Survivor's first lead singer

[Abitaman]

Anyone know what happend to Rich? thier first lead singer. I know he did 2 or 3 cds with them, then Jimi came in. He even cam back in the 90's and sang on tour with them ( saw them at the Mobile fair), and recorded a new song with them for that cd. Then in 2000 I saw Jimi back with them opening for Styx and REO in New Orleans. What is this guy up to know a days, and why the split. I perfer Jimi as singer for the group thou.-ERIC

[TageRyche]

The singer is David Bickler.

He's currently the guy singing for those "Real Men of Genius" jingles.

[lukeisgod]

HI, DAVID BICKLER WAS THE ORIGINAL LEAD SINGER AND KEYBOARDIST FOR SURVIVOR AND WAS ON THE FIRST 4 HISTORIC ALBUMS FROM 1980'S 'SURVIVOR'....1981's 'PREMONITION', 1982's 'EYE OF THE TIGER', and lastly 1983's " CAUGHT IN THE GAME'....

dave left the band as he developed policks on his vocal chords (very painful and something many singers have gotten) which kept him from singing as strong as he could then or as good or often as survivor was a very busy touring band!!

His voice needed time to heal (at least 1 1/2 yrs to 2) and survivor had to have another album done by 1984..so they hired jimi jamison (sullivan wanted tommy shaw ed. note : who just had left styx; peterik wanted kevin chalfont , and they finally deceided on jamo)

2 successful releases later (1984's 'vital signs' and 1986's 'when seconds count') and one big dissapointment commerically (1988's 'TOO HOT TO SLEEP' which many fans old n newer agree is one if not there very best) the band disbanded sometime in 1989 and somewhat badly I have read in the past..

in 1992 frankie sullivan joined jimi jamison's band for a bunch of shows over seas somewheres ( I have since forgotten where) and then in early 1993 peterik,sullivan again joined forces very briefly with jamison to re-form survivor. money was said to be main reason why that 2nd time didnt win out and then they called "there old pal" dave bickler and re-inserted him into the fold...

1993 summer: a new and more complete greatest hits cd of survivor was released featuring 2 new songs ("hungry years" and "you know who you are " respectively) with peterik, sullivan and dave bickler on lead vocals.

they did many demo's ,sessions, and toured extensively throughout the world in 1993-1994 a new album /cd was talked about many times for years but the on-going (then)and very ugly lawsuit and trademark war over survivors name with 2 time former disgruntled singer jamison put a damper on a label /record deal and then peterik left abruptly on july 3rd 1996 after a show in lisle, IL ( i was there)

jamison and his band continued to tour as survivor as the now peterik less survivor went on then with the re-insertion of former longtime drummer marc droubay n new guy whiz kid chris grove on keys along with the reinsertion of the other long-time band member on bass stephan ellis...

the tours went well though mosly fests and some big openings for larger acts and the club circuit (overseas was different n much bigger) ellis quit sometime in 1998 and then was replaced with former bassist billy ozello (who remained with the band until around 2004)

frankie sullivan won the trademark war and owns the name (lawsuit was dropped a while back in mid 1990's) in fall of 1999 and the band was rumored to have been close to signing a new deal with some overseas major labels but that fell through for reasons unknown.

ON APRIL 1ST, 2000 jimi jamison was announced for the 3rd time as the lead singer/front man for SURVIVOR where he has been for last 5 yrs..


there u go..a brief history...


c.c.m [/b]

[Eyeof]

This was a great historical recap from 'back in the day'....