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While quite a few arena rock acts of the '70s found the transformation into the '80s quite difficult, several acts continued to
flourish andenjoyed some of their biggest commercial success: Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, and especially Foreigner.
Foreigner's leader from thebeginning has been British guitarist Mick Jones, who first broke into the music biz as a "hired gun"
of sorts, appearing on recordings byGeorge Harrison and Peter Frampton, and as part of a later-day version of hard rockers
Spooky Tooth. By the mid-'70s, Jones had relocatedto New York City, where he was a brief membe ...read more
While quite a few arena rock acts of the '70s found the transformation into the '80s quite difficult, several acts continued to
flourish andenjoyed some of their biggest commercial success: Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, and especially Foreigner.
Foreigner's leader from thebeginning has been British guitarist Mick Jones, who first broke into the music biz as a "hired gun"
of sorts, appearing on recordings byGeorge Harrison and Peter Frampton, and as part of a later-day version of hard rockers
Spooky Tooth. By the mid-'70s, Jones had relocatedto New York City, where he was a brief member of the Leslie West Band
and served as an A&R man for a record company. But it wasn't longbefore Jones felt the urge to be part of another rock
outfit as he sought to put together a band that would be able to combine elements ofrock, progressive, R&B, and pop into a
single, cohesive style.
Jones soon assembled a group consisting of ex-King Crimson sax player Ian McDonald and ex-Ian Hunter drummer Dennis Elliot
(both ofwhom were British), along with New York musicians Al Greenwood (keyboards), Ed Gagliardi (bass), and Lou Gramm
(vocals), the latter ofwhich was previously a member of an obscure '70s outfit called Black Sheep. Jones found immediate
songwriting chemistry with Gramm (oneof the first songs they wrote together was the eventual hit "Cold As Ice"), resulting in
the newly formed band taking the name Foreigner andsigning a recording contract with Atlantic Records. Foreigner's self-
titled debut was issued in 1977 and became an immediate hit on thestrength of the hit singles "Feels Like the First Time,"
"Long, Long Way From Home," and the aforementioned "Cold As Ice," as the albumwould eventually go platinum five times
over.
Foreigner avoided the dreaded sophomore slump with an even stronger follow-up release, 1978's Double Vision, which
spawned such furtherhit singles as "Hot Blooded" and its title track, and the album stayed in the Top Ten for a solid six
months. As a result, the album's successestablished the sextet as an arena headliner and would go on to become Foreigner's
best-selling album of their career (selling seven millioncopies in the U.S. alone by 2001). The group's third release overall,
Head Games, followed in 1979 and marked the first of manysubsequent lineup changes for the group, as Gagliardi was
replaced by ex-Peter Frampton and Roxy Music bassist Rick Wills. While thealbum was another big seller and turned out to be
their most straight-ahead musically, both Gramm and Jones felt that the album failed tobreak any new ground, something that
they sought to correct on their next album.
The band's lineup was cut back to just a quartet consisting of Jones, Gramm, Elliot, and Wills as super-producer Mutt Lange
(who was freshoff the success of AC/DC's classic Back in Black) was enlisted to oversee the proceedings. The ploy worked
and the resulting 1981release, 4, was another massive seller, spawning such further hit singles as "Urgent" (which featured a
blazing sax solo from Motown vetJunior Walker), "Jukebox Hero," and the power ballad "Waiting for a Girl Like You." Although
the latter tune was a massive hit, it confusedsome of the band's following as to whether Foreigner was a hard rock band or
balladeers. In 1982, a stopgap best-of set, Records, wasreleased and featured ten of band's biggest hit singles, remaining a
steady seller to this day (becoming Foreigner's second album to achievesales of seven million by 2001).
It took Foreigner three years to complete a follow-up to 4 with Agent Provocateur being issued in 1984. The band made the
transition to theMTV video age without a hitch with the over-the-top, gospel-inflected ballad "I Want to Know What Love Is"
(which featured the New JerseyMass Choir) becoming one of the biggest MTV and radio hits that year. But despite the
single's success, there was a noticeable dip in salesfor Agent Provocateur when compared to their earlier albums due to the
fact that the album wasn't as focused and strong overall as theirprevious recordings. After a mammoth nine-month tour
wrapped up a year later, both Jones and Gramm focused on non-Foreigner projectsduring 1986. Jones produced Bad
Company's Fame and Fortune and co-produced Van Halen's hit debut recording with Sammy Hagar, 5150,while Gramm worked
on a solo debut. The release of both Gramm's solo album, Ready or Not, as well as Foreigner's sixth studio albumoverall, Inside
Information, came in 1987. While both were successful and spawned Top Ten hits (Gramm with "Midnight Blue" andForeigner
with "Say You Will"), tension between Gramm and Jones came to a head regarding the singer's desire to focus on his solo
career,which led to Gramm's split from Foreigner in 1989.
The same year as his split from Foreigner, Gramm issued his second solo album, Long Hard Look, which proved to be not as
successful asits predecessor, while Jones produced Billy Joel's Storm Front and issued a star-studded self-titled solo debut.
Jones, Elliot, and Wills triedto keep Foreigner afloat with a new singer, Johnny Edwards, issuing a largely ignored album in
1991, Unusual Heat, while Gramm fared nobetter with a new outfit, Shadow King, issuing a forgotten self-titled debut the
same year. Seeing the error in their split, both Jones andGramm listened to the advice of Atlantic Records and reunited for
the recording of three all-new tracks to be included on a more extensive"hits" collection. Issued in 1992, the 17-track The
Very Best...And Beyond was Foreigner's most commercially successful release inseveral years along with the band's first live
release, Classic Hits Live, issued a year later.
The Gramm/Jones reunion soon turned permanent and new members Bruce Turgon (bass) and Jeff Jacobs (keyboards) were
welcomed onboard. The latest version of Foreigner issued an all-new studio recording in 1995, Mr. Moonlight, which failed to
return the group to the topof the charts. Foreigner remained a popular concert attraction, but the band's future was thrust
into doubt in 1997 when Gramm wasdiagnosed with a brain tumor. Luckily, the tumor was non-cancerous and was removed
shortly thereafter. Gramm's recovery was slow andpainful, but by 1999, the singer was well enough for Foreigner to team up
with Journey for a summer tour. The early 21st century saw therelease of several archival collections courtesy of the Rhino
label: a pair of additional collections, Jukebox Heroes: The Foreigner Anthologyand Complete Greatest Hits, as well as reissues
of the group's self-titled debut and 4, both of which included extra bonus tracks. Can't SlowDown, a three-disc set that
included a new studio album, a disc of remixed versions of the band's biggest hits, and a DVD documentary,arrived in 2009.
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