 Journey is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1973, composed of former members of Santana and from E. S. Bandersnatch. The band has gone through several phases, its strongest commercial success occurred between 1978 and 1987. During that period, the band released a series of hit songs, including Don't Stop Believin, 1981, which in 2009 became the top-selling track in iTunes history among songs not released in the 21st century. Its parent studio album, Escape, the band's eighth and most successful, reached number one on the Billboard 200 and yielded another of their most popular singles, Open Arms. Its 1983 follow-up album, Frontiers, was almost as successful in the United States, reaching number two and spawning several successful singles, it broadened the band's appeal in the United Kingdom, where it reached number six on the UK albums chart. Journey enjoyed a successful reunion in the mid-1990s and later regrouped with a series of lead singers. Sales have resulted in two gold albums, eight multi-platinum albums, and one diamond album, including seven consecutive multi-platinum albums between 1978 and 1987. They have had 18 top 40 singles in the US, the second most without a Billboard Hot 100 number one single behind Electric Light Orchestra with 20, six of which reached the top 10 of the US chart and two of which reached number one on other Billboard charts, and a number six hit on the UK singles chart and Don't Stop Believin. In 2005, Don't Stop Believin reached number three on iTunes downloads. Originally a progressive rock band, Journey was described by all music as having cemented a reputation as one of America's most beloved, and sometimes hated, commercial rock-pop bands by 1978, when they redefined their sound by embracing pop arrangements on their fourth album, Infinity. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, Journey has sold 48 million albums in the US, making them the 25th best-selling band. Their worldwide sales have reached close to 90 million records, making them one of the world's best-selling bands of all time. A 2005 USA Today opinion poll named Journey the fifth best American rock band in history. Their songs have become arena rock staples and are still played on rock radio stations across the world. Journey ranks number 96 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Journey will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 7, 2017. History. 1973-1976, Formation. 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 Neil Sean on lead guitar and Greg Rely on keyboards and lead vocals. Bassist Ross Valori and rhythm guitarist George Tickner, both of Frummias Bandersnatch, rounded out the group. Prairie Prince of the Tubes served as drummer. The band quickly abandoned the original backup group concept and developed a distinctive jazz fusion style. After an unsuccessful radio contest to name the group, Rodi John Villanueva suggested the name Journey. The band's first public appearance came at the Winterland Ballroom on New Year's Eve, 1973. Prairie Prince rejoined the Tubes shortly thereafter, and the band hired British drummer Ainsley Dunbar, who had recently worked with John Lennon and Frank Zappa. On February 5, 1974, the new lineup made their debut at the Great American Music Hall and secured a recording contract with Columbia Records. Journey released their eponymous first album in 1975, and rhythm guitarist Tickner left the band before they cut their second album, Look Into the Future, 1976. Neither album achieved significant sales, so Sean, Valori, and Dunbar took singing lessons in an attempt to add vocal harmonies to Raleigh's lead. The following years Next contained shorter tracks with more vocals, and featured Neil Sean as lead singer on two of the songs. 1977-1980, New Musical Direction Journey's album sales did not improve and Columbia Records requested that they change their musical style and add a frontman, with whom keyboardist Greg Raleigh could share lead vocal duties. The band hired Robert Fleishman and transitioned to a more popular style, akin to that of foreigner and Boston. Journey went on tour with Fleishman in 1977 and together the new incarnation of the band wrote the hit Wheel in the Sky, however, management differences resulted in Fleishman leaving within the year. In late 1977, Journey hired Steve Perry as their new lead singer. Herbie Herbert, the band's manager, also hired Roy Thomas Baker as a producer to add a layered sound approach as Baker had done with his previous band, Queen. With their new lead singer and talented new producer, Journey released their fourth album, Infinity, 1978. This album set Journey on their road to stardom with their first RIAA-certified platinum album. This album, with their hit song Wheel in the Sky, number 57 US, set Journey on a new path with a more mainstream sound to make their highest chart success to date. In late 1978, manager Herbie Herbert fired drummer Ainsley Dunbar, who joined Bay Area rivals Jefferson Starship shortly thereafter. He was replaced by Berkeley-trained jazz drummer Steve Smith. Perry, Sean, Raleigh, Smith and Valorie recorded Evolution, 1979, which gave the band their first Billboard Hot 100 top 20 single, Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin', No. 16, and Departure, 1980, which reached No. 8 on the album charts. Journey's newfound success brought the band an almost entirely new fan base. During the 1980 Departure World Tour, the band recorded a live album, Captured. Keyboardist Greg Raleigh then left the band, the second time in his career he left a successful act. Keyboardist Stevie Keys-Rosemann was brought in to record the Lone Studio track for Captured, The Party's Over, Hopelessly in Love, but Raleigh recommended pianist Jonathan Cain of The Babies as the permanent replacement. With Cain's replacement of Raleigh's Hammond B3 organ with his own synthesizers, the band was poised for a new decade in which they would achieve their greatest musical success. 1981-1983, Height of Popularity With Cain on board, the band began writing material that would eventually lead up to Journey's biggest studio album, Escape. Recording sessions began in April 1981, and lasted until the middle of June. Escape was released on July 31, 1981, and immediately, the album became a mainstream success. The album, which has thus far sold nine times platinum, went to number one on the album charts later that year, and included three top ten hits, whose cry in now, don't stop believing and open arms. The last is Journey's highest charting single to date, staying at number two for six consecutive weeks and ranking at number 34 on Billboard's 1982 year-end Hot 100. MTV videotaped one of their two sold-out shows in Houston on November 6, 1981, in front of over 20,000 fans. Capitalizing on their success, the band recorded radio commercials for Budweiser and sold rights to their likenesses and music for use in two video games, the Journey Arcade Game by Bali Midway and Journey Escape by Data Age for the Atari 2600. This success was met with criticism. The 1983 Rolling Stone record guide gave each of the band's albums only one star, with Dave Marsh writing the �Journey� was a dead end for San Francisco area rock. Marsh later would anoint Escape as one of the worst number one albums of all time. Journey's next album, Frontiers, 1983, continued their commercial success, reaching number two on the album charts, selling nearly six million copies. The album generated four top 40 hits, Separate Ways, Worlds Apart, which reached number eight, Faithfully, which reached number 12, Send Her My Love and After the Fall, both of which reached number 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. 1983-1987, solo projects and more personnel changes. After the Frontiers Stadium Tour, Journey decided to take some time off. Lead singer Steve Perry and guitarist Neil Sean both pursued solo projects between 1982 and 1985. The band released two songs previously intended for Frontiers, Ask the Lonely, on the soundtrack to the movie Two of a Kind, 1983, and Only the Young, on the soundtrack to the movie Vision Quest, 1985. Only the Young reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. When Journey finally returned to record their album Raised on Radio, 1986, bass player Ross Valori 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 Larry London. The album went multi-platinum, selling over 2 million copies. It also produced four top 20 singles, Be Good to Yourself, number nine, I'll Be Alright Without You, number 14, Girl Can't Help It and Suzanne, both of which reached number 17. The tour featured Jackson on bass and Mike Baird on drums, and was videotaped by MTV and made into a documentary, which included interviews with the band members. But with Perry unable or unwilling to remain actively involved, the band cancelled the rest of the tour and went on an extended, indefinite hiatus. 1987-1995, hiatus. Sean and Cain would spend the rest of 1987 collaborating with artists such as Jimmy Barnes and Michael Bolton before teaming up with Cain's ex-babies bandmates John Wait and Ricky Phillips to form the super grub Bad English with drummer Dean Castranovo in 1988. Steve Smith devoted his time to his jazz bands, vital information and steps ahead, and teamed up with Ross Valori and original journey keyboardist Greg Raleigh to create the storm with singer Kevin Chalfont and guitarist Josh Ramos. After the collapse of Bad English in 1991, Sean and Castranovo would form the glam metal band Hardline with brothers Johnny and Joey Jolie, before joining Paul Rogers' backing band in 1994. Cain would spend the next few years focusing on his solo career. Between 1987 and 1995, Columbia Records released three journey compilations, including the 1988 Greatest Hits album, which remains the band's best-selling record. It continues to sell 500,000-1 million copies per year. By December 2008, it was the sixth best-selling greatest hits package in the United States, and by 2014, Journey's Best Of had spent 300 weeks on the Billboard 200, one of only five albums to do so. 1995 – 1997, Reunion. In 1991, Perry, Sean and Cain briefly reunited to perform faithfully and lights at the tribute concert for promoter Bill Graham. In October 1993, Kevin Chalfont, of the Storm, performed five songs with Neil Sean, Jonathan Cain, Greg Raleigh, Ross Valorie, Steve Smith and Ainsley Dunbar at a roast for manager Herbie Herbert. In 1995, The Escape and Frontiers lineup, Perry, Sean, Cain, Valorie and Smith, reunited to record Trial by Fire. Released in 1996, the album included the hit single When You Love a Woman, which reached No. 12 on the Billboard charts, ranked at No. 36 on the 1996 year and Hot 100, and was nominated in 1997 for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The album also produced three Top 40 mainstream rock tracks – Message of Love reaching No. 18, Can't Tame the Lion reaching No. 33, and If He Should Break Your Heart reaching No. 38. Plans for a subsequent tour ended when Perry injured his hip while hiking in Hawaii in the summer of 1997, and could not perform without hip replacement surgery which for some time he refused to undergo. In 1998, Sean and Cain decided to seek a new lead singer, at which point drummer Steve Smith left the band as well. 1998 – 2007, a new Steve. In 1998, Journey replaced Steve Perry with Steve Augary, formerly of Tykato and Tall Stories. The band hired drummer Dean Castronovo, Sean's and Cain's bad English bandmate, and drummer for Hardline, to replace Steve Smith. The band released their next studio album, Arrival, 2001. All the way became a minor adult contemporary hit from the album. In 2002, the band released a four-track CD titled Red 13 with an album cover design chosen through a fan contest. 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 12th full-length studio album, Generations, in which each band member performed lead vocals on at least one song. In July 2006, Steve Augary was dropped from the band while they toured with Def Leppard, the band citing a chronic throat infection. Augary had been suffering from vocal attrition problems since 2003 and Journey had been accused of using pre-recorded lead vocals. For nearly a year, Jeff Scott Soto from Talisman filled in, with the band for several months referring to Soto as Journey's official lead singer. But in June 2007, the band announced that Soto was no longer the lead singer. That spring, HBO aired the finale of the series The Sopranos, concluding with Journey's Don't Stop Believe in emanating from a diner jukebox. Without a lead singer, the band found itself unable to tour to capitalize on the heightened nostalgia for 1980s music demonstrated by the series. 2007–present, lead singer replaced again. In the summer of 2007, Jonathan Kane and Neil Sean began searching YouTube for a new lead singer. They auditioned Jeremy Hunsaker of the Journey tribute band Frontiers, with whom they co-wrote Never Walk Away, for their next album. Ultimately the band hired another YouTube find, Filipino singer Arnold Panada of the cover band The Zoo. Although Panada was not the first foreign national to become a member of Journey, former drummer Ainsley Dunbar is British, nor even the first non-Caucasian, former bass player Randy Jackson is African-American, the transition resulted in what Marin Independent Journal writer Paul Liberatori called an undercurrent of racism among some Journey fans. Keyboardist Jonathan Kane responded to such sentiments, �We�ve become a world band. We�re international now. We�re not about one color.� Journey�s first album with Arnold Panada, Revelation, debuted at number five on the Billboard charts, selling more than 196,000 units in its first two weeks and staying in the top 20 for six weeks. As a multi-disc set, two XCD, each unit within that set counts as one sale. Journey also found success on Billboard�s adult contemporary chart where the single after all these years spent over 23 weeks, peaking at number nine. Receipts from the 2008 tour made Journey one of the top grossing concert tours of the year, bringing in over $35 million. On December 18, 2008, Revelation was certified platinum by RIAA. The band�s second album with Panada, Eclipse, was released on May 24, 2011, and debuted at number 13 on the Billboard 200 chart. In November 2011, Journey released greatest hits, Vol. 2. Journey CEO headlined Super Bowl 47 at the Mercedes Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana in 2013, along with Rascal Flats, to an estimated 164.1 million viewers. During the summer tour of 2015, after Dean Castranovo�s indictment for assault by a Marion County grand jury, the longtime drummer was replaced by session drummer Omar Hakim. That fall, the band announced that Steve Smith would again be returning as Journey�s drummer. On December 20, 2016 it was announced that Journey will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017. Logo After featuring the members of the band in various poses for the first three studio albums, in 1980 Journey adopted the logo of the Scarab Beatle, a symbol borrowed from Egyptian hieroglyphs. In popular culture. Over the years, Journey songs have been heard or referred to in numerous films, television series, video games and even on Broadway. The band�s songs have been covered by multiple artists and adopted by sports teams. In particular, Don�t Stop Believe in was heard in the final episode of The Sopranos, adapted by the television series Glee, sung by the family Guy Cast, adopted as the unofficial anthem of the 2005 and 2010 World Series champion baseball teams, performed by the chipmunks in their album Undeniable, 2008, and sung by the cast of the Broadway musical Rock of Ages.