Steve Perry Achieves 'Unfulfilled Dream' of Singing with His Late, Estranged Dad on New Duet: 'Holiday Miracle' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

RockerSteve Perry’s latest release features a very special guest: his late father Ray.

Perry — who used technology to extract his dad’s voice off a cassette tape, then combined it with his own recording — was estranged from his father, and said in a statement that Ray used to sing him Darin’s song as a child.

“Though my father is no longer with me, he is with me on this song, and we are together once again, doing something we always dreamed about doing,” Perry tells PEOPLE exclusively. “This all came from a cassette my father sent me back in 1993 for the holidays. It was him singing into a karaoke machine. I thought the tape was lost, but I recently found this cassette and was able to build a beautiful track around him so I could sing with him. This was my holiday miracle.”

In a statement, Perry said his dad was a singer, too, and that he’d sing “Call Me Irresponsible” to the star at bedtime when he was a child.

The “Faithfully” singer, who left Journey for good in 1998, was able to successfully clean up the vocals on the cassette tape, and said the experience was a deeply emotional one for him. Ray died of natural causes in 1998 at age 79.

Steve Perry and his father Ray Perry.Courtesy of Steve Perry

Courtesy of Steve Perry

“Once that was done, an unfulfilled dream of singing with my father was now possible,” Perry said in his statement. “You see, mom and dad divorced when I was 7, and dad and I never saw much of each other after that. Singing with my father after all these years was a very emotional experience. His voice was just as I remembered it as a child… To hear him speak again brought tears to my eyes.”

Steve Perry.Myriam Santos

Myriam Santos

“Call Me Irresponsible” is included on Perry’s new holiday album, titledThe Season 3. The record was recorded mainly at Perry’s home studio, and is an extended version of his 2021 albumThe Season.

“Singing these [Christmas] songs was something I always wanted to do, but because of my reverence and love for them and their original versions, I didn’t want to touch them unless I really thought I could do an emotional version of my own,” he told PEOPLE upon releasing the first iteration of The Season.

source: people.com