Jones put in a call to Gramm, who was back in his hometown of Rochester, New York, after Black Sheep's break-up, and sent him a plane ticket to New York City. But after auditioning about forty or fifty singers, they found that the right vocalist was becoming harder to come by until Jones pulled out a Black Sheep album given to him backstage at a 1974 Spooky Tooth concert by that group's lead singer, Lou Gramm. During a session for Ian Lloyd's album, Jones met up with transplanted Englishman and ex- King Crimson member Ian McDonald and another session for Ian Hunter unearthed another fellow Brit in drummer Dennis Elliott. Another friend, Stories singer Ian Lloyd, was brought in to sing but Jones decided the chemistry was not quite right and retained only Greenwood as he renewed his search for players. Jones got together with New York keyboardist Al Greenwood (who had just played with former Flash members Colin Carter and Mike Hough in a group called Storm), drummer Stan Williams and Louisiana bassist Jay Davis (later with Rod Stewart) and began jamming. After the collapse of the Leslie West Band in 1976, Jones found himself stranded in New York City West's manager, Bud Prager, encouraged Jones to continue his songwriting and rehearse a band of his own in some space Prager had near his New York office. Since its beginning, Foreigner has been led by English musician Mick Jones (former member of Nero and the Gladiators, Johnny Hallyday's band, Spooky Tooth and The Leslie West Band). For many years, band leader Mick Jones has been the only founding member still involved.īand history Formation, 1976 16.įoreigner is one of the world's best-selling bands of all time with worldwide sales of more than 80 million records, including 37.5 million in the US. Moonlight (1994), with Gramm back on vocals, and Can't Slow Down (2009), once again without Gramm, were not major sellers the highest chart positions were obtained in Germany, where the last album peaked at No. The band's most recent albums, Unusual Heat (1991), without Gramm, who departed due to the band's shift towards the use of synthesizers, Mr. 1 on the US Adult Contemporary chart), had a large sales drop-off, only hitting the top 10 in a few European countries with a No. 5 US hit, " I Don't Want to Live Without You" (which also reached No. 1 on the US Rock Tracks chart) and the No. 6 US and Australian hit, " Say You Will" (which also rose to No. 3, while making the top 5 in the US and Canada.Īfter a break, Foreigner released Inside Information (1987), which despite the No. 1, and in Australia where it peaked at No. Its source album, Agent Provocateur, was the band's most successful in the UK, Germany and some other countries in Europe, where it peaked at No. ![]() 3 in Germany and the top 10 in numerous other countries. In 1984, Foreigner had its biggest hit single, the anthemic ballad " I Want to Know What Love Is", which topped the US, UK, Canadian and Australian charts, while hitting No. In 1982, Foreigner released its first greatest hits album, Records, which has gone on to sell 7 million copies in the US. 3 on the Rock Tracks chart and the top 30 on the Hot 100. 2 in both the US (for a record 10 weeks) and Canada, topped the US Rock Tracks chart and became their first top 10 hit in the UK and Australia and " Juke Box Hero" reached No. 4 on the US Hot 100 and became their first top 15 hit in Germany the ballad " Waiting for a Girl Like You" peaked at No. 1 in Canada and on the new US Rock Tracks chart, rose to No. Three of 4's singles were hits: " Urgent" reached No. 2 in Canada, while becoming Foreigner's break-through album outside of North America, going top 5 in the UK, Germany and Australia. Reduced to a quartet, their album 4 (1981) hit No. 5 in North America producing two top 20 singles, including its title track. Foreigner's third album, Head Games (1979), went to No. ![]() 3 hit in both countries, and the title track, a US No. ![]() 3 in North America with two hit singles, " Hot Blooded" a No. Their 1978 follow-up, Double Vision, was even more successful peaking at No. 4 on the US album chart and in the top 10 in Canada and Australia, while yielding two top 10 hits in North America, " Feels Like the First Time" and " Cold as Ice". In 1977, Foreigner released its self-titled debut album, the first of four straight albums to be certified at least 5× platinum in the US. ![]() Jones came up with the band's name as he, McDonald and Dennis Elliott were British, whereas Gramm, Al Greenwood and Ed Gagliardi were American. Foreigner is a British-American rock band, originally formed in New York City in 1976 by veteran British guitarist and songwriter Mick Jones and fellow Briton and ex- King Crimson member Ian McDonald, along with American vocalist Lou Gramm.
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