

Perry also unsuccessfully auditioned to replace Rod Evans in Captain Beyond. After a year and a half, the group was unable to secure a record deal and disbanded. In 1975, Perry moved to Thousand Oaks, California, where he formed a progressive rock band called Pieces with Tim Bogert (who had previously worked with Jeff Beck), Denver Cross, and Eddie Tuduri. Upon returning to Sacramento, Ice disbanded as the band had no management, Mathews was still in high school, and the recordings went virtually unheard. During the day in 1972 they recorded at the Record Plant studios in Los Angeles while Stevie Wonder recorded his Talking Book album by night.

That band, Ice, wrote original material and were poised to "make it" in the music business.

In his early 20s, Perry moved to Sacramento to start a band with 16-year-old future music producer Scott Mathews, who co-wrote, played drums and guitar and sang. At age 12, Perry heard Sam Cooke's song " Cupid" on his mother's car radio, and it inspired him to become a singer. On Perry's 12th birthday, his mother, Mary Quaresma, presented her son with a gold eighth note pendant Perry wears the pendant for good luck. Perry's parents ended their relationship when he was eight years of age, and he and his mother then moved to his grandparents' dairy farm. Perry grew up interested in music, as his father, Raymond Perry (Pereira), was a vocalist and co-owner of radio station KNGS. Stephen Ray Perry was born in Hanford, California, to Portuguese parents from the Azores.
