Journey’s Steve Perry Says New Single Featuring Late Father Is a ‘Holiday Miracle’

Lauren Novak November 26, 4:14 pm

2017 Inductee Steve Perry of Journey speaks onstage at the 32nd Annual Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony at Barclays Center on April 7, 2017 in New York City. The event will broadcast on HBO Saturday, April 29, 2017 at 8:00 pm ET/PT — Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Former Journey frontman Steve Perry just released a very special new song, just in time for the holidays. The 75-year-old released a new cover of the Bobby Darin song “Call Me Irresponsible,” featuring vocals from his late estranged father, Ray Perry. He used new technology to pull his dad’s voice off of a cassette tape that was recorded on a karaoke machine in 1993. Then, the voices were put together into a duet.

Steve wanted to cover this particular song because he said his father used to sing it to him as a child, and it helped instill a love of music in him at a young age. He shared, “Though my father is no longer with me, he is with me on this song, and we are together once again, doing something we always dreamed about doing. This all came from a cassette my father sent me back in 1993 for the holidays. It was him singing into a karaoke machine. I thought the tape was lost, but I recently found this cassette and was able to build a beautiful track around him so I could sing with him. This was my holiday miracle.”

Unfortunately, things weren’t always so great between the father and son. He explained that his parents got divorced when he was only 7 years old and he didn’t see much of his father after that. Steve added, “Singing with my father after all these years was a very emotional experience. His voice was just as I remembered it as a child. … To hear him speak again brought tears to my eyes.” His father passed away in 1998 at the age of 79 due to natural causes.

Steve Perry of Journey performing at the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Illinois, May 21, 1982

Paul Natkin/Getty Images

Steve also released an emotional music video for the song, which follows his relationship with his dad through animations. The song is included on his new holiday album titled The Season 3, recorded mainly at his home studio. It is an extended version of his 2021 holiday album The Season.

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“It was really interesting and also emotionally powerful because I was by myself singing these melodies and I would sort of drift into memories of my childhood very easily, with no distractions,” he concluded. “That was part of what made this record special to me.”