Perry returned to Lemoore and decided not to continue his singing career, but at the urging of his mother, Perry answered a call from Walter "Herbie" Herbert, manager of struggling San Francisco-based band Journey. He nearly gave up music when the bassist of that band, Richard Michaels, was killed in an automobile accident. Perry then ended up in Banta, California, outside of Tracy, California, where he fronted the band Alien Project in his mid-20s. After a year and a half, the group was unable to secure a record deal and disbanded. In 1975, Perry moved to Thousand Oaks, California, where he formed a progressive rock band called Pieces with Tim Bogert (who had previously worked with Jeff Beck), Denver Cross, and Eddie Tuduri. Upon returning to Sacramento, Ice disbanded as the band had no management, Mathews was still in high school, and the recordings went virtually unheard. During the day in 1972 they recorded at the Record Plant studios in Los Angeles while Stevie Wonder recorded his Talking Book album by night. That band, Ice, wrote original material and were poised to "make it" in the music business. In his early 20s, Perry moved to Sacramento to start a band with 16-year-old future music producer Scott Mathews, who co-wrote, played drums and guitar and sang. Perry's mother continued to encourage his musical growth during that time.
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After graduation he attended College of the Sequoias, in Visalia, California, where he sang first tenor in the choir. He attended high school there, drumming in the marching band as well as in extracurricular bands. Perry's family moved to Lemoore, California, during Perry's teen years. At age 12, Perry heard Sam Cooke's song " Cupid" on his mother's car radio, and it inspired him to become a singer.
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was nowhere to talk it out, so I got to sing it out instead." On Perry's 12th birthday, his mother, Mary Quaresma, presented her son with a gold eighth note pendant Perry wears the pendant for good luck. It happened to a lot of kids, as I find out. In a September 2018 interview, Perry said, "Things happened to me as a child that I still can't talk about – nothing to do with my parents, but things did happen. Perry's parents ended their relationship when he was eight years of age, and he and his mother then moved to his grandparents' farm. Perry grew up interested in music, as his father, Raymond Perry (Pereira), was a vocalist and co-owner of radio station KNGS. Stephen Ray Perry was born in Hanford, California, to Portuguese parents.