Former Journey singer Robert Fleischman recently talked about his short time with the band. He said he left after six months because the record label wanted Steve Perry as the new singer. The label had been supporting Perry’s music and made the band an offer they couldn’t refuse. They promised more money, better radio play, a producer, and tour support if they chose Perry.
“Because CBS had this guy, this A&R guy that was putting in money and paying for Steve Perry’s demos,” he revealed. “So Steve Perry was championed by this A&R guy called Herby and told him that if you take Steve, we’ll give you a bigger budget, we’ll get you more radio play, we’ll get you a producer, and will tour support if you take Steve. So it was like The Godfather, ‘I’ll make you a deal that you can’t refuse,’ or something like that. That’s what basically happened.”
At first, the band was upset, but Fleischman admitted that their manager, Herbie Herbert, knew how to make smart business decisions. He praised Herbert for helping Journey become successful. Fleischman was proud of the work he did with the band and was happy they kept the sound he helped create.
“When that happened, the band was kind of pissed off a bit but Herby Herbert was quite a manager and he could sell ice cubes to Eskimos. He was just a great manager and he did what he needed to do to get the band to where it was. I’m really happy and fortunate enough to have had quite a large play in the whole structure of that band sound and everything like that. So I’m glad that they continued in that fashion that I implemented.”
Later, he found out that Herbert didn’t like him and thought he was too confident. Fleischman didn’t take it personally, saying most lead singers have big personalities. He still respected Herbert and credited him for making Journey a huge success.
“I liked Herbie but later I found out he didn’t like me. He thought I was cocky,” the singer revealed earlier. “But name me one lead singer who’s not a little cocky?”
Fleischman added, “I was always professional, but I do think he was a great
manager. He was ambitious, he put the band on the map, he sold them like a candy bar. Who wouldn’t wanna manager like that?”
After Fleischman and Perry, Journey has had Arnel Pineda as their lead singer since 2007. Pineda once asked fans if they wanted him to leave, but they made it clear they wanted him to stay.
