Steve Perry To Sing With Journey? Ex-Singer Could Determine Band’s Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Setlist
Steve Perry is set to reunite with his estranged Journey bandmates more than 20 years after he left the classic rock band, but a full-on musical reunion is up in the air. Perry will reportedly join the rest of the band at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York as Journey is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame more than 40 years after the Bay Area band was first formed. In addition to Perry, ex-Journey members Gregg Rolie and Aynsley Dunbar will also be in attendance at the induction ceremony, alongside current members Neal Schon, Jonathan Cain, Ross Valory and Steve Smith.
In addition to Perry, ex-Journey members Gregg Rolie and Aynsley Dunbar will also be in attendance at the induction ceremony, alongside current members Neal Schon, Jonathan Cain, Ross Valory and Steve Smith.
In an interview with the Dayton Daily News, Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain confirmed the band’s reunion with Perry, but he stopped short of promising a performance featuring the original Journey members.
“The ceremony is the first time we’re going to get to see Steve Perry in a long time, so that’ll be fun,” Cain said. “He’s just going to accept the award and then skedaddle. That’s all I know, unless something changes. Our current singer Arnel Pineda is going to represent very well like he always does.”
Initially, longtime Journey guitarist Neal Schon was unaware of Perry’s plans to attend the ceremony, let alone sing at it.
“Steve Perry will reportedly attend Journey’s Rock Hall induction: Funny, this is the first I’m hearing about it,” Schon tweeted.
Steve Perry Will Reportedly Attend Journey's Rock Hall Induction – Funny this is the first I'm hearing about it…. https://t.co/m9SFF9D7kO
— NEAL SCHON MUSIC (@NealSchonMusic) March 31, 2017
The Journey guitarist later posted an update, confirming that Steve will be at the ceremony, but that he will not sing. Instead, Schon said current lead singer Arnel Pineda will perform with the band.
Steve apparently has said he's not singing….. Arnel will sing ?? https://t.co/M4sb753vYg
— NEAL SCHON MUSIC (@NealSchonMusic) April 3, 2017
Schon posted that Journey is tentatively scheduled to play three of their biggest Steve Perry hits—”Lights,” “Separate Ways” and “Don’t Stop Believin'” at the induction ceremony, but in an interview with Yahoo Music, he hinted that could change if Perry wants to take the stage at the last minute.
“We probably won’t find out until he gets there,” Schon told Yahoo Music of Perry’s plans to sing.
“But since he did go onstage last year in a few different markets with [indie-rock band] the Eels and sang some of our stuff, I’m like, ‘Well, why wouldn’t he do that with us?’ Everybody’s celebrating our legacy that he and I and Jonathan and Ross and Steve Smith and Rolie and everybody contributed to. So I’m hoping he’ll sing with us. The door has always been open for him to do that.”
Schon added that there is room for both Steve Perry and Arnel Pineda to sing with Journey at the ceremony.
“I’m hoping that they will both take the stage in some shape or form,” the Journey guitarist said.
“If Steve Perry wants to sing, I’d like to leave [the song choices] up to him. If he says he wants to do it, let him pick what he wants. That seems like the logical thing to do. If he’s not gonna sing, we’ll figure out what to do. There are a lot of songs to choose from.”
Schon clarified that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame invite is for “the original band from when Steve joined the band and thereafter,” and that Pineda will be there “in support.”
“I definitely feel that he deserves a nod from everybody for doing an amazing job,” Neal said. “And I think even if you talked to Steve Perry, if he was completely honest with you, he’d say, ‘Wow, they continued to have amazing success with this guy.’ And without him, we couldn’t have done it.”
More than a decade after Steve Perry left Journey, Pineda was discovered on YouTube by the band and he has been on the road with them consistently for the past 10 years.
“I don’t think any singer in the band has stayed on the road as long as Arnel has,” Cain told the Dayton Daily News. “When we think back to the Steve Perry days, he wasn’t in the band for 10 years straight, faithfully being the road singer. Steve left and did his solo thing and years went on when we weren’t playing anywhere. We weren’t doing anything.”
Ever since the Rock and Roll hall of Fame inductees were announced, the current Journey bandmates have been dogged by questions about whether or not Steve Perry will join them at the ceremony. Schon has long said it is Perry who will not commit to a reunion with the band, but the guitar legend has been vocal about the fact that not only would he like to see Steve Perry at the Rock Hall, but that he would be open to recording with him again in the future, even if it’s not on a Journey record.
Would love to even if not a JRNY record. Steve and I had a natural ability to write great songs that were not too thought out – a chemistry https://t.co/3tO0bqetMW
— NEAL SCHON MUSIC (@NealSchonMusic) March 31, 2017
The last time Steve Perry appeared in public with Journey was more than 10 years ago when the band’s star was unveiled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005.
Steve Perry was the lead singer for Journey during the height of the band’s popularity. Perry is the voice behind radio-friendly 1980s hits like “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Wheel in the Sky” and “Faithfully,” but now he doesn’t talk to his ex-bandmates at all. In an interview with Billboard, Schon said he is not sure why Steve has stopped speaking to the band.
“There’s no communication at all,” Neal said of his current relationship with Steve.
While Steve Perry could decide to sing a few songs with Journey at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, Schon says the chance of a future tour with the band’s most famous singer is pretty much out of the question.
“Honestly, I think that’s never gonna happen, and Steve has said that in so many interviews,” he told Yahoo.
“I really feel like you have to listen to what he’s saying and listen to the last interviews he’s done. It’s not something he’s interested in doing any longer…But hopefully [the Rock Hall ceremony] will open the door for him to be comfortable to come onstage and sing as little as he ever wanted to, or just participate in any way he wants.”
Steve Perry and Journey will be inducted into the Rock Hall on April 7 alongside Joan Baez, Yes, Electric Light Orchestra, Pearl Jam, and Tupac Shakur. The ceremony will air April 29 on HBO.
Take a look at the video below to see Steve Perry performing live with Journey.
[Featured Image by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images]
