Whose too important??

What am I missing?

When I saw Journey back in 73 or 74 they didn't even have a singer. They were instrumental. Remember Kahoutec?

Lawrh,
I guess only you and I do!

In afterthought I did realize that was the point the OP was trying to make ( Steve Perry was replaceable) , and while the guy is a good imitation, it really isn't the same.
By the way 13th Warrior, I'm sure he still has plenty of fans, he did have a couple of hits sans Journey, remember?

By the way, I love the journey song too, but I have to ask, what Journey hits did they have after he left?

If im not mistaken, perry didnt leave the band because he was a diva or anything. From what i read and heard about it, he left because he apparently couldnt handle the road life.

And the Filipino guy they replaced him with is good..but he's not steve perry.

I'm surprised that Steve W. hasn't dropped in on this topic yet.

I've seen a lot of different people's perspectives on Journey. The band has a complicated history. It started when Santana's manager got pissed off and left, taking along some of the band to start what became Journey.

After several changes of lineup and style, without much popularity, their biggest successes were the hits that Steve Perry sang. One of the most distinctive high tenor lead singers of all time. He was really popular with Journey. He was also successful with his own albums (that sounded a lot like Journey).

While recording Journey's '96 album, Steve Perry took breaks to go visit his ailing mother, who he was very close to. After the record was out a while, his mother died, he needed hip surgery, and he might have had a personal crisis of confidence, all at the same time. He expected the band to wait for him to be ready for the next tour, even though he wasn't sure himself how long he would need.

After a year and a half, the other members and management gave up waiting for him. They brought in a new singer. After several years it was announced the replacement left because of medical problems with his voice. He was also accused of faking performances with pre-recorded tracks. This was not acceptable for shows in their genre!

Another singer was brought in. In less than a year it was announced that he had left. On his own web site he said he understood he was going to help the band find a new musical direction. But they actually wanted to keep sounding just like their hits.

Arnel Pineda sang in a Journey cover band in the Philippines. He was discovered by the Journey members from Youtube clips of the cover band. He got the invitation of his life a few years ago. The band's latest release is a double album. One has original songs, the other features Pineda singing on re-recorded versions of the biggest hits. I guess if they can get radio to play these instead of the originals, that would cut Steve Perry out of any further royalties.

To really compare, you need to have the Steve Perry and Arnel Pineda versions back to back. Here's the original:

I guess we won't talk here about how "south Detroit" is actually Windsor, Ontario.

Chris

"He was also accused of faking performances with pre-recorded tracks. This was not acceptable for shows in their genre!"

Actually it wasn't acceptable for almost any type of shows back then. When we paid money to see a show back then we expected to get the real deal with flaws and everything.

Its the current generation that will pay outrageous amounts to see people lip sych.

Oh, I agree 100% Michael,and I also wrote that too in the above post.People don't go to see singers or musicians anymore, they go to see staged performances where the person like Brittany is just acting out moves somebody else thought of for her.

I agree, Michael and Kim, but I didn't want to go too far astray since the original post was about singers in Journey.