Steve Perry

Stephen Ray Perry (born January 22, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer and frontman of the rock band Journey during their most successful years from 1977 to 1987, and again from 1995 to 1998. He wrote/co-wrote several Journey hit songs, including "Any Way You Want It", "Don't Stop Believin'", "Open Arms", "Who's Crying Now", "Faithfully" and "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)". Perry had a solo career between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s, made sporadic appearances in the 2000s, and returned to music full-time in 2018.

Perry's singing voice has garnered acclaim from prominent musical peers and publications; he has been dubbed The Voice, a moniker originally coined by Jon Bon Jovi. Ranked No. 76 on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Singers of All Time", Perry was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Journey on April 7, 2017.

In August 2023, Perry made the Billboard list of the 50 greatest rock lead singers of all time, coming in at number 30. At the same time, Billboard readers chose Perry as their favorite rock singer of all time, with 67 percent of the overall votes.

Stephen Ray Perry was born in Hanford, California to Portuguese parents from the Azores. He is an only child. Perry grew up interested in music, as his father, Raymond Perry (Pereira), was a vocalist and co-owner of radio station KNGS. Perry's parents ended their relationship when he was eight. He and his mother then moved to his grandparents' dairy farm. They lived in Lemoore, where he attended high school.

On Perry's 12th birthday, his mother, Mary Quaresma, presented him with a gold eighth note pendant; Perry wears the pendant for good luck. At age 12, Perry heard Sam Cooke's song "Cupid" on his mother's car radio; it inspired him to become a singer.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.