Stephen Ray Perry was born on this day in 1949 in Hanford, California. Hearing Sam Cooke, who coincidentally was born on the same day of the year 14 years before him, sing Cupid on the radio inspired Perry to want to sing, but his first foray into music was as a drummer for his high school marching band and other school ensembles. Perry joined the choir when he attended the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, California. After college, he moved to Sacramento, where he started a band called Ice that disbanded soon after demo session recordings the group did failed to attract label contract or management offers. Relocating to the LA area, Perry next joined a group named Pieces that also included Jeff Beck collaborator Tim Bogert. That group was also short lived, but Perry caught wind that the bay Area band Journey's manager, Herbie Herbert, was looking for a new front man for the band. Impressed with Perry, Herbert signed him and Steve made his Journey live debut on October 28 , 1977.
Over the next 18 years, Perry fronted Journey on nine albums and became widely credited as one of the best vocalists in Rock. Street Talk, his 1984 solo debut, sold more than two million copies. A second solo album he started work on four years later stalled out, although he did finally get a sophomore solo album out in 1994. Sidelined by a hip injury complicated by a degenerative bone condition, Steve was unable to tour with Journey so the band replaced him with Steve Augeri and then Arnel Pineda, a singer with an uncannily similar voice to Perry's. Since then, Steve has done some production work, sung on albums by other artists and released a third solo album. He joined his former band mates at Journey's 2017 Rock Hall of Fame induction but opted not to sing with them at the ceremony.
Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on January 22 include...
1935 Sam Cooke born.
1960 INXS front man Michael Hutchence born.
1965 Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler (Michael Coletti) is born in Cleveland, OH..
1969 Neil Young releases his self-titled debut solo album.
1971 The Mad Dogs & Englishmen Joe Cocker tour movie premieres in London.
1972 David Bowie tells Melody Maker magazine he is bi-sexual.
1983 Daughter is born to Pretenders Chrissie Hynde and Ray Davies of the Kinks.
1990 Slash punctuates Guns N' Roses appearance at American Music Awards with profanities.
1992 Fender issues a Stevie Ray Vaughan replica guitar.
1993 Metallica opens Nowhere Else to Roam tour.
1998 Joe Perry of Aerosmith sits in with David Letterman’s band.
2004 The Bottom Line in New York City's Greenwich Village closes.
2010 Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Neil Young and Sting participate in Hope For Haiti earthquake relief telethon.
Neil Young and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top appear on last Tonight Show hosted by Conan O’Brien.
2012 Steven Tyler sings national Anthem before AFC Championship game between Baltimore Ravens and New England in Foxboro (Patriots win 23-20).
2017 Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, John Popper play small club at Sundance Film Festival before the premiere of Long Strange Trip, the Martin Sorcesse Grateful Dead documentary.
2017 Mott The Hoople bassist Overland Watts dies of throat cancer.
2020 Neil Young granted US citizenship after delays because of previous marijuana use and charges...
