Former Journey singer Steve Perry bummed out a lot of fans when he didn't perform with his old band at last week's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. But the singer revealed in an ABC Radio interview that he's prepping new music and that his first solo album in 23 years was inspired by a personal tragedy.
"I have been gone...I kind of went my 'Separate Way,'" Perry said in a not-so-subtle reference to his old band's 1983 hit and his 1998 split with the group. "And I had all kinds of reasons that were important to me to do so. [And] though I've been gone...the fans have always been in my heart."
The silence, which has lasted since his second solo album, For the Love of Strange Medicine, was released way back in 1994, will end soon with a "cathartic" new collection of songs due later this year inspired by a difficult period in his life. "I met someone and I feel in love with this person," he told ABC Radio. "And I lost this person to breast cancer four years ago."
Perry explained that in the midst of the difficult period, "I had written some songs, and before I met her I had sketched some. And so about a year ago, I started recording... Basically the record is an emotional expression, and a reason to make one. It's been a real cathartic experience going back to that emotional place that I thought I would never go back to. And we really have been doing our very best to capture what I think are some timeless songs."
There is no announced release date, or title, for the album.
Source: USA Today