Biography
Foreigner rose to prominence in the late 1970s through Mick Jones’s songwriting and searing guitar riffs paired with Lou Gramm’s commanding arena vocals, creating an instantly recognizable strain of hook-driven AOR. The band’s opening pair of LPs, the self-titled Foreigner in 1977 and Double Vision the following year, delivered a potent sequence of memorable tracks and polished studio craft that quickly climbed the charts and generated multiple massive singles. Adapting to shifting tastes, the group incorporated new-wave textures, enlisted Mutt Lange for the 1981 album 4, and explored a more mature ballad approach on “Waiting for a Girl Like You” and the chart-topping 1984 single “I Want to Know What Love Is.” Although Gramm’s departure in the late 1980s halted new studio output for a time, various lineups sustained live activity, maintained regular rotation on rock radio, and shaped later acts from Soul Asylum to One Direction with their fusion of hard rock and emotive ballads.
British guitarist Mick Jones served as the creative force from the outset. He entered the industry as a session player on recordings by George Harrison and Peter Frampton before joining a later edition of Spooky Tooth. Relocating to New York City in the mid-1970s, Jones briefly played with the Leslie West Band and worked in A&R for a label. Eager to lead his own project, he set out to fuse rock, progressive, R&B, and pop elements into a unified sound.
Jones recruited saxophonist Ian McDonald from King Crimson, drummer Dennis Elliot from Ian Hunter’s band—both British—and New York-based musicians Al Greenwood on keyboards, bassist Ed Gagliardi, and vocalist Lou Gramm, formerly of the 1970s group Black Sheep. Immediate songwriting rapport with Gramm produced early material including the eventual hit “Cold as Ice,” prompting the new ensemble to adopt the name Foreigner and sign with Atlantic Records. Their 1977 debut album achieved rapid success through the singles “Feels Like the First Time,” “Long, Long Way from Home,” and “Cold as Ice,” ultimately earning five-times platinum certification.
The follow-up, 1978’s Double Vision, exceeded expectations with further hits such as “Hot Blooded” and the title track, remaining in the Top Ten for six months and becoming the band’s top-selling release, moving seven million copies in the U.S. by 2001. Head Games arrived in 1979 and introduced the first of many personnel shifts when Gagliardi was replaced by Rick Wills, previously of Peter Frampton and Roxy Music. Though another strong seller and the group’s most straightforward effort, both Jones and Gramm felt it lacked innovation, prompting a deliberate change in direction for the next record.
Reduced to a four-piece of Jones, Gramm, Elliot, and Wills, the band brought in producer Mutt Lange, fresh from AC/DC’s late-1970s successes. The strategy yielded 1981’s 4, another blockbuster that featured “Urgent” with its sax solo by Motown veteran Junior Walker, “Jukebox Hero,” and the power ballad “Waiting for a Girl Like You.” The ballad’s popularity prompted debate over whether Foreigner leaned toward hard rock or softer material. A 1982 compilation, Records, collected ten major singles and has remained a steady seller, also reaching seven million U.S. copies by 2001.
Three years later, Agent Provocateur appeared in 1984. The band navigated the MTV era successfully; the gospel-tinged “I Want to Know What Love Is,” featuring the New Jersey Mass Choir, became one of the year’s largest radio and video hits. Despite that single’s impact, overall sales dipped compared with prior albums because the record lacked comparable focus. Following a nine-month tour that ended in 1985, Jones and Gramm pursued outside projects in 1986: Jones produced Bad Company’s Fame and Fortune and co-produced Van Halen’s 5150 with Sammy Hagar, while Gramm recorded his solo debut.
Both Gramm’s Ready or Not and Foreigner’s Inside Information surfaced in 1987. Each spawned Top Ten hits—“Midnight Blue” for Gramm and “Say You Will” for the band—yet mounting friction over Gramm’s solo ambitions led to his exit in 1989. That same year Gramm released Long Hard Look and Jones produced Billy Joel’s Storm Front while issuing his own star-studded solo album. Jones, Elliot, and Wills recruited vocalist Johnny Edwards for 1991’s Unusual Heat, which attracted little attention, while Gramm’s new band Shadow King issued an equally overlooked self-titled debut.
Heeding Atlantic’s counsel, Jones and Gramm reconciled to record three new tracks for a 1992 hits package. The 17-track The Very Best…And Beyond marked the band’s strongest commercial performance in years, followed in 1993 by the live set Classic Hits Live. The reunion stabilized with the addition of bassist Bruce Turgon and keyboardist Jeff Jacobs; the refreshed lineup delivered Mr. Moonlight in 1995, though it failed to restore earlier chart dominance. Foreigner sustained a strong concert draw until Gramm’s 1997 diagnosis with a non-cancerous brain tumor, which was successfully removed. After a gradual recovery, the singer rejoined Jones for a 1999 summer tour with Journey.
Archival releases from Rhino followed in the early 2000s, including Jukebox Heroes: The Foreigner Anthology, Complete Greatest Hits, and expanded reissues of the debut and 4. The 2009 three-disc set Can’t Slow Down paired a new studio album with remixed hits and a documentary DVD. Touring continued through the 2010s, highlighted by the 2011 Acoustique album and the 2017 40th-anniversary compilation 40. Also in 2017 the band recorded a Swiss concert with a 58-piece orchestra and 60-piece choir, released the following spring as Foreigner with the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra & Chorus. Later that year they staged a series of retrospective “Then and Now” shows, and in 2019 Rhino issued Live at the Rainbow ’78 documenting their sold-out London performance.
British guitarist Mick Jones served as the creative force from the outset. He entered the industry as a session player on recordings by George Harrison and Peter Frampton before joining a later edition of Spooky Tooth. Relocating to New York City in the mid-1970s, Jones briefly played with the Leslie West Band and worked in A&R for a label. Eager to lead his own project, he set out to fuse rock, progressive, R&B, and pop elements into a unified sound.
Jones recruited saxophonist Ian McDonald from King Crimson, drummer Dennis Elliot from Ian Hunter’s band—both British—and New York-based musicians Al Greenwood on keyboards, bassist Ed Gagliardi, and vocalist Lou Gramm, formerly of the 1970s group Black Sheep. Immediate songwriting rapport with Gramm produced early material including the eventual hit “Cold as Ice,” prompting the new ensemble to adopt the name Foreigner and sign with Atlantic Records. Their 1977 debut album achieved rapid success through the singles “Feels Like the First Time,” “Long, Long Way from Home,” and “Cold as Ice,” ultimately earning five-times platinum certification.
The follow-up, 1978’s Double Vision, exceeded expectations with further hits such as “Hot Blooded” and the title track, remaining in the Top Ten for six months and becoming the band’s top-selling release, moving seven million copies in the U.S. by 2001. Head Games arrived in 1979 and introduced the first of many personnel shifts when Gagliardi was replaced by Rick Wills, previously of Peter Frampton and Roxy Music. Though another strong seller and the group’s most straightforward effort, both Jones and Gramm felt it lacked innovation, prompting a deliberate change in direction for the next record.
Reduced to a four-piece of Jones, Gramm, Elliot, and Wills, the band brought in producer Mutt Lange, fresh from AC/DC’s late-1970s successes. The strategy yielded 1981’s 4, another blockbuster that featured “Urgent” with its sax solo by Motown veteran Junior Walker, “Jukebox Hero,” and the power ballad “Waiting for a Girl Like You.” The ballad’s popularity prompted debate over whether Foreigner leaned toward hard rock or softer material. A 1982 compilation, Records, collected ten major singles and has remained a steady seller, also reaching seven million U.S. copies by 2001.
Three years later, Agent Provocateur appeared in 1984. The band navigated the MTV era successfully; the gospel-tinged “I Want to Know What Love Is,” featuring the New Jersey Mass Choir, became one of the year’s largest radio and video hits. Despite that single’s impact, overall sales dipped compared with prior albums because the record lacked comparable focus. Following a nine-month tour that ended in 1985, Jones and Gramm pursued outside projects in 1986: Jones produced Bad Company’s Fame and Fortune and co-produced Van Halen’s 5150 with Sammy Hagar, while Gramm recorded his solo debut.
Both Gramm’s Ready or Not and Foreigner’s Inside Information surfaced in 1987. Each spawned Top Ten hits—“Midnight Blue” for Gramm and “Say You Will” for the band—yet mounting friction over Gramm’s solo ambitions led to his exit in 1989. That same year Gramm released Long Hard Look and Jones produced Billy Joel’s Storm Front while issuing his own star-studded solo album. Jones, Elliot, and Wills recruited vocalist Johnny Edwards for 1991’s Unusual Heat, which attracted little attention, while Gramm’s new band Shadow King issued an equally overlooked self-titled debut.
Heeding Atlantic’s counsel, Jones and Gramm reconciled to record three new tracks for a 1992 hits package. The 17-track The Very Best…And Beyond marked the band’s strongest commercial performance in years, followed in 1993 by the live set Classic Hits Live. The reunion stabilized with the addition of bassist Bruce Turgon and keyboardist Jeff Jacobs; the refreshed lineup delivered Mr. Moonlight in 1995, though it failed to restore earlier chart dominance. Foreigner sustained a strong concert draw until Gramm’s 1997 diagnosis with a non-cancerous brain tumor, which was successfully removed. After a gradual recovery, the singer rejoined Jones for a 1999 summer tour with Journey.
Archival releases from Rhino followed in the early 2000s, including Jukebox Heroes: The Foreigner Anthology, Complete Greatest Hits, and expanded reissues of the debut and 4. The 2009 three-disc set Can’t Slow Down paired a new studio album with remixed hits and a documentary DVD. Touring continued through the 2010s, highlighted by the 2011 Acoustique album and the 2017 40th-anniversary compilation 40. Also in 2017 the band recorded a Swiss concert with a 58-piece orchestra and 60-piece choir, released the following spring as Foreigner with the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra & Chorus. Later that year they staged a series of retrospective “Then and Now” shows, and in 2019 Rhino issued Live at the Rainbow ’78 documenting their sold-out London performance.