Will Journey & Steve Perry Reunite for Rock Hall?

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Journey in 1981

Update (Dec. 22): Steve Perry, the lead singer during Journey’s peak of popularity, has now made a statement regarding the band’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: “I am truly grateful that Journey is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.” The statement was posted on the website Steve Perry News and that single sentence is the extent of it. Perry gave no indication whether he would attend the induction ceremony next April or if he would participate in any performance with the other group members.

Here is our original news report n the Journey/Perry mystery…

With the announcement this morning that Journey is among the new inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—along with Yes, ELO, Joan Baez, Tupac Shakur, Pearl Jam and Nile Rodgers of Chic—the first thought of many of the band’s fans was which version of Journey will perform at the April induction ceremony. Or, more specifically, will Steve Perry, the band’s lead singer at the height of its ’80s success, take the opportunity to share the stage with his former bandmate Neal Schon and the other Journey members being recognized by the Hall?

The answer to that question, says Schon, the band’s founding guitarist, is…hope so. In an exclusive interview with the Ultimate Classic Rock website, Schon was asked if Perry might join the band at the ceremony, taking place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. “You know, I have no clue. I definitely think that he will be there, as he should be. Musically speaking, I’d love to have him do a song with us—or two, or whatever. What would be even greater would be for him to do a song with Arnel [current Journey vocalist Arnel Pineda] too. I’m open to everything. I’m very open-minded to whatever happens, and any ideas that are brought forth.”

Steve Perry in the ’80s

UCR also asked Schon whether Journey—who scored top honors in a separate Rock Hall poll of fans’ favorites—might use the Hall of Fame induction as a springboard to other projects. “I’ve got other, bigger master plans of what I’d like to do, and I’ve told management about it,” Schon said in the interview. “I’d like to have a festival that’s based around us, where we can explore all of the different time periods of Journey. I think there are a lot of people who would want to see that.”

Steve Perry was not quoted in the UCR article. He last sang with Journey in 1991 at a San Francisco memorial concert for the late concert promoter Bill Graham. According to a separate article in Rolling Stone, Perry has made no statement or given any interviews on the subject.

In the Rolling Stone piece, Schon said, “We all love Steve. We had a great relationship for so many years. I don’t know why there’s been an absence of it for so many years besides the fact that we just moved on because we wanted to, we had to.”

Watch Steve Perry sit in with Journey at the 1991 Bill Graham tribute concert