''Empires'' is the second solo album from American rock singer-songwriter

Jimi Jamison Jimmy Wayne Jamison (August 23, 1951 – September 1, 2014) 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 1989, performing the songs " Burn ...

, released under the name Jimi Jamison's Survivor on October 17, 1999 for

Scotti Brothers Scotti Brothers Records (typically spelled Scotti Bros. Records) was a California-based record label founded by Tony and Ben Scotti in 1974. Their first success was releasing singles and albums from teen pop star Leif Garrett. They later helped ...

, was distributed in Germany by Soulfood Music and produced by

Klay Shroedel Klay Shroedel (born May 9, 1966, in Bayreuth, Germany) is a German–American musician, music producer, and film producer. He is the CEO of West Coast Film Partners. Early life Shroedel took to music at an early age studying drums and piano, as ...

. In 2003, after a battle in court over access to the name

Survivor Survivor(s) may refer to: Actual survivors * *Last survivors of historical events Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Survivors, characters in the 1997 ''KKnD'' video-game series * ''The Survivors'', or the ''New Survivors Found ...

, this album would be re-released under his own name for

Frontiers Records Frontiers Music – formerly Frontiers Records – is an Italian record label, predominantly producing hard rock. It was founded in 1996 by Serafino Perugino and is based in Naples. History In 1996, Serafino Perugino started working in the m ...

. The album highlight is the''

Baywatch ''Baywatch'' is an American action drama television series about lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, and Hawaii, starring David Hasselhoff. It was created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz, and Gregory J. Bonann, ...

'' hit theme song; as bonus tracks, it includes three live versions of previous Survivor songs ("Burning Heart", "Rebel Son" and "Too Hot to Sleep") plus the Christmas song "Keep It Evergreen" and a cover of the 1976 hit song " Love Is Alive" by

Gary Wright Gary Malcolm Wright (born April 26, 1943) is an American musician and composer best known for his 1976 hit songs " Dream Weaver" and " Love Is Alive", and for his role in helping establish the synthesizer as a leading instrument in rock and po ...

Track listing

Personnel

– lead vocals * Hal Butler – keyboards, backing vocals * Chris Adamson – guitars, backing vocals *

– drums (1-11), additional keyboards (3, 10), arrangements, horn and string arrangements (4, 6, 7, 10) Additional musicians * Rudy Richardson – acoustic piano, keyboards, horns, strings *

Michael Sembello Michael Andrew Sembello (born April 17, 1954) is an American singer, guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, composer and producer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Sembello was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for his 1983 song " ...

– additional keyboards (3, 10), arrangements * Peter Roberts – additional acoustic guitar (3, 4), backing vocals, horn and string arrangements (4, 6, 7, 10) * Jorgen Carlsson – bass * Pete Mendillo – drums (12, 13) * Lisa Frazier – backing vocals, co-lead vocals (4) *

Bobby Kimball Robert Troy Kimball (born March 29, 1947) is an American singer and songwriter best known as the original and longtime frontman of the rock band Toto from 1977 to 1984 and again from 1998 to 2008. Kimball has also performed as a solo artist and ...

– backing vocals

Production

* Stephan Bayerlein – executive producer * Klay Shroedel – producer, recording, mixing * Peter Roberts – co-producer, recording, mixing * Uli Fried – mastering

Facts

*Jamison co-wrote and sang "I'm Always Here", the theme of the 1990s hit TV series ''

'' 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". The music is credited to

Cory Lerios Cory Charles Lerios (born February 12, 1951) is an American pianist and vocalist. He is a founding member of the platinum-record-selling soft rock band Pablo Cruise, and since the mid-1980s he has scored music for film and television. History L ...

and

John D'Andrea John D'Andrea is an American television composer, arranger and music writer. Biography D'Andrea, as a boy, was interested in being a musician, due to his father's career playing the saxophone in local New Jersey bands, because of this, his fath ...

. *It took 8 years for the second album released, this was because of Jamison being touring with the band (Jimi Jamison's Survivor) and for working in different projects with other musicians and artists. *Jamison recorded many sessions and demos throughout the 1990s and part of those demos were material that ended up in this album. *"Empires" was a survivor song from the album ''Too Hot To Sleep'' but didn't surface at the moment, this album version shows Lisa Frasier as the co-lead singer''.'' *The songs "Just Beyond The Clouds", "First Day of Love", "Empires", "Cry Tough" and "A Dream Too Far", were originally recorded between 1989-1995. *All the demos and sessions Jimi did can be found as ''Jamo Sessions'', ''Have Mercy: The Demos'' and ''The Mofo Sessions''. *The version of "I'm Always Here" is not the original one, this version has been made so it can be suit the album's style and year update. * It is the last release by Scotti Bros. Records since it got defunct in 1997 and the catalogue was sold to

Volcano Entertainment Volcano Entertainment (sometimes referred to as Volcano Records) was an American all-round music record label founded in 1996 which released albums by Tool, 311, Size 14, Survivor and "Weird Al" Yankovic. (The latter two were former Scotti Bros ...

References

External links

*https://www.loudersound.com/features/buyer-s-guide-survivor {{1990s-rock-album-stub 1999 albums Jimi Jamison albums Frontiers Records albums Scotti Brothers Records albums