Neal Schon

Best known as Journey's co-founder and longtime guitarist, Neal Schon has been the band's only consistent member, delivering earworm riffs and soaring leads to melodic hard rock fans for over four decades. From his early days with Santana to his stints with AOR rockers Bad English and Hardline, Schon's virtuosic guitar playing and pop sensibilities have yielded massive commercial success. Iconic songs like "Don't Stop Believin'," "Any Way You Want It," "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)," and "Wheel in the Sky" have become staples of classic rock radio. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with his Journey bandmates in 2017, Schon continues to lead the group into the next decade, releasing their 15th studio album, Freedom, in 2022. Neal Schon was born February 27, 1954, at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma; a child prodigy, he joined Santana at age 17, making his debut on 1971's III LP. In 1973 Schon co-founded Journey with fellow Santana alum Gregg Rolie; However, the group's early records favored a largely instrumental, progressive rock-influenced approach, with the 1978 addition of frontman Steve Perry their commercial fortunes ascended as slick hard rock hits like "Wheel in the Sky," "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'," and "Anyway You Want It" became FM radio staples. In 1981, Schon teamed with keyboardist Jan Hammer for the jazz fusion-inspired Untold Passion; that same year, Journey achieved mega-stardom with the release of the chart-topping Escape, which yielded the Top Ten hits "Who's Crying Now," "Open Arms," and "Don't Stop Believin'." A second collaboration with Hammer, Here to Stay, followed in 1983, with Schon soon rejoining Journey for the smash Frontiers; however, despite the success of 1986's Raised on Radio, he left the band in 1989, recording the solo effort Late Nite before forming the supergroup Bad English with singer John Waite. After two LPs, Bad English imploded, and in late 1993, he joined the reformed Journey, issuing the million-selling Trial by Fire and going on tour. Schon released the acoustic solo outing Beyond the Thunder two years later, setting the stage for a string of wide-ranging efforts like Electric World (1997), Piranha Blues (1999), and Voice (2001), before heading back into the studio with a re-tooled Journey lineup and issuing Arrival, the first Journey LP to feature new lead vocalist Steve Augeri. Schon added the all-instrumental I On U to his solo repertoire in 2005, with Journey delivering Generations later that year. Augeri left the fold shortly thereafter, making room for Filipino vocalist Arnel Pineda, who Schon discovered online performing a remarkably assured and very Steve Perry-esque version of the band's hit ballad "Faithfully." Pineda made his studio debut the following year on Revelation, which became the first Journey album to go platinum in decades. During this time, Schon maintained a steady solo output, delivering primarily instrumental releases (The Calling, So U, Vortex, and Universe) that focused on his deft playing and compositional skills. 2016 saw Schon join the surviving members from the early-'70s lineup of Santana (Carlos Santana, Gregg Rolie, Mike Carabello, and Michael Shrieve) for Santana IV, and in 2017 Journey was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Despite enduring a series of internal conflicts and legal disputes with longtime Journey keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Jonathan Cain, the band continued to tour and release new material, issuing their 15th long-player, Freedom, in 2022. Journey Through Time, a concert LP featuring Schon, Gregg Rolie, Deen Castronovo, Marco Mendoza, and John Varn performing a set that leaned heavily on material from Journey's first three albums, appeared the following year. ~ James Christopher Monger & Jason Ankeny, Rovi