If you paid me this kind of money to do nothing, I would keep doing nothing. Steve Perry hasn't been the lead singer of Journey for 23 years. But it turns out he still makes a ton of money when they go on tour.
The current members of Journey have been wrapped up in a lawsuit. And it's brought out some details about the deal Steve made when he left in 1997.
Basically, he co-owned the rights to the name "Journey" along with guitarist Neal Schon and keyboardist Jonathan Cain. And he relinquished those rights when he quit, but got a lot in return. Check this out . . .
For their first two tours without him, he got 50% of what Neal or Jon made, whichever was higher. Then he got 25% for their third tour, and 12.5% for EVERY tour after that.
That includes any profits they've made from ticket sales, merchandise, and sponsorships. And he made the same deal for any albums they release. So he still makes money on those.
Since Steve left the band, they've released four albums and an EP. And they've toured a lot. Their "Eclipse Tour" alone ran from 2011 to 2017 . . . included 232 shows . . . and was the longest-running tour they've ever done.
