Survivor’s Frankie Sullivan Sues Former Singer Dave Bickler
Survivor guitarist Frankie Sullivan launched a lawsuit against former singer and co-founder Dave Bickler, alleging that Bickler was illegally using the band's identity to promote his solo career.
TMZ reports that the lawsuit accuses Bickler of “implying current affiliation” with the band and calls for him to be prevented from doing so, as well as to pay damages.
Bickler sang Survivor’s biggest hit, 1982's “Eye of the Tiger." He left the band two years later, and was replaced by Jimi Jamison, who was lead vocalist until Survivor broke up in 1988. After the band reunited, Bickler and Jamison eventually shared co-lead vocal duties from 2011 until Jamison’s death in 2014, and Bickler remained in the group until he was firedin 2016. He was replaced by Cameron Barton, who was 21 when he joined as co-singer in 2015.
Discussing his most recent split at the time, Bickler told UCR that he had enjoyed performing alongside Jamison, but hadn’t been fully briefed about Barton’s addition to the lineup. “Frankie, you know, he owns Survivor," Bickler said. "He didn’t tell me much about it, but this is not unusual for Frankie. He’s a highly secretive person and doesn’t tell you much. … It’s weird, I never met the guy, Cameron Barton. … I’d met him just at that first rehearsal. I didn’t know him at all. It went off fine, but I got the feeling then that what [Sullivan] said, I didn’t think it was true. I didn’t think he really meant to go on with two singers. To be perfectly honest with you, I think he wanted to just use me to sort of bring [the new lineup] into the world.”
A legal representative for Bickler told TMZ that the legal action was “frivolous and simply a mean-spirited attempt to harass Dave for the success he is enjoying on his own.” He went on to claim that Survivor sometimes use photos of Bickler in their publicity material, which “would seem to undermine the premise of their lawsuit.”