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Watch Journey guitarist’s on-stage proposal to party-crasher Michaele Salahi

Posted at 7:11 AM, Oct 15, 2012
and last updated 2012-10-15 07:12:25-04

By Ed Payne CNN

(CNN) — It was a case of rock ‘n’ roll romance as Journey guitarist Neal Schon proposed to one-time White House party crasher and reality TV star Michaele Salahi on stage Sunday night in Baltimore, her manager said.

Salahi accepted the proposal with “Open Arms,” according to Gina Rodriguez.

Their relationship began under a cloud in September 2011 when the “Real Housewives of D.C.” star was reported missing by her then-husband of nearly eight years Tareq Salahi.

“It is our belief … Michaele Salahi may have been kidnapped or abducted and is being held under duress and forced to tell persons, including authorities, she is OK,” Rodriguez, who managed Tareq Salahi at the time, said.

But instead, the reality show personality had traveled to Memphis, where Journey was performing, to be with Schon, a representative with Scoop Marketing, Schon’s management company, told CNN.

She told a sheriff’s deputy that she was “with a good friend and was where she wanted to be,” Warren County, Virginia, Sheriff Danny McEathron said in a statement.

A short time later, Tareq Salahi filed for divorce.

The Salahis first gained notoriety when they were photographed with President Barack Obama at a White House state dinner, to which they were not invited, in November 2009.

The “Real Housewives of D.C.” TV series was canceled by Bravo in 2011.

Schon is a founding member of Journey, which formed in San Francisco in 1973 after he left Santana.

Over it’s nearly 40-year history, the band has sold 47 million albums, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

CNN’s Douglas Hyde contributed to this report

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