Gregg Rolie had already been part of two of rock’s biggest bands before serving as one of the longest-tenured members of Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band.
He sang Santana to the Top 10 with four singles, including their No. 4 update of “Black Magic Woman.” Santana’s first four albums with Rolie went platinum or multi-platinum. Then he left to help build Journey into its own juggernaut.
They didn’t have as much immediate success, but early Rolie-sung Journey singles like “Anytime” and “Just the Same Way” became classic rock radio favorites. Three of his last four albums with the group, issued after Steve Perry joined, have sold more than three million copies in the U.S. alone.
READ MORE: Ranking All 45 Journey Songs from the ’70s
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame honors followed for Rolie, first with Santana in 1998 and then with Journey in 2017. By then, he’d reunited with former bandmates in the offshoot bands Storm and Abraxas Pool, releasing deeply underrated albums. A full-fledged reunion with Santana was issued in 2016 after years of on-again, off-again sessions.
Rolie has also issued a handful of solo albums including his self-titled 1985 debut and 2001’s Roots, along with the well-received Five Days EP. He was bandmates with Starr from 2012-2021, and the former Beatles star’s peace-and-love mantra inspired “What About Love” from Rolie’s 2019 album Sonic Ranch.
Nick DeRiso is author of the Amazon best-selling rock band bio ‘Journey: Worlds Apart,’ available now at all major bookseller websites.
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Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
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