Jimi Jamison
Not long ago, Memphis singer/songwriter Jimi Jamison saw a TV commercial for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital featuring Marlo Thomas. She talked about a little boy named Ben who had cancer. "He looked just like my son did when he was little," Jamison says.
According to the commercial, Ben "didn't make it," he adds, "I started bawling."
His son, James Michael, is now 22.
A television ad convinced Jimi Jamison to help St. Jude with fundraising.
Jamison, lead singer of the nationally acclaimed bands Survivor, Target and Cobra, decided to put on his first benefit for St. Jude. The Saturday night show at Minglewood Hall will include Joe Bouchard, who was in Blue Oyster Cult; John Cafferty of the Beaver Brown Band, Larry Hoppen of Orleans, Wally Palmer of The Romantics, Scott Ennis, Nelson Blanchard from LeRoux, and the Will Tucker Band. Edgewood, the old Memphis band, will reunite for the benefit. Roy Head will be the special guest.
Jamison and St. Jude aren't strangers; Jamison met the late Danny Thomas, the hospital's founder, about 30 years ago. "I was working at the William B. Tanner Co. doing jingles. They (St. Jude representatives) asked me to sing on one of the telethons. Danny Thomas was here. (Wrestler) Sputnik Monroe and I sat and talked with Danny Thomas for a while. He explained to me about the hospital and his famous 'No child should have to suffer or die because they couldn't afford treatment' (line)."
Jamison and Scott Ennis, who then was a deejay at FM-100, used to go to St. Jude "at Christmastime without any invitation and set up a little record player and I'd sing Christmas carols to the kids who were able to come out of their rooms into the little hall," says Jamison. "We'd go to their rooms and visit them and give them teddy bears."
Saturday's benefit also will feature food, drink and live and silent auctions. As far as a game plan for the fundraiser, Jamison says, "My only strategy was just to do something to help St. Jude. Not to get my name out there. If people weren't doing things like this all over the country, doing benefits, just think of all the children that wouldn't be here."
Over the years Jamison has held fundraisers for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Susan B. Komen Foundation and Dove House for abused wives and children.
Born in Durant, Miss., Jamison grew up in Memphis, and began his music career in a band called The Brutes when he was in the eighth grade. "We were all on the football team at Sherwood Junior High," he says.
In 1965, he became lead singer of The Debuts. They wore blue blazers with white dickies -- no shirts -- and the all-important black suede Beatles boots. He remembered the time he put his Beatles boots on top of the car as the band was preparing to leave for a gig. "We got to the club Downtown and my Beatle boots were still sitting on top of the car," says Jamison.
While in The Debuts, Jamison and fellow band memberJack Rowell were on the Messick High School football team. They'd finish playing a game, get in the shower, change clothes and play "bleeding and (with) scrapes all over us" at the old Tonga Club in Midtown.
"We never planned this as a career," says Jamison. "Never had a clue we'd get paid. Jack Rowell Sr. would help us get gigs, drive us around. The first time I got paid, they took up a collection and we made $5 apiece and we looked at each other and went, 'Wow.'"
A high point in his career was when the video to Survivor's song "I Can't Hold Back" was the No. 1 video for two weeks in a row on MTV in 1984.
Jamison, whose songs have been recorded by performers including Joe Walsh and Johnny Van Zant, co-wrote "Bring on the Heroes," a theme song for the Green Bay Packers. In the early '90s he co-wrote "I'm Always Here," which he performed on TV's "Baywatch."
"I'm not really a workaholic. I'd rather be sitting around. And I would never travel. My favorite vacation is sitting on my couch," he says.
He and fellow Survivor band member Jim Peterik, who wrote the hits "Eye of the Tiger," and "Burning Heart," collaborated on Jamison's third solo CD, Crossroads Moment. The idea for the album, which was released late last year, began when Jamison visited with Peterik in Chicago. "We'd just go to a bar up in Chicago and sit around and talk about what's been going on in our lives," he says. "The conversations turned into songs."
So, what else would Jamison like to do during the rest of his career? "I would like to do a record and get it played on the radio one more time," he says, " just to see what happens."
Contact Michael Donahue at 529-2797, or e-mail donahue@commercialappeal.com.
Jimi Jamison benefit concert for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
7:30 p.m. Saturday at Minglewood Hall, 1555 Madison. Tickets start at $25. Call: 312-6058.
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