Journey (band)

Name	Journey
Landscape	yes
Background	group_or_band
Origin	San Francisco, California
Genre	Rock, jazz fusion, progressive rock, hard rock, soft rock
Years active	1973–1987; 1995–present
Label	Columbia, Frontiers, Sanctuary
Associated acts	Santana, Steve Perry, The Babys, Hardline, Bad English, The Storm, Vital Information, The Zoo
Url	JourneyMusic.com
Current members	Neal SchonRoss ValoryJonathan CainDeen CastronovoArnel Pineda
Past members	See: Journey former members section}}

Journey is an American rock band formed in 1973 in San Francisco, California, by former members of Santana. The band has gone through several phases; its strongest commercial success was in the late 1970s until 1987, when it temporarily disbanded. During that period, they released a series of hit songs, mostly power ballads. Among these were 1981's "Don't Stop Believin'", and their highest-charting U.S. hit, "Open Arms".

The band enjoyed a successful reunion in the mid 1990s with a Grammy-nominated hit, "When You Love a Woman". Sales have resulted in two gold albums, eight multi-platinum albums, and one Diamond album (including seven consecutive multi-platinum albums between 1978 and 1987). They had 19 Top 40 singles, six of which reached the Top 10 of the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Allmusic has described Journey as "one of America's most beloved (and sometimes hated) commercial rock/pop bands."

According to the Recording Industry Association of America, Journey has sold 47 million albums in the United States, making them the 28th best selling band. Their worldwide sales have reached over 80 million albums. A 2005 USA Today opinion poll named Journey the fifth best American rock band in history.

History

Formation, 1973–76

The original members of Journey came together in San Francisco in 1973 under the auspices of former Santana manager Herbie Herbert. Originally called the Golden Gate Rhythm Section and intended to serve as a backup group for established Bay Area artists, the band included recent Santana alumni Neal Schon on lead guitar and Gregg Rolie on keyboards and lead vocals. Bassist Ross Valory and rhythm guitarist George Tickner, both of Frumious Bandersnatch, and drummer Prairie Prince of The Tubes rounded out the group. The band quickly abandoned the original "backup group" concept and developed a distinctive jazz fusion style. After an unsuccessful radio contest to name the group, roadie John Villaneuva suggested the name "Journey." The band's first public appearance came at the Winterland Ballroom on New Year’s Eve, 1973. Prairie Prince rejoined The Tubes shortly thereafter, and the band hired British drummer Aynsley Dunbar, who had recently worked with John Lennon and Frank Zappa. On February 5, 1974, the new line-up made their debut at the Great American Music Hall and secured a recording contract with Columbia Records.

Journey released their eponymous first album in 1975, and rhythm guitarist Tickner left the band before they cut their second album, Look into the Future (1976). Neither album achieved significant sales, so Schon, Valory, and Dunbar took singing lessons in an attempt to add vocal harmonies to Rolie's lead. The following year's Next contained shorter tracks with more vocals, and featured Schon as lead singer on two of the songs.

New musical direction, 1977–80

Journey's album sales did not improve and Columbia Records requested that they change their musical style and add a frontman, with whom keyboardist Gregg Rolie could share lead vocal duties. The band hired Robert Fleischman and transitioned to a more popular style, akin to that of Foreigner and Boston. Journey went on tour with Fleischman in 1977 and together the new incarnation of the band wrote the hit "Wheel in the Sky." But fans were lukewarm to the change, and management differences resulted in Fleischman leaving within the year.

In late 1977, Journey hired Steve Perry as their new lead singer. Perry added a clean, tenor sound and the band became a true pop act. Their fourth album, Infinity (1978), reached No. 21 on the album charts and gave the band their first RIAA-certified platinum album plus hit singles "Lights" (#68 U.S.) and "Wheel in the Sky" (#57 U.S.).

In late 1978, manager Herbie Herbert fired drummer Aynsley Dunbar, who joined bay-area rivals Jefferson Starship shortly thereafter. He was replaced by Berklee-trained jazz drummer Steve Smith. Perry, Schon, Rolie, Smith, and bass player Ross Valory recorded 1979's Evolution, which gave the band their first Billboard Hot 100 Top 20 single, "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" (#16); and 1980's Departure, which reached No. 8 on the album charts and included the top-25 hit "Any Way You Want It".

Journey's new-found success brought the band an almost entirely new fan base. During the 1980 Departure world tour, the band recorded a live album, Captured. They also recorded the soundtrack to the film Dream, After Dream while in Japan.

Keyboardist Gregg Rolie now left a successful band for the second time in his career. Keyboardist Stevie "Keys" Roseman was brought in to record the lone studio track for Captured, "The Party's Over (Hopelessly in Love)," but Rolie recommended pianist Jonathan Cain of The Babys as the permanent replacement. With Cain's replacement of Rolie's Hammond B-3 organ with his own synthesizers, the band was poised for a new decade in which they would achieve their greatest musical success.

Height of popularity, 1981–83

Journey released their eighth and biggest-selling studio album, Escape, in 1981. The album, which has thus far sold nine times platinum, went to number one on the album charts that year, and included three top-ten hits: "Who's Cryin' Now", "Don't Stop Believin'", and "Open Arms". The last is Journey's highest-charting single to date, staying at #2 for six consecutive weeks and ranking at #13 on Billboard's 1982 year-end Hot 100. MTV videotaped one of their two sold-out shows in Houston, Texas on November 6, 1981 in front of over 20,000 fans.

Capitalizing on their success, the band recorded radio commercials for Budweiser and sold rights to their likenesses and music for use in two video games: the Journey arcade game by Bally/Midway and Journey Escape by Data Age for the Atari 2600.

This success was met with piqued criticism. The 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide gave each of the band's albums only one star, with Dave Marsh writing that "Journey was a dead end for San Francisco area rock." Marsh later would anoint Escape as one of the worst number-one albums of all time.

Journey's next album, 1983's Frontiers, continued their commercial success, reaching No. 2 on the album charts, selling nearly six million copies. The album generated four Top 40 hits, "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)", which reached #8, "Faithfully", which reached #12, "Send Her My Love", and "After the Fall", both of which reached #23. By this time Journey had become one of the top touring and recording bands in the world. During the subsequent stadium tour, the band contracted with NFL Films to record a video documentary of their life on the road, Frontiers and Beyond. Scenes from the documentary were shot at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with more than 80,000 fans in attendance. Studio musicians handled the two vacant slots, including future American Idol judge Randy Jackson and established session player Larrie Londin. The album went multiplatinum, selling over two million copies. It also produced four top 20 singles, "Be Good to Yourself" (#9), "I'll Be Alright Without You" (#14), "Girl Can't Help It", and "Suzanne," both of which reached #17. The tour featured Jackson on bass and Mike Baird on drums, and was videotaped by MTV and made into a documentary, which included interviews with the current band members and concert footage of the Mountain Aire Festival show in Angels Camp, California. But with Perry unable or unwilling to remain actively involved, the band canceled the rest of the tour and went on an extended, indefinite hiatus in 1987.

Schon and Cain would spend the rest of 1987 playing sessions for artists such as Jimmy Barnes and Michael Bolton, before teaming up with Cain's ex-Babys bandmates John Waite and Ricky Phillips, forming the supergroup Bad English with drummer Deen Castronovo in 1988. After the collapse of Bad English in 1991, Schon and Castronovo joined Paul Rodgers' band and Cain focused on a solo career. Steve Smith devoted his time to his jazz bands, Vital Information and Steps Ahead, and teamed up with Ross Valory and Gregg Rolie to create The Storm with singer Kevin Chalfant and guitarist Josh Ramos.

Between 1987 and 1995, Columbia Records released three Journey compilations, including the 1988 greatest hits album, which remains the band's best-selling record. According to the RIAA it has sold 15 million copies in the United States to date. It continues to sell 500,000 to 1,000,000 copies per year, and as of December 2008 was the 6th best selling greatest hits package in the United States.

Reunion, 1995–97

In 1991 Perry, Schon, and Cain briefly reunited to perform "Faithfully" and "Lights" at the tribute concert for promoter Bill Graham. In October 1993, Kevin Chalfant (of The Storm) performed with Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain at a roast for manager Herbie Herbert. After that, Schon, Cain, Valory, Smith and Rolie briefly considered reuniting the band with Chalfant as lead singer. But in 1995, Steve Perry agreed to a reunion on the condition that they seek new management. Herbie Herbert was fired, and Eagles Manager Irving Azoff was retained.

In 1995 the Escape and Frontiers lineup (Perry, Schon, Cain, Valory, and Smith) reunited to record Trial by Fire. Released in 1996, the album included the hit single "When You Love a Woman", which reached #12 on the Billboard charts, ranked at #36 on Billboard's 1996 year-end Hot 100, The album also produced three top 40 mainstream rock tracks, "Message of Love" reaching #18, "Can't Tame the Lion" reaching #33, and "If He Should Break Your Heart" reaching #38.

Plans for a subsequent tour ended when Perry injured his hip while hiking in Hawaii in the summer of 1997, and could not perform without hip replacement surgery — which he for some time refused to undergo. In 1998, Schon and Cain decided to seek a new lead singer, at which point drummer Steve Smith left the band as well. The band hired singer Jeff Scott Soto from Talisman to fill in, and Soto officially replaced Augeri as Journey's lead singer in December 2006. On June 12, 2007, the band announced that Soto was no longer the lead singer, and said that they were looking to move in a new direction.

In December 2007, Journey hired Filipino singer Arnel Pineda of the cover band The Zoo after Neal Schon saw him on YouTube singing covers of Journey songs. Their next album, Revelation, debuted at #5 on the Billboard charts, selling more than 196,000 units in its first two weeks and staying in the top 20 for 6 weeks. Journey also found success on billboard's adult contemporary chart where the single "After All These Years" spent over 23 weeks, peaking at number 9. Receipts from the 2008 tour made Journey one of the top grossing concert tours of the year, bringing in over $35,000,000. On December 18, 2008, Revelation was certified platinum by RIAA. On April 19, 2010, producer Kevin Shirley announced that the band was recording their 14th studio album and the second with Pineda. It is expected to be released in early 2011.

Although Pineda was not the first foreign national to become a member of Journey (former drummer Aynsley Dunbar is British), nor even the first non-white (former bass player Randy Jackson is African-American), the transition was difficult for a number of fans who expressed what Marin Independent Journal writer Paul Liberatore called "an undercurrent of racism." Keyboardist Jonathan Cain responded to such sentiments: "We've become a world band. We're international now. We're not about one color."

Band members

;Current members

Neal Schon – lead guitar, vocals (1973–present)

Ross Valory – bass, vocals (1973–1985, 1995–present)

Jonathan Cain – keyboards, rhythm guitar, vocals (1980–present)

Deen Castronovo – drums, percussion, vocals (1998–present)

Arnel Pineda – lead vocals (2007–present)

;Former members

George Tickner – rhythm guitar (1973–1975)

Gregg Rolie – keyboards, harmonica, vocals (1973–1980)

Aynsley Dunbar – drums, percussion (1974–1978)

Robert Fleischman – lead vocals (1977)

Steve Perry – lead vocals (1977–1998)

Steve Smith – drums, percussion (1978–1985, 1995–1998)

Randy Jackson – bass, vocals (1985–1986, 1986–1987)

Steve Augeri – lead vocals, guitar (1998–2006)

;Touring members

Prairie Prince – drums, percussion (1973–1974)

Mike Baird – drums, percussion (1986–1987)

Jeff Scott Soto – lead vocals (2006–2007)

;Session musicians

Stevie "Keys" Roseman – keyboards (1980)

Larrie Londin – drums, percussion (1985–1986)

Bob Glaub – bass (1986)

Timeline

References in popular culture

Over the years, Journey songs have been heard or referred to in numerous films, television shows, video games, and even on Broadway. The band's songs have been covered by multiple artists and adopted by sports teams. Most notably, "Don't Stop Believin'" was heard in the final episode of The Sopranos, adapted by the television show Glee, sung by the Family Guy cast, adopted as the unofficial anthem of the 2005 World Series champion Chicago White Sox and the 2010 World Series champion San Francisco Giants, performed by The Chipmunks in their 2008 album , and sung by the cast of the Broadway musical Rock of Ages.

Discography

1975: Journey

1976: Look into the Future

1977: Next

1978: Infinity

1979: Evolution

1980: Departure

1981: Escape

1983: Frontiers

1986: Raised on Radio

1996: Trial by Fire

2001: Arrival

2005: Generations

2008: Revelation

See also

Best selling music artists

List of bands from the San Francisco Bay Area

References

External links

Official Sites:

Journey's Official Site

Journey's Official Site @ Legacy Records

Reviews, Interviews, etc.:

The Journey Zone

E5C4P3.com's Herbie Herbert Interview

Category:American rock music groups Category:Musical groups established in 1973 Category:Musical groups from San Francisco, California Category:Musical quintets Category:1970s music groups Category:1980s music groups Category:1990s music groups Category:2000s music groups Category:2010s music groups