He had a Fender Rhodes (piano) and a little four-track cassette player, and so after we exchanged pleasantries and kind of kicked things around, I said, “Well, I’ve got a little something I want to play you, Steve,” because I thought, “Let's just cut to the chase here, see if this is going to work or not.” So, I start playing the little vamp and then he starts singing a little bit, you know. And hey! I drive up in my little Geo Metro or whatever I rented and I’ve got my corduroy pants on and English riding cap, and Steve comes to the door in a red jumpsuit with hair down to his knees.Īnyway, we hit it off right away and I went in and he had a little setup in a room. That way when I meet with him and we honestly get together and start writing, it'll either work or we can both dust our hands off and (I can) say, 'Hey, I met Steve Perry,' have a cup of coffee, wow, you know."īut what I did was I went to the piano and I started this little vamp, which ended up being the intro to “Foolish Heart.” And so I drive up to his house - he rented a little house in Studio City, California - the next morning at 11 o'clock. I don't know why he called me. I haven't really written anything to date that sounds Journey-like.” And I thought, "Maybe he thought I was Randy Bachman." No, I'm only kidding. I didn't want to go in and (start with) something that sounds like him, (something) he and John (Cain) and Neal (Schon) would write. I said, “I'm just going to give him a piece of what I do. So, of course, my subsequent phone call was to the airlines. His friend told him a couple of my songs I had written and Steve said, “Oh yeah, I like those.” So, he calls me up and he says, “When can you be in LA?” And I said, “Tomorrow.” And so, he said, “11 o'clock,” and I said, “I'll be right there.” A mutual friend of (ours) had said, "Steve, you really need to write with this guy Randy Goodrum."īart Herbison: You didn’t know each other then? Because now, you're lifelong friends. Randy Goodrum: I got a phone call from Steve when I was living in Connecticut and I wasn’t living in LA yet. Goodrum recalled their first collaboration in an interview with Bart Herbison of Nashville Songwriters Association International. The two ended up writing together on the majority of Perry's hit 1984 solo album, "Street Talk." The first to come out of their meeting was "Foolish Heart." Whatever reason Perry had, it was the right call to make. Goodrum, in fact, was perplexed as to why the rock singer sought him out, joking that he may have mistaken him for Randy Bachman. They're now lifelong friends, but when Journey frontman Steve Perry called up songwriter Randy Goodrum to ask him to write songs with him, the two had never met.
This Top 10 Steve Perry songs list will take a look at the three solo albums Steve Perry has released along with the material form his unreleased album that was eventually issued on his Greatest Hits package.Watch Video: Story Behind the Song: 'Foolish Heart' and 'Oh Sherrie' We will not be covering the great work he did with Journey. This article, the Top 10 Steve Perry Songs from his solo albums will look at just that. However, we just wanted to say that we really missed Steve Perry and we wish we had more Steve Perry solo material to listen to. It’s none of our business why he left, and it’s not the topic of this article. The only disappointment we have ever had with Steve Perry was his disappearance from the music business for over twenty years. Nonetheless, no one has ever sounded like Steve Perry. Yet Steve Perry seemed to have that extra gear that maybe only Freddie Mercury could have reached in range. Names like Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, Ann Wilson of Heart, Roger Daltrey of The Who and Freddie Mercury of Queen have all recorded amazing vocal performances. Can you name a rock and roll vocalist with more range and who has ever sung with more human emotion than Steve Perry? There have been many incredibly gifted rock and roll singers with great range and emotion.