STEVE PERRY reflects on his departure from JOURNEY in 1987 – “The passion for music had left me” (video)

AXS TV shared the clip below of former Journey frontman Steve Perry speaking to Dan Rather about why he stepped back from his music career. Perry opens up about how fame got to him and reveals what he does to stay grounded.

Perry: “The passion for music was gone. I couldn’t find a genuine passion for singing and so I turned to other, dare I say it, party behaviors to add to my frustration. I think my voice suffered as well. Everything started to suffer for me and it didn’t help restore my passion for music. Eventually it became very clear to me that I just had to stop.”

Perry was the frontman for Journey during their most successful years from 1977 to 1987, and again from 1995 to 1998. He recorded the Journey albums: Infinity (1978), Evolution (1979), Departure (1980), Dream, After Dream (1980), Escape (1981), Frontiers (1983), Raised on Radio (1986) and Trial by Fire (1996).

Los Angeles rockers The Effect, the trio consisting of Trev Lukather (son of Toto’s Steve Lukather) on guitar, Nic Collins (son of Phil Collins) on drums and newcomer Emmett Stang on vocals, recently teamed up with Steve Perry to record a cover of Journey’s “It Could Have Been You,” from that band’s 1986 album Raised On Radio.

Rolling Stone caught up with us via Zoom to hear about the song’s creation, and Perry revealed that he has other projects in the works.

“I just signed with a new label,” Perry says. “I’m really excited about it and I’m going to get the opportunity to work with these very, very musically creative people soon. I’ll probably announce who I’m signed with soon. That’s about all I can say, but I’m excited about it and I’m working on things.”

Perry emerged from a 22-year recording hiatus in 2018 with the release of Traces . However, he didn’t tour with it, disappointing many fans. What was holding him back? “Well, it’s a long story,” Perry says. “Uncle Steve is a little older, and everyone at that age has aches and pains and stuff. But it’s a really good question that I’ve asked myself. And Trev has been bugging me about it for a long time, to be honest.

“It’s something I miss terribly,” he continues. “I can’t even tell you how much, but there’s been a great soulful reclamation of this original feeling that I had about singing that I had to get back to. I didn’t want to just turn the wheel or the crank.”

Read more at RollingStone.com.

A note from Steve Perry about the aforementioned “It Could Have Been You”: “In 1986, the album Journey Raised On Radio was released and on it was a song that I always felt was a diamond in the rough. I’ve known Trev Lukather since he was 9 years old and he is a very gifted musician. One day we were talking about his new band, The Effect… He surprisingly mentioned ‘It Could Have Been You’ as one of his favorite songs from that album, I told him I felt the same way. I said then, why don’t you record it? He asked if I would sing on it if they did, I said… ‘Of course, my dearest!’ I have to say singing on their powerful track brought back a vocal experience from years ago! So now… released on all social media and streaming on May 7th is a powerfully reimagined version of ‘It Could Have Been You’ by… The Effect. Give it a listen!”