Dave Bickler

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dave Bickler (born ca. 1953) was lead singer of 1970's American rock group 'Jamestown Massacre', who recorded their debut album in the mid 1970's. Bickler met Jim Peterik while doing commercial jingles in the mid-1970's.

He is best known as a member of Survivor from 1977 to 1983 & 1993 to 2000. Bickler is also the voice behind the Real Men of Genius Bud Light TV and radio commercials. Bickler is a 1971 graduate of Benet Academy in Lisle, Illinois. [1]

Bickler left the band in late 1983 after he developed polyps on his vocal chords and required surgery and rest of his voice, a condition that would take a year and a half to recuperate from. Bickler was also unhappy about his lack of a bigger payday he felt was owed him for the multiplatinum success the band had from there hit album 'Eye Of The Tiger' released a year earlier. After leaving Survivor Bickler continued recording with other groups in the chicagoland area and doing commercial Jingles and ads.

Bickler rejoined Survivor in early 1993 as lead vocalist for a "Greatest Hits" album on Scotti Bros. featuring two new songs " You Know Who You Are" & " Hungry Years" (which he co-wrote).

Bickler recorded new music with the band in hopes of a new album, but ongoing lawsuits and trademark ownership issues with former singer Jimi Jamison halted the release.

Bickler was fired in early 2000 after a brief string of tour dates. He was replaced by Jimi Jamison (who left at the end of 2005 and was replaced by Robin McCauley in july 2006). Bickler is credited with co-writing 2 songs on the new Survivor album 'Reach' with Frankie Sullivan. " I Don't" & " One More Chance". Bickler also began recording his first solo album in early 2001 and continues to record commercials and videos for the highly successful Bud Light ads "Real Men Of Genius". A cd of the popular bud light ads has been released and sold well over 100,000 copies in its first 3 weeks. Cd's can be purchased at budlight.com

Bickler was a part of the group for their first four albums: Survivor, Premonition, Eye of the Tiger and Caught in the Game. Survivor experienced their big breakthrough in 1982, when they were asked by Sylvester Stallone to provide the theme song for his movie "Rocky III.” Enter "Eye of the Tiger," which soon turned into one of the biggest hits of the band's career. It had an enormous impact on the Billboard charts, soaring to #1 for seven weeks. The song won the band a Grammy® Award for “Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal,” was voted "Best New Song" by the People's Choice Awards and received an Academy® Award nomination. Thanks to the song's success and another Top 20 single, "American Heartbeat," the album Eye of the Tiger stormed to #2 on Billboard's “Top 200 Albums” chart. The song remains a cultural phenomenon. It came in at #18 on the “Top 100 Singles” chart in Billboard's 100th Anniversary issue and it's well over the 300,000 mark on iTunes, where it's currently holding strong at #9 on their “Top Soundtrack” chart.

Bickler also can be heard on other Survivor singles "Somewhere In America", "Rebel Girl", "Poor Man's Son", "Summer Nights", "The One That Really Matters", "American Heartbeat" and "Caught In The Game".