1973–1977: Formation, Journey, Look into the Future and Next

The original members of Journey came together in San Francisco in 1973 under the auspices of former Santana manager Herbie Herbert. Originally called the Golden Gate Rhythm Section and intended to serve as a backup group for established Bay Area artists, the band included Santana alumni Neal Schon on lead guitar and Gregg Rolie on keyboards and lead vocals. Bassist Ross Valory, formerly of both Frumious Bandersnatch and the Steve Miller Band, as well as rhythm guitarist George Tickner of Frumious Bandersnatch rounded out the group. Prairie Prince of The Tubes served as drummer. After one performance in Hawaii, the band quickly abandoned the "backup group" concept and developed a distinctive jazz fusion style. After an unsuccessful radio contest to name the group, roadie John Villanueva suggested the name "Journey".

The band's first public appearance came at the Winterland Ballroom on New Year's Eve 1973 to an audience of 10,000. On the following day, the band flew to Hawaii to perform at the Diamond Head Crater to an audience over 100,000 strong. Prairie Prince rejoined The Tubes shortly thereafter; on February 1, 1974, after auditioning up to 28 drummers, the band hired British drummer Aynsley Dunbar, who had recently worked with David Bowie and had been a member of the second iteration of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention. The new line-up made its debut on February 5, 1974, at the Great American Music Hall in front of Columbia Records executives, and secured a recording contract with the label. The band went on to perform at venues around the Bay Area.

1977–1980: New musical direction, Infinity, Evolution, and Departure

I still think some of the stuff we did then was great. Some of it was self-indulgent, just jamming for ourselves, but I also think a lot of other things hurt us in the early days. It took a while for the politics to sort of shape up.— Neal Schon

As Journey's album sales did not improve, Columbia Records requested that they change their musical style and add a frontman who would share lead vocals with Rolie. The band hired Robert Fleischman and made the transition to a more popular style, akin to that of Foreigner and Boston. Journey went on tour with Fleischman in 1977, opening for bands such as Black Sabbath, Target, Judas Priest, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Fleischman and the rest of the band began writing and rehearsing new songs, including the soon-to-be-popular track "Wheel in the Sky". During a performance before about 100,000 at Soldier Field in Chicago, the band was introduced to Steve Perry. Differences between Fleischman and manager Herbie Herbert resulted in Fleischman's departure from the band in September of that year.

1981–1983: Height of popularity, Escape and Frontiers

With Cain joining as the new keyboard player, the band entered Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California, in late 1980, releasing their seventh studio album, Escape, in July 1981. Escape became their most successful album, charting at number one in the United States. The album had a clutch of hit singles, which included "Who's Crying Now", "Still They Ride", "Open Arms", and "Don't Stop Believin'".

The band began another lengthy yet successful tour on June 12, 1981, supported by opening acts Billy Squier, Greg Kihn Band, Point Blank, and Loverboy, and Journey opened for the Rolling Stones on September 25 in Philadelphia at JFK Stadium. MTV videotaped one of their two sold-out shows at The Summit in Houston on November 6, 1981, in front of over 20,000 fans, later released on DVD.

Following the success of the 1981 tour, the band's full establishment as a corporation, and the formation of a fan club called "Journey Force", the band released "Only Solutions" and "1990s Theme" for the 1982 Disney film, Tron. Schon had also made time to work with Jan Hammer on a few albums. Journey continued touring in 1982 with shows in North America and Japan.

With millions of records, hit singles, and tickets sold, the band entered Fantasy Studios again in the middle of their 1982 tour to record their eighth studio album, Frontiers. Released in February 1983, the band's second-best selling album sold over six million copies, peaking at number two on the Billboard charts, and spawning the hit singles "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)", "Faithfully", "Send Her My Love", and "After the Fall".

1984–1987: Raised on Radio and more personnel changes

After the Frontiers tour, the band took some time off. Lead singer Steve Perry and guitarist Neal Schon both pursued solo projects. In 1984, Perry, with the help of Herbie Herbert, recorded and released his first solo album, Street Talk. Neal Schon toured briefly in 1984 with his supergroup HSAS, in support of their sole album, Through the Fire released that year on Geffen.

When asked if Journey was over because of the selling of their properties at the end of 1984, Neal Schon commented, "No way Journey's ending. We're all too committed to this band to ever let that happen. In fact, one of the reasons we decided to go off in separate directions for a while was to keep the band as strong as ever."

1987–1995: Hiatus

The band went into a hiatus in 1987 following the conclusion of their Raised on Radio tour. Columbia Records released the Greatest Hits compilation in November 1988, which became one of the best-selling greatest-hits albums, selling over 15 million copies and continuing to sell half a million to a million copies per year. The compilation spent 750 weeks on the Billboard album charts until 2008.

While Perry had retreated from the public eye, Schon and Cain spent the rest of 1987 collaborating with artists such as Jimmy Barnes and Michael Bolton before teaming up with Cain's ex-Babys bandmates John Waite and Ricky Phillips to form the supergroup Bad English with drummer Deen Castronovo in 1988, releasing two albums in 1989 and 1991. Steve Smith devoted his time to his jazz bands, Vital Information and Steps Ahead, and teamed up with Ross Valory and original Journey keyboardist Gregg Rolie to create The Storm with singer Kevin Chalfant and guitarist Josh Ramos, along with Herbie Herbert as the band's manager, as he did with Journey with Scott Boorey.

On November 3, 1991, Schon, Cain, and Perry reunited to perform "Faithfully" and "Lights" at the Bill Graham tribute concert Laughter, Love & Music at Golden Gate Park, following the concert promoter's death in a helicopter accident. In October 1993, Schon, Rolie, Valory, Dunbar, Smith, and Cain reunited and performed at a private dinner for their manager Herbie Herbert at Bimbo's in San Francisco, with Kevin Chalfant on lead vocals.

1995–1997: Reunion and Trial by Fire

Perry made the decision to reunite with Journey under the condition that Herbie Herbert would no longer be the band's manager. The band hired Irving Azoff, longtime Eagles manager, as its new manager in October 1995. Steve Smith and Ross Valory reunited with Journey and the band started writing material for their next album, with rehearsals beginning that same month.

The band began recording their 10th studio album, Trial by Fire, in early 1996 at The Site and Wildhorse Studio in Marin County and Ocean Way Recorders, in which they recorded under producer Kevin Shirley. It was released in late October that year, peaking at number three on the Billboard album charts. The album's hit single "When You Love a Woman", which reached number 12 on the Billboard charts, was nominated in 1997 for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The album also produced three top-40 mainstream rock tracks, "Message of Love" reaching number 18, "Can't Tame the Lion" reaching number 33, and "If He Should Break Your Heart" reaching number 38.

Plans for a subsequent tour ended when Perry, troubled by pain while hiking in Hawaii on a 10-day break in August 1996, discovered he had a degenerative bone condition and could not perform without hip-replacement surgery, which for some time he declined to undergo, later admitting he had other physical issues. The accident resulted in the album's release date being delayed.

1998–2007: Lead singer and drummer replaced, Arrival and Generations

Following the reunion album's release, the band was becoming restless waiting for an answer from Perry regarding touring. Following a phone call between Cain and Perry, the latter announced that he would be departing from Journey, releasing himself from the band's contracts and making the decision to semiretire from the music business, disappearing from the public eye again. Steve Smith later exited the band, citing that Journey would not be the same without Perry, and returning to his jazz career and his project Vital Information.