Neal Schon
- Actor
- Composer
- Producer
Neal Schon was born in Midwest City, Oklahoma on February 27th, 1954 to
Matthew and Barbara Schon. Neal dropped out of school when he was 15 to
join Carlos Santana's rock group
Santana. Four years later
Carlos Santana and his band split
up, so Neal and Gregg Rolie formed
Journey.
Journey released its self-titled debut
album in 1975. Journey then released "Look Into the Future" (1976) and
"Next" in (1977). Records weren't selling well and the band was told to
get a lead singer so they brought in
Steve Perry. With Steve they
released the album "Infinity" in 1978. Infinity was followed up by
"Evolution" (1979) and "Departure" (1980). Also released in 1980 was a
compilation album of earlier works called "In the Beginning". Also in
1980 the band went to Japan to record a soundtrack for the movie,
"Dream After Dream". In 1981 the live album "Captured" was released.
Greg Rolie left after the release of the album "Departure" so
keyboardist Jonathan Cain was
brought in for the 1981 release of "Escape". "Escape" was
Journey's biggest record and the single
"Open Arms" went to #2 on the charts. Also in 1981 Neal teamed up with
Jan Hammer for the album "Untold
Passion". Again in 1982 Neal teamed up with
Jan Hammer for an album called "Here
To Stay". In 1983 "Frontiers" was released and
Journey was named the most popular rock
group in America. After "Frontiers" the band split for a while. Neal
formed HSAS with Sammy Hagar and in 1984
they released an album called "Through the Fire". In 1986
Journey, without bassist
Ross Valory and drummer
Steve Smith, and released the
album "Raised on Radio". In 1988 Neal helped form the group Bad
English. Bad English released their self-titled debut album in 1989.
Neal also released his album "Late Nite" in 1989. In 1991 Bad English
released their second album, "Backlash". In 1992 Neal joined Hardline
for the album "Double Eclipse". Neal released seven solo albums, "Late
Night", "Beyond the Thunder", "Electric World", "Piranha Blues",
"Voice","i on u", and "The Calling" (2012). A
Journey reunion of band members Schon,
Jonathan Cain,
Steve Perry,
Ross Valory, and
Steve Smith happened for the
1996 album "Trial By Fire". In 1997 Neal released his album "Electric
World." In 1998 Steve Perry was
replaced with Steve Augeri as Journey's
new lead singer after the band waited almost two years for him to fix
his hip. Steve Perry and
Journey debuted together on the
_Armageddon (1998)_ soundtrack with the song "Remember Me". 2001 saw
the release of the Journey record
"Arrival". Neal discovered Journey's current lead vocalist,
Arnel Pineda, on YouTube, in 2007. Neal
released his fifth solo album, "The Calling", in 2012 and will release
"So You" in 2014. Neal has five children: Miles, Lizzy, Sarah, Aja and
Sophia. He became engaged to Michaele Salahi on October 14, 2012, and
they were married on December 15,2013 in San Francisco, California.
