BIOGRAPHY
Joshua Perahia (pronounced Pûr-i-yä) is pioneer in Christian rock. Before there was a Stryper, before Barren Cross appeared on the scene, there stood alone one band, and that was JOSHUA. Through his faith and desire to share his love of God, Joshua made it his life's mission to realize his musical vision and the band JOSHUA was born.
BURRN!! Magazine has called him The Fastest Guitarist in the World. Magazines such as Kerrang!, Metal Forces, and Aardshok hail his RCA release "Intense Defense" as the best AOR hard rock album ever. His albums are graced by a who's who of some of the finest Christian musicians in the world including Jeff Fenholt (TBN, JC in the original Broadway cast of "Jesus Christ Superstar"), Rob Rock (Impelliteri), Ken Tamplin (Shout), as well as such classic rock notables like Alex Ligertwood (Santana), Rick Baker (Santana), Jason Scheff (Chicago), Mugs Cain (Sammy Hagar), Jizzy Pearl (Ratt). He has shared the stage with the likes of Dokken, Stryper, Pat Travers, Michael Schenker, Ozzy Osbourne, Great White, Ratt, and countless other notable bands.
A guitarist's guitarist, a true virtuoso, a world-class songwriter, but most of all a devoted servant to our Lord..............his name is Joshua Perahia.
THE STORY
The original line-up of JOSHUA, featuring vocalist Stephen Fontaine, was assembled in Los Angeles and in short time took the Sunset Strip by storm. Show-after-show were sell-outs at all the top venues in town. Bands like Great White, Ratt and other future successful metal bands were opening up for JOSHUA.
The band's debut album "The Hand is Quicker Than the Eye" on Enigma Records was released in 1982 and spawned the Los Angeles Radio hit "November is Going Away". Metal radio stations across the country were adding the epic classic. To say the album caught on in Japan would be a understatement. "November is Going Away" went all the way to the top as a NUMBER 1 HIT!
The band's exposure in Japan also caught the eye of the Japanese Music press. Burrn! Magazine, the 1 rock magazine in Japan, hailed the band's debut album and in BOLD PRINT declared Joshua "The World's Fastest Guitarist." Metal press around the globe followed suit, complimenting Joshua for his note-for-note perfect guitar virtuosity. Joshua was even voted Kerrang Magazine's "Guitarist of the Year" in 1982.
In 1985 the band were picked up by Polydor Records. The result was band's sophmore effort, humbly entitled "Surrender." The line-up for "Surrender" included notable Christian rock artists Jeff Fenholt and Ken Tamplin. The album featured the Joshua classics "Hold On" and "Your Love is Gone." Again, music press was more than favorable, not only praising Joshua's mastery of his instrument, but lauding the depth of the songwriting, arrangements and message of his well-crafted lyrics.
RCA caught wind of the band and in 1988 put them in the studio with mega-hit producer Dieter Dierks (Scorpions) With the addition of new singer Rob Rock (Impellitteri, Driver) to the line-up, JOSHUA recorded what countless metal/hard rock critics called the best melodic metal album of all time, "Intense Defense." Unfortunately, it did not get the label support it deserved here in the United States, but throughout Europe and Asia it was very successful.
Although the band tried hard to crossover into the mainstream American market, it seemed that they were popular in the Christian market, but only had success in the secular markets overseas. The band toured throughout Europe in support of the album, playing arenas in front of crowds in excess of 40,000 people. The band's success overseas was highlighted with JOSHUA earning 11 Gold albums in various countries other than the States.
The "Intense Defense" line-up was short lived however, so Joshua regrouped under the moniker Jaguar with singer Robin Kyle Bassuri and made some incredible demos, but the collaboration never went much further than that. Joshua formed a new band called Mpire with Joshua, Joey Rochrich (bass) and Eric Stoskopf forming the core of the band. They released the album "Chapter One" on Long Island Records in Japan and Europe, but not in the United States. Shortly after the album's release, the label filed for bankruptcy and went out of business.....such is the the nature of this beast we call the music business. But through faith in Christ and the burning desire to continue spreading the word through his music, Joshua picked up and carried on..........
In 1998, Joshua reteamed with his MPire bandmates Joey Rochrich and Eric Stoskopf under the band name JOSHUA PERAHIA. The band began recording their new album "Something to Say" with acclaimed producer Keith Olsen (Scorpions, Heart, Santana) without a vocalist, so Keith asked his friend, former Santana vocalist Alex Ligertwood, to lay down the vocals for the album. Alex was happy to oblige. Keith also brought in Jason Scheff (Chicago)to sing back-up vocals and Santana keyboardist Richard Baker.
Before finishing the recordings, the band happened to find a lead singer by the name of Jerry Gabriel (hailed by the press and compared to David Coverdale). Instead of launching the new band with an outsider's vocals on the record, the label (M&K Sound Entertainment) decided to record the vocals over again with Jerry at the helm. It was then finally decided to release the album with Jerry on 8 songs and retain 4 songs from the original Ligertwood sessions.
"Something to Say" was a return to form for the band. Released in late 2001, the CD re-introduced the band to the American Christian music scene, where the band had had some moderate success with in the states over a decade before, and sold well throughout Germany, Scandanavia, and Japan. The press were again enthusiastic, many magazines calling "Something to Say" the "Melodic Rock Album of the Year."
Joshua is continuing to create magical music and will be making announcements in the near future about new material and unreleased recordings. He'll be heading into the studio to record a brand new album with his old bandmate Jeff Fenholt this year for a 2008 release
Please keep checking in with us to keep up to date!
Biography by Steve Brownlee
