The Moment Steve Perry Quit Journey - Jonathan Cain Recalls in New Memoir

If you're a Journey fan, you probably know that Jonathan Cain’s new memoir "Don't Stop Believin': The Man, the Band and the Song That Inspired Generations" will be published on May 1

In the book, Cain recalls the moment singer Steve Perry announced he was leaving Journey. Cain remembers that he and guitarist Neal Schon received a phone call from Steve Perry asking them to meet him near San Francisco's Richardson Bay. Perry told them “Guys, we’re done,”, “We can’t get any bigger. If we keep going, we’re going to end up some classic rock nostalgia band. We’ll end up just being a memory -- a shadow of what we used to be.”

The Journey keyboardist also explains how Perry, who later returned, begged the band not to tour without him after a severe hip injury made it impossible for him to perform in support of the group's 1996 comeback LP Trial By Fire. Reportedly, the singer said “Don’t fracture the stone. I don’t think I can come back if you break it,” Perry hasn't performed with Journey since.

The idea for the memoir had come from Journey bassist Ross Valory. Cain told Rolling Stone, “I'd be on the bus a lot with Ross and often I'd just start reminiscing about my life," he said. "I'd talk about growing up in my Italian neighborhood and going to Dick Clark shows and listening to Wolfman Jack. I think it was Ross that said to me, 'You should write a book.'"