Steve Perry

With huge classic hits such as 'Don't Stop Believing', 'Open Arms' and 'Who's Crying Now', Steve Perry led 1980s power-pop outfit Journey to become one of the biggest selling bands of all time. Born in the small town of Hanford, California he fell in love with music after hearing Sam Cooke's 'Cupid' and started out playing drums and singing in local bars trying to imitate people like Don Henley and Phil Collins. He later plugged away with several groups in Los Angeles and was on the verge of signing a record deal with his band Alien Project when his bass player died in a car accident. Encouraged by his mother he returned to music and in 1977 he joined Journey who had already made three fusion albums of experimental jazz and prog rock under the guidance of former Santana band members Neal Schon and Ross Valory but were looking for a new direction. Perry's positive spirit and soaring, anthemic voice turned the band into stadium-filling, pop-rock favourites, notched up record sales of more than 100 million and scored massive platinum albums with 'Frontiers', 'Raised On Radio' and the US number one 'Escape'. His first solo album 'Street Talk' in 1984 included the number three hit 'Oh Sherrie' but, after 20 years on the road, Perry retreated from the public eye after Journey split in 1988. He returned briefly with his trademark power ballads on 'For the Love of Strange Medicine' in 1994, but he suffered hip problems and failed to make a reunion tour with Journey, again disappearing from view. A life-changing relationship with a girlfriend suffering from breast cancer gave him a new perspective, and it was she who made him promise not to become reclusive after her death. Keeping his promise, he re-emerged in 2017 when Journey were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and he rekindled his passion for music and purged much of his heartache on 'Traces' in 2018, his first album of new work in nearly 25 years.

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