BARBARA SULLIVAN
Jim Sullivan met his wife Barbara Sullivan when she was in junior high; in that time period, he was in a band called the Survivors that performed in the San Diego area, with his sister-in-law Kathie Doran on lead vocals.
The family set out for L.A. in 1968, when son Chris Sullivan was 7. Barbara landed a job in the storied Capitol Records tower, while Jim gradually became known in the show biz scene and was constantly writing songs and fiddling with his guitar.
Barbara Sullivan’s connections at Capitol Records didn’t pan out either. Nik Venet was the point man at Capitol for folk-rock music and would have been a natural to work with Sullivan. He had produced albums for Fred Neil – to whom Sullivan is often compared – Lothar and the Hand People, and Linda Ronstadt’s first band the Stone Poneys, plus more mainstream acts like the Kingston Trio and the Beach Boys. But Venet turned him down.
Many of Sullivan’s friends and the members of his family think that the big production values on the albums got in the way of his great songs; but for whatever reason, Jim Sullivan never got his big break in the music business. He and his wife started drinking too much, and their marriage was falling apart.
In 1975, Jim Sullivan packed up and headed east, intending to meet up with his sister-in-law Kathie Doran – his band mate from his Survivors days – and her husband, Nashville session guitarist Dave Doran. He called his wife Barbara Sullivan from a pay phone in Santa Rosa, New Mexico and, at some point, was stopped by the New Mexico Highway Patrol. Then he simply vanished into thin air; his car was later found abandoned in Santa Rosa with his wallet, guitar, suitcase, everything. Among the theories were that he was murdered or that he was abducted by aliens, the latter theory lining up with the title song on the first album.
(October 2011)
