Ex-Journey Lead Singer Steve Perry Calls Off Trial Over Battle to Block Unreleased Music

Getty

Former Journey lead singer Steve Perry is trying to settle his beef with a musician outside of court, and he has called off the trial scheduled for this month.

According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Perry has told the court to take off the court trial scheduled for June 25 in Los Angeles. The musician claims to be trying to hash out a deal with the musician outside of court as they both agreed to personally attend mediation later this month.

Perry sued a musician named Phil Brown who he worked with many years back. He claimed the man was trying to release the never-before-heard tracks and wanted a judge to stop him. Brown demanded the suit be tossed saying he has every right to sell the music.

As The Blast first reported, Perry sued Brown to block him from releasing songs they recorded back in the 1990s. Perry said he met Brown through his manager and they recorded tracks for “demo” purposes on an 8-track tape recorder that Brown had in his garage. Perry says he paid the guy $1,500 to record the songs.

The former Journey frontman claimed the songs were recorded at a low quality and “he did not perform them as he would if the recordings were intended for public release.” Perry says he released his third solo album, “Traces,” in October and it hit the Billboard charts.

Following the release, he claims Brown threatened to release the 90s tracks to the public. Perry says, “By intentionally using Perry’s image and misleadingly implying that Perry has authorized or approved Brown’s conduct, and that Perry is a member of Brown’s band just as Perry’s solo ‘Traces’ album is in wide release and garnering significant publicity, Brown is seeking to confuse and mislead Perry’s fans and the consuming public into believing that Brown is associated with Perry when he is not, to induce them to purchase Brown’s music rather than Perry’s.”

Steve Perry sued for an injunction prohibiting Brown from releasing the music and for unspecified damages. The judge granted a temporary restraining order in Perry’s favor in November 2018, which prohibited Brown from releasing the unheard tracks until a further court hearing.

Brown demanded Perry's lawsuit be thrown out, saying the Journey singer can’t stop him from releasing music the public has never heard. He argued he has every right to release the tracks, claiming that he "has at all times maintained both creative and physical control over the Brown/Perry songs. As such, under long-standing controlling authority, Brown had, and continues to have, the right to independently license, sell, perform, or otherwise monetize the four Brown/Perry songs without the consent of his co-author, Perry, so long as Brown later accounts to Perry for Perry’s portion of any resultant proceeds."

He also accused Perry of using his team of expensive attorneys to launch a “blitz krieg against Brown into submission, and sought ex parte, without notice, a Temporary Restraining Order against Brown preventing him from doing what he had an absolute right to do – commercialize the Brown/Perry songs.” The case is ongoing.