Journey is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1973. The band has gone through several phases since its inception by former members of Santana. The band’s greatest commercial success came in the late 1970s through the early 1980s with a series of power ballads and songs such as “Don’t Stop Believin’“, “Any Way You Want It”, “Faithfully”, “Open Arms”, “Separate Ways”, and “Wheel in the Sky“.
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 Neal Schon on lead guitar and Gregg Rolie on keyboards and lead vocals. Drummer Prairie Prince of The Tubes, bassist Ross Valory and rhythm guitarist George Tickner, both of Frumious Bandersnatch, rounded out the group. 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, roadie John Villaneuva 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 Aynsley Dunbar, who had recently worked with John Lennon and Frank Zappa.
In the fall of 1977, Journey hired Steve Perry as their new lead singer. Perry added a clean, tenor sound and the band became a true pop act. Drummer Aynsley Dunbar did not get along with singer Steve Perry and did not approve of the new musical direction. He was fired in 1978 and replaced by Berklee-trained jazz drummer Steve Smith.
Exhausted from extensive touring, keyboardist Gregg Rolie now left a successful band for the second time in his career. Keyboardist Stevie “Keys” Roseman was brought in to record the lone studio track for Captured, “The Party’s Over (Hopelessly in Love),” but Rolie recommended pianist Jonathan Cain of The Babys as the permanent replacement. With Cain’s replacement of Rolie’s Hammond B-3 organ with his own synthesizers, the band was poised to redefine rock music for a new decade in which they would achieve their greatest musical success.
Wheel in the Sky
http://djallyn.org/media/journey-wheel_in_the_sky.flvWinter is here, again, Oh Lord
Haven’t been home in a year or more
I hope she holds on a little longer
Sent a letter on a long summer day
Made of silver, not of clay
Ooh I’ve been runnin’ down this dusty roadThe wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’
I don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’I’ve been trying to make it home
Got to make it, before too long
Ooh, I can’t take this very much longer, no
I’m stranded, in the sleet and rain
Don’t think I’m ever gonna make it home again
The mornin’ sun is risin’
It’s kissin’ the day awayOh, the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’
I don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’
wohohohohoh mymymy For tomorrowOh the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’
Ooh I don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow
Wheel in the sky keeps me yernin’
Ooh I don’t know I don’t knowOh the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’
Ooh I don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow
Wheel in the sky keeps turnin’
Ooh I don’t know I don’t know I don’t knowohoh
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’
Don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow
Ooh the wheel in the sky keeps turnin’
Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin’
- Audio from 1988 Journey’s Greatest Hits album:
(96)