Jeremey Frederick Hunsicker (born April 13, 1971) is an American singer and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist of the Journey tribute band Frontiers. Hunsicker made national headlines in 2007 when he was briefly tapped by Journey as a potential lead vocalist and frontman for the iconic rock band.[1]
Americans are nationals and citizens of the United States of America. Although nationals and citizens make up the majority of Americans, some dual citizens, expatriates, and permanent residents may also claim American nationality. The United States is home to people of many different ethnic origins. As a result, American culture and law does not equate nationality with race or ethnicity, but with citizenship and permanent allegiance.
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice and augments regular speech by the use of sustained tonality, rhythm, and a variety of vocal techniques. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music that can be sung with or without accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in an ensemble of musicians, such as a choir of singers or a band of instrumentalists. Singers may perform as soloists or accompanied by anything from a single instrument up to a symphony orchestra or big band. Different singing styles include art music such as opera and Chinese opera, Indian music and religious music styles such as gospel, traditional music styles, world music, jazz, blues, gazal and popular music styles such as pop, rock, electronic dance music and filmi.
Journey is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1973, composed of former members of Santana and Frumious Bandersnatch. The band has gone through several phases; its strongest commercial success occurred between 1978 and 1987 when Steve Perry was lead vocalist. During that period, the band released a series of hit songs, including "Don't Stop Believin'" (1981), which in 2009 became the top-selling track in iTunes history among songs not released in the 21st century. Its parent studio album, Escape, the band's eighth and most successful, reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and yielded another of their most popular singles, "Open Arms". Its 1983 follow-up album, Frontiers, was almost as successful in the United States, reaching No. 2 and spawning several successful singles; it broadened the band's appeal in the United Kingdom, where it reached No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart. Journey enjoyed a successful reunion in the mid-1990s and later regrouped with a series of lead singers.
With his tribute band, Frontiers, Hunsicker quickly became known for his uncanny ability to duplicate the signature sound of former Journeylead vocalistSteve Perry.
Early years and personal life
Jeremey Hunsicker grew up in Fort Myers, Florida near McGregor and spent his college years in North Carolina where he attended Brevard College. It was at Brevard that he met his wife Sabrina.[1] After college Hunsicker and his wife moved to Roanoke, Virginia where they currently reside. Hunsicker and his wife Sabrina have two children. Some people may not realize that Jeremey is also a talented artist and writer. As a student at Fort Myers Middle School, he used to draw cartoons about far away fantastic worlds. Often he would create images of fighting robots and battle droids. Sometimes he would hold "Fantasy Duels" with other creative classmates and they would pit their battle droids against each other to see whose design would win.[citation needed]
Fort Myers or Ft. Myers, is the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. It has grown rapidly in recent years. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 62,298 and in 2017 was estimated at 79,943.
Florida is the southernmost contiguous state in the United States. The state is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the south by the Straits of Florida. Florida is the 22nd-most extensive, the 3rd-most populous, and the 8th-most densely populated of the U.S. states. Jacksonville is the most populous municipality in the state and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. The Miami metropolitan area is Florida's most populous urban area. Tallahassee is the state's capital.
North Carolina is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. It borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west, Virginia to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. North Carolina is the 28th-most extensive and the 9th-most populous of the U.S. states. The state is divided into 100 counties. The capital is Raleigh, which along with Durham and Chapel Hill is home to the largest research park in the United States. The most populous municipality is Charlotte, which is the second-largest banking center in the United States after New York City.
Frontiers
After performing in a number of bands, Hunsicker formed the Journey tribute band Frontiers in 2002. Hunsicker named his tribute band after Journey's 1983 album Frontiers.[2] What began as a part-time regional venture on weekends evolved into a full-time nationally touring tribute act.
Frontiers is the eighth studio album by the American rock band Journey, released in February 1983 on the Columbia Records label. This is the last album to feature bassist Ross Valory until 1996's Trial by Fire.
Frontiers had many personnel changes over the years with the only constants being Hunsicker and Greg Eanes on the bass. It was Hunsicker's vocals that kept fans and agents alike coming to Frontiers time and time again. At its peak, Frontiers was one of the nation's most popular Journey tribute bands, performing over 150 shows per year.
Journey audition
After Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon found videos of Hunsicker on YouTube, they made a last-minute decision to fly across the country to Charlotte, North Carolina, to watch Hunsicker perform. After the show, Schon and Cain approached Hunsicker and invited him to fly out to California and audition for the position as lead vocalist for Journey.[3][unreliable source?] Hunsicker rehearsed with the band and they wrote songs together for the band's upcoming album Revelation. Ultimately, things did not work out between Journey and Hunsicker, and the band decided instead to hire Arnel Pineda from the Philippines as their new lead vocalist.
Jonathan Cain is an American musician, singer, and songwriter best known for his work with The Babys, Journey, and Bad English. Cain was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Journey on April 7, 2017.
Neal Joseph Schon is an American rock guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist, best known for his work with the bands Journey and Bad English. He was a member of the rock band Santana before forming Journey, and was also an original member of Hardline.
YouTube is an American video-sharing website headquartered in San Bruno, California. Three former PayPal employees—Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim—created the service in February 2005. Google bought the site in November 2006 for US$1.65 billion; YouTube now operates as one of Google's subsidiaries.
Post-Journey
Hunsicker's brief time with Journey proved to be positive for his music career. Shortly after his brush with Journey, Hunsicker's band Frontiers, became so in-demand that he was able to quit his full-time job as a salesman for Saia Motor Freight and take his band to the national stage.[4] In addition when Journey's album Revelation was released, Hunsicker received credit for helping to write the albums leading track, "Never Walk Away." [5] When the album was certified Platinum by the RIAA on December 3, 2008, Hunsicker was awarded as a songwriter on the album.[6]
Saia is an American trucking company, or a less than truckload (LTL) trucking company, that originated in Houma, Louisiana in 1924. With original operation occurring in Louisiana and Texas for the first fifty years, expansion came after 1980 when coverage began reaching into more states within the South. Further expansion happened through mergers with other companies, which allowed Saia to provide service for thirty six states. Saia ranks within the top ten of LTL carriers in the United States, yielding $1.7 billion in 2018.
In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities.
Solo album
In early 2011 Hunsicker announced that he was planning to release a solo album that was to be called "Every Little Thing" under the name Jeremey Frederick. Hunsicker chose to use the name Jeremey Frederick in an effort to separate himself from his status as a platinum selling songwriter with the band Journey.
On Father's Day, June 19, 2011, Hunsicker released a streaming version of the first single from the album, a song titled "This is Your Life." Hunsicker wrote the song for his children.[7] On June 21, 2011 the song was released for sale on iTunes.
In late August 2011 Hunsicker released a streaming version of the second single from the album, "Stay." The song was released on iTunes on September 13, 2011. This date also marks the beginning of the Kickstarter campaign that Hunsicker used to help fund the album. During the summer of 2011 Hunsicker suffered financial setbacks that depleted much of the funds that he had set aside to produce the album. Without the funds needed to produce the album Hunsicker began seeking a source of funding. He discovered the website Kickstarter and launched a campaign to raise the $4,000 needed to complete the album on September 13, 2011.[8] The Kickstarter campaign for Every Little Thing ended on October 15, 2011 with 66 backers fully funding the album.[9] Hunsicker exceeded his $4,000 goal with backers pledging a total of $4,190.
With the funds to finish producing the album, a release date of December 26, 2011 was set for Every Little Thing. Due to a vocal injury, Hunsicker ultimately postponed the release of the album to March 6, 2012.
Vocal injury
In 2011 Hunsicker suffered vocal setbacks while touring with his tribute band Frontiers. In July 2011 Hunsicker had an incident with a fog machine in Toledo, Ohio that caused his vocal cords to go into spasm leaving him unable to finish the show. Later that year Hunsicker announced that he was suffering from a hemorrhaged vocal cord and that he was reducing the number of shows that he would perform. On December 8, 2011 Hunsicker announced on his website that he would have to undergo vocal cord surgery to remove a vocal cord polyp. As a result, he cancelled all remaining shows that were scheduled for 2011. He also cancelled shows scheduled for January and February 2012 to allow himself the time necessary to recover from the surgery.[10] Ultimately his vocal cords did not heal properly and Hunsicker had to have the surgery redone delaying his return to touring.[11]
Return to touring
In May 2012, Hunsicker returned to the stage with his band Frontiers. Due to his vocal injury Hunsicker was still unable to sing Journey songs. As a result, Hunsicker announced that he would have fill-in singers performing with the band to give his vocal cords additional time to heal. The band began relying on a handful of singers to perform at various shows. Despite the fact that he was unable to sing, Hunsicker accompanied his band playing keyboards for the summer 2012 shows. Because he did not know when he would be able to sing again, Hunsicker announced that he did not know if there would be a future for the band.[12]
End of Frontiers
On July 12, 2012 Hunsicker announced on the Frontiers website that he and his band were planning to call it quits after ten years. As a result of his vocal cord surgery that left him unable to sing Journey tunes, Hunsicker decided that this was the end of the road for Frontiers.[12] In the announcement, Hunsicker said that the band would perform all scheduled 2012 tour dates with fill-in lead singers and that they would not be booking any more shows. The last Frontiers show was on October 13, 2012 in Hickory, NC.[13]
Post Frontiers
Upon announcing that his tribute band Frontiers was calling it quits, Hunsicker founded the Big Bang Agency in July 2012.[14] Big Bang is a booking agency specifically targeted towards tribute acts. In addition to founding Big Band, Hunsicker decided to found a Tom Petty tribute band called The Waiting.[15] While the band initially booked very well,[clarification needed] The Waiting seemed to be short-lived. The band has not performed together since 2013. As of 2015 Hunsicker is self-employed as a copywriter.[16]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
