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Legendary Foreigner singer Lou Gramm has not been a part of the band that made him famous in more than a decade, but in a new interview, he says that may be changing. The singer behind all-time rock classics such as ‘Hot Blooded,’ ‘Double Vision’ and ‘Urgent’ says his management has been talking about him re-joining the group for a reunion that would also serve as a farewell tour.
Gramm was one of the founding members of Foreigner, who released a string of hard rock classics in the ’70s before morphing into a pop ballad hit machine in the ’80s. Behind the scenes his relationship with guitarist Mick Jones was always strained, causing him to leave the band several times. He tells Classic Rock Revisited that the final straw came after undergoing surgery for a brain tumor in 1997.
“My operation was in early April and in September, we were playing. I was still really sick and I was very medicated,” Gramm recalls. “I was so out of it that I couldn’t remember the words to the old songs. I had all of the lyrics to the old songs taped on the floor. I had no business being on stage, but the bills had to be paid. Management and Mick were pressuring me hard.”
Gramm has spent most of the last decade on a long, slow, painful road to recovery that he documents in his new book, ‘Juke Box Hero.’ He reached out to Jones for the first time in years after he got the news that they were being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
“I think he was shocked that I called him,” Gramm admits. “We had a good conversation and we knew that we were going to be asked to do a couple of songs and we said that we would talk again.”
That simple phone call may result in Foreigner fans getting a proper send-off from their jukebox heroes. “His management and my management are tossing around the idea of a farewell tour,” Gramm reveals. “I would really like to do that. It would be really great to do that instead of leaving it with such a bitter and unfinished ending.”
‘Juke Box Hero: My Five Decades in Rock ‘N’ Roll’ is now available in hardcover.
Legendary Foreigner singer Lou Gramm has not been a part of the band that made him famous in more than a decade, but in a new interview, he says that may be changing. The singer behind all-time rock classics such as ‘Hot Blooded,’ ‘Double Vision’ and ‘Urgent’ says his management has been talking about him re-joining the group for a reunion that would also serve as a farewell tour.
Gramm was one of the founding members of Foreigner, who released a string of hard rock classics in the ’70s before morphing into a pop ballad hit machine in the ’80s. Behind the scenes his relationship with guitarist Mick Jones was always strained, causing him to leave the band several times. He tells Classic Rock Revisited that the final straw came after undergoing surgery for a brain tumor in 1997.
“My operation was in early April and in September, we were playing. I was still really sick and I was very medicated,” Gramm recalls. “I was so out of it that I couldn’t remember the words to the old songs. I had all of the lyrics to the old songs taped on the floor. I had no business being on stage, but the bills had to be paid. Management and Mick were pressuring me hard.”
Gramm has spent most of the last decade on a long, slow, painful road to recovery that he documents in his new book, ‘Juke Box Hero.’ He reached out to Jones for the first time in years after he got the news that they were being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
“I think he was shocked that I called him,” Gramm admits. “We had a good conversation and we knew that we were going to be asked to do a couple of songs and we said that we would talk again.”
That simple phone call may result in Foreigner fans getting a proper send-off from their jukebox heroes. “His management and my management are tossing around the idea of a farewell tour,” Gramm reveals. “I would really like to do that. It would be really great to do that instead of leaving it with such a bitter and unfinished ending.”
‘Juke Box Hero: My Five Decades in Rock ‘N’ Roll’ is now available in hardcover.
