Ever since lead singer Steve Perry injured his hip in 1996, legendary '80s rock band Journey hasn't been the same. Singers Steve Augeri and Jeff Scott Soto tried filling Perry's big shoes (and tight jeans), but the band's success never reached its previous heights and Journey was relegated to a feel-good nostalgia act.
Thirty-three years after its birth, Journey is getting a second wind from an unexpected place. In December, the band signed on new lead vocalist Arnel Pineda, a Filipino singer who they found leading a Manila cover band on YouTube. Six months later, the band has kicked off a tour of Europe and the U.S. and released Revelation, a new album featuring original songs and re-recorded classics that has already shot up to the fifth highest-selling album in the U.S. since its debut two weeks ago.
How Journey found Pineda is a Cinderella tale of the Internet era. After the band dismissed Soto last June for unspecified reasons, guitarist Neal Schon turned to the Web in search of talent. After two days of surfing on YouTube, he came upon clips of Pineda singing with his band, The Zoo, and nailing all the right notes in the toughest Survivor, Queen and Journey power ballads. “I heard his voice and my eyes got big," says Schon, who has been with Journey since its inception in 1975. “I thought, he can't be that good." Schon left his house, took a spin on his motorcycle to clear his head, and then contacted Pineda. At first, the singer thought the email was a hoax. “I didn't think the real Neal Schon would call a guy like me," says Pineda. “I'm just a guy from the Philippines." Four months later, Pineda signed on as Journey's new lead singer. “I've been waiting for this moment to come for 25 years," he says. “It's like shooting to the moon."
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