|
Born in Hanford, California, Perry is of Portuguese heritage. His family originally came from Pico Island, Azores. Perry grew up interested in music, as his father, Ray, was a vocalist. He also counts Sam Cooke and Al Jolson among his early inspirations. The Perry family was close-knit until Ray left the family when Steve was seven. His mother later re-married, and Perry remained extremely close to her. On his twelfth birthday (January 22, 1961) Mary presented her son with a gold eighth note necklace, which he still wears for good luck.
The family moved to Lemoore, California during Perry`s teen years. While in Lemoore, the young, long-haired singer continued to pursue his interest in music. 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, a small farming town 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 a tragic automobile accident. Filled with grief, Perry returned to Lemoore and decided not to continue his singing career, instead following in his stepfather`s trade of construction, once working on a turkey farm. 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.
He provided lead vocals on nine of Journey`s albums: Infinity (1978), Evolution (1979), Departure (1980), Dream, After Dream (1980, a Japanese movie soundtrack), Captured (1980, a live album), Escape (1981, which went to #1 on the Billboard charts), Frontiers (1983), Raised on Radio (1986), and Trial By Fire (1996). The single "Open Arms," from Escape, was their biggest hit single, residing for six weeks at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Perry had become the unmistakable voice of Journey throughout his time with the band. His tenor style of singing was very common with singers in the 80`s such as Don
Biography Credit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Perry_(musician)
|
Perry`s 1984 music video "Foolish Heart" is unique in that it doesn`t have a single editorial cut - a most unusual facet given the frenetic structure of music videos in general. Perry`s video begins with a static camera, a long shot of a boomed mic situated in a hall lit by an overhead spotlight. Perry walks into the shot, sits on a tall stool and sings into the mic. Over the course of just over 4 minutes, the camera tracks forward slowly, eventually ending up with a tight shot of Perry still singing. Then the camera reverses slowly back to where it started. Perry walks out of the shot - end of video.
Silver Sites
Fan Sites
Comments
Continue the Conversation