San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Guitarist a founding member of Journey
George Tickner, a founding member of the platinum-selling San Francisco rock band Journey, has died at 76, according to guitarist Neal Schon.
“You will be missed immensely,” Schon wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday. “Thank you for your incomparable contributions to Journey’s early years.”
No cause of death was given. Tickner, a former member of the psychedelic rock band Frumious Bandersnatch, was a member of Journey’s original lineup in 1973, alongside Santana alum Schon, keyboardist and vocalist Gregg Rolie, bassist Ross Valory, and drummer Prairie Prince. At first called the Golden Gate Rhythm Section, they formed the band to provide backup to other Bay Area artists but quickly abandoned that idea after their first public performance at the Winterland Ballroom on New Year’s Eve 1973 for an audience of 10,000.
The band soon changed its name to Journey and secured a record deal with Columbia Records after performing a showcase at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall on Feb. 5, 1974.
Tickner performed and cowrote several songs — including “Of a Lifetime,” “Topaz” and “Mystery Mountain” — on Journey’s self-titled debut album released in 1975. It entered the Billboard charts at No. 138, and Tickner decided to leave the music industry behind after accepting a scholarship to study medicine at Stanford University.
But his songs carried the band for a few more years. Tickner received credits for “You’re on Your Own” and “I’m Gonna Leave You” on 1976’s “Look Into the Future” album, and “Nickel and Dime” on 1977’s “Next.”
“‘Of a Lifetime’ is still one of my favorite songs ever,” Schon, who took on full guitar duties following Tickner’s departure, wrote in his post.
Through several lineup changes, Journey would eventually sell nearly 100 million albums worldwide, earn induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and crank out a dozen Top 40 hits, including “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” and “Open Arms.”
But Tickner, who was born in Syracuse, N.Y. on Sept. 8, 1946, maintained only a marginal interest in music after leaving the band. With Valory, he opened a recording studio called the Hive and formed another outfit called VTR that included keyboardist Stevie “Keys” Roseman. Their sole album, titled “Cinema,” featured Schon and Prairie Prince and was released in 2005 — the same year Tickner appeared with the other members of Journey to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.