Song:Eye Of The Tiger
Album:Ultimate Survivor
Eye Of the Tiger topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks in 1982. As I'm sure you know, it was the theme of the film Rocky III. Survivor are from Chicago. Jim Peterik was lead singer and guitarist of The Ides Of March who scored with Vehicle in 1970. Then Peterik was in the jazz rock group Chase. As you may know, most of Chase died in a 1974 plane crash. Peterik and bassist Dennis Keith Johnson were supposed to be on that plane but couldn't make it. That's where the band name Survivor comes from. After recording a 1976 solo album, Peterik formed Survivor with Johnson, drummer Gary Smith, lead singer Dave Bickler and guitarist Frankie Sullivan. Sullivan was in the band Mariah who released an album on United Artists in 1976. Peterik and Sullivan had worked on jingles and wrote all of Survivor's songs. They signed with Scotti Bros. Records who were distributed by Atlantic at the time. After their 1980 debut album Survivor, Johnson and Smith were replaced by Stephan Ellis and Marc Droubay. Peterik thought Johnson and Smith were jazz musicians and he wanted a rock group. The album Premonition was released in 1981. Then Scotti Bros. moved to Columbia Records. Sylvester Stallone heard the Survivor single Poor Man's Son and he asked Peterik to write a song for Rocky III. At first Peterik thought the title Eye Of The Tiger was a little too obvious and he was going to call the song Survival. But sometimes the obvious choice is the best choice. The song was a huge hit of course. Dave Bickler was forced to leave Survivor due to vocal cord problems. Jimi Jamison was the new lead singer for the 1984 album Vital Signs. Survivor had four more top ten hits including Burning Heart from Rocky IV. You can get all their hits on this budget comp. Survivor faded and split up in 1989. Jamison continued to tour as Survivor. He eventually reformed with Peterik and Sullivan but Jamison seemed to prefer leading his own version of Survivor. Bickler returned to Survivor and they toured for a couple of years. Then Peterik left and Sullivan won the legal battle with Jamison for the Survivor name. Jamison replaced Bickler. This back and forth with Jamison would continue until his death on Sept. 1, 2014. Bickler had returned to Survivor and they were on tour at the time but that has been cancelled. Here's the video for Eye Of The Tiger by Survivor.
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