Jimi Jamison

The Debuts (1967)

By middle school (Messick Jr. High, Memphis), he was playing in a R&B band called The Debuts, who recorded what became a local hit song ("If I Cry" in 1968 which was originally meant for the Box Tops) on the Scudder label and for ATCO. And he spent four years at a jingle company, where he honed his versatile style^[5]“...The first song I ever performed in front of a crowd was "Daytripper" by the Beatles when I was a kid in the ’60s. But my background is really more in a blues-rock kind of thing. I grew up on soul music too. My first band "The Brutes" (because we were all on the school football team) played mainly soul music. It was all around us and all over the radio so we were very influenced by it.” Jimi told Noisecreep during a chat with the powerhouse vocalist while discussing Never Too Late, his final solo album.^[6]

D Beaver (1973)

While finishing his college studies in The University of Memphis in Radio/TV and Journalism (1971-1973)^[7] he was part of the band D-Beaver, who released one album (Combinations in 1973 with TMI Label). "We were surrounded with rhythm and blues and soul music," recalled Jamison, "so naturally I was influenced by the sounds of Stax Records and soul music. I even learned to play trumpet, because what's a soul band without a trumpet and sax?".^[8]

D Beaver split shortly after the Combinations album and this, according to the BadCatRecords website, was due to them being dropped by RCA. Apparently some of the musicians carried on for a while as session men before joining more successful bands, but David Beaver appears to have swapped the music business for a lucrative career in banking. Joining him from his previous band was Pat Allen Taylor (guitar, backing vocals) and studio musicians; Tommy Cathey (bass, vocals), Carl Marsh (guitar, backing vocals) and Joel Williams (drums, percussion, guitar) and Jimi in lead vocals ("Halfway", "I Wouldn't Bet On You", "I've Had Some Time", "Combinations", "Another Bad Year", "Anthony Beechum" and "I'm Gonna Show You").^[9]

Target (1974-1979)

By late 1970, Jamison was fronting the local Memphis band, Target, a five piece Southern Rock band from Memphis, Tennessee, who formed in the early 1970's. Jamison and the group released a pair of albums, Target (1976) and Captured (1977), on A&M Records, 3 promo singles ("Are you Ready", "Let Me Live" and "It's Only Love")^[10] plus a live concert At The High Cotton Club in Memphis on February, 1975 (which marked the beginning of a contract with the record company) and opened concerts for Black Sabbath, Boston, and KISS. However, it has come to light (released by Scape Music in 2017) that a third album was recorded in 1979, entitled In Range before the band split in 1982.^[11]

In Range was recorded in the autumn of 1979: it took the band about two to three weeks to do this third album. This is Target's best recording, chock full of quality songs and musicianship.^[12]

The band consisted of singer Jimi Jamison, guitarist Paul Cannon, Buddy Davis on keyboards, Tommy Cathey on bass, and drummer David Spain. Like most bands of their time, the band built up their reputation, their catalogue of songs and their fanbase by playing live constantly. Eventually their hard work paid off, as they were spotted and eventually signed by A&M Records. Jimi did writing contributions for "It's Only Love" and "Rock and Roll Laureate" the rest of the songs were writing by the rest of the members specially by Buddy Davis.^[13] They cover the song "99 and Half" on their first album and this song is originally from Sister Rosetta Tharpe and her mother (Katie Bell Nubin) with Sam Price Trio in 1949.^[14]

The group's Free- & Lynyrd-Skynyrd-influenced sound went down well live, but this didn't translate into the kind of record sales that had been hoped for. The second album, saw the band's sound become a little more sophisticated and expansive, and the band went out on tour once more, playing with Boston on this occasion. However, A&M were unimpressed by the sales figures for Captured and dropped Target from their roster. Target struggled on without a record deal until the early 1980's, before finally calling it a day. They won many loyal fans over their time together, and continued to pack venues down the years whenever there was the occasional Target reunion (as in 1989).^[15]

While he did go on to greater heights, thanks to his stints fronting Cobra and, of course, Survivor not to mention releasing an impressive catalogue of solo records, Target were the band with whom he first made the progression from playing the bars and clubs to touring as a major label act opening for the likes of Black Sabbath and Styx. However, the debut Target LP wasn't the singer's first album recording credit. Nor bassist Tommy Cathey's either. "Having started to work together in a band called Omaha in the early 70's an opportunity to hook up with another project was just too good to miss", as the latter explains: "After a stint in Omaha with Jimi, we both wanted to explore the chances of original music", recalls Cathey. "David Beaver had been doing original music for a couple of years so we gravitated to that. We did two records with D. Beaver, of which only one was released. Right after the second record, Jimi and I were ready to take the splash into forming our own band to do original music, so we teamed up with guitarist/organist Buddy Davis and formed Target. We still played cover music to pay the bills, but all along writing our own music and trying to be a good rock and roll band! The band toured substantially back then and it was a shame that the band split before that third release saw the light of day".^[11]

Cobra

In 1982, Jamison teamed up with Memphis-based Swiss expatriates, guitarist Mandy Meyer (ex-Krokus) and bassist Tommy Keiser, in their new band, eventually named Cobra. Rounded out by guitarist/keyboardist Jack Holder (ex-Black Oak Arkansas) and drummer Jeff Klaven and managed by Butch Stone, who had also handled Jamison's old band Target as well as Krokus and Black Oak Arkansas, the band became a fixture on the local scene and managed to score a record deal with Epic Records. The group issued their lone album, the Tom Allom-produced First Strike, in 1983. In the British music magazine Kerrang! the album took first place in the import charts.^[16]

Backing Vocals (1980-1984)

It was also during this time that Jamison began providing background vocals for bands such as Degarmo & Key (This Ain't Hollywood, 1980), Krokus (Headhunter, 1983 & The Blitz, 1984), Molly Hatchet (The Deed is Done, 1984), and ZZ Top (with ZZ Top frontman Billy Gibbons even referring to Jimi as the "fourth member" of the group).^[20]

The Karate Kid - "The Moment of Truth"

Jamison appeared to provide an instant spark for Survivor. The first song he recorded with the band, "The Moment of Truth" (theme song from the 1984 box office smash hit The Karate Kid) reached number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 7 1984 for 7 weeks on the chart. The song is re-issue on the Vital Signs album in 2009 by Rock Candy. The music video is shown with scenes from the movie, the song is written by Bill Conti, Dennis Lambert & Peter Beckett and published by Karussell Label.

Vital Signs (1984)

Jamison's first album with the band, Vital Signs (August 1, 1984, fifth studio album, their second most successful in the U.S behind Eye of the tiger for Volcano and Scotti Brothers) became even more successful, peaking at number 16 on the Billboard Album Chart and being certified platinum by the RIAA. His high harmonies, added to the group's well-maintained keyboard/guitar style, threw them into the ring with bands like Styx and Foreigner. Both "High on You" (number 8 U.S. for 17 weeks on the chart in March 23, 1985) and "I Can't Hold Back" (number 13 U.S. in December 8, 1984 for 23 weeks and It also peaked at #1 for three weeks on the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart)^[23] are built on congenial rock charm with an AOR dressiness, using the synthesizer to guide Jamison's energetic singing.

Rocky's "Burning Heart"

In late 1985, Survivor achieved another hit with Jamison at the helm, "Burning Heart", from the Rocky IV movie with Sylvester Stallone, which peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 early the following year (for 22 weeks in February 1, 1986) behind "That's What Friends Are For" by Dionne and Friends.^[31] "Burning Heart", which is about an "all or nothing" battle, was inspired by the Cold War, as shown by lyrics such as "Is it East versus West?" and "Can any nation stand alone?" The Communist East versus Capitalist West conflict is reflected in the film by the fight in the boxing ring between Rocky and Ivan Drago. The final solo and tremolo bar solos in the middle of the song were played with a Fender Stratocaster. It was the biggest hit the band had with Jamison on lead vocals with a gold certification for over 500,000 sales. The music video for "Burning Heart" features Survivor giving a concert, mixed with scenes from the film Rocky IV.

Originally, the song was supposed to be titled The Unmistakable Fire. It was Sylvester Stallone who suggested to Jim Peterik to change the title, the same Stallone also suggested modifying the initial words of the refrain from "In the human heart just about to burst" to "In the burning heart just about to burst". "Burning Heart" was released worldwide on November 1, 1985 and reached # 1 in the charts in Switzerland and Belgium. In France, the song was awarded the Golden Record.

On the B-side of the single is the song "Feels Like Love".

When Seconds Count (1986)

His second album with the band, When Seconds Count was released in October 9, 1986 (sixth album studio for Scotti Brothers) and included the hit "Is This Love" (number 9 U.S. in January 17, 1987 for 19 weeks)^[32]. On the Billboard Album Chart the album only reached number 49 but still managed to sell over 500,000 copies and reached certified Gold status. This album also found Jamison making more songwriting contributions to the band's output, as he co-wrote four of the record's songs, including another memorable single, "Man Against the World" (number 86 U.S. in May 23, 1987 for 5 weeks)^[33], which was the Survivor song originally slated for inclusion in Rocky IV (it does appear on the 2006 reissue of the Rocky IV soundtrack). One notable adjustment Jamison had to make when performing with Survivor was not performing hits by other artists. "Sometimes we'll start to do an encore and somebody will say, 'Let's do a Led Zeppelin song!'" he told Nine-O-One Network Magazine in 1987. "You wanna say 'Yeah. Yeah!' And then right at the very last minute you say, 'Nah, we better do this [instead].'"^[34]

Too Hot to Sleep (1988)

In October 3, 1988, Survivor released what would be their final studio album of the 1980s for Scotti Brothers, Too Hot to Sleep. Jamison composed several songs on this album, including "Rhythm of the City" and the album's title track. While Jamison and his bandmates believed it to be one of their best works to date (with Jamison citing it retrospectively as his favorite Survivor album^[38]), Too Hot to Sleep suffered from a lack of promotion from the record label, and while two singles ("Across the Miles" number 74 U.S. in February 11, 1989 for 6 weeks and "Didn't Know It Was Love" number 61 U.S. in November 12, 1988 for 10 weeks on chart)^[39] charted and the single "Desperate Dreams" released as well in 1989, it was not as successful as previous Survivor albums. It was a relative commercial disappointment, reaching only #187 on the Billboard album charts.

Both bassist Stephan Ellis and drummer Mark Droubay had quit the Survivor ranks following the relatively poor commercial showing of When Seconds Count – the latter in search of pastures new, whilst the former was forced to step down due to ongoing health issues – which just left the central songwriting nucleus of Jim Peterik (keyboards), Frankie Sullivan (guitars) and Jimi Jamison (vocals). Utilising a stand in rhythm section (old pal Bill Syniar from Chicago on bass, and respected session drummer Mickey Curry, who by then had forged a formidable reputation working with both Hall & Oates and Bryan Adams) the trio went in search of their hard rock roots, in the process producing their heaviest album since "Premonition" and arguably the heaviest Survivor album period.

In commercial terms Too Hot To Sleep was even less successful than its predecessor, but along with the aforementioned Premonition and the truly awesome Vital Signs, to these ears at least it represents the best thing the band ever recorded.

Sullivan's guitars were pushed much more into the foreground, this time used to define the songs with Peterik's keyboards offering splashes of colour instead of the other way around. This heavier sound in turn seemed much more suited to Jamison's grittier vocal style, as had been amply demonstrated on the Cobra album First Strike some five years earlier, which if we're honest was probably what landed him the gig in the first place. Fortunately, this revamped approach didn't affect the quality of the song writing one iota; the hooks, the melodies and the emotional investment remained as strong and vibrant as ever before.^[40]

After this album, founders Frankie Sullivan and Jim Peterik put the band on indefinite hiatus (1993), while Jimi would continue to tour under the Survivor name (thus resulting in a lengthy court battle regarding rights to the name).

Background and co-lead Vocals (1987-1995)

From 1987 to 1995 he was providing more background vocals for Joe Walsh, Got any Gum?, in 1987, Ordinary Average Guy, in 1991 where he was the co-lead in "All of a Sudden" (#13 chart for the Mainstream Rock Tracks) and composer for "Look at us Now".^[41] And Songs for a Dying Planet, in 1992.

For Omar & the Howlers (Wall of Pride, 1988). For John Kilzer (Memory in the Making, 1988) With a major label back up, Memory In The Making was recorded by renowned producer Jack Holder (co-founder of Jimi Jamison's Cobra) who also plays everything here and brought Jamison to sing the background vocals on most of the songs.^[42]

For the Fabulous Thunderbirds (Powerful Stuff, 1989). For Ten Years After (About Time, 1989) and for Rick & Steve Worrall (Worrall, 1991 with Shawn Lane).^[43]

He also worked with the first two Eric Gales band albums (The Eric Gales Band, 1991 & Picture of a Thousand Faces, 1993). "Somebody suggested me to them and I just went in there and sang and they loved it. Because when I walked in, I think they were a little shocked. [Laughs] I think it was kind of like when Wild Cherry went and played the Apollo or something, [and that moment when] the curtains opened, because everybody was really quiet for a minute. Then when I started to sing, it all gelled and it worked out great. I got to know just about his whole family. He was just a kid. But he played his butt off. Eugene, his brother, was producing and figuring out our little harmony parts and stuff like that and of course, I’m helping him. But Eugene actually would come in and he would sing all of the parts and put it on cassette tape, each part and then we’d go in the studio and he’d play that part and listen to it [and then we’d record it]. Then he’d fast forward the tape a little and the next part would be on there that he had already figured out and it was great."

"Eric said to me, “you’re the most soulful white dude that we’ve ever worked with” and that was a big compliment to me, because Eric, he’s unbelievable. He’s really unbelievable and to watch him grow up and become the guitar player that he is, is really an amazing thing." Jamison in an enterview.^[44]

He worked with the Jeff Healey Band (Feel This, 1992) thanks to Scotti Brothers Label. For Every Mother's Nightmare (Wake up Screaming, 1993), for Johnny Diesel (Hepfidelity, 1993), once again with Degarmo and Key (Heat it Up, 1993 & To Extremes, 1994) and for Big Tent Revival in 1995.^[43]

First Solo Album & Deep Purple close-joined

In 1989, Jamison contributed his own version of "Ever Since the World Began," a song Survivor had initially recorded prior to his tenure in the band, to the film Lock Up. He released the CD with a B-Side "Cry Alone" (from his first solo album) thanks to CBS label. That same year, he was asked to be the lead vocal replacement for Deep Purple, who had just fired Ian Gillan. Said Purple organist Jon Lord of Jamison in a 1993 interview, "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 [Survivor] and he didn't dare to get into a fight with them." In fact, Lord's record label was preparing to release Jamison's new album, When Love Comes Down (which eventually surfaced in 1991), and they wanted him to stay and promote the record instead of joining Deep Purple.^[45]

House of Blues Studio (1992-1995)

Jamison recorded many sessions and demos throughout the 1990s. He worked on projects with Joe Walsh, Gary Belz, Jim Gaines, Greg Archilla, Terry Manning, John "The Chicago Kid" Ryan, Kenny Mims, John Hampton, Keith Sykes, Bobby Kimball (Toto), Ron Nevison, Bill Ham.

The Mofo Sessions in 1993 an unreleased album, a Jimi Jamison/Steve Cox Project, these tracks were recorded in 1992/93 included the live version of "Rock Hard" from his first solo album. Most of them were recorded at Jimi's home studio in Memphis. Steve played synths, programming and vocals, Jimi lead vocals, Hal McCormack and John Roth guitars, Buddy Davis, on lead guitar, Buddy was Jimi's bandmate from the Target days. Hal Butler piano and keyboards, Hal played later with Survivor (Jimi Jamison's) until 2000 and played keyboards in Empires. These tracks were not recorded to be a full album because of their different styles (pop-rock, reggae, country) they recorded to sold them to other artist.^[49]

He also performed the theme song "Hard Time" for the WWE Hall of Famer, Big Boss Man when he was in the WWF.^[50] And also performed "I Believe in You" a song for the children exchange club carl perkins center. In 1995 he became part of the Grammy Awards Committee.

Have Mercy The Demos in 2000 had demos when he was touring with the name of Survivor. "When the Heart takes Control" and "Never Surrender" were gonna appear in the Rocky V soundtrack for Stallone's fifth movie but didn't make the cut.^[51] Many of the demos were collaborations with other artists, that didn't surface at the time, "Power Over Me" and "Everybeat of my Heart" were covers for the band Atlantic. But a significant portion of these demos can be found today on Jamo Sessions.^[52]

Baywatch - "I'm Always Here"

Jamison co-wrote and sang "I'm Always Here," the theme of the 1990s hit TV series Baywatch in 1991 for all the seasons and episodes from September 23, 1991 - May 14, 2001 (except for the first season of the TV Series, it replaced "Save Me"). Jamison is credited as the lyricist on this song along with Joe Henry, who co-wrote the Rascal Flatts hit "Skin" (this is not the Joe Henry who wrote Madonna's "Don't Tell Me"). The music is credited to Cory Lerios and John D'Andrea. With the line, "I won't let you out of my sight," this is an appropriate song for a TV series about lifeguards. The song itself is more likely a commitment to a girl, telling her that he will always be there for her. An instrumental version of was used as the ending theme of seasons 6 to 9 and a different instrumental version was used as the theme for season 10 (the first season of Baywatch: Hawaii).^[53]

Jimi Jamison's Survivor

In 1992, Jamison began touring, billing his band as "Survivor" or "Jimi Jamison's Survivor." After Jamison's success touring overseas that year, original Survivor guitarist and founding member Frankie Sullivan contacted Jamison's management and asked to be included on the tour; he performed on eight to ten dates before leaving the group. Soon after, in late 1992–early 1993, Survivor was tapped to do a new and more extensive greatest hits package with two new songs. For a short time, Peterik, Sullivan and Jamison were reunited in the studio to record new material for the new package and forthcoming world tour. But after contract talks broke down, Jamison quit and went back on the road again as "Jimi Jamison's Survivor." The members were Binder, Pete Mendillo, Klay Schroedel, Paul Brown, Hal Butler, Jeff Adams, and Chris Adamson. He released two Collections with the band in 1993 - 1994 respectively thanks to Scotti Brothers, one volume with five songs from the Too Hot To Sleep album and five from When Love Comes Down. The other volume carries again hit songs from Survivor and the rest of the songs from his first solo album.^[56]

At this point, Sullivan, along with fellow Survivor cofounder Jim Peterik filed a lawsuit against their former colleague for using the name but ultimately failed (at the time) in their bid to stop Jamison from touring under the "Survivor" banner. However, in late September 1999, Sullivan, who had brought forth another lawsuit against Jamison, won ownership of the name "Survivor," thereby ending the ongoing trademark battle.

Reach - Final Group Album (2006)

In 2004, Jamison was featured with the band in the Emmy Award-nominated Starbucks commercial which parodied Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger". Jamison remained with the band up through the release of their long-awaited album, Reach, in April 25, 2006. Is the eighth studio album from rock band Survivor, released under Frontiers Records and their final. This is the band's latest album in 18 years.^[2] Some of the material originates from a period from 1993 to 1996 when the band recorded demos for an unreleased album that can be heard on the Fire Makes Steel bootleg (when Dave Bickler was with them). By this time, Frankie Sullivan was the only original member of Survivor, as Jim Peterik left the band in 1996.^[58]

Jimi on vocals, guitarist Frankie, and drummer Marc Droubay opted to resuscitate the band, with new members this time Barry Dunaway, Bass & Chris Grove, Keyboards. Unlike some other acts of the '80s who attempt to keep pace with the young pups by updating their sound (and oft-times floundering), Reach finds Survivor sticking with what they know best. And of course, that's melodic rockers with a clean production, as evidenced by such tracks as the album-opening title track and "Fire Makes Steel." Jamison did some songwriting contributions ("Give me the word" with his daughter Amy in lyrics as well, "Home" and "Don't Give Up"), "Rhythm of Your Heart" was one of the demos Jimi recorded in the 90's sessions and only 2 songs of the album were sang by Frankie Sullivan.^[59]

He left the band soon after most of all because of the problems and resentments that Sullivan had for Jimi having used the name of the band, and was replaced by singer Robin McAuley. "The reason why I left this last time… everything was ok and we were supposed to split everything 50/50. Everything that the name "Survivor" brought in was supposed to be split 50/50 between Frankie Sullivan and I. But I would find myself on an airplane and hear my voice singing "Eye Of The Tiger" in different movies and they never even told me about it. They kept trying to hide stuff, just like in the old days, and I just couldn't take it anymore." Jamison in an interview before the released of his next solo album.^[60]

Jimi Jamison & Jim Peterik Moments

Kimball Jamison (2011)

In 2010, thanks to Frontiers Records, a duo with an old friend brought the idea to make an album together. He released an album with Bobby Kimball (former lead singer of Toto) titled Kimball/Jamison in October 14, 2011. The album was produced by German bassist, singer and music producer Mat Sinner (Primal Fear) from Stuttgart. Jamison and Bobby Kimball finished the lead vocal recordings in Los Angeles while the instrumental part was recorded in Germany. The songs on the album, which became the highlight of 2011 in the melodic rock scene, were written by several songwriters such as Richard Page (Mr Mister), Randy Goodrum (Toto, Steve Perry), Robert Sall (Work of Art) , John Waite and other famous and successful songwriters of the rock scene selected.^[65]

Bobby and Jimi were in lead and background vocals, Alex Beyrodt in guitars, lead guitar, Mat Sinner in bass, Jimmy Kresic keyboards and Martin Schmidt drums and percussion.^[66]

These two gentleman have been friends for a long time and for the first time ever they get to make an album together in a familiar style and environment meshing their two great voices in a traditional Melodic Rock sound that each portrayed so famously with their perspective bands, Toto and Survivor. Kimball Jamison combine the vocal talents of Bobby Kimball and Jimi Jamison. As a duo, they have created an album of mainstream pop/rock that could have topped the charts and thrown off hit singles, had it been released about 25 years before its actual 2011 appearance. As written by 17 different songwriters, among them Survivor member Jim Peterik ("Chasing Euphoria"), the songs alternate between power ballads and bright, uptempo pop/rockers. The music is full of icy keyboards, soaring guitar arpeggios, and oft-repeated singalong choruses. When Kimball and Jamison are not harmonizing on those choruses, they are trading off verses, Kimball's the clearer, less emotional tenor, Jamison the slightly grainier and more expressive one. The lyrics tend toward aspiration-heavy platitudes ("Worth Fighting For," "Get Back in the Game") and pleas to an ex-girlfriend to give romance another try. In its mannered melodrama, the music leans on the side of Survivor more than Toto, but it also could be mistaken for any of a number of similar arena rock performers of the era -- Boston, Foreigner, Journey, Starship -- just as the singers now and then suggest Brad Delp, Lou Gramm, Steve Perry, and Mickey Thomas. But then, it may be that the intention of the disc is to fill out the concert repertoire of a group destined to depend on Survivor and Toto hits to please fans, and for that it is perfectly acceptable, since the music is so closely reminiscent of the rock sound that dominated arenas in the ‘80s.^[67]

As a bonus DVD, it shows The Making Of The Album, the acoustic versions of "Sail Away" as a Japanese bonus and the music video for "Worth Fighting For" and "Can't Wait For Love".

One Man's Trash (2011)

That same year, he joined the band One Man's Trash with Fred Zahl, and they released the album History in December 16 for Starhouse Records in Europe. History comes very close to the sound of Jamison’s releases Crossroads Moment and Extra Moments. Specifically, we are looking at guitar-driven, but not over produced, rock with very natural-sounding rhythm section and complementary keyboards.

The Video (for the theme "Long Time" and the Making of) was released January 27, 2012 and the singles "Restless Kind", "Tears in My Eyes" (these two are on a CD released with the acoustic version of "Can't Find My Way Home" from Blind Faith by Eric Calpton, a TV airplay tribute that Jimi did for Japan), plus the Hotelroom version of "Long Time". They both are now endorsed by the Guitar Firm Hofner famous for the Beatles, Paul McCartney.^[68]

The Group members were Hugh McDonald and Ricky Phillips in Bass, Engineer – Tom Gruhlke, Executive-Producer – Bernd Buchheister, Guitar – Tommy Denander, Mastered By – George Marino, Mixed By – James "Jimbo" Barton, Photography By – Evelin Brandt, Producer, Songwriter, Guitar, Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Fred Zahl, Songwriter – Bodo Kommnick, James Dowell, Sandra Stone and Songwriter, Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals – Jimi Jamison.^[68]

Never Too Late - Final Album (2012)

On November 2, 2012, he released his final solo album Never Too Late for Frontiers Records with the music video of the album's title track. Produced by Erik Martensson (wich he also did most of the lyrics of the songs)

Never Too Late has everything a great melodic rock album needs: rock-solid musicianship, well-written tunes with great melodies, lyrics with heart and soul, and above all a singer with amazing pipes. Jimi It’s a voice that quite simply puts a bit of gold-dust on everything it touches – it’s powerful and strong, passionate and rich, and has just the right hint of grit that makes it perfect for rock’n’roll. This album is another Jamison solo effort, and he worked closely with Swedish producer and songwriter Erik Mårtensson (who also plays guitar on the album) to put it together. The result is a stellar collection of tracks with a sound that is beautifully polished and lush, and also has a real warmth and glow to it.^[69]

Erik Martensson is in Backing Vocals, Bass, Keyboards, Lead & Rhythm Guitars, Jimi (Lead Vocals), Jonas Oijvall in Analog Synthesizers, Hammond B3 and Piano, Magnus Henriksson (Lead Guitar) and Magnus Ulfstedt (Drums). His daughter Lacy E. Jamison is on backing vocals in "Heaven Call Your Name" and there is a Japanese bonus track, the acoustic version of "Everybody's Got a Broken Heart".^[70]

Singles and Performances

In 2007 Jimi and Peterik where working in some unreleased material along with Kenny Mims. The Demos 07 have records mostly from Jim's previous albums. "Come Dacin" is cover by Jamison originally from Ides of March in ID Essencials (2005) and "Live Life" comes from Above the Storm (2006).

Jamison at the When Rock Meet Classic.

In 2009 and 2010, he performed to a sold out crowd at Firefest, the yearly Melodic Rock Festival in Nottingham, England. This performance included Survivor songs such as "It's the Singer Not the Song", "Caught in the Game", "Didn't Know It was Love", "I See You in Everyone", "Is This Love"; the Cobra song "Blood on your Money"; as well as solo material such as "A Dream Too Far", "Crossroads Moments", and "I'm Always Here." He ended with "Burning Heart" and "Eye of The Tiger". He also performed at the Melodic Rock Fest in 2011 and 2013. He also performed at the annual concert and event When Rock Meets Classic in Germany, singing the songs "Burning Heart", "I Can’t Hold Back", "Eye of The Tiger" and "The Search is Over".

In January 30, 2010 saw the release of a new single, "House That Love Built," the latter of which benefited the Ronald McDonald House of Memphis.^[71] And he did background vocals for Howard Leese (Secret Weapon, 2009 performing the theme song "The Vine") and for Matt Kennon in 2010.^[72]

With Dominoe in their album Naked but Dressed for Universal Music Group in July 24, 2012, Jimi was on co-lead vocals in the song "Comin' Home".^[73] And finally, assorted rare/unreleased individual tracks and singles both solo and with other artists such as "It Wouldn't Feel Like Christmas" released in December 5, 2012.^[71]

In July 13, 2013, he was part of one of the Billy Sherwood projects. The single "Space Cowboy" with Jordan Reduss (Keyboard) for the album Fly like an Eagle: An all Star Tribute to Steve Miller Band (1969).^[74] With Indicco he was co-lead vocals on "Days of Wine and Roses", "Feel So Good", "Ride the Wave" in their album Karmalion for New Venture Music in that same year.

The Blues style single "L.A. Woman" appears on the Itunes CDTrue Survivor and in Light My Fire: A Classic Rock Salute to The Doors, is a tribute album dedicated to The Doors. with Ted Turner and Patrick Moraz in June 24, 2014 by Purple Pyramid Records.

With Survivor

Album	Year	Label	US Billboard 200	Swiss	Deutsh	Certification RIAA	Certification
Vital Signs	1984	Scotti Bro. & Volcano	#16	#27	-	Platinum	Gold
When Seconds Count	1986	Scotti Brothers	#49	-	-	Gold	-
Too Hot to Sleep	1988	Scotti Brothers	#187	#23	#55	-	-
Reach	2006	Frontiers Records	-	-	-	-	-

Solo

Album	Year	Label	With	Album of The Year
When Love Comes Down	1991	Scotti Bro. & Top Notch Records	-	-
Empires	1999	Scotti Bro. & Frontiers Records	Lisa Fraiser (One Song)	-
Crossroads Moment	2008	Frontiers Records	-	#3
Extra Moments	2010	MelodicRock Records	Jim Peterik	-
Kimball/Jamison	2011	Frontiers Records	Bobby Kimball	-
Never Too Late	2012	Frontiers Records	-	-
Unreleased Music	2012	SongCast Records	-	-

Others

Album	Year	Label	Artist	Role	UK Import Charts
First Strike	1983	Epic Records	Cobra	Lead Vocals	#1

Album	Year	Label	Artist	Role
Eliminator	1983	Warner Bro. Records	ZZ Top	Backing Vocals
Charts			Certification
1983-1985 Album Chart		Peak Pos.	Region	Certified as
Australian		#2	Australia	4xPlatinum
Austrian		#4	Austria	Gold
Dutch		#4	Canada	Diomand
German		#25	Finland	Platinum
Swedish		#13	France	2xPlatinum
Swiss		#11	Germany	3xPlatinum
Norwegian		#13	UK	4xPlatinum
New Zeland		#4	US	Diomand
UK		#3	-	-
US Billboard 200		#9	-	-
1984 Album Chart			-	-
Australian		#11	-	-
1987 Album Chart			-	-
New Zeland		#11	-	-
Year-end Album Chart			-	-
US Billboard 200		#65	-	-

Album	Year	Label	Artist	Role	Swedish	Billboard	UK Album	New Zeland	Canada	Germany Album	Swiss
Headhunter	1983	Arista	Krokus	Backing Vocals	#22	#25	#74	#35	#31	-	-
The Blitz	1983	Arista	Krokus	Backing Vocals	#27	#36	-	-	#83	#55	#6
Both albums with Gold Certifications in their respective years in the US and Canada

Album	Year	Label	Artist	Role	US Billboard 200
The Deed is Done	1984	Epic Records	Molly Hatchet	Backing Vocals	#120

Album	Year	Label	Artist	Role	US Billboard 200
Got any Gum?	1987	Warner Bro. & Full Moon	Joe Walsh	Backing Vocals	#113

Album	Year	Label	Artist	Role	US Billboard 200
About Time	1989	Chrysalis	Ten Years After	Backing Vocals	#120

Album	Year	Label	Artist	Role	US Billboard 200
Ordinary Average Guy	1991	Epic Records	Joe Walsh	Backing Vocals & Co-Lead (One Song)	#112

Album	Year	Label	Artist	Role	Billboard	Canada	UK Album	Australia	Germany	Swedish	Dutch
Feel This	1992	Arista	Jeff Healey Band	Backing Vocals	#174	#27	#72	#37	#83	#41	#57
This album is certified Platinum in Canada

Album	Year	Label	Artist	Role	Heatseakers	Australia	ARIA year-end	Certification
Wake up Screaming	1993	Chrysalis	Every Mother's Nightmare	Backing Vocals	#37	#1	#4	Platinum (ARIA)

Album	Year	Label	Artist	Role	Heatseakers	Billboard 200	Country	Top Independent Albums
Matt Kennon	2010	BamaJam & Stroudavarious	Matt Kennon	Backing Vocals	#37	#116	#19	#24

Unofficial/Unreleased

Compilations/Releases

Singles/Promos/EP

Title Song	Year	Album	Artist	US Billboard 100	US Mainstream Rock
"I'm A Fighter"	1983, 1985	Live Attack, Van Zant	Cobra, Van Zant	#30	#16
Originally recorded from Cobra, written by Jamison and Meyer. Used by Van Zant.

Title Song	Year	Album	Artist	Billboard	Mainstream	Adult	Year-end 1985
"The Moment of Truth"	1984	The Karate Kid Soundtrack, Vital Sings (by Rock Candy in 2009)	Survivor	#63	-	-	-	-	-	-
"I Can't Hold Back"	1984	Vital Sings	Survivor	#13	#1	-	#73	#93	#80	-
"High On You"	1985	Vital Sings	Survivor	#8	#8	-	-	-	-	-
"The Search is Over"	1985	Vital Sings	Survivor	#4	-	#1	#48	#60	-	#21
"First Night"	1985	Vital Sings	Survivor	#53	-	-	-	-	-	-

Title Song	Year	Album	Artist
"Burning Heart"	1985	Rocky IV Soundtrack, When Seconds Count (by Rock Candy in 2009), Empires	Survivor, Jimi Jamison
Region	Chart Pos. 1985-86	Year-End 1986 Region	Chart Pos. 1985-86
Billboard 100	#2	Billboard 100	#8
Mainstream	#11	Swiss	#15
Singles Chart	#5	France	#17
Singles Chart	#6	Dutch Top 40	#17
Dutch Mega Top 100	#2	Italy	#47
Hot 100	#1	Germany	#30
SNEP singles chart	#2	Belgium	#19
Singles Chart	#6	Top 100	#58
Singles Chart	#2	Netherland	#12
South Africa	#27	Certification	Sales
Swedish	#5	France Gold	over 500.000
Swiss	#1	-	-
Canada	#14	-	-
Ultratop 50 singles	#1	-	-
Australia	#55	-	-
Finland	#2	-	-
Italy	#5	-	-
Japanese	#46	-	-
Japanese (International)	#1	-	-

Title Song	Year	Album	Artist	Billboard	Mainstream	Adult Contemporary
"Is This Love"	1986	When Seconds Count	Survivor	#9	#27	#25
"How Much Love"	1987	When Seconds Count	Survivor	#51	-	-
"Man Against The World"	1987	When Seconds Count, Rocky IV Soundtrack	Survivor	#86	-	-
"In Good Faith"	1987	When Seconds Count	Survivor	-	-	-
"Didn't Know it Was Love"	1988	To Hot To Sleep	Survivor	#61	#40	-
"Across the Miles"	1989	To Hot To Sleep	Survivor	#74		#16
"Desperate Dreams"	1989	To Hot To Sleep	Survivor	-	-	-
"Ever Since the World Began"	1989	Lock Up Soundtrack	Jimi Jamison	-	-	-
"Cry Alone"	1989	Lock Up Soundtrack, When Love Comes Down	Jimi Jamison	-	-	-
"All of A Sudden"	1991	Ordinary Average Guy	Joe Walsh Feat. Jimi Jamison	-	#13	-

Title Song	Year	Album	Artist	America's Greatest TV Hits 1995	Germany Singles Chart 1999
"I'm Always Here"	1993	Baywatch Theme Song, Empires	Jimi Jamison	#3	#95

Title Song	Year	Album	Artist	Christmas Charts
"Christmas Is Here"	2002	A Classic Rock Christmas	Survivor	#6

Title Song	Year	Album	Artist	Adult Contemporary	UK
"It Takes Two"	2005	Funkology XIII	Whitney Wolanin Feat. Jimi Jamison	#9	-
"Eye Of The Tiger" (Re-Entry)	2005	-	Survivor	-	#47

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