We welcome this new music with open arms!
Don't stop believin'... that Steve Perry knows how to rock!
The 69-year-old former Journey frontman released his first new song in 20 years on Wednesday, sharing the heartfelt ballad "No Erasin'" with fans and followers.
"Years ago, I disappeared," wrote Perry, who parted ways with a reunited Journey in 1998, on his Twitter page as he announced the new track. "There were many reasons, but mainly... my love for music had suddenly left me. I knew that simply stopping, was what I had to do. If music was ever to return to my heart. Then and only then I would figure out what to do. If not... so be it. For I had already lived the dream of dreams."
"Many years passed," he continued. "One day, I began sketching some musical ideas with the creative freedom that I was the only one who would ever hear them. One song led to many. My love for music had returned. Then another beautiful thing happened. I found love."
In a 2013 blog post, Perry revealed that he had met and fallen in love with Kellie Nash, a psychologist and breast cancer survivor. The pair began dating as Nash's disease returned as aggressive stage 4 cancer in her lungs and bones and were together through her death in December 2012.
"My precious Kellie gave me a life I never knew I had," Perry continued in his post on Wednesday. "I now deeply understand the meaning of: 'It's better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all."
"May of 2015, I began recording. These songs are special to me. I respectfully ask that you please listen to them and whatever they make you feel, I thank you for listening. Sincerely, Steve Perry."
The new track is part of Perry's upcoming new album, Traces, his first studio effort since 1994's For the Love of Strange Medicine. In April 2017, he appeared with his former Journey members for the first time since 2005, when the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
“We would not be here had it not been for you and your tireless love and consistent devotion," the singer said to fans during his speech. "I have been gone a long time, I understand that. But I want you to know, you’ve never not been in my heart.”
Perry also praised his former Journey bandmates – “I thank you so much for all the music we’ve written and recorded together” – as well as his replacement, Arnel Pineda, “who sings his heart out every night.”
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