Ex-Journey Lead Singer Steve Perry Fails To Reach Settlement In Battle To Block Unreleased Music

Former Journey lead singer Steve Perry was unsuccessful in his attempt to end a legal battle over his attempt to block unreleased music from being heard.

According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Perry and the man he recorded music with back in the 90’s, Phil Brown, recently tried to hash out their issues in mediation.

The docs note, “Although their efforts extended over many hours, the parties were not able to resolve their differences and settle this dispute at that conference. They agreed to continue their efforts.”

The parties had called off a scheduled court trial to attempt to settle their issues. It appears that trial will soon be back on.

As The Blast first reported, 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.

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 front man 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.”

He 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 accused Perry of using his team of expensive attorneys to launch a “blitzkrieg 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.”

Last month, Perry and Brown called off the scheduled trial of June 25, saying they wanted to try and mediate the case. The case is ongoing.