The journey continues for rock'n' roll vet Gregg Rolie

GREGG ROLIE'S place in Bay Area rock history is safe.

The Seattle-born, Palo Alto-raised Rolie was a founding member and original vocalist for two of the Bay Area's most successful rock acts -- Santana and Journey. The singer was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Santana in 1998.

At first, it seemed like that induction might serve as the glorious last chapter in Rolie's book of rock. He would soon move to San Diego, where his next project was to be retirement.

He got off to a strong start on that project, but ultimately failed to make the grade in the land of weekday-afternoon tee times and leisurely strolls on the beach. The 59-year-old vocalist blames Ron Wikso, who drummed behind Rolie in the early'90s band the Storm.

"He was the catalytic agent to get me out of the hammock," Rolie says during a recent phone interview from his San Diego home. "I was pretty much retired."

Wikso, a man who has set the beat for everyone from Cher to David Lee Roth during his impressive career, convinced Rolie to start recording some new material. The singer went into Wikso's L.A. studio, accompanied by such friends as bassist and fellow Santana vet Alphonso Johnson and REO Speedwagon guitarist Dave Amato, and the result was Rolie's 2001 CD, "Roots."

Those sessions also set the groundwork for what would become the Gregg Rolie Band, a Latin Rock troupe that currently features Wikso, Johnson, timbalero Adrian Areas, guitarist Kurt Griffey, conguero Michael Carabello and keyboardist Wally Minko.

Although retirement has officially ended for Rolie, the singer has brought some of what he learned during his hammock period to this comparatively relaxed, low-key project.

"We are a group of guys who tour steakhouses throughout the United States and coincidentally play music the following day," says Rolie, who will be looking for a good Bay Area steakhouse on Friday, the night before his band headlines a Latin Rock show at the Fox Theatre in Redwood City. The

concert, which also features Malo and La Ventana, is a benefit to raise awareness about autism.

"It's all about the hang," Rolie says of his current band. "If you are having a good time at anything you do, you are going to do a good job at what you do. That's really where the key to this band is. We really just enjoy each other a tremendous amount and have a lot of fun with this. We will get up to playing about 50 dates a year, and really that's about all I want to do."

Music hasn't always been such a leisurely, fun experience for Rolie. Despite co-founding Santana in 1966, and singing lead on such early hits as "Black Magic Woman," " Evil Ways" and "Oye Como Va," Rolie always had to fight for recognition in a band that was dominated, at least in the public's eye, by its namesake guitarist. By 1971, the vocalist was out of the group -- and out of the business -- having moved up to Seattle to open a short-lived restaurant.

In 1973, the singer joined guitarist Neal Schon, another Santana alum, to start Journey. The band originally pursued a jazz-flavored prog-rock direction and its first few records, starting with 1975's self-titled debut, only posted mediocre numbers. It wasn't until a second singer, Steve Perry, joined that the group's fortunes began to improve.

As Perry quickly grew to become the face of Journey, Rolie was relegated to the role of backing vocalist and keyboardist. In 1980, reportedly exhausted from Journey's heavy tour schedule, Rolie left that band and was replaced by former Babys keyboardist Jonathan Cain. As luck would have it, Journey's next album, 1981's "Escape," would be its first to hit No. 1 on the charts.

Rolie released two solo albums in the'80s, an eponymous effort in 1985 and "Gringo" in 1988. Neither was able to jump-start the singer's sagging career.

Rolie would get one more jolt of commercial success in the early'90s when he joined with fellow Journey bassist Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith to form the Storm. That band released its self- titled 1991 album on Interscope, which produced the Top 20 single "I've Got a Lot to Learn About Love." Its little heralded follow- up, 1996's "Eye of the Storm," came out as the group disbanded.

Despite the ups and downs, Rolie remains upbeat about all of his past musical endeavors. He's particularly happy that classic rock radio has embraced so many of his former hits and that people keep buying his old records with Santana and Journey.

"It says a lot about what was accomplished by both Santana and Journey, being the bands that they were," he says. "And they were bands. There wasn't one individual running seven or eight people's lives. They were truly democratic situations."

Santana, as mentioned earlier, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. That might not turn out to be Rolie's only trip to the podium. As a founding member of Journey, the singer has a good shot at making rock's most exclusive club -- musicians who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame more than once. That would put him in the same group as Neil Young, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton (the Hall's only three-time inductee).