontiers (1983)

Perry began this song on the bass, perhaps an early indication of the changes in store for Journey. By the time they released 1986's Raised on Radio , Ross Valory had been replaced by Randy Jackson, later of American Idol fame. Smith departed too, but not before proving himself utterly invaluable here.

No. 8. "Only the Young" From: Vision Quest (1985)

Another song that, had it been included, might have pushed Frontiers past Escape as Journey's best Cain-era album. Instead, "Only the Young" appeared much later on this soundtrack, and by then Kenny Sykaluk – a 16-year-old fan suffering from cystic fibrosis – had already died after becoming the first person to hear it . "Only the Young," which opened every concert on Journey's subsequent tour, will be forever associated with his brave fight.

No. 7. "Still They Ride" From: Escape (1981)

Cain and Schon earned co-songwriting credits on "Still They Ride," and Steve Smith showed off an accomplished dexterity. But the final charting single from Escape , released the following year, belonged in no small part to Steve Perry. The song's main character, Jesse, never left the town of his youth, and still drives through its darkening streets looking for some connection. If you had found yourself in mid-century Hanford, California, you might have seen a young Steve Perry doing the same thing. Of course, he'd long since left, but Hanford – where a plaque in his honor rests at Civic Park – never left him. Jesse, this dreamer who refuses to give up on his youthful reverie, was Perry's ultimate metaphoric character.

No. 6. "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" From: Frontiers (1983)

The subject of lingering ridicule because of a misguided video, "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" struggles to find its true voice today. But the lead single from Frontiers was a multi-week Top 10 smash in early 1983, and the perfect example of how Journey could mix in elements of R&B and blues without sacrificing modernity. "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" came together while they toured behind Escape and revolved around a backstage melody Steve Perry and Jonathan Cain developed on bass and keys, respectively. Such was its immediate power that the band quickly began playing "Separate Ways" on stage – even before Perry had completely learned the words.

No. 5. "Any Way You Want It" From: Departure (1980)

Steve Perry and Neal Schon were in Miami for a May opening date with Thin Lizzy , when they started a rhythm-scheme exercise based on the headliner’s unique musical interplay. They had been knocked out by how the guitar and vocals went back and forth on front man Phil Lynott 's songs. So, Perry sang, “she loves to laugh,” and Schon responded with a riff. Perry sang, “she loves to sing,” and Schon responded again. Then, “she does everything” led into another guitar riff — just like Thin Lizzy might have. They had the makings of “Any Way You Want It,” a single that just missed the Top 20 after its release in February 1980 then gained new life that summer as part of a Rodney Dangerfield gag in the golf parody film Caddyshack .

No. 4. "Who's Crying Now" From: Escape (1981)

The initial single from Escape , a No. 4 hit, perfectly illustrates how Jonathan Cain's new presence changed Perry's writing style, then forever changed Journey. The first inklings of the track came to Perry as he was driving up to San Francisco on Route 99. But "Who's Crying Now" was a song with no real direction until Cain suggested the title. They worked out a cool b-section featuring only voice and keyboard, and their very first co-written composition was completed. Inspired, Perry also fought to keep Schon's extended guitar solo on the single.

No. 3. "Lights" From: Infinity (1978)

Steve Perry was trying to write an ode to Los Angeles but couldn't quite coax "Lights" into existence. Something just did not feel right about singing " When the lights go down in the city, and the sun shines on L.A ." So, he stuck the song in his back pocket. Then an opportunity to join Journey changed his life and changed the song. Perry previewed "Lights" for the others in August 1977 in San Bernardino, during a period when he was on the road with Journey but not yet an official member. Perry's new adopted hometown of San Francisco led to a crucial lyrical update: "L.A." became "the bay," as "Lights" paved the way for a collaborative relationship that would take Perry and Schon to once-unimaginable heights.

No. 2. "Send Her My Love" From: Frontiers (1983)

The title belonged to Jonathan Cain, who'd held tight to a single line that resonated with Perry as something said when communication completely breaks down after the end of a relationship. Schon achieved a guitar sound that Perry later described as "huge, across-the-Grand Canyon dreamy" by utilizing a Lexicon 480L echo unit. The rhythm, based on a performance by Tony Williams on an old Miles Davis record, was uniquely Steve Smith's. But the last of four Top 40 hit from this album could only be voiced by Perry, who latched onto its theme and pushed it to a lonesome zenith.

No. 1. "Don't Stop Believin'" From: Escape (1981)

In one sense, this song will always be associated with Jonathan Cain. After all, Cain had been carrying it around as a song scrap for years before joining the band. His father said "don't stop believin'" back in the '70s, during a down-and-out phase after Cain lost his first record deal. He wrote the words down, finally returning to them during sessions for his first album with Journey. But Perry is the one who latched onto the idea, the one who coined the indelible phrase about "streetlight people," the one who demanded they wait – and wait – to go into that huge chorus. He's also the one who sang it into the hearts of generation after generation.

Nick DeRiso is author of the Amazon best-selling rock band bio 'Journey: Worlds Apart,' available now at all major bookseller's websites .

Journey Albums Ranked

Gallery Credit: UCR Staff

You Think You Know Journey?

More From Ultimate Classic Rock

Steve Perry interview: the return of The Voice

After the kind of success most can only dream about, former Journey singer Steve Perry said it was all over. Then he started believin’ again…

Some words he sang in 1981 have echoed down the years: ‘ Don’t stop believin’, hold on to that feeling… ’ And yet in the life of Steve Perry there was a long period, the best part of 20 years, when his belief in music, and the feeling he put into it, seemed lost forever. 

For the man whose richly expressive, high-arcing voice helped Journey to become one of the biggest rock groups in America in the 80s, the now 69-year-old’s solo album, Traces , is a surprise comeback. It ends a self-imposed exile from the music business that began soon after Trial By Fire , his final album with Journey , released in 1996 – the year in which Oasis and the Spice Girls ruled the British charts, Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill was the biggest-selling album in America, Bill Clinton was in the White House and John Major was at Number 10. 

As Perry says now: “I had lost that deep passion in my heart for the inner joy of songwriting and singing. I sort of let it all go. If it came back, great; if it didn’t, so be it, because I’d already lived the dream of dreams.” 

His long absence from public life has made Perry something of an enigma; the guy who had it all and walked away, the legendary singer who fell silent. In all the time that Perry remained a recluse – as he puts it: “living my life in quietness, in privacy” – Journey carried on, bringing in Perry sound-alike singers Steve Augeri, Jeff Scott Soto and latterly Arnel Pineda, a Filipino discovered via YouTube performing in a Journey tribute band in Manila. 

Journey’s profile rose again when Don’t Stop Believin ’ , a Top 10 US hit in 1981 and a classic rock radio staple ever since, became more popular than ever, a global anthem, after it was featured in the cult film Monster, the acclaimed TV series The Sopranos and the hit teen show Glee . Perry, meanwhile, made only fleeting appearances in public – singing along to Don’t Stop Believin’ at baseball games, joining alternative rock group Eels on stage to run through old Journey hits and, more surprisingly, the Eels’ bluntly named It’s A Motherfucker.  

Before his comeback, Perry had felt he was done with his career in music. He also felt he had done enough. The classic albums he made with Journey and as a solo artist – from Infinity to Escape, Frontiers, Street Talk and Raised On Radio – had sold millions. The songs he sang had helped define a golden age of melodic rock. His return to music, so late in life, is not driven by a need for money or validation. It’s the result of something far more meaningful. 

“It came out of falling in love with somebody and then losing her a year and a half later,” Perry says. “Her name was Kellie Nash. She had stage four cancer when I met her, and we had made some promises to each other, one of which was that I would not go back to into isolation if something happened to her.” 

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After a moment’s hesitation, he says simply: “I kept that promise.”

It’s a late summer evening when Classic Rock catches up with Perry, at home near San Francisco. His high, singsong voice is unmistakable, his manner friendly and engaging. There is also a remarkable degree of candour in what he reveals about certain chapters in his life – his exit from Journey in the late 80s; his search for peace of mind away from the bright lights of rock stardom; most revealingly, his brief, intense relationship with Kellie Nash. In these moments he seems wide open, extraordinarily so for a man who retreated from fame and from the public gaze for such long a time. 

It is when addressing other subjects – specifically his past drug use and the possibility of him rejoining Journey – that his voice hardens a little and his answers turn more defensive or oblique, or rises as he parries a question with an offhand joke. From one such exchange comes a blunt disclosure. Asked why he rarely gave interviews to the press at the height of his fame in the 80s, he replies: “You really want to know? Will you print what I say right now?” He laughs long and hard. “Because I don’t trust journalists! I’ve had good experiences, and some not so good. I’m missing fingers, still, from the lion’s mouth.” 

He says he hated being misquoted in the press. More than that, what really hurt were the bad reviews the band received. For many critics, Journey’s everyman rock was always a soft target. “I only read three reviews in my whole life,” he says. “Then I decided I wasn’t going to read them any more. Every night, we’d get one encore, a second encore. That was my review. I didn’t need to read tomorrow’s paper.” 

So what’s changed? Perry says he has. “The passion for music came back. Singing again, I was getting goose bumps. It touches me. Nothing is bigger than that for me. So that’s why I’m talking to you now. Because I never thought I’d never feel like this again.”

When Perry thinks back to his childhood, he says wistfully: “Music is what I lived for as a kid.” 

Born on January 22, 1949 in Hanford, California, to Portuguese parents, he is an only child. It was at the age of 12 that he first dreamed of becoming a singer, after hearing soul legend Sam Cooke’s hit song Cupid . As a teenager, Perry, like so many of his generation, fell under the spell of The Beatles. In tribute, his new album includes a version of I Need You , one of the first songs George Harrison wrote for the group. 

In his early twenties, Perry fronted a number of California rock bands, one of which, Pieces, featured an established star in bassist Tim Bogert, who had been in Vanilla Fudge and Beck, Bogert & Appice. It was with Perry’s subsequent band, Alien Project, that he recorded a demo tape that caught the ear of Columbia Records executive Don Ellis. The band broke up in the summer of 1977 after bassist Richard Michaels was killed in a road accident. Soon afterwards, Ellis called Perry, first offering his sympathies, then a new opportunity – an audition with Journey. 

He’d seen Journey play live at LA club The Starwood. The group had been created as a vehicle for guitar virtuoso Neal Schon, a former member of Santana, and Perry liked what he heard: jazz rock fusion, serious chops. But the first three Journey albums had bombed, and bringing in singer Robert Fleischman to share vocals with keyboard player Gregg Rolie, also ex-Santana, was not working out. Behind Fleischman’s back, Perry met with the band after a show in Denver, Colorado. Later that night, in Schon’s hotel room, he and Perry wrote their first song together, a power ballad named Patiently . And with that, Perry was in. 

The first album he recorded with Journey, 1978’s Infinity , became the band’s first US Top-30 record, and more hits followed. But it was their 1981 album Escape , three albums later, that made them superstars. With Rolie having been replaced by Jonathan Cain, the band’s AOR sound was honed to perfection. Three Top 10 singles – Don’t Stop Believin’, Who’s Crying Now and Open Arms – helped power the album to No.1.

“We really struck a chord with Escape ,” Perry says now. “But when you reach a sort of peak moment where everything clicks, I don’t think it’s calculable. I think there’s a lot of luck involved. I think that, creatively, we were just in the right place at the right time.” 

After another multimillion seller, Frontiers , Perry also had a hit with his debut solo album Street Talk and the single Oh Sherrie . And it was at this point that the power dynamic within the group shifted. Journey had always been Neal Schon’s band, but it was Perry who took control of the 1986 album Raised On Radio , on which the singer’s soul influences dominated and the guitarist’s role was diminished. It was also during the making of this album that Perry’s mother died, which led him to re-evaluate his own life. In late 1986, when the Raised On Radio tour ended, he did not tell the band he was quitting. But as Jonathan Cain said: “I knew it was over. It was a sad, sad night.” 

I don’t trust journalists! I’m missing fingers, still, from the lion’s mouth. Steve Perry

Perry says now that he was burned out from 10 years of touring and recording. “The pace was fast, and we never stopped.” He also concedes that he partied too hard in those days. “It was the eighties!” he says, laughing. “Everybody was pretty much having a good time, put it that way.”

The laughter doesn’t last. When he’s asked for a little more detail, he gets rattled. Reminded of what he said on a recent US TV chat show, describing his state of mind in the 80s as “toasty” and “crispy” – words evocative of cocaine use – he says sharply: “Partying comes with all sorts of toasty behaviours. And that’s about all I’ll say about that.” But then just a moment later: “I never participated in toasty behaviours before a gig or during a gig,” he insists. “But after a gig, I’ll probably see you tomorrow after sound-check…”

Having left Journey behind, what followed, as he freely admits, was a struggle to adapt to a life without the band and all that went with it. 

“As much I missed the lights, as much as I missed the stage, the applause and the adoration of people who were loving the music I was participating in, I had to walk away from it to be okay emotionally on my own without it,” he says. “And that took time. That doesn’t mean I didn’t miss it, it means I had to keep walking the other way. There was some personal work to be done within myself, to be honest with you.” 

After Perry left Journey, Schon and Cain formed the supergroup Bad English with singer John Waite, who had previously worked alongside Cain in pop rock act The Babys. Perry eventually made a second solo album, 1994’s For The Love Of Strange Medicine . His reunion with Journey in 1996 was derailed by the cancellation of a major tour after Perry sustained a hip injury. The band waited two years before deciding to move on without him. And Perry quietly slipped away into a new life.

In the way that Perry describes his years away from the music business there is a sense of him drifting, and enjoying his freedom. He travelled the world, in a way he was never able to do as the star of a high-profile rock band. He had also made and saved enough money never to have to work again. Moreover, he explains, “I live small. I can only drive one car at a time.”

But he had not shut himself off from the outside world. “I was out of the limelight, but it wasn’t like I wasn’t tracking the reality of life.” And although he had left Journey behind, he was instrumental in the resurrection of Don’t Stop Believin’ – granting permission for the song to be used in Monster , a low-budget 2003 film starring Charlize Theron, and in the final episode of The Sopranos in 2007. 

The latter, for Perry, was a tough call. He loved The Sopranos , and was thrilled to hear that the show’s creator David Chase wanted to use Don’t Stop Believin’ in that episode’s closing scene. What troubled Perry was the prospect of his song – a song so full of love and hope – playing as the lead character, mafia boss Tony Soprano, got bumped off. It was only after Perry was told, in strict confidence, how the scene would play out that he gave Chase his consent. To Perry’s delight, the scene had Tony Soprano putting quarters into a jukebox and picking Don’t Stop Believin’ over songs by Heart and Tony Bennett. 

On the day after that final episode was shown on TV, Perry discovered that he was cooler than he had ever been before. “I was in an airport,” he recalls, “and these people went: ‘Hey Steve! Thumbs up, man! Tony Soprano loves Journey!’ It was amazing.” 

But it was his involvement in Monster , and the friendship he formed with the film’s director, Patty Jenkins, that would change the course of Perry’s life.

In 2013, after many years, Perry was working on music again. “I wasn’t sure how it was going to go,” he says. “It had been so long since I opened up my soul to that. But I allowed myself to do it with the idea that if I didn’t like what happened I would delete it and no one would ever hear it.” 

Then, through Jenkins, and purely by chance, he met Kellie Nash. For Perry this is a deeply personal story, but he says he’s comfortable discussing it in the public domain. “I totally am,” he says emphatically. “I will tell you how it came about, if you want me to tell you.” The inference in his voice is clear: this has profound meaning for him. 

“It started when I was watching Patty editing a TV show about cancer,” he begins. “Patty told me: ‘I put real people who have cancer on the set with my actors.’ And as the camera panned across all these people, I said: ‘Who’s that?’ She said: ‘It’s Kellie Nash, a friend of mine. She’s a PhD psychologist.’ I said: ‘Maybe I need a new shrink!’ Patty asked me why I wanted to know about Kellie. I said: ‘There’s something about her that’s talking to me.’ I asked Patty if she would email Kellie and say that her friend Steve would love to take her for a coffee. She said: ‘Okay. But before I send the email, there’s something I need to tell you. She has breast cancer. It’s in her bones and lungs and she’s fighting for her life…’” 

He takes a deep breath. “At that moment I didn’t know what to do. I’d lost my mother and my dad and my grandparents. I don’t think I was ready to get to know somebody just to lose them. My heart said send the email, my head said I don’t know. So I listened to my heart. 

“After two weeks of me going crazy, Patty says it’s okay for me to email Kellie. I’ll never forget it. You’d think I was writing the best lyric of my life. I wanted every word to be what I felt. After some emails between us, we talked on the phone for five hours one night. A few nights later we went to dinner at six o’clock and we closed that restaurant down at midnight. After that we were inseparable. 

“I remember telling her, about three or four dates later, that I was crazy about her and I loved her. She said: ‘I love you too.’ That’s when the conversations got really deep. We talked about her cancer, and she said: ‘This is some nasty stuff. I don’t think you want any of this.’ I said: ‘I don’t care.’ I told her: ‘It’s like two tracks on a rail. That’s what going on over there, and we’ll get through that together. But you and I are over here.’ 

“One night, when we were falling asleep, she said: ‘If something was to happen to me, promise me that you won’t go back to isolation and make this all for nought.’ I didn’t know how to navigate such a statement. She was looking at the arc of her whole life, and us getting together, loving each other. The possibility of us not being together, I just didn’t want to talk about it…” 

His voice shakes and trails off before he says quietly: “I made the promise. And then I lost her, twelfth of December, 2014.”

For the third time in his life, Perry’s career had been shaped by the loss of someone close to him. The death of Richard Michaels had led to Perry joining Journey. The death of his mother had contributed to his exit from the band. 

He says he still grieves for Nash. “I had a couple of years of serious crying,” he sighs, “and every now and again I still get mugged by it. It happened again just yesterday. But there was something she said to me: ‘This cancer might take my life, but it can never take our love for each other’. And I have found that to be absolutely true.” 

Nash was the inspiration for Perry’s new album Traces , but he does not think of this as simply a memorial. “Some of the songs are about Kellie,” he says. “Some are sad, but there are happy songs too – songs that rock, they’re joyful, they’re hopeful. And that emotion, finding my passion again for music, is certainly about her.” 

In the context of Perry’s career, Traces has a style and tone more reminiscent of his first solo record, Street Talk , than of his work with Journey. There’s a modern AOR feel in the album’s beautifully crafted opener No Erasin’ , and in the upbeat rock number Sun Shines Gray , and in a series of smooth ballads there are the soul and R&B influences that informed Street Talk . And while his voice has changed with age, now operating at a lower register, the essential qualities – the nuanced phrasing and the emotional depth – remain. 

“Nobody is the same as they were thirty years ago,” he says. “But I do tell you this: I am as emotionally as committed with what I’m trying to say with my voice now as I was then, if not more.”

In the way that Perry sings now, there is a similarity to Robert Plant. And just as Plant declined to be involved in a full-scale Led Zeppelin reunion in recent years, so Perry has consigned his former band to his past. Neal Schon has said the door is open for Perry to rejoin Journey, but Perry won’t be walking through it. 

“I think the band is doing really well,” he says. “Arnel is a great singer. And I’m enjoying what I’m doing. I love my new music, even if I’m sad that it took what it took – that my heart had to be broken to be complete. And after I swore I’d never do this again, I really believe in what I’m doing with this new record. Isn’t it better for the soul to keep reaching for the things that you’re afraid to do, not the things that are safe to do? Isn’t it better to keep pushing into the future so that you feel like you’re living your life on the edge as it unfolds? I think that Robert Plant is doing that, and it seems to me he’s loving it. Why go back? Throwing yourself into the abyss of the unknown, and trying to figure that out, is thrilling to me.” 

Perry’s says his comeback, so long in coming, and so unexpected, might not end with this one album. “I’ve had conversations about potential live shows,” he reveals. “And I’ve got a shitload more songs sitting around. I would love to do another record.” 

What is most surprising in all of this is that Perry has no regrets about all the time he’s been away: no sense that he might have, maybe should have, made more of his talent. 

“That was one of the things I pondered at one time,” he says. “But I have no problem with it, which is really amazing to me. I think the word ‘if’ is really a waste of time. As long as you’re doing the very best you can, in the moment, I don’t think it’s right to look back and think about ‘if’. Instead of looking at anything as a regret, I’d rather move forward. Right now that means more to me than anything.”

This feature originally appeared in Classic Rock 255 . Traces is out now . 

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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JOURNEY: New Documentary 'A Voice Lost...And Found' To Premiere On REELZ This Weekend

"Journey: A Voice Lost...And Found" will premiere on Reelz on Sunday, June 25 at 9 p.m. EDT / 6 p.m. PDT.

The official program synopsis: JOURNEY dominated the American music scene in the 1970s and 1980s with their epic arena rock anthems and power ballads. Frontman Steve Perry was dubbed "The Voice" thanks to the untouchable vocal stylings that burned up the radio waves and made him a household name. But the bigger JOURNEY became the more miserable Perry grew. He was the rare rock superstar who craved anonymity more than applause.

Then at the height of the band's success Perry did the unthinkable quitting JOURNEY . That alone should've been an absolute death knell for a band so defined by a single voice. But JOURNEY 's other longtime members refused to give up the dream and brought in a new singer to keep the music going.

Fans were livid that anyone would dare to try to fill Perry 's shoes. Shows were played in empty houses and threats were even made against the band. When that replacement singer didn't work out desperation forced the band to turn to YouTube for the most unlikely inspiration.

JOURNEY members Jonathan Cain and Deen Castronovo are joined by former members Jeff Scott Soto and Narada Michael Walden , as well as SiriusXM radio personality Eddie Trunk and former JOURNEY producer Kevin Elson to tell the band's amazing tale.

"Journey: A Voice Lost...And Found" is produced by AMS Pictures .

Reelz is available in more than 40 million homes on DIRECTV (238), DISH Network (299), Verizon FiOS TV (692HD), AT&T U-verse (799/1799HD) and Xfinity , Spectrum , Optimum , Mediacom , Peacock , Philo , Freecast , DIRECTV Stream , Dish Sling and many other cable systems and major streaming services nationwide. Find Reelz in your area by visiting www.reelz.com .

Owned by Hubbard Media Group , Reelz is headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico with national ad sales based in New York City with offices in Chicago and Los Angeles.

Sadly I don't have Reelz as I use YouTube TV, if there is anyone who can work out how to make a .mov .mkv .mv4 .MP4 or otherwise of this show, please DM me, I would LOVE to see it since I'm in it!! 🙏🤘😘 https://t.co/LpLHhO0i6F — Jeff Scott Soto (@jeffscottsoto) June 23, 2023

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13 Things We Learned Hanging Out With Steve Perry

By Andy Greene

Andy Greene

It’s a punishingly hot August day and Steve Perry is tucked into a corner table at a Lower Manhattan Italian spot taking a quick breather between a long round of radio interviews promoting Traces , his new comeback album that he spent the last five years recording in such secrecy that he made everyone on his team sign strict NDAs. He’s no more than two minutes into our conversation, barely enough time to dip a single piece of bread into olive oil and take a bite, when he stands up and announces he has to leave at once. There’s loud dance pop playing on the radio and it’s driving him crazy.

“This is very distracting,” he says, as a large, tattooed bodyguard and two publicists perched near the bar look on. “I’m hearing drums and rhythm. I have a very ADD, multi-track mind and I can’t listen to two things at once. I just hear these electronic drums. Let’s go outside even though it’s going to be a little sticky.”

With the bodyguard in tow, we head onto the street towards a park overlooking the Hudson River. It’s a complete shift from our plan for the afternoon, but Perry has never been one to stick to a script. Ignoring the desperate pleas of his bandmates, management team and fans, he walked away from Journey near the pinnacle of their success in 1987 to live a quiet life free from screaming crowds and record executives thirsty for another hit. And even when Journey-mania returned again in the mid-2000s and “Don’t Stop Believin'” became absolutely inescapable — used everywhere from the The Sopranos finale to Glee  — he refused to emerge from hiding in any way, allowing his former bandmates to reap the hefty rewards by playing about 70 shows a year with a soundalike they plucked from YouTube.

Dressed head-to-toe in black, Perry walks down the city streets, past throngs of tourists that don’t give him a second look, and attempts to explain why he turned in his rock star card over 30 years ago. “It seemed like the only thing I could do to stop some of the badness in my heart and the lack of passion for singing,” he says. “I just had to stop. I was feeling like a forced version of myself, getting into some bad habits and not connecting to my heart. I was completely deep-fried.”

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Rolling Stone published an extensive feature on Perry’s life earlier this month, but there was still a lot we learned that didn’t fit into the piece. Here are 13 of them.

1. He became interested in spiritual matters during his lost years. “I don’t attend any religious practices and I’m not religious,” he explains. “But I’ve devoted a lot of time to people like Joseph Campbell who opened the doors to all the theologists that I have opinions about now. It took a lot of open-mindedness to rewire my thinking about so many things. It needed to happen. They say that every seven years your body completely changes, that every cell in your body is no longer the same. There’s a metamorphoses. And right now, I’m more open-minded to the idea of not knowing the answers to all things.”

2. He has a crystal-clear memory of the moment they wrote “Don’t Stop Believin.'” “I know everyone has their own opinion about this,” he says. “I don’t know what Jonathan [Cain] thinks, but I remember it starting out in a warehouse in Oakland where we had a rehearsal space. I suggested we needed something with eighths on the piano because I always liked songs that began like that. It flowed from there. We were all in the room. It was me, Jonathan and Neal [Schon]. It was a true group effort. Then I went to Jonathan’s house and we wrote the lyrics together. There’s no one genius to any one moment. If you’re in a band, what you do is a group effort.”

3. Contrary to widespread rumor, he’s never suffered any vocal issues. “I have my vocal box checked all the time,” he says. “I have no nodules on it. I have a really good doctor. She sticks a camera down my nose. I call it the garden hose. It goes down to the vocal chords and then she grabs my tongue and I have to go, ‘Eeeeeee.’ She’s really able to see them well and, knock on wood, nothing wrong with my voice. The only thing is I didn’t really use if for a while, but it’s like working out when you begin using it again.”

4. His mother pushed him return to Journey in 1985 after he’d taken a long break to focus on his solo career. “I was ready to leave the group because she was so sick,” he says. “She couldn’t speak because she’d had so many strokes. She was also pretty quadriplegic at that point, but she loved my music. I asked her what she thought about it, whether I should make another solo record or go back to Journey. She said one word: ‘Journey.’ I went, ‘Are you sure? Mom, this means I won’t be around you much. Again she just said, ‘Journey.’ Then she died during the making of the record. I dedicated it to her.”

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5. The “corporate rock” label that Journey was stuck with still baffles him. “That was amazing to me,” he says. “Any band that came to America, whether it was Led Zeppelin or anybody, would incorporate in order to create a tax shelter and not leave penniless. The way to do that legally is to form a corporation. Everybody did that, but we got stuck with the label. Isn’t that fascinating?”

6. He enjoyed meeting Arnel Pineda at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2017. “He’s a sweet kid,” he says. “We talked for a while backstage. It was really fun.”

7. But he never even considered singing with Journey at the Hall of Fame. “I heard a rumor that the invitation was open,” he says. “But I’m not the singer in the band anymore. Arnel is. He’s been in the band for ten years. I just wanted to come and thank everybody for everything, including Arnel.”

8. He was the last one in Journey to give his approval for The Sopranos to use “Don’t Stop Believin.'” “I wasn’t too excited by the possibility that it might be used when someone is whacked,” he says. “Everyone else was okay with it, but I wanted to know more. So the girl who sub-licenses my music kept on asking David Chase’s people if they could tell us a little more. But since it was the last sequence in the entire show, they were a little tight with information. I told them I wouldn’t say yes unless they told me that nobody got whacked, which is how [Martin] Scorsese would have used it. So I just waited and Thursday afternoon my girl calls and says she just spoke to David Chase’s people and they told me how it ends, but I couldn’t tell anybody. They didn’t tell me the screen turns to black, but they told me everything else. And I said okay that Thursday and it aired on Sunday.”

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9. Baseball gives him the same sort of satisfaction today that he used to get from music. “The electronic aspect of music just started wearing me out,” he says. “There’s not a lot of live musicians being played on the radio anymore. But when I’m watching baseball, these guys walk out there and hit, play, catch, run…I mean, they’re just killing it. There’s no auto-tune for baseball. They have to play. The musicianship of the music industry used to be that way.”

10. If he does tour, expect to hear a lot of Journey songs. “I don’t know if a tour will happen,” he says. “Right now it’s premature to even guess. But there would be no way in the world I’d go out there and not sing Journey music too. It would be solo and Journey together. But those songs are vocally challenging. They’re challenging for Arnel and everyone else. They’re not easy. They were challenging for me when I wrote the damn melodies, but back then I was young and in my olympic singer mode. [Barbra] Streisand lowers the keys when she does her old songs. There’s nothing wrong with lowering a key We’re not spring chickens.”

11. His time out of the spotlight after he left Journey in 1987 reinvigorated him . “I went back to my hometown and reconnected with old friends,” he says. “I bought a Harley Davidson and rode it around the country roads of my youth. I let the wind hit my face and my hair blowed behind me. There were no helmet laws back then. I disappeared. I went to the fair in the summer. I went to movies. I had dinner with friends. I had relationships. I lived.”

12. Money was never really an issue after he left the band. “I wrote every single song with members of the band with the exception, I think, of one,” he says. “And those songs kept selling. I don’t eat out a lot. I only drive one car a time. I live kind of small, so financially I never really had to work. There were certainly some sweet [royalty] checks as the years went by, but I’ll tell you something else: I was probably one of the only guys who saved his money. A lot of people were living very extravagant lifestyles. I was not raised that way. My grandfather said to me when I was very young, ‘It’s not how much you make, it’s how much you save.’ So I lived small and saved my money.”

13. When pushed, he refuses to make a Shermanesque statement that he’ll never, under any circumstances, return to Journey, even though it’s highly unlikely. “The only thing I’m willing to be definitive about is that at this age I am right now, I have to do things that I feel really great about, that feel life-sustaining and give me passion,” he says. “I really want to continue to move forward. I’m not too excited about going backwards. I’m more excited about moving forward to what is next. I’ve already written a lot more new material, in fact.”

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Steve Perry Set to Sing Journey Hit “Open Arms” on Dolly Parton’s Upcoming Rock Album

by Tina Benitez-Eves November 9, 2022, 9:30 am

Just days after Dolly Parton ‘s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Nov. 5, former Journey singer Steve Perry has confirmed that he will appear on the country music legend’s upcoming rock album.

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“If Dolly says it’s true, then it must be true,” wrote Perry on  social media , confirming his participation. “Her voice is amazing.”

When Parton was inducted into the Rock Hall, she mentioned several artists she would like to collaborate with on a rock album during her speech and revealed that she and Perry will be singing a cover of Journey’s 1981 hit “ Open Arms ” on the album.

Released on Journey’s seventh album Escape , “Open Arms,” written by Perry and Jonathan Cain—who had just joined the band as the keyboardist and would become one of their key songwriters—was also featured on the soundtrack to the sci-fi film Heavy Metal .

The song reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was a success for Mariah Carey, who recorded the song for her fifth album, Daydream .

Parton previously said she would like to record a new version of Led Zeppelin’s “ Stairway to Heaven ” with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page and confirmed that Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler will also guest on her album, which is rumored to be produced by Steve Albini .

If Dolly says it’s true, then it must be true… her voice is amazing! -Steve Perry https://t.co/jei2oQzE3U — Steve Perry (@StevePerryMusic) November 8, 2022

When Parton was first nominated for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame earlier in 2022, she vowed to make a rock album if she was inducted.

“I’m not expecting that I’ll get in, but if I do, I’ll immediately, next year, have to put out a great rock and roll album, which I’ve wanted to do for years, like a Linda Ronstadt or Heart kind of thing,” said Parton. “So this may have been just a God-wink for me to go ahead and do that.”

Parton recently revealed that she will retire from larger-scale tours , and recently released a new holiday duet “ Almost Too Early for Christmas ” with Jimmy Fallon.

Photo: Myriam Santos / btpr

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