Journey is an American rock band formed by former members of Santana in 1973.
The peak of Journey's popularity was in the late 1970s and mid-1980s. During this period of time, the musicians managed to sell more than 80 million copies of albums.
The history of the Journey group
In the winter of 1973, The Golden Gate Rhythm Section appeared in the music world in San Francisco.
At the "helm" of the band were such musicians as: Neil Schon (guitar, vocals), George Tickner (guitar), Ross Valory (bass, vocals), Prairie Prince (drums).
Soon, the band members decided to replace the long name with a simple one - Journey. The San Francisco radio listeners helped the musicians make this decision.
A few months later, the team was replenished with a newcomer in the person of Gregg Roli (keyboards, vocals), and in June Prince left Journey.
A year later, the soloists of the group invited the British Ainsley Dunbar, who already had considerable experience of cooperation with rock bands, to cooperate.
After the formation of the team, the guys began to work on the release of their works. In 1974, the musicians signed a lucrative contract with CBS / Columbia Records.
Thanks to him, musicians created high-quality music in the "right" conditions.
Initially, the band created music in the style of jazz-rock. The signature style dominated the American band's first three albums. Jazz rock fans were especially enthusiastic about Look Into The Future and Next.
The tracks that were included in these compilations had powerful progressive compositions, but despite this, they could not deserve large-scale attention.
In 1977, the musicians began to play in a subtle pop-rock style to draw attention to their work. To consolidate their success, the soloists invited vocalist-frontman Robert Fleischmann to the group.
In November 1977, Steve Perry took over. It was Steve who gave the music world the Infinity album. This album has sold over 3 million copies.
Dunbar did not like the band's new direction. He made the decision to leave the group. Steve Smith took over in 1978.
In 1979, the group added to the discography of LP Evolution. The collection hit the heart of fans and music lovers. The disc has been distributed all over the world. The album was bought by more than 3 million fans. It was a success.
The peak of the popularity of the musical group Journe
In 1980, the band expanded its discography with the album Departure. The collection was certified platinum three times. In the music charts, the album took 8th position. A busy schedule followed, concerts, intensive work on a new album.
At this stage of the "life" of the team, Roli decided to leave the group. The reason is fatigue from intensive tours. Role was replaced by Jonathan Kane, who gained popularity through his participation in the group The Babys.
Kane's arrival in the Journey group opened up a completely new, more lyrical sound to the composition for the team and listeners. Kane was like a breath of fresh air.
The Escape compilation has become one of the band's most popular and successful albums. And here it is important to pay tribute to the talent of Jonathan Kane.
This album has sold 9 million copies. The album stayed on the American music charts for over a year. Compositions Who's Crying Now, Don't Stop Believin' and Open Arms hit the US Top 10.
In 1981 the band's first live album, Captured, was released. The album did not reach higher than 9th position in the country's music charts. But, despite this, loyal fans noticed the work.
Two years later, the musicians presented the new Frontiers album. The collection took the 2nd position in the music chart, losing only to Michael Jackson's Thriller.
After the presentation of the Frontiers album, the musicians went on a big tour. Then the fans were waiting for an unexpected turn of events - the rock band disappeared for 2 years.
Changes in the composition of the group Journey
Meanwhile, Steve Perry decided to change the musical direction of the band.
Steve Smith and Ross Valory left the bands. Now the team consisted of: Sean, Kane and Perry. Together with Randy Jackson and Larry Landin, the soloists recorded the Raised on Radio compilation, which fans saw in 1986.
The concept album was hugely popular with music lovers. Several songs such as: Be Good To Yourself, Suzanne, Girl Can't Help It and I'll Be Alright Without You made it to the top. They were later released as singles.
After 1986 there was a lull again. At first, the musicians talked about the fact that each of them devotes more time to solo projects. Then it turned out that this was the breakup of the Journey group.
Journey Reunions
In 1995, an incredible event happened for the fans of the rock band. This year, Perry, Sean, Smith, Kane and Valorie announced the reunion of Journey.
But it wasn't all surprise for music lovers. The musicians presented the album Trial By Fire, which took 3rd position in the US music charts.
The musical composition WhenYou Love A Woman spent several weeks at number 1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. In addition, she was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Despite the fact that the team did not lose popularity, the mood within the group was unfriendly. Soon the team left Steve Perry, and Steve Smith left him.
The latter justified his departure with the phrase: “No Perry, no Journey”. Smith was replaced by the talented Dean Castronovo and vocalist Steve Augeri joined the band.
Journey group from 1998 to 2020
From 2001 to 2005 the musical group released two albums: Arrival and Generations. Interestingly, the records were not commercially successful, they were "failures".
In 2005, Steve Audgery began to have health problems that greatly affected the singer's vocal abilities.
The media published articles that Audgery performed songs to the soundtrack at concerts. For rockers, this was unacceptable. Actually, this was the reason for the dismissal of Audgery from the team. This event took place in 2006.
A little later, Jeff Scott Soto returned to Journey. With the musician, the rest of the band played the tour of the Generations compilation. However, he soon left the group. The rating of the team gradually decreased.
The soloists of the group were looking for ways to revive the sound of the songs. In 2007, Neil Shawn, while browsing YouTube, found a cover version of the Journey tracks by Filipino singer Arnel Pineda.
Sean contacted the young man, making him an offer to visit the United States of America. After listening, Arnel became a full-fledged member of the rock band.
In 2008, Journey's discography was replenished with another album, Revelation. The collection did not repeat the previous success. In total, half a million copies have been sold around the world.
The album contained three discs: on the first, the musicians placed fresh songs, on the second - old top songs re-recorded with a new vocalist, while the third was in DVD format (video from concerts).
Arrest of Dean Castronovo
In 2015, Dean Castronovo was arrested for assaulting a woman. The arrest became a fat cross on his career. Dean was replaced by Omar Hakim.
It transpired that Castronovo had been charged with a felony. During the case, it turned out that the drummer committed rape.
Assault and abuse of a woman. Dean confessed to what he had done. After that, he went to jail for four years.
In 2016, Steve Smith took the place of the drummer, and thus the group returned to the line-up with which the Escape, Frontiers and Trialby Fire compilations were recorded.
In 2019, the group toured the United States of America with their concert program.
The Journey Collective in 2021
For the first time in the last 10 years, Journey presented the musical composition The Way We Used to Be. The track premiered at the end of June 2021.
An anime-style video was also presented for the track. The clip shows a couple grieving over distance caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The musicians also said that they are working on a new LP.
