''Street Talk'' is

Steve Perry Stephen Ray Perry (born January 22, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer of the rock band Journey during their most commercially successful periods from 1977 to 1987, and again from 1995 to 1998. He also wrote/co ...

's first solo studio album, released in April 1984. ''Street Talk'' contains Perry's biggest hit as a solo artist, "

Oh Sherrie "Oh Sherrie" is the debut solo single by American singer Steve Perry. Written by Perry, Randy Goodrum, Craig Krampf and Bill Cuomo, the song was recorded and released on Perry's first solo album ''Street Talk'' in 1984, which he released while s ...

", written for his then-girlfriend Sherrie Swafford.Steve Perry talks about the recording o
"Oh Sherrie"
and Street Talk singles. The song hit #3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and #1 on Billboard's Rock chart, and the accompanying music video (also featuring Swafford) was a hit on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. Other singles included " Foolish Heart" (peaked at #18), "She's Mine" (peaked at #21), and "Strung Out" (peaked at #40). There were a number of nods to Perry's pre-

Journey Journey or journeying may refer to: * Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations ** Day's journey, a measurement of distance ** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road Animals * Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ra ...

band Alien Project on this album—in fact, that band was originally going to be called Street Talk.Steve Perry discusse
the Alien Project story and Street Talk
In the

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

, Perry dedicates the album to Richard Michaels (the bassist for Alien Project). Also, drummer

Craig Krampf Craig Krampf (born October 22, 1954) is an American drummer, percussionist, arranger, record producer and songwriter. The majority of his notable credits are as a studio drummer. Since the 1970s, he has played on albums by other artists ranging f ...

was a member of Alien Project later in the 1970s. In addition to launching Perry's solo career, the cover photo for ''Street Talk'' served as a career launchpad for music photographer

John Scarpati John Scarpati (born June 29, 1960) is a professional photographer whose photography has appeared on hundreds of album and CD covers for bands and individual musicians. He is also the owner of Scarpati Studio, a photography studio that does photog ...

, who met Perry during the album's recording sessions at a studio in Sherman Oaks. ''Street Talk'' is certified as 2× Platinum (2,000,000) in sales by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

Track listing

Charts

Personnel

* Steve Perry – lead vocals, backing vocals (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10) * Bill Cuomo – synthesizers (1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9), acoustic piano (2), synth bells (2), keyboards (3, 6), synth solo (3) *

Randy Goodrum Charles Randolph Goodrum (born July 7, 1947) is an American songwriter, pianist, and producer. Goodrum has written number one songs in each of the four decades since his first number one hit, 1978's "You Needed Me". Goodrum's songs have appeare ...

–

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...

(1-6, 9), drum programming (4) * Duane Hitchings – synthesizers (8) * Steve Goldstein – keyboards (10) * Sterling Smith – keyboards (10) *

Michael Landau Michael Christopher Landau (born June 1, 1958) is an American musician, audio engineer, and record producer. He is a session musician and guitarist who has played on many albums since the early 1980s with Boz Scaggs, Minoru Niihara, Joni Mitch ...

– guitar (1-5, 7), guitar solo (6, 9) *

Waddy Wachtel Robert "Waddy" Wachtel (born May 24, 1947) is an American musician, composer and record producer, most notable for his guitar work. Wachtel has worked as session musician for other artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, Kim Carnes, Randy N ...

– guitar solo (1), rhythm guitar solo (5) * Craig Hull – guitar (8, 10) * Billy Steele – guitar (10) *

Bob Glaub Bob Glaub (born May 10, 1952)Hageman, William (April 29, 2005)."The aces of bass: Five giants of an overshadowed instrument", Knight Ridder Tribune News Service. is an American bass player and session musician. He has played with such artists an ...

– bass guitar (1-7, 9) *

Chuck Domanico Charles Louis Domanico (January 20, 1944 – October 17, 2002), better known as Chuck Domanico, was an American jazz bassist who played double bass and bass guitar on the West Coast jazz scene. Domanico was born in Chicago. He settled in L ...

– string bass (3) * Kevin McCormick – bass guitar (8) * Bryan Garofalo – bass guitar (10) *

Larrie Londin Ralph Gallant (October 15, 1943 − August 24, 1992), better known by the stage name Larrie Londin, was an American drummer and session musician. According to journalist James Byron Fox, "If not the best known, Larrie is one of the most listene ...

– drums (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9), percussion (1, 2, 3, 7) *

– drums (8, 10) * Robert Greenridge –

steel drums The steelpan (also known as a pan, steel drum, and sometimes, collectively with other musicians, as a steelband or steel orchestra) is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago. Steelpan musicians are called pannists. Descriptio ...

(5) * Steve Douglas – saxophone solo (2), tenor saxophone (6)

Production

* Steve Perry – producer, cover concept * Bruce Botnick – executive producer *

Niko Bolas Niko Bolas is an American music producer, sound engineer, and consultant and business developer in the fields of virtual reality and Internet radio. In 1989, Bolas founded Fakespace Music with Mark Bolas, Ian McDowall and Christian Greuel, which, ...

– recording, mixing * Richard Bosworth – recording assistant, additional engineer * Denny Densmore – recording assistant (10) * Mike Reese – mastering at The Mastering Lab (Hollywood, California). * Jim Welch – art direction *

– cover photography * Herbie Herbert – personal management

References

*"Street Talk" (Liner Notes); Steve Perry CD, Columbia Records 1984.

External links

"Street Talk" at discogs
{{Authority control 1984 debut albums Steve Perry albums Albums produced by Bruce Botnick Columbia Records albums