During their initial 14 years of existence (1973-1987),
Journey altered their musical approach and their personnel extensively while becoming a top touring and recording band. The only constant factor was guitarist
Neal Schon, a music prodigy who had been a member of
Santana in 1971-1972. The original unit, which was named in a contest on KSAN-FM in San Francisco, featured
Schon, bassist
Ross Valory, drummer
Prairie Prince (replaced by
Aynsley Dunbar), and guitarist
George Tickner (who left after the first album). Another former
Santana member, keyboard player and singer
Gregg Rolie, joined shortly afterward. This lineup recorded
Journey (1975), the first of three moderate-selling jazz-rock albums given over largely to instrumentals.
By 1977, however, the group decided it needed a strong vocalist/frontman and hired
Steve Perry. The results were immediately felt on the fourth album,
Infinity (1978), which sold a million copies within a year. (By this time,
Dunbar had been replaced by
Steve Smith.)
Evolution (1979) was similarly successful, as was
Departure (after which
Rolie was replaced by
Jonathan Cain). Following a live album,
Captured (1981),
Journey released Escape, which broke them through to the top ranks of pop groups by scoring three Top Ten hit singles, all ballads highlighting
Perry's smooth tenor: "Who's Crying Now," "Don't Stop Believin'," and "Open Arms." The album topped the charts and sold millions. Frontiers (1983), featuring the hit "Separate Ways," was another big success, after which
Perry released a double-platinum solo album,
Street Talk (1984). When the group got back together to make a new album,
Valory and
Smith were no longer in the lineup and
Raised on Radio (1986) was made by
Schon,
Perry, and
Cain, who added other musicians for a tour.
Following the tour,
Journey disbanded.
Perry went into a prolonged period of seclusion as
Schon and
Cain formed
Bad English with vocalist
John Waite.
Bad English had several hit singles, including the chart-topper "When I See You Smile," before breaking up.
Perry returned to recording in 1994, releasing
For the Love of Strange Medicine. Although the album went gold, it was a commercial disappointment by previous standards. In 1996,
Perry,
Schon,
Cain,
Valory, and
Smith staged a
Journey reunion, releasing the million-selling Trial by Fire, which featured the gold-selling Top 20 single "When You Love a Woman," and going on tour.
Perry and
Smith opted out of the reunion after the tour, but
Journey continued, hiring a new lead singer,
Steve Augeri (formerly of
Tall Stories), and a new drummer,
Bad English's
Deen Castronovo, who made their debuts on "Remember Me," a track on the 1998
Armageddon soundtrack. The band next reconvened in 2001. Arrival,
Journey's 11th new studio album, was released in April, followed by a national tour.
The band received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on January 21, 2005. That same year they released a new album, Generations, and embarked on their 30th anniversary tour. Shows on the tour stretched over three hours long and were divided into two sets -- one focusing on pre-Escape material, the other on post-Escape material. The archival release Live in Houston 1981: The Escape Tour appeared on both DVD and CD in 2006, the same year that the group brought
Jeff Scott Soto aboard as a replacement for
Augeri, who developed a throat infection that prevented him from singing.
However,
Soto's time with the band was limited; in 2007,
Journey announced that they had parted ways with the singer and were once again seeking a frontman. They found him in
Arnel Pineda, a Filipino vocalist that they discovered after seeing him perform on YouTube.
Pineda made his debut with the band in 2008, the same year that
Journey released
Revelation. Fueled by the adult contemporary hit "After All These Years,"
Revelation was a surprise hit that wound up going platinum.
Journey returned in the summer of 2011 with
Eclipse, a concept album that saw the band tie together its progressive rock beginnings with its '80s arena rock peak. ~ William Ruhlmann