It’s been 15 years since Steve Perry parted ways with Journey, but his shadow remains a constant for the band who achieved their greatest commercial success with the singer.
In a new interview with Noise 11, Journey guitarist spoke about Perry, who he hasn’t seen in almost a decade.
"You know what? I say nice things about him, and he says nice things about me," Schon tells Noise 11. "I think, all in all, I have ultimate respect for the man, and the voice that he has. I wish him the best, but we haven't quite gotten around to speaking since we received the Hollywood Walk Of Fame star [in 2005]."
Schon explained some of the background of Perry’s arrival in the band.
“We did the [first] three records, and the CBS came to us and said: ‘If you don’t get a lead singer, we’re going to drop you,’” Schon remembers. “I thought we had a lead singer. We had Gregg Rolie, you know.”
A tape featuring Perry made its way into the hands of Journey manager Herbie Herbert, but the guitarist wasn’t sold at first.
“Gregg and I heard it initially and I thought, ‘the guy’s got a great voice, but I don’t know if it’s us.’ It’s so far left-field compared to what we’d been doing,” said Neal. “Herbie, being the manager he was, and a very good one back then, he said, ‘well you guys don’t have a choice, this is what going to do.’ And [Gregg] and I kinda looked at each other and thought ‘what?’ But he was right.”
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