Summer Nights (Survivor song)
Summer Nights (Survivor song)
Summer Nights is a rock song by Survivor, released in August 1981 as the lead single from their second album, Premonition. The song runs about 4 minutes and 8 seconds. Its B-side is Love Is on My Side, and it was issued by Scotti Brothers Records. It was written by Frankie Sullivan and Jim Peterik, and produced by Sullivan, Peterik, Artie Kornfeld, and Phil Bonanno.
Background
Frankie Sullivan showed Jim Peterik a verse he was writing, and Peterik came up with the chorus while driving home that day. He called Sullivan to sing the chorus over the phone. A&R executive John Kalodner was impressed and sent the band to record demos of Summer Nights and Light of a Thousand Smiles at the Chicago Recording Company. During production, Sullivan and Peterik aimed for a simpler rock groove and replaced their drummer Gary Smith with Marc Droubay and the bass player Dennis Keith Johnson with Stephan Ellis due to creative differences.
Charts
The song was popular in Chicago and reached number 62 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Context
Summer Nights sits in Survivor’s early singles, following Rebel Girl (1980) and preceding Poor Man’s Son (1981). It’s from the Premonition album.
This page was last edited on 27 January 2026, at 21:17 (CET).