Neal Schon Says Jonathan Cain Has Quit Journey

There's apparently been a shake up with Journey. Neal Schon says longtime bandmate Jonathan Cain quit after years of quarreling.

Cain has been in the lineup since 1981's diamond-selling U.S. chart-topping Escape album. Journey will continue according to Schon, the group's lone remaining co-founding member. "Jonathan Cain announced his farewell to Journey tonight," Schon said in a social media post. "I'm nowhere near done!"

Schon had already mentioned plans to tour again in 2026, after Journey took a rare year off from the road. Their most recent album was 2022's Freedom. Cain was also a key songwriting presence on 1983's six-times platinum Frontiers, 1986's two-million-selling Raised on Radio and 1996's platinum comeback Trial by Fire.

Along the way, Cain wrote or co-wrote most of Journey's best-known songs, topped by the No. 2 hit "Open Arms" and their signature song, "Don't Stop Believin.'" But his relationship with Schon became fraught more recently and their arguments often led into the courtroom.

It's unclear who might replace Cain on the road. "Journey has so much more life ahead!" Schon added. "I'm sure we will have a great tour!" He's also promising more new music in the future.

This lineup change hasn't yet been confirmed by Cain. Instead, he released a promo video this morning for a new tribute single called "No One Else" that's dedicated to the late activist Charlie Kirk. He'd presumably focus on this tandem solo career, which has focused on faith music since Cain became active again with 2016's What God Wants to Hear. "He wants to do his ministry," Schon said in a follow-up message.

When Did Jonathan Cain Join Journey?

Journey was selling millions of albums before Cain joined in 1980. Then they started selling millions and millions and millions. Weaving in ideas from both Steve Perry and Schon, Journey issued their first, second, and third gold-selling Top 10 singles over just a few months in the early '80s.

"Coming from an artistic side, everybody's got ideas and everybody thinks their idea is the best one," Cain's former Babys and Bad English bandmate Ricky Phillips said in Journey: Worlds Apart, "but Jonathan unquestionably, undeniably had really good, solid ideas — especially for the time. The first Journey record — in fact, the first couple he did — definitely proved that."

Their U.S. Top 10 hits together included "Who's Crying Now," "Faithfully," "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)," "Only the Young" and "Be Good to Yourself." Cain also co-wrote 1996's platinum-selling "When You Love a Woman," Journey's most recent Top 20 single.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I was going to be able to create this kind of lasting longevity when it comes to writing," Cain told UCR. "I'm most proud of my songwriting and my relationship with Steve [Perry], and how we were able to craft these songs with Neal that mean so much to so many people. That's pretty overwhelming to think about."]

Jonathan Cain's Career Before Journey

Cain survived a 1958 fire at Our Lady of the Angels School that took the lives of three nuns and 92 of his schoolmates before attending the Chicago Conservatory of Music at Roosevelt University. He eventually made his way west, like so many dreamers. Cain landed an early record deal, which led to a minor hit single with "Til It's Time to Say Goodbye" and a 1976 turn on Dick Clark's American Bandstand.

He initially recorded as Johnny Lee, before finding out that a country singer was already using that name. Cain fashioned the pseudonym that stuck after a clothier's sign he saw at a red light — Michael Bain on Sunset Boulevard toward Laurel Canyon. The famous border radio rock DJ Wolfman Jack took an interest in Cain, but his debut album, Windy City Breakdown, went nowhere.

"I got kind of sick of the music business for a while," Cain told the San Bernardino County Sun, "and I went and I sold stereos and I worked as a warehouseman, a forklift operator, and that kind of stuff." Songwriting eventually led him back to music, then to the Babys.

Watch Journey Perform "Don't Stop Believin'"

Jonathan Cain's Relationship With Journey Changes

He shifted to his next band after a two-album stint that also included an opening slot on tour with Journey. (He would join other former members of the Babys and Journey in Bad English during a subsequent hiatus.) "I've said this often: If Jonathan Cain had not been my replacement," departing Journey co-founder Gregg Rolie told Mixdown, "and without his writing skills, I don't think they would have gone on to do half the things they did."

By then, Cain had built a sensibility, one where real people's stories — their concerns, hopes and dreams — drove his narratives. He was already a brilliant melodicist. Cain always gave credit to his father, who'd once bolstered his flagging enthusiasm by saying: "Don't stop believin.'"

Sweet though his songs may be, Cain also had a tough-minded sensibility. His tangles with Schon, both personal and legal, became legendary. But, for several years now, Cain has steeled himself and continued touring with Journey, whatever the backstage drama. He'd already been through so much as a young person.

"When you overcome tragedy, it makes you better in so many ways," Cain said in Journey: Worlds Apart. "It seems when that's when God shines, and he blesses us in the biggest ways. Something usually tragic has to happen and all of a sudden, change can turn into a miracle."

Nick DeRiso is author of the Amazon best-selling rock band bio 'Journey: Worlds Apart,' available now at all major bookseller websites.