Why did Steve Perry of Journey split the group?
“In May 1998 Steve Perry announced that he was officially leaving Journey. The split came in the wake of a conversation between Perry and Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain in which it was decided that, if Perry’s health issues prohibited him from committing to a tour at that time, Cain and original Journey guitarist Neil Schon would reform the band with a new singer. Drummer Steve Smith also left Journey The health issues involved a hip replacement. More recently, Perry sais this, “So the Journey thing is over, right? The divorce is final. Back when that happened, it was January of 1998. October is when I had the hip replacement, but January is when I got the ultimatum that they had been checking out other singers. That made it pretty personal.” Shame isn’t it. He has a hell of a voice.