Survivor (band)

Survivor is an American rock band that achieved its greatest success in the 1980s with its AOR sound, which garnered many charting singles, especially in the United States. The band is best known for its double platinum-certified 1982 hit "Eye of the Tiger", the theme song for the motion picture Rocky III. Singles like "Burning Heart", "The Search Is Over", "High on You", "Is This Love" and "I Can't Hold Back" continued to chart in the mid-1980s. The group's first album, the self-titled Survivor, was released in early 1980, but the album produced no Top 40 singles, and did not achieve the level of success that the band had hoped for. The band's follow-up album, Premonition, charted higher and achieved popularity with American audiences and giving the band its first Top 40 single, "Poor Man's Son." The album also showed off Bickler's range as a vocalist with its second single, "Summer Nights."

In 1982, Survivor's breakthrough arrived when actor Sylvester Stallone asked them to provide the theme song for his movie Rocky III. Stallone had heard their single "Poor Man's Son" and wanted a song similar to it. The band agreed to write him a song and soon released "Eye of the Tiger". The new song featured a faster tempo while still incorporating the stylish, nearly identical power chords. It had an enormous impact on the Billboard charts, peaking at #1 and remaining there for a total of six weeks. It also topped the British charts. It was in the Top 40 for a total of 18 weeks and was Australia's #1 single for four weeks. The song won the band a Grammy Award, was voted "Best New Song" by the People's Choice Awards, and also received an Academy Award nomination. The album of the same title, Eye of the Tiger, was released by the band later in 1982 and contained another Top 40 hit in the United States, "American Heartbeat". The album went on to chart at #2 in the United States.

In 1983 Survivor tried to duplicate the success of Eye Of The Tiger with their next release Caught in the Game. The album turned out to be a commercial disappointment, stalling at #82 on the Billboard 200 in the United States. The album's only single, the title track, peaked at #77.

In 1984, "Weird Al" Yankovic wrote and recorded a parody of "Eye of the Tiger" called: "Theme from Rocky XIII". It appears in his album "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D, as well as in Yankovic's compilation, The Food Album.

After recording "The Moment of Truth", the theme song of the box office smash hit The Karate Kid, the band recorded its first album with Jamison. Vital Signs gave the band a massive comeback, peaking at #16 on the Billboard Album Chart with the hits "I Can't Hold Back", "High on You", and "The Search Is Over". In late 1985, the band had another hit with "Burning Heart", a song from the Rocky IV soundtrack, which peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1986. When Seconds Count was released in October 1986 and included the hit "Is This Love". On the Billboard Album Chart the album peaked at #49 but still managed to sell over 500,000 copies and reached certified Gold status.

Their seventh album, Too Hot to Sleep, was released in 1988 and failed to make a dent on the charts. After the disappointing sales, Jim Peterik and Frankie Sullivan decided to put the band on hiatus indefinitely. Jamison decided to continue touring and playing Survivor songs with local musicians. He subsequently recorded a solo album in 1991. Jamison continued to tour, now billing his band as 'Survivor' or 'Jimi Jamison's Survivor'.

In spring of 1993, Peterik and Sullivan re-teamed with original lead singer Dave Bickler, released a new 'Greatest Hits' album with two new songs, "Hungry Years" and "You Know Who You Are" and embarked on a world tour with Bill Syniar and Kyle Woodring returning on bass and drums. As Jamison was also touring under the Survivor banner, Peterik and Sullivan filed a lawsuit against their former colleague for using the name. In late September 1999, Sullivan won ownership of the name "Survivor", thereby ending the ongoing trademark battle.

In 2000, the band threatened to sue CBS for using the name "Survivor" as the title of their hit reality show Survivor.

In April 2006, Survivor released a new album called Reach. Two of the album's songs, "Reach" and "Fire Makes Steel", had been considered for inclusion in the 2006 Rocky sequel Rocky Balboa but were not included, nor did they appear on the 2006 album Rocky Balboa: The Best Of Rocky.

As of 2010, the lineup was a mix of old and new members: Robin McAuley (vocals), original member/songwriter Frankie Sullivan (guitar/vocals), longtime members Marc Droubay (drums) and Billy Ozzello (bass) and newcomer Mitchell Sigman (keyboards/guitar). On November 15, 2011, Jimi Jamison announced his return to Survivor. The new lineup of Jamison (vocals), Frankie Sullivan (guitar), Marc Droubay (drums), Billy Ozzello (bass) and Walter Tolentino (keyboards/guitar) announced they would begin working on a new album, expected for release in 2012.

Music Videos

 * Eye Of The Tiger