It was always hard to imagine Foreigner without Lou Gramm. But he’s been gone now from the group for more than 20 years. Happily, a series of events have put him back behind the microphone for ongoing special appearances with other former members.
The iconic frontman left in 2003 after a turbulent stretch which also found him battling severe health issues, it seemed to leave the future of the heritage band in doubt.
Against many odds, founding guitarist Mick Jones tapped vocalist Kelly Hansen, building a new lineup around him in 2005, including drummer Jason Bonham and former Dokken bassist Jeff Pilson. It was anyone’s guess how fans might respond. But remarkably, the group did solid business, starting with Hansen’s first show in the Las Vegas area in March of that year. Eventually, they’d be regularly selling out concerts in clubs and smaller theaters, working their way back up to outdoor sheds in time.
Understandably, it was a hard pill for Gramm to swallow initially, seeing a version of Foreigner out there on the road without him in it. But time gave the singer and Jones a chance to mend their relationship and receiving various accolades, including being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2013, continued to put them in the same room.
READ MORE: Lou Gramm Details How HOF Induction Helped End Grudge
They began also to invite Gramm and other original members to perform with the current lineup as they celebrated the 40th anniversary of the band. The massive combined group was humorously dubbed by Pilson as “SuperForeigner” and eventually commemorated with the live release, Double Vision: Then and Now, which arrived in 2019.
They’ll continue the alliance with Gramm during two shows in Atlantic City this weekend, beginning on Friday, Oct. 10. The Saturday night show (Oct. 11) will also be Hansen’s final performance with the group and he will officially hand frontman duties over to Luis Maldonado, who joined the band in 2021.
What Does Lou Think of Foreigner Now?
Gramm is looking forward to Atlantic City. “I’ve been doing shows with them and I’ve been enjoying it a lot. The band is excellent. They portray the songs [in a way that] an original member of Foreigner would be proud to to to play along with,” he shares in a new interview with UCR. “They have their own style, but they stick close enough to the original [versions] where no one’s going, ‘Hey, where’s that part?’ So it’s a lot of fun.”
“They’re fun to hang out with. Their musical expertise is very apparent when you hear them play and they’re a pretty loose bunch of guys,” he adds. “We have fun on stage and offstage. There’s a lot of camaraderie there that is a different brand from the original Foreigner, but nonetheless, it’s very appreciated.”
As part of 2024’s class of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, Foreigner will celebrate that milestone and the recent box set for 1981’s classic 4 album with additional concerts featuring Gramm. Those shows begin Dec. 3 at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester. You can see tour dates below.
Recalling some of his initial interactions with Pilson, he confirms that the bassist grilled him with questions about his personal approach when he was doing shows with Foreigner in the past. “It was sit down and answer 100 questions, you know, but they were all good questions,” he remembers. “I honored that because I could see where he was going with them. They weren’t just trivia questions, it was all to help the sound of the band when I was singing. They honestly pull off those songs with a great deal of feeling and staying true to the original versions.”
It’s something that Gramm himself can get behind, because it’s the same thing he and Jones and the original members of Foreigner looked to accomplish with their own live gigs. “We always wanted to bring enough of the song as it was heard on the album to make fans go, ‘Oh yeah,'” he continues. “But we would take liberties with guitar solos and maybe throw an extra harmony on there or just something to make them go, ‘I never heard that before.’ It was always fun to do that, and I think the fans appreciate it a lot.”
Working With Mutt Lange on the ‘4’ Album
Nearly 45 years after 4 was released, Gramm appreciates how the music on the record was constructed in a “painstakingly timeless” fashion. He notes that Lange, known for his work with AC/DC at that time, was a big asset as he and Jones navigated the album sessions. “As far as a vocalist, he was excellent. He challenged me vocally, and I was certainly up to the challenge,” the frontman says now. “But there were things that he wanted out of me that I didn’t feel right doing.”
“At the beginning of ‘Juke Box Hero,’ Mick and I had written it and already had some roughs of it. [The lyric that begins], ‘Standing in the rain/ With his head hung low,” he wanted [me to sing that with the energy of] AC/DC [Gramm demonstrates the vocal style]. And I was like, ‘Whoa, Mutt. I can do that, but I don’t want to do that. The song is supposed to build in a very strategic way to climax at the chorus.’ I sang it to him the way that MIck and I had worked on it, and he didn’t say he liked it, but he didn’t say that he didn’t like it. So he said, ‘Okay, let’s do it that way. We’ll see what happens.’ And at the end of the recording, he came back to me. He says, ‘I see what you mean and that was the best lead [vocal], I think.'”
Watch Foreigner’s ‘Juke Box Hero’ Video
The Foreigner 4 deluxe box set is available now in a variety of configurations and on streaming wherever you get your music.
Foreigner, ‘Foreigner 4 Deluxe’ 2025 Tour
Dec. 3 – Port Chester, N.Y. @ Capitol Theatre
Dec. 4 – Port Chester, N.Y. @ Capitol Theatre
Dec. 6 – Staten Island, N.Y. @ St. George Theatre
Dec. 7 – Bethlehem, PA @ Wind Creek Event Theater
Dec. 9 – Wallingford, CT @ Oakdale Theatre
Dec. 11 – Montclair, NJ @ Wellmont Theater
Dec. 12 – Montclair, NJ @ Wellmont Theatre
Dec. 13 – Williamsport, PA @ Community Arts Center
Foreigner Albums Ranked
It’s hard to imagine rock radio without the string of hit singles Foreigner peeled off in the ’70s and ’80s.
Gallery Credit: Jeff Giles
