In a piece that aired this weekend on "CBS Sunday Morning," Perry, now 69, told host Tracy Smith why he left his band, his heartbreak over girlfriend Kellie Nash's death, and what moved him to release "Traces," his first album in two decades.
Although an injured hip was part of the reason he split from Journey in the '90s, Perry said the decision had more to do with how he felt in his heart.
"It became a group decision, major surgery, and I wasn't very happy about that," Perry said. "So I chose to put it off and decided when to do it, and they checked out some other singers, and we went our separate ways."
And he didn't just leave the band; he left music entirely, not even singing.
His life changed for the better when he met his girlfriend, Kellie Nash, who had stage 4 cancer. They were together for a year and a half before she died in 2012.
"One night she said that, 'If something was to ever happen to me, promise that you won't go back into isolation, for I think that would make this all for naught,'" he said. "I had to make the promise, and I said, 'I promise.'"
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