Monday, June 15, 2009

൬ JOURNEY, Wheel In The Sky|Anyway U Want It|Don't Stop Believ..|Open Arms|Faithfully|Send Her My..|After The Fall|Be Good To Yo..|Girl Can't Help It

Journey is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1973 with former members of Santana. The band has gone through several phases, but its strongest commercial success came in the late 1970s to the early 1980s. The original members of Journey came together in San Francisco in 1973 under the auspices of former Santana manager Herbie Herbert. Originally called the Golden Gate Rhythm Section and intended to serve as a backup group for established Bay Area artists, the band included recent Santana alumni Neal Schon on lead guitar and Gregg Rolie on keyboards and lead vocals. Bassist Ross Valory and rhythm guitarist George Tickner, both of Frumious Bandersnatch, and drummer Prairie Prince of The Tubes rounded out the group.



In the fall of 1977, Journey hired Steve Perry as their new lead singer. Perry added a clean, tenor sound and the band became a true pop act. Their fourth album, Infinity (1978), reached No. 21 on the album charts and gave the band their first RIAA-certified platinum album plus hit singles out of "Lights" (#68 U.S.) and "Wheel In the Sky"."



Drummer Aynsley Dunbar did not get along with singer Steve Perry and did not approve of the new musical direction. He was fired in 1978 and replaced by Berklee-trained jazz drummer Steve Smith. Perry, Schon, Rolie, Smith, and bass player Ross Valory recorded 1979's Evolution, which gave the band their first Billboard Hot 100 Top 20 single, "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" (#16); and 1980's Departure, which reached No. 8 on the album charts and included the top-25 hit "Any Way You Want It".



Their signature song, "Don't Stop Believing", is the top-selling catalog track in iTunes history, at more than two million downloads. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, Journey has sold 47 million albums in the United States, making them the 28th best selling band. Their worldwide sales have reached 80 million albums. A USA Today opinion poll in 2005 asked respondents to weigh in on who they thought was the best American rock band in history; Journey came in fifth place.



Journey released their eighth and biggest-selling studio album, Escape, in 1981. The album, which has thus far soldnine times platinum, went to number one on the album charts that year, and included three top-ten hits: "Who's Cryin' Now," "Don't Stop Believing," and "Open Arms." The latter is Journey's highest-charting single to date, staying at #2 for four consecutive weeks and ranking at #13 on Billboard's 1982 year-end Hot 100.







Journey's next album, 1983's Frontiers, continued their commercial success, reaching No. 2 on the album charts, selling nearly six million copies. The album generated four Top 40 hits, "Separate Ways," which reached #8, "Faithfully," which reached #12, "Send Her My Love", and "After the Fall", both of which reached #23. By this time Journey had become one of the top touring and recording bands in the world. During the subsequent stadium tour, the band contracted with NFL Films to record a video documentary of their life on the road, Frontiers and Beyond. Scenes from the documentary were shot at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with more than 80,000 fans in attendance.





After the widely successful Frontiers stadium tour, Journey decided to take some time off. Lead singer Steve Perry and guitarist Neal Schon both pursued solo projects between 1982 and 1985. In 1985 the band released two songs previously intended for Frontiers--Only the Young, on the soundtrack to the movie Vision Quest; and Ask the Lonely, on the soundtrack to the movie Two of a Kind. "Only the Young" reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. When Journey finally returned to record their 1986 album Raised on Radio, bass player Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith were fired from the band for musical and professional differences. Studio musicians handled the two vacant slots, including future American Idol judge Randy Jackson and established session player Larrie Londin. The album went multiplatinum, selling over two million copies. It also produced four top 20 singles, "Be Good to Yourself" (#9), "I'll Be All right Without You" (#14), "Girl Can't Help It", and "Suzanne," both of which reached #17.



The tour featured Randy Jackson on bass and Mike Baird on drums, and was videotaped by MTV and made into a documentary, which included interviews with the current band members and concert footage of the Mountain Aire Festival show in Angels Camp, California. In 1988 Columbia records released Journey's greatest hits album, which remains the band's best-selling record. According to the RIAA it has sold 15 million copies in the United States to date. It continues to sell 500,000 to 1,000,000 copies per year, and as of December 2008 was the 6th best selling greatest hits package in the United StateIn 1995, Perry, Schon, Cain, Valory, and Smith reunited to record Trial by Fire.



Released in 1996, the album included the hit single "When You Love a Woman", which reached #12 on the Billboard charts, ranked at #36 on Billboard's 1996 year-end Hot 100, and was nominated in 1997 for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. In 2005 the band was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and Steve Perry surprised many attendees by showing up for the event. Also in 2005, Journey embarked on their 30th anniversary tour, and released their twelfth full-length studio album, Generations, in which each band member performed lead vocals on at least one song.



In December 2007, Journey hired Filipino singer Arnel Pineda of the cover band The Zoo after Neal Schon saw him on YouTube singing covers of Journey songs. Journey debuted their new lead singer in February 2008 in Chile, and released the album Revelation that June. Revelation debuted at #5 on the Billboard charts, selling more than 196,000 units in its first two weeks and staying in the top 20 for 6 weeks. Journey also found success on the billboard's adult contemporary chart where the single "After All These Years" spent over 23 weeks, peaking at number 9. Receipts from that summer's tour, featuring Heart and Cheap Trick, made Journey one of the top grossing concert tours of the year, bringing in over $35,000,000. And on December 18, 2008, Revelation was certified platinum by RIAA. [wikipedia]

1 comment:

Pete said...

Paiseh, this group I am not familiar with!