Journey are one of the biggest rock bands of all time, and their most famous song was briefly the best-selling digital track from the 20th century (it's since been usurped by two perennial classics, 's and Mariah Carey's ). But global stardom might never have happened if not for a hard-hitting ultimatum from their record company back in 1977. As the band’s original drummer Aynsley Dunbar recalled: “We were told: ‘Get a singer, get some hit songs or you’re off the label.
’” At that time, the San Francisco-based band had made three albums for Columbia Records, and all three had stiffed. Guitarist and vocalist/keyboard player Gregg Rolie had previously played in , but Journey’s early music, mixing Santana-style jazz fusion and progressive rock, was a hard sell, and Rolie’s voice wasn’t the strongest. Everything changed when joined the band after they’d tried out another singer, Robert Fleischman.
With a richly expressive voice, Perry could hit high notes that other singers could only dream of. His first album with the band, 1978’s reinvented Journey as a mainstream rock act. The album promptly went platinum, and from there, the only way was up.
In the 80s, Journey became one of the biggest bands in America, with the Holy Trinity of AOR albums: , and . Perry also had a huge hit in 1984 with his first solo album, . But the pressures of fame led Perry to quit the band in 1987, leaving Journey on hiatus until his return in 1995.
And when he quit again two years .