A phenomenal digital birthday card to legendary JOURNEY founder Neal Schon featuring heartfelt greetings from his stunning wife Michaele along with Jonathan Cain, Brad Paisley, Randy Jackson, Narada Michael Walden, Sammy Hagar, Steve Lukather, Steve Vai, Arnel Pineda, Scott Hamilton, Zakk Wylde, Joe Bonamassa, Jason Derlatka, Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson and Jack Blades can be seen below.
Schon, who was born in Midwest City, Oklahoma on February 27, 1954 to Matthew and Barbara Schon, turns 67 on Saturday.
Neal founded JOURNEY in 1972 and has been the only consistent member, having participated in every album and tour to date. He is a Grammy-nominated guitarist, songwriter and vocalist who was also a member of SANTANA and has performed with a variety of other acts, including BAD ENGLISH, JAN HAMMER and HSAS. He has released 10 solo albums, including his latest, “Vortex”. His guitar style has been described as soulful and melodic, admired by such fellow legends as Eric Clapton and Prince, who reportedly asked for Schon‘s blessing to release “Purple Rain”, which echoed a similar sound to JOURNEY‘s “Faithfully”.
This past December, Schon released his long-awaited new solo album, “Universe”. The effort, which was produced by current JOURNEY drummer Narada Michael Walden, had been in the works for several years.
JOURNEY‘s worldwide sales have reached over 100 million records, making them one of the world’s best-selling bands of all time, with a wide selection of chart-topping hits like “Don’t Stop Believin'”, “Open Arms”, “Lights”, “Faithfully” and “When You Love A Woman”, among others.
Last week, “Don’t Stop Believin'” surpassed one billion listens on Spotify. The song, which originally appeared on JOURNEY‘s 1981 album “Escape”, joins the QUEEN classic “Bohemian Rhapsody” as the only songs to have reached the milestone. “Don’t Stop Believin'” is also the top-selling digital download of a track not originally released in this century, with over seven million copies of “Escape” sold in the United States alone.
