PRIDE OF LIONS BIOGRAPHY

PRIDE OF LIONS
Biography

At a glance

Pride of Lions is the melodic rock band the American songwriter Jim Peterik — the founder of Survivor — started in 2003 with the singer Toby Hitchcock. Peterik writes the songs, produces them, plays keyboards and guitar and takes the lower vocal lines; Hitchcock carries the high ones. That division of labour has not changed once in more than twenty years.

Every record has come out on the Italian label Frontiers Records. This site carries the eight studio albums, from the self-titled debut of 2003 to Unbridled in 2026. In Japan, King Records' Nexus imprint handled the first four and Marquee / Avalon has handled everything from Fearless in 2017 onwards — and all eight Japanese editions carry at least one song the import does not.

Peterik has described the band as his own picture of the best of the great melodic rock era of the 1980s, brought up to date with modern production.

Where Jim Peterik came from

Jim Peterik was born on 11 November 1950 in Berwyn, Illinois. He formed The Ides of March with schoolfriends in 1964, and their 1970 single "Vehicle" sold a million copies and reached No. 2 on the Billboard singles chart. In 1978 he founded Survivor with Frankie Sullivan.

"Eye of the Tiger", written at Sylvester Stallone's request as the theme to Rocky III in 1982, went to No. 1 on the Billboard chart, won a Grammy and a People's Choice Award and drew an Oscar nomination. The 1984 album Vital Signs produced three top-ten singles, and "Burning Heart", the theme to Rocky IV, followed in 1985. Peterik left Survivor after seventeen years and has since worked with The Ides of March, the smooth-jazz project Lifeforce and his own guest-laden World Stage alongside this band.

Finding Toby Hitchcock — 2003

Pride of Lions began with a voice. Peterik's niece Kelly met Hitchcock at an audition and told her uncle he had to hear this singer. Peterik brought him into his studio and has said he heard shades of several of his own favourite singers in that one voice — Dennis DeYoung, Tommy Shaw, Jimi Jamison.

The two of them cut a demo of "Love Is On The Rocks" and played it to Serafino Perugino, the head of Frontiers Records. Perugino had been suggesting that Peterik's new project be fronted by a name singer; Peterik held out for the unknown one, and when Perugino heard Hitchcock for himself in Nashville he agreed on the spot. That is how the deal was made.

Hitchcock grew up in a musical family and singing in church, and has had no formal vocal training. He is based in Evansville, Indiana, and cuts much of his vocal work at his own Integrity Studios. From early on the band has worked by sending files back and forth rather than by gathering everyone in one room.

The first three albums — 2003 to 2007

The debut, Pride of Lions, was recorded and mixed at World Stage International Studios in Chicago. King Records' Nexus imprint released the Japanese edition first, on 22 October 2003 as KICP-963, and the Frontiers import, FR CD 170, came out the same year. Peterik's own official biography says the record became an immediate hit in Europe. The Japanese edition adds three bonus songs, which takes it to fifteen tracks and one hour fourteen minutes.

The second album, The Destiny Stone, followed in 2004 — the Japanese edition on 27 October as KICP-1030, the import on 8 November as FR CD 216. Peterik has since looked back on it as an experiment towards more progressive and epic rock, and the five songs over six minutes bear him out; his official biography says it did better still than the debut.

In August 2005 the band played the Belgian open-air festival Lokerse Feesten. Peterik's own site puts the crowd that night at 20,000, and the show was released in 2006 as the live album Live in Belgium, on both CD and DVD. This site carries studio records only, so it is not in the discography below.

The third album, The Roaring of Dreams, arrived in February 2007 — the import FRCD323 on the 19th and the Japanese edition KICP-1218 on the 21st. Speaking at the time, Peterik described it as a return to the commercial AOR of the debut and of Vital Signs by his former band. Toby Hitchcock's sister Tori Hitchcock guested for the first time on the closing "Turnaround", which runs past seven minutes.

A five-year gap, and after it — 2012 to 2020

Immortal, the fourth album, came on 21 September 2012, five years after its predecessor and the longest gap in the band's run. Its eleven songs make it the shortest import edition they have made, and the advance track "Delusional" got a music video. The Japanese edition, KICP-1639, followed on 24 October and was the last Pride of Lions record King Records released.

The fifth, Fearless, appeared in 2017: the Japanese edition on 25 January through Marquee as MICP-11331, the Frontiers import FRCD768 on 27 January. From here on the Japanese editions came through Marquee / Avalon. Around the release the label put out official audio for "The Tell", "Silent Music" and "The Light In Your Eyes", a music video for "All I See Is You", and a documentary in two parts.

The sixth, Lion Heart, came out on 9 October 2020, with the Japanese edition MICP-11578 on the 14th. Peterik said the following year that he had deliberately stripped away the complications of the records before it and aimed at straight AOR, and that it had drawn the best response of anything since the debut. Alongside the regular band, his son Colin Peterik and Kevin Campbell play on particular tracks.

Now — 2023 to 2026

The seventh album, Dream Higher, came out on 16 June 2023, the same day in Japan as everywhere else. Its ten songs make it the shortest studio record in the catalogue.

The eighth, Unbridled, was released by Frontiers Music on 10 July 2026, with Marquee Incorporated / Avalon's Japanese edition, MICP-12035, following on 22 July. Peterik produced it and his Ides of March colleague Larry Millas mixed it. The players are Hitchcock on lead vocals, Peterik on lead vocals, keyboards and secondary guitar, Ed Breckenfeld on drums and percussion, Mike Aquino on guitar and Bob Lizik on bass. The two stallions on the sleeve are the work of Mark Alano, and in January 2026, while the record was still being made, Peterik said the opening title track carries an intro from Aquino built in the spirit of "Eruption". Greg Bizzaro directed the video for that song.

On stage

This band plays live very rarely. The documented concerts are Lokerse Feesten in August 2005, the United Forces of Rock Festival at Ludwigsburg, Germany in October 2005, a show at Palos Hills, Illinois in October 2006, Melodic Rock Fest in May 2010, and two appearances at their own label's Frontiers Rock Festival, in 2015 and 2025 — both at the Live Club in Trezzo sull'Adda, Italy.

The most recent of them, 25 April 2025, was the opening day of the seventh Frontiers Rock Festival, twenty-one bands over three days, with Pride of Lions on stage at 20:20 and Asia closing the night. As of September 2026 Jim Peterik's own published schedule carries no dates billed to Pride of Lions.

Members

Name	Role	Notes
Jim Peterik	Vocals, keyboards, guitar	Since the band began in 2003; also writes and produces
Toby Hitchcock	Lead vocals	Since the band began in 2003
Mike Aquino	Guitar	Guitarist in the band line-up
Ed Breckenfeld	Drums	Drummer in the band line-up
Klem Hayes	Bass	Named as the bassist on Jim Peterik's official site
Christian Cullen	Keyboards	Named as the keyboard player on Jim Peterik's official site
Bob Lizik	Bass	Plays bass on Unbridled (2026)

A note on sources

This article was written against the biography, band and concert pages of Jim Peterik's official site jimpeterik.com, the announcement Frontiers Music issued for Unbridled, TOWER RECORDS ONLINE's product pages for all eight Japanese editions, diskunion's page for the Unbridled import, the release data MusicBrainz holds for artist f4788b66-44ae-4c36-bd23-06e2485b9d10, the credits Discogs records for the Frontiers pressing of the debut, and interviews with Peterik and Hitchcock published by Metal Express Radio (24 June 2015), melodicmusicreviews (18 March 2017), metaltalk.net (13 August 2020), rockpages.gr (11 May 2021), auxportesdumetal.com and MisplacedStraws (6 January 2026). Release dates, labels and catalogue numbers are taken where the MusicBrainz original-pressing rows and TOWER RECORDS ONLINE agree. Every video was checked against the channel that uploaded it, and no fan re-upload is included.