MR

We all know that Steve Perry has a one of a kind voice- a rare counter tenor. Plus a musical ability to interpret, write, and sing hit songs. He also had The X Factor- Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, & Talent- Star Quaility.

But there are currently, at least 10 guys all over the country in Journey cover bands making a lot of money apeing Steve Perry. Including:

Kevin Chalfant
Hugo Valenti
Perry Stevens
Dave Alcantar
http://davealcantarmusic.biz/
Journey Mike
Danny Gagliano
Jeremy Hunsicker
And more, much more!

And these are just the ones we know about. All of these guys seem like professional musicians- so why haven't they "made it" on their own with their own music? All of them are talented, can write music, can sing, all have worked with much bigger names. What's holding them back? I know the music business is rough. And honestly, have you heard of any other popular musician today thats mainstream that sounds like Steve Perry? It can't just be because times and music styles have changed. Good music and good singing are good music and good singing. It shouldn't matter if it's rock or pop or R&B or soul.

That you even know their names puts them far ahead of most who try.

Final Frontiers wrote:so why haven't they "made it" on their own with their own music? All of them are talented, can write music, can sing, all have worked with much bigger names. What's holding them back? I know the music business is rough..

"Making it" is so much more than just having "it"... it's marketing, momentum, timing, AND that "it" factor coming together at once.


Of all the singers you've listed, and including Arnel.. Perry still bests them all by having the best combination of:

as a singer: range, vibrato use & control, creating lyrical melody, emoting, dynamics, phrasing, articulation and timing.

as a writer: Perry did a magnificent job at marrying lyrics to his vocals, phonetically brilliant. Having Cain around didn't hurt either..

While "Good Morning Girl" may not be a favorite of folks who prefer the Escape era stuff.. its a great illustration of Perry's ability to weave together lyric and voice, and make it look so easy anyone could do it.

I know at least ONE of those guys that hasn't done a Journey tribute show since 2012 ...

Why did I do a Journey tribute show instead of trying to "make it" as an original act?

Personally, I played in bar bands since I was 16 years old, and when I hit 30, I got tired of playing shitty music for the same 150 people that wanted to hear "Hemorrhage" or "Cumbersome" or "Get Down On It" every weekend.

People always said I sounded just like Steve Perry, so we added a shitload of Journey songs in our set, and one day decided to just do a whole Journey show to see how it went over.

I didn't want to keep playing in bars into my 30s and because we could pull it off well, and because the songbook was so strong and so beloved, we got more and more bookings for the Journey tribute gig. It wasn't about getting famous or making money, it was about having fun performing songs that genuinely moved people.

Within 5 years, Jon Cain heard us performing "Lights" on YouTube and 5 weeks later I was in California with the band, being introduced to everyone as the "New lead singer of Journey," and writing songs with the band.

Everyone knows things didn't work out between Neal and myself ... the internet called me a cover band singer who couldn't hack performing on the road and had no ability to write music on my own.

So I was misguided and wanted to prove people wrong - Neal Schon, the people online who said I couldn't have hacked it in Journey, the people who said I couldn't write any original music ... so I basically sunk my life savings into touring with Frontiers full time, paid all the members out of my pocket, and set out to prove that I could hack it on the road.

That's why I did what I did. It was misguided and done for the wrong reasons - to prove things to people who mattered so very little to anything in my life ... just to say I could hack touring and performing on the road 18 days a month, 12 months a year, all over the country. And while we were playing some of the top rooms in the country, we also did a lot of small, shitty gigs that didn't make any money at all just to stay "full time," with inadequate equipment, ridiculous routing decisions, and where getting stiffed for even one gig "should" have sent us home for good. I was so tied into it financially it reached a point that I had no idea how I would ever get out of it.

"Luckily," I got gassed by a chemical fog machine at the start of a 9 day stretch on July 1st, 2011. Performing for the next month with hemorrhaged vocal cords led to permanent sulcus and multiple surgeries.

Thankfully when I recovered from surgery I didn't sound like Steve Perry anymore. My voice was different - fundamentally changed forever from the combination of the hemorrhaged vocal cord and 2 surgeries within a 6 week period.

So in the end, I pretty much "did" what I set out to do ... prove that I could leave my family and tour (Neal), proof that I could perform endless concerts on end in any condition (internet naysayers) and proof through my contribution to Revelation and the critical success of my solo CD that I could write (having written with Neal Schon, Jon Cain, and John Spinks of The Outfield) ... so at the end of it I realized I achieved all that, and it really didn't mean a fucking thing in the big picture.

So now I own my own successful business doing something I've loved my entire life, and I still have fun playing music, singing, playing guitar, and messing around with one of the greatest songbooks in American rock and roll history (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers) with absolutely no pressure at all.

So that's the end game - the "win" for me, out of all of it.

Can't speak for anyone else on that list though.

Of that list, only Kevin & Hugo have had some minor success in the niche world of AOR. Jeremey's album was well-received. I don't really know the other guys.

Jeremey wrote:So now I own my own successful business doing something I've loved my entire life, and I still have fun playing music, singing, playing guitar, and messing around with one of the greatest songbooks in American rock and roll history (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers) with absolutely no pressure at all.

How did you go from sales to having your own copy-writing company, Jeremey? You've always been an articulate writer on the forum. Never had you pegged as a wordsmith tho.

The_Noble_Cause wrote:How did you go from sales to having your own copy-writing company, Jeremey? You've always been an articulate writer on the forum. Never had you pegged as a wordsmith tho.

I've always been a writer, and I have a degree in English ... but I also spent 10 years in sales as well. So that was a pretty good background to begin with. After I got off the rock and roll train to nowhere I knew I didn't want to go back to working for a corporation and so I started finding writing gigs online for copywriting ... I basically taught myself the basics of copywriting over the next year and with the results I got I was able to grow my business really quickly. I have stopped freelancing completely and now work on retainer for a small handful of clients.

Funny, at the end of my sales career around 2006 or so I was seriously trying to get into copywriting but my full time sales job was holding me back. Plus at that time the world of online marketing was still relatively new and it was a lot harder to try to be a copywriter in a local town like where I live versus working with people all over the world like I do now with my online business.

Jeremey wrote:

The_Noble_Cause wrote:How did you go from sales to having your own copy-writing company, Jeremey? You've always been an articulate writer on the forum. Never had you pegged as a wordsmith tho.

I've always been a writer, and I have a degree in English ... but I also spent 10 years in sales as well. So that was a pretty good background to begin with. After I got off the rock and roll train to nowhere I knew I didn't want to go back to working for a corporation and so I started finding writing gigs online for copywriting ... I basically taught myself the basics of copywriting over the next year and with the results I got I was able to grow my business really quickly. I have stopped freelancing completely and now work on retainer for a small handful of clients.

Funny, at the end of my sales career around 2006 or so I was seriously trying to get into copywriting but my full time sales job was holding me back. Plus at that time the world of online marketing was still relatively new and it was a lot harder to try to be a copywriter in a local town like where I live versus working with people all over the world like I do now with my online business.

Cool. Thanks. I did copywriting for TV and radio in the past and recently submitted a short story to a magazine that pays pretty well. It's something I enjoy, but hard when you have a 9-5, plus other ongoing concerns.

I'm only familiar with a handful of those names, and I wouldn't call them Perryoake singers. I would guess that – aside from obvious talent – it's the timing, who you know and who knows you that plays a big part in level of success.

As far as those who are full time cover band singers, with silly names like Perry Stevens....merit speaks louder for those who pave the road than those who simply drive on it.

Art Vandelay wrote:I would guess that – aside from obvious talent – it's the timing, who you know and who knows you that plays a big part in level of success.

...and timing is a big factor. Both The Storm (Chalfant) and Valentine (Hugo) hit right at the end of the melodic rock phase in the US. Whether they had a chance or not, the changeover to grunge pretty much killed it right there.

There's a lot of things that play into success....and talent is pretty close to the bottom of the list. Doesn't matter how good of a singer you are if the band never gets promoted. Look how close we came to never having Perry sing lead vocals on an album. There are loads of good, maybe even great, singers who never even got the record deal and went to other paths.

Kind of weirds me out reading this stuff Jeremey. I have come to the conclusion that everyone travels the path they do to get to where it is they are supposed to be. Seems like you were traveling down the band's road and it's like you took that road and another for "misguided and for the wrong reasons" because it truly sounds like you got turned around there and staggered into some places you weren't supposed to be. But it turned out all good and you learned alot from the experience down the rabbit hole. Yeah, you had to do it to learn why you shouldn't do it. Funny I think. Experience is a great teacher. All rabbit holes look the same even if you discover once you are in it that Alice doesn't live there anymore just keep an eye on what you drink or what pill you swallow because we all come out of the experience a bit wiser and a lot different but still the same. Life is funny that way. Glad you are doing fine. I think you're a wise and very talented man.

Marabelle wrote:Kind of weirds me out reading this stuff Jeremey. I have come to the conclusion that everyone travels the path they do to get to where it is they are supposed to be. Seems like you were traveling down the band's road and it's like you took that road and another for "misguided and for the wrong reasons" because it truly sounds like you got turned around there and staggered into some places you weren't supposed to be. But it turned out all good and you learned alot from the experience down the rabbit hole. Yeah, you had to do it to learn why you shouldn't do it. Funny I think. Experience is a great teacher. All rabbit holes look the same even if you discover once you are in it that Alice doesn't live there anymore just keep an eye on what you drink or what pill you swallow because we all come out of the experience a bit wiser and a lot different but still the same. Life is funny that way. Glad you are doing fine. I think you're a wise and very talented man.

Thanks Marabelle ... my post started out as "why I became a Journey tribute singer," then kind of transformed into a "why I got out of being a Journey tribute singer" ... "wiser and a lot different but still the same ..." - how very true that is!