Beloved '80s Rocker Reveals Real Reason He Left Iconic Band
- - Beloved '80s Rocker Reveals Real Reason He Left Iconic Band
Kayla AldecoaJanuary 8, 2026 at 11:25 PM
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It's been nearly four decades since legendary rocker Steve Perry walked away from Journey at the height of their fame.
"It was a combination of the passion for music had left me. I could not find the honest passion for singing," Perry, now 76, told AXS. "Because of that, I was stepping into some other—dare I say party behaviors to augment my frustrations. Then, I think, my voice was also suffering. I think everything started to suffer for me. It did not help restore my passion for music."
Perry was the lead vocalist for Journey from 1977 to 1987. He helped write some of the band's most iconic songs like, "Any Way You Want It", "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Open Arms". Following their 1987 Raised on Radio tour, the band went on hiatus.
Perry went on to tell AXS, "Eventually the feeling just got very clear to me that I need to just stop. And I didn't know where I was going. I didn't know what I was going to do or where I was going to go. All I knew is that I can't keep doing what I'm doing. I need to just stop because this is not going anywhere good."
When asked to clarify his "party behavior," he added, "Certainly drugs and drinking were a part of it. Of course."
"I couldn't go near music because I had this PTSD thing with music still going on. It was very, very uncomfortable for me, and I was afraid that the passion for music would never come back," he continued. "Because of that I just left it alone and thought I'd already lived my dream of dreams. There's nothing much more to do in that area, and so I'll just leave it alone."
Lucky for fans, that wasn't entirely true.
Perry would reunite with Journey in 1996 to record Trial by Fire. Despite the huge success of the album, the band was forced to postpone the tour due to Perry's degenerative bone condition. Hesitant to undergo a necessary hip replacement surgery, Perry ultimately left the band as they went on tour with a new lead singer.
This story was originally published by Parade on Jan 9, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
