Arnel Pineda, the lead singer of iconic ’80s rock band Journey, opened up about “personal problems” that have led him to try to quit the group.
“I said to [Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain] I wanted to retire because of my personal problems. No answer,” he said in an interview with Rolling Stone published on Tuesday, March 31. “Obviously, they don’t want to find another singer.”
Arnel Pineda Tried to Retire From Journey
Pineda, who replaced Steve Perry as the band’s lead vocalist in 2007, revealed that he has tried to retire in recent years.
The Filipino singer told bandmates Cain and Schon in 2024 that he was looking to exit the band due to his personal issues “getting more intense.” He told Rolling Stone that he asked to be kept in the loop during planning of the band’s 2024 tour as he was unsure he could commit to the schedule.
“I said, ‘I want you to discuss the schedule with me.’ It is what it is now… But then, I was really not happy with how they scheduled this tour. My body has changed,” he told the outlet. “I can’t take the cold weather anymore.”
Journey ultimately booked a 60-stop U.S. tour for 2026 called the Final Frontier Tour without consulting their lead vocalist. The tour, which began in Hershey, Pennsylvania, in February, runs through August, before kicking off its additional 40 shows in 2027.
“My personal problem really took a toll on me. That’s why I wanted to prioritize my family. It’s not that I hate touring with [Journey]. It’s like the same thing that happened with Steve Perry. He has a hip problem,” Pineda added. “Me, I have a personal problem that’s taking a toll on me. It’s getting in my head, emotionally. I told them that I was a wreck and needed a little more time so that I could fix my family. But I still have to do this.”
According to Rolling Stone, Schon claimed that Pineda cannot quit the band due to their touring contract, which states that the group cannot tour without Pineda.
Arnel Pineda Asks Fans to Vote Him Out
As his personal issues ramped up, Pineda began to struggle onstage. Things got so bad, that he took to social media asking disappointed fans to vote him out of the iconic band.
“No one more than me in this world feels so devastated about this… it’s really amazing how 1 thousand right things you have done will be forgotten just cause of THIS..and of all the place, its in Rock In Rio…,” he wrote via Facebook in September 2024. “Mentally and emotionally, I’ve suffered already, and I’m still suffering ..but I’ll be OK….”
