Jonathan Cain is best known as the keyboardist for the rock band Journey. He was born in Chicago, and recorded his first solo album, Windy City Breakdown, in 1977 on Bearsville Records. The album was reissued on CD for the first time by Wounded Bird Records in 2006.
In the late 1970s, Cain was asked to join a band called The Babys, which featured vocalist John Waite. Cain, besides being a talented keyboardist, was also a talented guitarist. The Babys toured with Journey in 1980, and Cain was admired by the members of Journey.
When Journey's keyboardist, Gregg Rolie, announced that he was leaving the band, he selected Cain as his replacement in the band. When Journey's manager offered Cain the position, Cain thought that he was joking. He eventually learned, however, that this was his golden opportunity, so he joined Journey in 1981.
Cain recorded three albums with Journey, including the multi-platinum album "Escape", which was the first time Journey had reached #1 on the Billboard chart. It was Cain's ballad "Open Arms" that took the world by storm. He had originally wanted to do it with The Babys, but vocalist Waite didn't like the song. Journey's vocalist, Steve Perry, shared a lot of the same musical tastes as Cain, so they worked well together. By 1987, however, Journey had fallen apart due to creative differences, so Cain was forced to take a new direction.
He formed the band Bad English with vocalist John Waite and Journey's guitarist Neal Schon. They only released two albums before disbanding. Afterwards, Cain remained in the shadows for a few years, before relaunching his solo career.
In 1995, Cain released his second solo album, Back To The Innocence, on Intersound Records. The album was very contemporary in nature, and featured some great vocal tracks, including a remake of a song he wrote with Journey called "Faithfully". Later that year, Cain took a different approach with his music. He released his third album, titled Piano With A View, on Higher Octave Records. The album was all light piano instrumental tracks, including such favorites as "Elegance On The Catwalk" and "Passion Dance".
Cain joined Journey again in 1996 for the release of "Trial By Fire", Journey's first album in ten years. Unfortunately, the band did not tour in support of the album, because vocalist Perry was suffering from health problems.
Cain released his fourth album, Body Language, in 1997. Like its predecessor, it featured more mello piano songs, with highlights such as "Paradiso" and "I'll Always Remember", which he co-wrote with Steve Perry.
Cain's fifth album, For A Lifetime, featured piano songs that he had used during wedding ceremonies. He included an instrumental remake of his monster Journey hit, "Open Arms", on this album.
For the next few years, Cain continued working with Journey, as they recruited new vocalist Steve Augeri to replace Steve Perry, and released a new album, titled "Arrival". By the time he released his next solo album, Namaste, in 2001, Cain had left Higher Octave and released the album through his own independent label, Wildhorse Records. That same year, he signed with One Way Records, and released a repackaged version of his "Back To The Innocence" album, titled Anthology. The album wasn't a true anthology of Cain's solo material, but it did contain several tracks that were only released on the European version of the "Back To The Innocence" album.
In 2002, Cain's eighth album, Animated Movie Love Songs, paid tribute to many of the classic love songs found only in many children's animated movies, including "Aladdin" and "Snow White". Cain created the album for his children, and featured more of his stunning piano work. Sadly, One Way Records folded shortly after the release of this album, which caused it to disappear from music stores rather quickly.
The ninth album by Jonathan Cain, Bare Bones, was released in 2004 on AAO Records. This label only distributed the album to FYE Music Stores, which limited the sales of the album, but it did feature more jazz flavored material than his previous releases, including an R & B instrumental version of Journey's hit song, "Who's Crying Now". Two years later, his tenth album, Where I Live, marked Cain's first return to vocal songs since the release of "Back To The Innocence" in 1995.
As of today, Jonathan Cain is still making music with Journey and continues his solo career and other projects, while balancing a happy and healthy personal life. His next solo album will probably be released in late 2007 or early 2008.