With members based in Linda Vista and La Mesa, the Survivors included Jim "Sully" Sullivan, an Irish-American former high school quarterback who later moved to L.A. and became a cult star as a solo act. His 1969 debut album, U.F.O., featured Phil Spector's studio musicians and was centered on flying saucers, with lyrics that talk about being abducted by aliens in the desert. It was followed by another album on the Playboy label in 1972. He performed on the Jose Feliciano show, and he can be spotted in a cameo role in the film Easy Rider.
Sullivan became famous after he vanished in March 1975, outside Santa Rosa, New Mexico, while driving from L.A. to Nashville. His VW bug was found abandoned along a nearby desert road, his guitar still inside, and his motel room was untouched, prompting some to speculate a possible U.F.O. connection.
U.F.O. was re-released in 2010 on Light in the Attic Records.