Chris Daughtry says Joe Perry called him about replacing Steven Tyler in Aerosmith

Steven Tyler and Chris Daughtry (composite image)

(Image credit: Steven Tyler: Tiffany Rose/Getty Images for GBK Brand Bar | Chris Daughtry: Momodu Mansaray/GA)

Former American Idol star and Daughtry frontman Chris Daughtry has claimed that he was once approached by Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry about replacing frontman Steven Tyler.

The offer was reportedly made in late 2009, after Tyler had entered rehab for pain management. That summer, the singer had fallen off the stage while performing Love In An Elevator during a show at the Buffalo Chip Campground near Sturgis, SD, injuring his neck and shoulder.

“I get this random call from Joe Perry," Daughtry tells the The Dave Rickards Podcast. "Joe Perry and Steven were apparently at odds with each other.”

“It was all in the news." he continues. "I think it was like a public breakup sort of thing. Joe Perry calls me. I thought it was a joke at first, but he didn’t even take time to, like, ‘How’re you doing?’ He just went into his reason for calling me. ‘How would you feel about hitting the road with us? You’ve got some cool songs we could play too.'

“I was speechless. First of all, I don’t consider myself any caliber of singer that Steven Tyler is as far as I would not be able to tackle those songs the way Steven Tyler tackles him. He is irreplaceable, in my mind. Furthermore, Steven Tyler’s alive. This whole fear of pissing off one of my heroes was just looming, and I was, like, ‘There’s no way I can do this, Joe.’"

In early November 2009, Tyler told Classic Rock, "I’m going to do something Steven Tyler, working on the brand of myself – Brand Tyler. I’m not sure what I’m going to do but a bunch of things have come in that will piss the band off real good. We’ll see what happens.”

Later that month, Perry told Classic Rock, "It’s official: Aerosmith are looking for a new singer," and the following month he told Billboard that there were “a few people we’ve talked to, and we’ll see how it goes... As far as auditions go, we’ll probably just sit around and have a couple of drinks and see if we get along. Because we’re already gonna know that they can sing."

Three months later, Aerosmith announced the Cocked, Locked, Ready to Rock Tour, and Tyler was on board.

Listen to Chris Daughtry on The Dave Rickards Podcast below. Daughtry's new single, Artificial, was released on Friday.

Artists

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.