Journey's New Frontman

Since in the 80's, Journey has been one of my favorite bands. Melodic riffs and Steve Perry's high-pitched crooning were more than enough to capture my attention and keep it for the past several decades.

Journey formed in 1973 and released several lukewarm albums in the first couple years. But it wasn't until Steve Perry came onto the scene in 1977 as Journey's lead vocalist that the band really started to skyrocket. The following year Journey's fourth album, Infinity, gave the band its first platinum record and several hit singles.

From 1977 to 1983, Journey continued to be a success thanks to the direction of Perry and lead guitarist Neal Schon. But creative differences plagued the band. Perry and Schon both pursued solo careers throughout the mid-80's and Perry left the band in 1987.

Since that time, Journey has tried to replace Perry with several leads, but each failed to give audiences what they desired. Finally in June 2007, Neal Schon discovered a Filipino singer, Arnel Pineda, online.

Pineda at the time was the lead singer for a cover band called The Zoo. The Zoo performed cover songs by Journey, Survivor, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Air Supply, The Eagles, Kenny Loggins and other popular acts from the 70s, 80s and 90s, began appearing on YouTube.com early in 2007. Schon contacted Pineda via e-mail who initially dismissed it as a hoax. Eventually the two connected and Pineda was announced as Journey's new lead vocalist in December 2007.

Who says that broadcasting yourself on YouTube can't be valuable?

So what do you think? Does Pineda sound like Perry?