Lou Gramm: Foreigner

It was in the summer of 1977, during a date after an Angels game, that I first heard Foreigner and the song "Feels Like the First Time" on my car radio. I was blown away! The lead singer of this new group, Lou Gramm, would become one of the greatest singers in rock history. I rushed to the record store to buy the self-titled Foreigner album, studied the illustrated cover (photo at left) and read the liner notes. I learned that the band was comprised of six guys--three British and three Americans. Soon, the music went viral and the whole world knew of Foreigner. Just like the phenomena with the group Boston a year earlier, everyone had a copy of their record.

The two standout members in Foreigner were also the chief songwriters of the group. Mick Jones, a guitar-slinging refugee from the English group, Spooky Tooth, was out to create a super-group culled from both sides of the pond. Youthful Lou Gramm, a golden-voiced Rochester, New York native, auditioned for the band while on hiatus from his own group, The Black Sheep. In early 1977, after Gramm spent several days in NYC with Jones, putting his iconic vocals on the soon to be famous tracks, he was invited to be the front man of Foreigner.

Over the years, Foreigner released back to back albums with singles adding up to several top hits, including songs like "Cold As Ice," "Hot Blooded," "I Want To Know What Love Is," "Waiting For A Girl Like You," and "Juke Box Hero."

2011 marks the 30th anniversary of Foreigner 4 which, arguably, is the masterpiece of their career. Its hard to fathom that three decades have passed since I purchased that cassette tape in a record store somewhere in the midwest while on tour with my own band. That record inspired me as a guitar player, singer and songwriter. My loyalty to the band continues even as Foreigner releases a Wal Mart exclusive, three-disc set this week (a fresh recording of their hits, along with an unplugged acoustic version, and a concert DVD, filmed earlier in March, 2011). Needless to say, I am a big fan.

Foreigner has experienced personnel changes on just about every album since their debut in 1977. In 1992, Lou Gramm made a decision to get sober and, in the process of recovery, became a Christian. He continued to tour and record with the group even as evolving radio formats refused to play their new songs--only the older hits. Gramm made a few solo records and remained with the group until a brain tumor brought everything to a screeching halt. Three months after the surgery, Gramm was back on the road with the band. Over the ensuing months, his health wasn't getting better and his weight gain, due to therapeutic steroids, added an extra 100 pounds to this previously lanky rocker's frame. Audiences were shocked.

He has since left Foreigner to form his own self-titled group, along with his two brothers. I came upon an interview today from the CBN website that Lou Gramm gave in November, 2009. I was inspired with his story and testimony. Even as Foreigner releases a new CD this week, Lou Gramm's legacy still resounds in the hearts of fans to this day.



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