Journey's story
begins in Northern California with guitarist
Neal Schon, a child prodigy who dropped out of
high school to join Santana just prior to the
San Francisco band recording its third album. Schon, while in high school, had been jamming
with Santana keyboardist Gregg Rolie, who
ultimately would follow Schon into Journey.
The union of Santana and Schon was
short-lived, but in that time period, Schon
would meet a man who believed that a band formed
around his guitar work would be a viable entity.
When Schon left Santana, he explored the idea of
a power trio with two former members of Sly and
the Family Stone, drummer Greg Errico and
bassist Larry Graham. Playing funk, however,
limited Schon's amount of soloing, which
prompted him to look for another musical
vehicle. Walter "Herbie" Herbert, a guitar tech
for Santana who had added management duties to
his job, approached Schon in early 1973 about
forming a guitar-centric band. Herbert has said
Schon was, quote, 'the quintessential guitar
expressionist of the time', and to further his
career, Herbert connected Schon with two members
of the popular local act Frumious Bandersnatch,
former Steve Miller Band bassist Ross Valory and
guitarist George Tickner. They enlisted drummer
Prairie Prince, a member of the Tubes, and the
all-instrumental act began performing as the
Golden Gate Rhythm Section.
They
developed a local following, one that was strong
enough for San Francisco FM station KSAN to hold
a contest to see if a better name could be given
to the GGRS. The contest yielded the moniker
Journey. New name in place, Rolie joined the
band in the summer of 1973. The first edition of
Journey developed a largely instrumental
progressive rock sound. The first change in
personnel came in early 1974 when Aynsley
Dunbar, a British drummer who spent time in the
bands of Jeff Beck, Frank Zappa and John Mayall,
took the place of Prince, who decided to stay
with the Tubes.
CBS/Columbia Records
signed that lineup in November 1974, but by the
time "Journey," their debut album, was released,
Tickner had left to attend medical school.
Tickner, whose compositions were the backbone of
Journey's earliest repertoire, was not replaced,
making the band a single-guitar outfit.
Each of the band's first three albums -
"Journey" (1975), "Look Into the Future" (1976)
and "Next" (1977) - charted higher than the
previous release. And the band maintained a
grueling touring schedule, staying on the road
nine months per year performing music that Schon
has referred to as "a rock and roll version of
the Mahavishnu Orchestra." But sales were not as
strong as the label had hoped and the band was
asked to hire a full-time lead singer. (Rolie
had handled vocals from behind his keyboards).
The first vocalist brought in was Robert
Fleischman, who joined the band for a summer
tour in 1977. While his songwriting
contributions to the band included, Wheel In The
Sky, and Winds Of March, personality clashes
resulted in Fleischman promptly leaving the
band. A young drummer and singer, Steve Perry,
who had contacted Herbert several times, also
received an endorsement from CBS, leading to him
being tapped as Journey's new lead singer in
October 1977. Not all of the members were sold
on the idea of bringing the singer into the
fold. But at their first meeting, in a hotel
room, Schon and Perry collaborated on what would
eventually become the song Patiently.
Roy Thomas Baker was hired to produce their
fourth album - and first with Perry -
"Infinity," which quickly went platinum after
its release in April 1978. The album remained on
the charts for more than two years, peaking at
No. 21, and would ultimately sell 3 million
copies. In September 1978, Steve Smith, who had
been a member of several hard rock and
jazz-fusion bands, replaced Dunbar, who had
joined Jefferson Starship. Evolution, which
would become their second million-selling album,
was released in May 1979. In October, they
scored their first top 30 single with Lovin,
Touchin', Squeezin'. Maintaining a torrid pace
in the studio as well as on the road, it was
only 11 months later that the band registered
their first top 10 album. Departure, which
featured the leadoff single, Any Way You Want
It, reached No. 8 on the Billboard album chart.
A live double album, Captured, followed,
becoming their fourth consecutive disc to go
platinum.
Before the band returned to
the studio Rolie departed, replaced by Jonathan
Cain of the Babys. Adding Cain to the
songwriting mix with Schon, Perry and Valory
would result in Journey scoring the biggest hits
of their career. "Escape," released in September
1981, was the bands first No. 1 and would
eventually be certified 8 times platinum,
spending more than a year in the top 40. That
album produced three of the best -known songs in
the Journey canon: "Don't Stop Believin'," which
hit No. 9; "Who's Crying Now" (No. 4); and "Open
Arms," which spent six weeks at No. 2 in 1982.
While Dont Stop Believin would have its place in
the sun years later as the final song on HBOs
The Sopranos and as the theme song for the
Chicago White Sox on their way to the 2005 World
Series, at the time of release Open Arms ushered
in the power ballad into American pop music. The
first songwriting collaboration between Cain and
Perry, it quickly became the band's signature
song at the time and would years later be
covered by Mariah Carey.
Their
popularity soaring, Journey became the first
rock band to inspire a videogame. In the early
80s their concerts were visual spectacles as
they revolutionized the use of big screens and
computerized lighting systems. And with the
advent of MTV, Journey's star only continued to
rise. One of the few 1970s rock bands to
successfully make the transition into the video
age, the follow-up to Escape, Frontiers, sat at
No. 2 on the Billboard album chart in the spring
of 1983. The album that kept them from the top
slot was Michael Jackson's Thriller, the biggest
selling album of all time during the vinyl era.
During this period, Schon and Perry
opted to do solo projects as well. Schon
reunited with keyboardist Jan Hammer; (they had
made an album together in 1981) to record Here
to Stay and made a live album, Through the Fire,
with Sammy Hagar, Kenny Aranson and former
Santana percussionist Michael Shrieve. While
Schon was experimenting with styles that did not
fit within the Journey sound, Perry released the
commercially targeted album "Street Talk."
Between 1983 and 1986 the band landed seven top
20 hits, among them "Separate Ways (Worlds
Apart)" and "Girl Can't Help It." In early 1985,
their track for the film Vision Quest, "Only the
Young," hits No. 9 as the band members decided
to relax their schedule. A year later, Schon,
Cain and Perry returned without Valory, using
studio musicians on "Raised on Radio" with the
exception of Steve Smith, who played on 3 of the
tracks. It hit No. 4, spending almost seven
months in the top 40, and the band toured with
bassist Randy Jackson, who would years later
become a judge on "American Idol," and drummer
Mike Baird.
The group disbanded in 1989,
seemingly for good, as Schon and Cain created
Bad English with John Waite while Valory, Smith
and Rolie joined the Storm. In 1993, the band
reunited, sans Perry, for a Bay Area concert
honoring their former manager Herbert. Perry,
Schon, Cain, Smith and Valory reunited one last
time for 1996's Trial By Fire. The dozen songs
on the album were written in just two weeks. It
opened at No. 3, yielded the Adult Contemporary
hit single "When You Love a Woman," which would
garner the band their first Grammy nomination,
and a 25-date tour was booked. Perry moved to
Hawaii to get in shape, but while there he
developed health problems and was eventually
told he would need a hip replaced. The tour
never took place and with no fanfare, the
members of Journey went their separate ways.
Ultimately, Schon, Valory and Cain decided
the band would forge ahead. Steve Augeri was
brought in as lead singer and Dean Castronovo, a
member of Bad English, replaced Smith on drums.
(Steve Smith opted to continue with his solo
career as a recording artist and band leader,
forming the band Vital Information). Their first
recording as Journey was Remember Me for the
Armageddon soundtrack. Arrival, Journey's 11th
studio album, was released in April 2001.
A 30th anniversary tour followed the release
of Generations in 2005. The tour featured shows
that were more than three hours long and
included material from every phase of the bands
career. A year later, Jeff Scott Soto replaced
Augeri, whose time in the band was cut short due
to a throat infection. Sotos tenure was
short-lived and in 2007, Journey tried a variety
of ways to land a new singer. After two days of
watching videos on YouTube, Schon came across a
video featuring Arnel Pineda performing with a
Filipino cover band in the Philippines and had
his management book him for an audition in the
States. Within just a few songs he had secured
the job. Pineda made his debut with the album
Revelation, which was sold exclusively at
Wal-Mart outlets and was certified platinum
within several months of its release. More than
700,000 fans saw Journeys 2008 tour with Pineda
as lead singer. After seven months on the road
with Journey, Pineda told the media in Asia,
"this is the best job in the world and as
long as my band mates will let me rock with
them, I will keep singing with Journey."
In 2016, Steve rejoined Journey for their
summer tour and remainined in the band through
2019.
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