TweetJourney finds new lead singer on YouTube
Band hires ‘the Steve Perry of the Philippines’
By PAUL LIBERATORE
MediaNews
I heard through the grapevine a few weeks ago that the members of Journey were in the Plant Studio in Sausalito recording a new album with a new lead singer.
My source told me the erstwhile superstars were also re-recording their classic ’80s hits, trying to make them sound as close as they can to the originals, which had been sung in Journey’s heyday by the golden-voiced Steve Perry, the estranged frontman who exited the band in the mid-’90s, not on the best of terms.
Since Perry split, it’s been a revolving door for Journey vocalists. The previous one, Jeff Scott Soto, was reportedly fired last summer after a brief stint. He’d taken over from Steve Augeri, who dropped out in 2006 with voice problems after about eight years with the band.
Those anthemic Journey power ballads, sung by Perry in his operatic tenor, have been known to shred vocal chords, and it takes an extraordinary talent to be able to sing them. Finding a lead singer for this band is not something you look for on craigslist.
All of this would hardly matter if Journey were a mere ’80s nostalgia act.
But the once-mighty stadium rockers have suddenly become au courant, thanks to some mobsters from New Jersey.
When “the Sopranos” final episode made pop culture history in June, ending with Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing,” the band found itself back in the national consciousness, positioned for a comeback.
Needless to say, this was not a good time to be without a lead singer.
Rumors had been rife among Journey fans that Perry would return to the fold (he’d shown an intense interest in how “Don’t Stop Believing” would be used in the Sopranos’ swan song), but he adamantly denied the reunion speculation, insisting on
Then, in early December, a short time after I’d heard that Journey was holed up in the recording studio, the band announced on its official Web site,
