Jonathan Cain Retiring From Journey After 2026-27 Farewell Tour

UPDATED with new statements from Neal Schon and a Jonathan Cain spokesperson: Seems like it’s almost time to stop believin’.

Longtime Journey keyboardist and songwriter Jonathan Cain is quitting the megaplatinum band after a “farewell tour” next year. Founding guitarist — and Cain foil — Neal Schon posted on social media late Thursday: “Jonathan Cain announced his farewell to Journey tonight. I’m nowhere near done! Journey has so much more life ahead!”

Schon later clarified that Cain is retiring after the next tour, which will go “all through” 2026-27.

On Friday afternoon, a spokesperson for Cain released this statement: “Jonathan Cain remains an active member of Journey, and any reports suggesting otherwise are inaccurate. He is fully dedicated to touring with the band over the next couple of years and has only expressed plans to retire at a later time.”

The two 45-year-old bandmates have been embroiled in on-again/off-again legal and personal turmoil for many years, feuding and sometimes suing each other for corporate and musical differences. The pair, who each own 50% stakes in the band Journey, most recently settled a legal matter last year and have been able to keep the band together. The group was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.

Cain joined The Babies in 1978 and left to connect with Journey in 1981, just as the Bay Area band was hitting its commercial stride. He, Schon and singer Steve Perry co-wrote “Don’t Stop Believin’,” which was the second single off his 10-times-platinum Journey debut album Escape and has become one of the most popular songs in rock history. The single has sold more than 18 million units alone. Cain and Perry also co-wrote the album smash singles “Who’s Crying Now?” and “Open Arms,” ​​the latter being its biggest pop hit, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Cain went on to write Journey’s pop hit “Faithfully” and co-penned the other songs on its 1983 sextuple-platinum album Frontiersincluding the Top 10 single “Separate Ways.” With its classic lineup of Perry, Schon, Cain, bassist Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith, the band peaked commercially before Perry left in 1985; he would return for one album, 1996’s Trial by Fire, and Journey has continued to record and tour since amid personnel changes.

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Details about the group’s 2026 farewell tour are TBA.

Separately on Friday, Cain released a promo video saying that he has a solo song, “No One Else,” dedicated to “good friend Charlie Kirk” that will be released later this month.