SURVIVOR rank as one of the elite acts of the radio friendly era, scoring massive international exposure courtesy of their anthem 'Eye Of The Tiger' then transferring this to successive album successes, despite a switch in singer. Formed by songwriter, ex-IDES OF MARCH man and one-time solo artist Jim Peterik in 1977 alongside ex-MARIAH guitarist Frankie Sullivan. Having recruited vocalist Dave Bickler, the Chicago based act at first went under the banner of THE JIM PETERIK BAND but by the following year had adopted the SURVIVOR title in order to portray a band identity. SURVIVOR bagged a deal with the Scotti Brothers label and recorded the self-titled debut album with session men bassist Dennis Keith Johnson and drummer Gary Smith, the album being released in late 1979. This first opus hit no. 169 on the US charts.

Displaying their Melodic Hard Rock cum AOR sound on second album, the Artie Ripp co-produced 'Premonition' in 1981 scoring no. 82 on the national US charts, a permanent rhythm team of bassist Stephen Ellis and drummer Marc Droubay joining the founding trio, SURVIVOR's big breakthrough came when they were invited to write the theme song to Sylvestor Stallone's 'Rocky III' movie. The resulting 'Eye Of The Tiger' graced the coveted number 1 position on both sides of the Atlantic and Bickler's trademark black beret headgear became engrained in Rock history.

The band failed to capture to the success of 'Eye Of The Tiger' with subsequent singles released from the new album of the same name. The band went back into the studio, utilising REO SPEEDWAGON's Kevin Cronin and MR. MISTER's Richard Page as guests, for the follow up. However, following the release of 'Caught In The Game' in 1983, which only managed no. 82 in the USA, Dave Bickler was ousted in favour of a new frontman, erstwhile TARGET and COBRA singer JIMI JAMISON.

The first fruits of Jamison's tenure with SURVIVOR was 'The Moment Of Truth', the track appearing on 'The Karate Kid' soundtrack album issued on Casablanca Records. Although it was by no means as successful as 'Eye Of The Tiger' it signalled the beginning of a golden period for SURVIVOR embracing a string of huge hit singles in the United States, although in Britain the band only appeared to re-emerge from the chart wildnerness in 1985.

'Vital Signs', issued in 1984 and putting the group back into the US top twenty, marked Jamison's album debut with SURVIVOR, a particularly strong album recognized as the group's finest by many observers of the Hard Rock / AOR genre. 'Vital Signs' spawned no less than three Top 20 hit singles in America, the hardest hitting being 'The Search Is Over', which peaked at number 4 whilst 'High On You' got to no. 8 and 'I Can't Hold Back' hit no. 13.

In 1985 SURVIVOR went further, gaining the number 2 spot with 'Burning Heart' which, as coincidence would have it was taken from the band's latest collaboration with Sylvestor Stallone's 'Rocky' series, being the theme to 'Rocky IV'. The song managed to attain a top 5 placing in Britain too.

Jamison's second album with SURVIVOR, 1986's Ron Nevison produced 'When Seconds Count', appeared a year later although the album didn't fare quite as well as it's big brother 'Vital Signs', earning the band only one American Top 10 single with 'Is This Love' whilst the album itself only just scraped into the top 50.

The band were, however, about to suffer their first line-up change since parting company with Dave Bickler, bassist Stephen Ellis and drummer Marc Droubay having left SURVIVOR after the recording of 'When Seconds Count'. Their places were taken on tour by session men Bill Synair and BRYAN ADAMS drummer Mickey Curry respectively. Droubay would participate in the Los Angeles based RENEGADE that also featured ex-SABU bassist Rick Bozzo and former CBS artist SUSAN LYNCH after leaving SURVIVOR, but the band failed to record anything more substantial than demos.

1988's 'Too Hot To Sleep' found SURVIVOR in heavier mood, certainly in the case of Frankie Sullivan who had become involved in the production of several Los Angeles based Metal bands in the interim, including Chicago's TOMMI GUNN. 'Too Hot To Sleep', co-produced by Sullivan and Frank Fillipetti, recording a lowly no. 187 in the USA, would prove to be the band's swansong. Live dates were conducted with Bill Synair on bass and Kyle Woodring on the drums but the group steadily fell apart, with Jamison tempted by offers of a solo album release from Scotti Brothers and Jim Peterik and Frankie Sullivan decided to put SURVIVOR on hiatus indefinitely.

By 1992 Jamison, Peterik and Sullivan were in negotiation to record new tracks for a projected compilation. Unfortunately these talks did not come to fruition and the singer broke away to perform live work billed as JIMI JAMISON'S SURVIVOR. As it transpired, the 1993 'Greatest Hits' album found Peterik and Sullivan re-united with Dave Bickler once more in order to add a couple of brand new tracks, 'Hungry Years' and 'You Know Who You Are', to the package. A subsequent world tour saw Bill Syniar and Kyle Woodring re-installed as the rhythm section. Klem Hayes took over bass duties during 1993. With two acts billed as SURVIVOR active on the tour circuit, Peterik and Sullivan took legal action against Jamison's use of the name.

Peterik, Sullivan, and Bickler crafted a fresh series of demos for an intended new album but these remained unreleased, only to surface as the bootleg 'Fire Makes Steel'.

During 1996 Sullivan began working on a project with keyboard player Curt Coumo and ex GRAND PRIX / McAULEY SCHENKER GROUP vocalist ROBIN McAULEY. These recordings would surface many years later.

Somewhow Jimi Jamison came out of the whole thing allegedly owning the rights to the SURVIVOR name, even though Peterik and Sullivan were still working together as an ongoing band.

In 1997 Droubay returned on the scene putting together a band titled WISHING WELL with ex-QUIET RIOT, DOKKEN and GREG LEON INVASION guitarist Greg Leon and former BLACK CAT BONES and PRETTY THINGS bassist Stuart Brooks.

By 1998 the SURVIVOR name appeared to be back in the right hands as a line-up consisting of Bickler, Sullivan, Droubay, Ellis and new keyboardist Chris Grove. The band was working on new material with plans to cut a brand new album during the summer. Peterik was no longer involved. The album' 'Empire', featuring Hal Butler of CREED, eventually emerged credited to JIMI JAMISON'S SURVIVOR.

Peterik and Sullivan contributed their songwriting skills to the 1999 URIAH HEEP album 'Sonic Origami'. Sullivan would also donate his services to EDGAR WINTER's 'Winter Blues' album.

JIM PETERIK issued his debut solo album 'World Stage in 2000. If was graced with a bevvy of star name guests including .38 SPECIAL's Don Barnes, JOHNNY VAN ZANT, STYX vocalist DENNIS DE YOUNG, REO SPEEDWAGON singer Kevin Cronin, Blues legend BUDDY GUY, DAVID CARL, BLACKHAWK's Henry Paul, NIGHTRANGER's Kelly Keagy, CINDERELLA's Tom Keifer and the CHEAP TRICK duo of Rick Neilsen and Bun E. Carlos.

In the wake of the September 11th tragedies the band forged an alliance with other AOR heavyweights such as REO SPEEDWAGON, STYX, BAD COMPANY, JOHN WAITE, MARK FARNER, JOURNEY, KANSAS, EDDIE MONEY, PETER FRAMPTON and EDGAR WINTER for a brace of fund raising events. The two shows, hosted by comedian Drew Carey, occurred on October 20th and 21st at the Smirnoff Music Center in Dallas, Texas and Hi Fi Buys Amphitheatre in Atlanta, Georgia raising a quite staggering $1 million dollars for victims of the disasters.

SURVIVOR were back on the road in North America during 2002 commencing August 22nd in Cleveland, making up a package tour with LOVERBOY and EDDIE MONEY billed as 'The Triple Shot Of Rock' dates.

In September it seemed as though Sullivan and Jamison had patched up their differences, the pair both being present on a new SURVIVOR composition issued to radio stations entitled 'Christmas Is Here'. During 2003 Peterik founded the PRIDE OF LIONS studio project, working with the relatively unknown singer Toby Hitchcock.

The January 2005 SURVIVOR compilation 'Ultimate Survivor' included the previously unreleased track 'Rockin' Into The Night'. Later that year it emerged the band, guitarist Frankie Sullivan with Jimi Jamison on vocals, the DOKKEN and YNGWIE MALMSTEEN credited Barry Dunaway on bass guitar with Marc Droubay on drums, had signed to the Italian label Frontiers for a new studio album. These sessions included a re-work of their monster hit 'Eye Of The Tiger'.

In mid July 2006 it was announced that Irishman ROBIN McAULEY, previously of GRAND PRIX, FAR CORPORATION and the McAULEY SCHENKER GROUP, had joined SURVIVOR as the band's new singer. McAuley put in a one off performance fronting THE BIG BALL STARS, alongside vocalist / guitarist John Corabi, of M?TLEY CRÜE, UNION and RATT, drummer Chris Slade, of URIAH HEEP and AC/DC, keyboard player Teddy Zig-Zag, of GUNS 'N ROSES, plus the RATT credited Robbie Crane on bass and Brent Woods from the VINCE NEIL band, in a live set on January 27th 2007 at The Knitting Factory in Hollywood, California.

Garry Sharpe-Young