Journey, named in a contest on a free-format radio station in San Francisco KSAN in 1973, was comprised of veterans of of the Bay Area music scene. Neal Schon, the one member who continued to play in the band throughout it's history, had played with Santana in the early 70s. He was joined by Zappa veteran Aynsley Dunbar on drums, Ross Valory, fellow Sanata survivor Gregg Rolie on keyboards and vocals and guitarist George Tickner. This lineup put our several minor hit records of largely instrumental jazz inflected rock, with the departure of Tickner after the release of the first.

Steve Perry was hired to front the band in 1977, and the resulting album released the following year created a stir, selling platinum by the end of that year. The momentum continued to grow over the next couple of years and releases, accompanied by regular changes in personnel. Dunbar was replaced by Steve Smith and Rolie's shoes were filled by Jonathan Cain.

Journey reached their peak and broke into the big time with the release of Escape containing the chart toppers "Who's Crying Now", "Don't Stop Believing" and "Open Arms." Escape eventually would sell over seven million copies by the end of the eighties.

Following the release of several more successful albums, including "Frontiers" and "Raised On Radio," Journey broke up.

After a hiatus, during which Perry took a break from performing and the others participated in a number of minor side projects, Journey reformed in 1996. The release of the popular Trial By Fire that fall marked Journey's first new recording in ten years.

May 98 update:

Singer Steve Perry has announced that he is officially leaving Journey. The split comes in the wake of a January 1998 conversation between Perry and Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain in which it was decided that, if Perry's health issues prohibited him from committing to a tour at that time, Cain and original Journey guitarist Neil Schon would reform the band with a new singer. Drummer Steve Smith has also left Journey.

Perry became the lead singer of Journey in 1979 and, over the past two decades, sang on the group's ten platinum-plus albums including the 1996 Trial By Fire CD. Journey, with Steve Perry as vocalist, has sold more than 45 million records worldwide. Steve Perry has recently worked with David Foster and Carole Bayer-Sager in writing and recording "I Stand Alone," the principle track for the soundtrack to the animated feature film Quest For Camelot.

Journey is currently comprised of new lead singer Steve Augeri (formerly of Tall Stories), original guitarist Neal Schon, bassist Ross Valory, keyboardist Jonathan Cain (a 1981 addition), and new drummer Dean Castranova (formerly of Bad English, an 80's "supergroup" which also featured Schon and Cain). The new Journey lineup has already recorded "Remember Me," a track for the soundtrack to the upcoming summer blockbuster film Armageddon; "Remember Me" was written by Neal Schon and Jack Blades and was produced by Kevin Shirley (who also produced Trial By Fire). The Armageddon soundtrack was released by Columbia Records on June 30, 1998.