Steve Perry biography
Stephen Ray "Steve" Perry (born January 22, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Journey during their most commercially successful periods from 1977-1987 and 1995-1998. Perry had a successful solo career between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s.
Perry's singing has garnered acclaim from prominent musical peers and publications; he has been described as "The Voice", a moniker originally coined by Jon Bon Jovi. He resides in Del Mar, California.
Early years
Born in Hanford, California, Perry is of Portuguese descent. Perry grew up interested in music, as his father, Ray Pereira (who later changed his last name to Perry), was a vocalist. On his twelfth birthday (January 22, 1961), Mary presented her son with a gold eighth note necklace, which he still wears for good luck. When Perry was twelve years old, he heard Sam Cooke's song "Cupid" on his mother's car radio. This inspired Perry to become a singer.
The family moved to Lemoore, California during Perry's teen years. He attended high school there, drumming in the marching band as well as in extracurricular bands. He attended College of the Sequoias, in Visalia, California, for a short time after graduation, where he took first tenor in the choir there. Perry's mother encouraged his musical growth during this time.
Perry moved to Banta, California outside of Tracy, California, where he fronted the band Alien Project in his mid-twenties. He nearly gave up music when the bassist of that band, Richard Michaels, was killed in an automobile accident. Perry returned to Lemoore and decided not to continue his singing career, but at the urging of his mother, Perry answered a call from Walter "Herbie" Herbert, manager of the struggling San Francisco-based band, Journey.
Herbert had been given a demo of an Alien Project song, "If You Need Me, Call Me," and was told that the young singer would be a great replacement for current frontman, Robert Fleischman. Fleischman had never moved under Herbert's management, preferring to maintain his previous manager and had never in fact integrated well with the band's then progressive rock style. Perry was brought on tour and to avoid alarming Fleischman was introduced clandestinely as roadie John Villanueva's Portuguese cousin and surreptitiously performed a song with Journey during a sound check in Long Beach while Fleischman was away from the stage and Herbert informed the band of the line-up change.
Perry brought a completely new pop sound to the band's music, despite grumblings from his new bandmates and fans of Journey's former progressive rock sound. He made his public debut on October 28, 1977 in San Francisco, and received a mixed reception. Perry determinedly proved the critics wrong, and won over new audiences on his first album with the group, Infinity, which included a song of his own composition called "Lights." The band's style had changed dramatically, but as Journey began to garner radio airplay and media buzz over Infinity, Perry's arrival was accepted.
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