Jimi Jamison


Jimmy Wayne Jamison was an American singer. Best known as Jimi Jamison, he earned recognition as the frontman for the rock bands Target, Cobra, and Survivor from 1984 to 1988, performing the songs "[Burning Heart (band)|Heart (song)|Burning Heart]" from the film Rocky IV, "The Moment of Truth" from The Karate Kid, along with other top-20 Survivor hits "I Can't Hold Back", "High On You", "The Search Is Over" and "Is This Love". He officially rejoined Survivor in 2000, remaining in the group until 2006, and rejoined again in 2011. Acclaimed for his vocal abilities, Jamison is also known for having co-written and performed the theme song "I'm Always Here" for the 1990s TV series Baywatch.
WWW jimijamison.com

Early life

Jimmy Wayne Jamison was born in rural Durant, Mississippi, but liked to think of himself as a Memphis, Tennessee, native, as he and his mother Dorothy moved there when he was one day old. In his teens, growing up in blues-rock and soul music, he taught himself how to play the guitar and piano. The first song Jimi ever performed in front of a crowd was "Day Tripper" by The Beatles, while he was in middle school in the mid-1960s.

Career

Early career

Jimi began playing in an R&B band called The Debuts. It was to be Jamison's first taste of success, and he was only 12 years old at the time. While students at Messick High School, the band had a hit with their first single, the Wayne Carson-penned "If I Cry" in 1968. It was a song originally intended for fellow Memphis band The Box Tops, but the group discarded the tune before recording it; Box Tops frontman Alex Chilton gave it to The Debuts instead. The band was picked up and signed by Atlantic Records. Soon the teenagers hit the road with the likes of Roy Orbison and Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels, also touring with The Buckinghams. The band broke up in 1969, but Jimi and Rowell continued playing together years later before going their separate ways. Meanwhile, Jamison became part of a self-contained group of musicians recording with local keyboardist David Beaver; Jamison features prominently as lead vocalist on the 1973 album, Combinations.

Target (1974–1980)

After the second session's recording with David Beaver, both Jamison and Cathey teamed up with guitarist Buddy Davis and formed the Memphis southern rock band Target in the mid 1970s. The band started and became a local arena band playing live constantly building up their reputation. Having success, the band released the albums Target and Captured on A&M Records with the singles "Are you Ready", "Let Me Live" and "It is Only Love", opening concerts for Black Sabbath, Boston, and Kiss.

Cobra (1981–1983)

In 1982, Jamison joined guitarist Mandy Meyer, guitarist/keyboardist Jack Holder, bassist Tommy Keiser, and drummer Jeff Klaven in the band Cobra, managed by Butch Stone, replacing original vocalist Tommy Andris. The band became a hit in the Memphis scene and signed with Epic Records. The group released one album, the Tom Allom-produced First Strike, in 1983. The British music magazine Kerrang! listed the album at number one in its import charts with the song "Blood On Your Money" getting MTV airplay, being Jamison's first music video.
"Looking at You" and "Travelin' Man" were promoted at the Memphis TV Club. Cobra started touring in the United States opening for Quiet Riot, Nazareth, and Krokus. Their live performance on November 27, 1983, was broadcast on the King Biscuit Flower Hour and later partly released on the Live Attack! and Only You Can Rock Me bootlegs. The live set included a half dozen unreleased songs, including their original "I'm a Fighter", written by Jimi and Mandy, which was covered by the group Van Zant in the mid-1980s. Meanwhile, First Strike was only a moderate commercial success, and the band split at the end of the year, primarily due to each member wanting to do different things.

Survivor (1984–1988)

After Cobra's demise in 1984, Jamison was invited to join Survivor, whose success had been waning since their number-one hit "Eye of the Tiger" in 1982. The band had recently parted ways with original singer Dave Bickler, due to his vocal cord injuries that required a lengthy convalescence. After a successful audition with the band, Jamison joined them despite some misgivings about Survivor's pop rock sound. He provided a spark to the band, eventually gaining great success and putting the band back on top. His first recording with the band was "The Moment of Truth", which reached number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1984.
Jamison's first full album with Survivor, and the band's fifth overall, was Vital Signs, released later in 1984. That album reached number 16 on the Billboard Album Chart and was certified platinum by the RIAA. The album included the hit singles "High on You", "I Can't Hold Back", with Jamison proving to be a worthy frontman and a photogenic face of the band, which helped the video for this song get significant airplay on MTV, and "The Search Is Over". "First Night" also reached number 53 on the singles chart.
The band began touring in Chicago and Indianapolis in 1984, in 1985 the band went on tour with headliner Bryan Adams, performing at his sold-out concerts at Nashville's War Memorial Auditorium, the Dallas Convention Center, the San Antonio Convention Center and the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans. They also toured with REO Speedwagon around that time with appearances at the San Diego Sports Arena and other venues, plus touring in Tokyo, Japan in which they released a DVD of the concert and appeared and performed in different Japanese Television Shows. That same year Survivor was requested by Stallone once again to do the theme song for the next Rocky film, achieving another hit with "Burning Heart" from the film Rocky IV. In early 1986, the single peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Jamison's second album with Survivor, When Seconds Count, was released on October 9, 1986, and included the hit single "Is This Love". The album peaked at a disappointing number 49 on the Billboard Album Chart but still managed to sell over 500,000 copies and was certified Gold. This album also featured Jamison making songwriting contributions to the band's repertoire, including the single "Man Against the World". This song was originally slated for inclusion on the Rocky IV soundtrack and was in fact later included in that album's 2006 reissue. Another single, "How Much Love" peaked at number 51 on the singles chart, while "In Good Faith" was promoted in Europe, with the band performing on German TV shows.
Survivor released their final 80s album, Too Hot to Sleep, in late 1988. Jamison would later cite the album as his personal favorite with Survivor, but it suffered from a lack of record company promotion and only reached number 187 on the Billboard albums chart. Three singles were released, with "Across the Miles" reaching number 74 on the singles chart, "Didn't Know It Was Love" reaching number 61, and "Desperate Dreams" receiving promotion in Europe, but the band could not sustain the success from their previous albums.

Solo career (1989–1999)

In 1989, Jamison contributed his own version of "Ever Since the World Began", a song Survivor had initially recorded before his tenure in the band, to Sylvester Stallone's film, Lock Up, after being requested by Stallone. That same year, he was invited to join Deep Purple, who had just fired longtime singer Ian Gillan. After a two-week session with the band, he reluctantly parted ways with them; according to Deep Purple organist Jon Lord, "He was an enormous Deep Purple fan and he would happily have taken over the job. But at the time he was afraid of his managers. They didn't want him to leave and he didn't dare to get into a fight with them." Jamison's managers wanted him to concentrate on his upcoming solo album instead of joining Deep Purple. Also in 1989, Jamison briefly united with his Target bandmates for a "10-Year Reunion" concert in Memphis and was part of the New Year's Eve celebration in the Crown Plaza. It was also around this time that Jamison performed the entrance song "Hard Times" for the wrestler Big Boss Man when he was in the WWF.
Jamison's first solo album When Love Comes Down was released in July 1991. While neither the album nor any of its singles made much impact on the charts, the songs "Rock Hard" and "Taste of Love" were used in episodes of Baywatch, and the latter was also used in the 1992 film Jersey Girl. Jamison's association with Baywatch began that same year, when CBS enlisted him to create a song for the then-just-acquired TV Series; Jimi would co-write and perform "I'm Always Here," the series's theme song. The song achieved success and pop culture recognition, with various versions of the song appearing as the show's opening theme until 2001.
Jamison began touring under the name Survivor or Jimi Jamison's Survivor with a new solo band consisting of Hal Butler, Jeff Adams, Bill Marshall, and initially official Survivor member Frankie Sullivan on guitar, though he was soon replaced by Jeff Miller. Sullivan and Jim Peterik from the "official" Survivor then filed a lawsuit against their one-time bandmate for continuing to bill his group as "Survivor", but were unsuccessful in preventing Jamison from touring under the band's name until 1999. During this period, the Scotti Brothers label released two Survivor compilation albums featuring songs from Jamison's tenure.
The solo album Empires, featuring a re-recorded version of "I'm Always Here" and a cover of "Love is Alive" by Gary Wright, was released under the name Jimi Jamison's Survivor in October 1999.

Second tenure with Survivor (2000–2006)

Jamison reunited with Survivor in March 2000, replacing original singer Dave Bickler once again. In 2002, the band released "Christmas is Here", which reached No. 6 on the Mediabase Christmas charts. In 2005, Jamison and the band were part of a Starbucks commercial, making an Eye of the Tiger parody, which gave them an Emmy Nomination. Jamison and the band released the album Reach in April 2006. The album was Survivor's first new album in 18 years. Jamison quit the band shortly after the release of Reach, on July 14.

Return to solo work (2007–2014)

Jamison released the solo album Crossroads Moment in Europe in July 2008 and in America the following year. The album was produced by his former Survivor bandmate Jim Peterik. He continued touring in Rio, Brazil, Chile and Barcelona, Spain. A companion album of outtakes called Extra Moments was released in 2010, the additional tracks had been compiled by Jamison and Peterik as a benefit for the music website melodicrock.com.
In 2011, Jamison teamed up with Toto singer Bobby Kimball for the album Kimball Jamison. The two singers shared lead vocals on songs written by Richard Page, Randy Goodrum, John Waite, and other notable rock songwriters.
During this period Jamison also formed the band One Man's Trash with Fred Zahl. That group released the album History in December 2011 for Starhouse Records. The band earned an endorsement from the guitar company Hofner.

Final tenure with Survivor (2011–2014)

Jamison again reunited with Survivor in 2011. In November of that year he performed Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" for boxer Manny Pacquiao's entrance into the ring for his bout against Shane Mosley at MGM Grand Las Vegas. Fueled by popular demand, Jamison would repeat the performance the following year for the boxer's next title defense.
In 2013, it was announced on the band's official media sources that Sullivan had reunited the current Survivor line-up with Bickler. They were also working on new material and looking forward to getting back into the studio together. Jamison participated in further tours with Survivor and would remain with the band until he died in 2014.
Jamison's last show was on August 30, 2014, in Morgan Hill, California, at the CANcert benefit event during the ARTTEC Summer Concert Series. The benefit raised funds and awareness for two non-profits supporting cancer patients as well as career training opportunities for high school students. Survivor's 58-minute set consisted of "Feels Like Love", "Broken Promises", "Take You on a Saturday", "High on You", "Rockin' into the Night", "The Search Is Over", "Rebel Girl", "I Can't Hold Back", "Burning Heart", "Poor Man's Son", "It's the Singer Not the Song" and ended with "Eye of the Tiger".

Collaborations

Throughout his career, Jamison provided background vocals for several bands and artists such as Degarmo & Key ; Gary Chapman ; Mylon LeFevre & Broken Heart ; Krokus ; and The Blackwood Brothers. He provided backing vocals throughout ZZ Top's 1983 album Eliminator and also for that band's contribution to the Back to the Future III soundtrack in 1990. Frontman Billy Gibbons referred to Jamison as the "fourth member" of the group after working, touring and hanging out with them on multiple occasions.
Jamison contributed vocals for Joe Walsh on the album Got any Gum?, Ordinary Average Guy, and Songs for a Dying Planet. He was co-lead vocals with Walsh on the 1991 single "All of a Sudden", which reached number 13 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. He also worked with the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Ten Years After, Omar & the Howlers, Eric Gales Band, and Chris Bailey.,
Jamison provided backing vocals for long-time Heart guitarist Howard Leese's solo album Secret Weapon. He released the single "House That Love Built" in early 2010 as a benefit for the Ronald McDonald House of Memphis. He also recorded the charity single "One Family" in 2011 with the all-star ensemble United Rockers 4 U, which also included Bobby Kimball, Don Dokken, Eddie Money, Jeff Paris, Paul Shortino, Phil Lewis, Richie Kotzen, and Robin McAuley. Jamison contributed backing vocals to the album Naked but Dressed by Dominoe in 2012. He contributed to an all-star tribute to Steve Miller Band in 2013. One of his last vocal performances was the song "Summer Rains" on guitarist Tommy Denander's 2015 release F4ur'' by the band Radioactive.

Style and legacy

Jamison earned acclaim for his vocal abilities. "We didn't even consider it on him," sound engineer Terry Manning says. "We didn't even have it back then. He never needed it. He could hold pitch. He could sing vibrato when needed. He could sing straight when needed. He could do whatever you needed. Casey Kasem, the big DJ guy, called him 'The Voice.' That's what he named him. He just was the voice." Jamison is an Honorary Member of the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone magazine called Jamison "a true Rock and Roll Legend."

Personal life and death

In 1972, Jamison married Brenda Fay Mason, who is the mother of his first child. They divorced in 1983 and Jamison later married Deborah Cathey in 1985. With Cathey, he had two more children. Jamison and Cathey separated in 1999. When not traveling or performing, Jamison enjoyed time with his longtime love Pattie Sullivan, gardening, throwing horseshoes, various sports such as tennis and golf, and spending time with his family.
Jamison died on September 1, 2014, at his home in Raleigh, Memphis, Tennessee, aged 63. While he was initially thought to have died of a heart attack, his autopsy revealed he had cardiovascular disease and narrowing of the arteries and that he died of a hemorrhagic brain stroke, with "acute methamphetamine intoxication contributing". His death was ruled accidental.

Discography

Singles/promos/EPs

Title SongYearAlbumArtist
"Burning Heart"1985Rocky IV Soundtrack,
When Seconds Count,
Empires		Survivor,
Jimi Jamison
RegionChart Pos. 1985–86Year-End 1986 RegionChart Pos. 1985–86
Billboard 1002Billboard 1008
Mainstream11Netherland12
Singles Chart5Swiss15
Singles Chart6France17
Dutch Mega Top 1002Dutch Top 4017
Europe Hot 1001Belgium19
SNEP singles chart2Germany30
Germany Singles Chart6Italy47
Ireland Singles Chart2Brazil Top 10058
South Africa27CertificationSales
Swedish5France Gold1.000.000+
Swiss1
Canada14
Ultratop 50 singles1
Australia55
Finland2
Italy5
Japanese46
Japanese 1

Title SongYearAlbumArtist
"Taste of Love"1991When Love Comes Down,
Baywatch,
Jersey Girl Soundtrack		Jimi Jamison
"Rock Hard"1991When Love Comes Down,
Baywatch		Jimi Jamison
"When Love Comes Down"1991When Love Comes DownJimi Jamison
"Look at Us Now"1992Songs for a Dying PlanetJoe Walsh feat. Jimi Jamison

Title SongYearAlbumArtist
"Have Mercy"1996EmpiresJimi Jamison
"A Dream Too Far"1999EmpiresJimi Jamison
"Keep It Evergreen"1999EmpiresJimi Jamison
"Velocitized"2001Live RecordedSurvivor

Title SongYearAlbumArtistAdult ContemporaryUK
"It Takes Two"2005Funkology XIIIWhitney Wolanin feat. Jimi Jamison9–
"Eye of the Tiger" 2005–Survivor–47

Soundtracks