Ex-JOURNEY Singer STEVE PERRY Signs New Record Deal, Doesn't Rule Out Solo Tour: 'I Miss It Terribly'

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, former JOURNEY singer Steve Perry discussed some of his upcoming projects. He said: "I just signed with a new label. I'm very excited about it, and I'll have an opportunity very soon to work with these very, very musically creative people. I'll probably announce who I signed with very soon. That's about as much as I can say, but I'm excited about that, and I am working on stuff."

Asked why he didn't tour in support of his last album, 2018's "Traces", Steve said: "Well, it's a long story. Uncle Steve is up in age, and everybody at this age has some aches and pains and things like that. But it's a really good question that I've been asking myself too.

"It's something that I'm absolutely missing terribly," he continued. "I can't even tell you how much, but there's been a big soulful reclaiming of this original feeling that I had about singing that I needed to get back to. I didn't want to go out and just turn the wheel or turn the crank. … [As far as touring again], I never say never at this point. My life has proven me just that."

Perry went on to say that he is about to get into the studio and recorded the follow-up to "Traces".

"These new label people are so supportive," Steve said. "They said, 'We don't care what you do, we just want to do it with you.'"

Earlier this month, Perry released a new version of the JOURNEY song "It Could Have Been You" with THE EFFECT, the group featuring Trevor "Trev" Lukather (son of TOTO's Steve Lukather) on guitars, Nic Collins (son of Phil Collins) on drums and Steve Maggiora (TOTO) on keyboards.

In the fall of 2018, Perry made his long-awaited return with the release of "Traces", the legendary musician's first new album in 25 years. The LP's personal expression of love, inspiration and renewal resonated with both critics and fans around the world, thrilled to have their "voice of a generation" making new music once again.

Two years later, Steve released "Traces (Alternative Versions & Sketches)" via Fantasy Records. On that LP, Perry revisited several of his favorite tracks, stripping away the grand production touches, taking the songs down to their essence. Presented acoustic and raw (including some in sketch form),tracks like "Sun Shines Gray", "No Erasin'", "No More Cryin'" and "Most Of All" took on new and richer meaning.

Perry's first solo album in more than two decades, "Traces", was released in October 2018 via Fantasy Records (a division of Concord Records/UMG). He credited his late girlfriend, psychologist Kellie Nash, who died more than 11 years ago, with helping him want to sing again; she'd made him promise he wouldn't go back into isolation when she passed.

In 2019, Perry told "The Jim Brickman Show" that the response to "Traces" had been "really great. It's been an interesting experience to release a record in this age that we live in. Meaning, it's such a different landscape… Now we're streaming, now we've got everything… all this stuff. And so it's been such an interesting experience to release music into the new landscape of what it all means. We're streaming, we're still selling some on iTunes…. Nobody sells records anymore; everybody's streaming. But I didn't do this to sell records. If people wanna own it and take it with them, then that's beautiful. But if you wanna listen to it, that's also beautiful, 'cause all I wanted to do — and I said this to many of my friends… The reason I make music again was, number one, to keep a promise that I wouldn't go back into isolation. And number two, I wanted to just see if I was viable as a songwriter, singer, arranger, mixer, producer. I wanted to see if I could even remotely do some sort of creative involvement with all that. And in the beginning, it was challenging, because of the new technologies. But now I've embraced the living crap out of all of it. I have a great studio."

Perry dated Nash for nearly two years before she died in December 2012 after being diagnosed with breast cancer. He mourned for two years, and then began recording again.

Upon its release, "Traces" was met with wide acclaim and tremendous excitement from fans and critics all over the world. The album entered the Billboard 200 Albums chart at No. 6, Perry's highest debut as a solo artist and earned the Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer his best-ever chart entries in the U.K., Germany, Canada and Japan.

Perry reunited with JOURNEY for the first time in years as they were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in April 2017. The iconic singer appeared onstage with his former bandmates as they each gave speeches, but did not perform with the group later in the event.