Journey singer offers to quit band through online fan vote following criticism for Rock in Rio performance
Arnel Pineda, the lead singer for Journey, was left devastated after critics panned his performance at the recent Rock in Rio festival in Brazil.
Pineda, 57, found a video circulating online which showed him having issues with his ear monitors and struggling to reach the right notes during the concert last week in Rio de Janeiro.
The vocalist, who has been with the band since 2007, was so affected by his performance and the criticism he received, that he offered up an online poll for fans to vote him out of the rock band.
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“No one more than me in this world feels so devastated about this,” Pineda wrote on Facebook. “It’s really amazing how 1 thousand right things you have done will be forgotten just cause of THIS.”
Pineda noted, “Mentally and emotionally, I’ve suffered already, and I’m still suffering … but I’ll be ok.”
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The “Don’t Stop Believin'” singer offered up a chance for fans to have a say in how the band would move forward after the upsetting show.
“So here’s the deal here now,” he wrote. “I am offering you a chance now (especially those who’s hated me and never liked me from the very beginning) to simply text GO or STAY right here.”
Pineda added, “If GO reaches 1million… I’m stepping out for good … are you game folks?”
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He thanked “all of the fans and friends” who believed in him since “Day 1.”
Journey guitarist Neal Schon, who discovered Pineda on YouTube years ago, encouraged his bandmate to dismiss the haters.
“Arnel dont listen to these blogs,” he wrote online. “They are all bought. You’ve kicked ass!”
Steve Perry, who was known as “The Voice,” left the band for good in the late ’90s after the group soared to popularity with hits including “Faithfully,” “Open Arms,” and “Wheel in the Sky.”
Following Perry’s exit in 1998, the band recruited Steve Augeri to fill his shoes. When Augeri departed the group in 2006 due to vocal issues, lead guitarist Neal Schon discovered Pineda, a Filipino club singer, while scrolling through YouTube videos.
Pineda was flown to the US from Manila to join the band in 2007.
