Foreigner

This article describes the band Foreigner. For the album by Cat Stevens see Foreigner (album) ; for other meanings, see The Foreigner .

Foreigner
Foreigner live, 2009
General information
Genre (s)	Hard Rock , Adult Orientated Rock (AOR)
founding	1976
Website	http://www.foreigneronline.com/
Founding members
singing	Lou Gramm (until 1990, 1992-2003)
bass	Ed Gagliardi † (until 1979)
guitar	Ian McDonald (until 1980)
guitar	Mick Jones
Drums	Dennis Elliot (until 1991)
Keyboard	Al Greenwood (until 1980)
Current occupation
singing	Kelly Hansen (since 2005)
bass	Jeff Pilson (since 2004)
Acoustic guitar , saxophone , flute	Thom Gimbel (1993, since 1995)
guitar	Mick Jones
Drums	Chris Frazier (since 2012)
Keyboard	Michael Bluestein (since 2008)
former members
singing	Chaz West (2004)
Vocals, guitar	Johnny Edwards (1990-1992)
bass	Bruce Turgon (1992-2003)
bass	Rick Wills (1979-1992)
saxophone	Mark Rivera (1980-1982)
Keyboard	Paul Mirkovich (2007-2008)
Keyboard	Jeff Jacobs (1991-2007)
Keyboard	Larry Oakes (1988)
Keyboard	Bob Mayo (1981-1988)
Keyboard	Peter Reilich (1981–1982)
Drums	Jason Sutter (2010-2011)
Drums	Brian Tichy (1998-2000, 2007, 2008-2010)
Drums	Bryan Head (2008)
Drums	Jason Bonham (2004-2007, 2007-2008)
Drums	Denny Carmassi (2002)
Drums	Ron Wikso (1995-1998)
Drums	Larry Aberman (1991-1992)
Drums	Marc Schulman (1992–1995, 2000–2002, 2011–2012)

Foreigner is a British-American rock band that celebrated its greatest successes between 1977 and 1988 with a catchy, melodious-melancholic hard rock sound. To date, the group has sold over 80 million records worldwide.

Foreigner is one of the best known representatives of Adult Orientated Rock (AOR). Her most popular hits include Cold as Ice , Urgent , Waiting for a Girl Like You, Juke Box Hero and the number one hit I Want to Know What Love Is .

Band history

Lou Gramm, longtime singer of the band (1979)

Guitarist and band founder Mick Jones (2009)

The band was formed in 1976 in New York by the British musicians Ian McDonald (founding member of King Crimson ) and Mick Jones (formerly guitarist with George Harrison , Peter Frampton and Spooky Tooth ), the former If drummer Dennis Elliot and the US-American Al Greenwood (Keyboard), Ed Gagliardi (bass) and vocalist Lou Gramm .

In March 1977 the debut album Foreigner was released , which sold more than five million copies in the US and produced the two top ten singles "Feels Like the First Time" and "Cold as Ice". The LP Double Vision , released in June 1978, sold even more successfully. In 1979 Ed Gagliardi resigned and was replaced by Rick Wills .

The third album Head Games was released in September 1979 and was again commercially successful.

In July 1981 the fourth LP followed with the appropriate title 4 , with which the band also made their breakthrough in Europe. The songs "Urgent" (with the famous tenor saxophone solo by Jr. Walker ), "Juke Box Hero" and "Waiting for a Girl Like You" were successful in the hit lists between 1981 and 1982.

After a three-year break, the band returned in November 1984 with the chart breaker " I Want to Know What Love Is ". The single was a number one hit and million seller in the US and UK . The accompanying album Agent Provocateur was Foreigner's most successful and reached number one and platinum status in Great Britain, Germany and Switzerland, among others . Only in the USA did it not come close to the previous albums, although it still sold over three million copies.

It took another three years until the next album. The LP Inside Information came onto the market in December 1987 and was again internationally successful. It also produced the two top 10 singles Say You Will and I Don't Wanna Live Without You . Nevertheless, the band had started to get into a crisis, and so the album marked the temporary end of the collaboration between the band leaders Lou Gramm and Mick Jones.

Lou Gramm devoted himself to his solo career and released his album Ready or Not in early 1987 . In the fall of 1989, Long Hard Look followed as a second solo record . Two years later he initiated the hard rock band Shadow King together with Vivian Campbell . The band broke up after the first album when Campbell went to Def Leppard . Mick Jones also tried his hand at solo while working on the resurrection of Foreigner.

With Johnny Edwards , who acted instead of Lou Gramm as the singer, the seventh album Unusual Heat was released in June 1991 . However, identification with the “new” foreigner failed. Lou Gramm could not be replaced as lead singer, the record flopped commercially and did not produce a chart single. In 1992, the collaboration between Gramm and Jones was revived for a best-of album, for which three new titles were recorded in addition to the well-known hits.

It wasn't until two years later that Jones and Gramm were able to bring themselves to go into the studio together and write new songs. Gramm brought the bassist Bruce Turgon into the band, with whom he had already played on Black Sheep and Shadow King. The album Mr. Moonlight , released in October 1994, could no longer build on the successes of the 1970s and 1980s, but received remarkable popularity.

After Lou Gramm had survived a serious brain tumor disease and had successfully toured the USA again with Foreigner, he separated from the band for a second time in 2003 to work on his solo career.

Kelly Hansen, current singer of Foreigner (2009)

Foreigner at Wacken Open Air 2016

Kelly Hansen (Ex- Hurricane ) has been Foreigner's new lead singer since March 2005 . Also new were Jason Bonham (son of Led Zeppelin musician John Bonham ) on drums and Jeff Pilson (ex- Dokken ) on bass. Jeff Jacobs (keyboards) and Tom Gimbel (rhythm guitar, saxophone, flute) were still there from the 1990s. Only Mick Jones was left of the original line-up. With this line-up, the band toured worldwide between 2005 and 2008. In 2006 the DVD Alive 'n' Rockin 'was recorded at the Bang Your Head Festival in Balingen . Michael Bluestein has replaced Jeff Jacobs on keyboards since November 2007.

In October 2009 the new Foreigner album Can't Slow Down came out in the USA, from which the single "When It Comes to Love" was decoupled. In January 2010 the album was also released in Europe. A new live double album followed in the autumn of the same year. On September 23, 2011 the album Acoustique was released , on which 14 well-known songs were recorded unplugged .

Ed Gagliardi, the band's first bassist, died of cancer on May 11, 2014 at the age of 62.

The band's big 40-year anniversary tour followed in 2017. This was the reason to bring the original members from the 1970s on board. Lou Gramm, Al Greenwood and Ian McDonald were guests on stage at the concert on July 20, 2017 at Jones Beach. For the concerts on October 7th and 8th, 2017, all original members of the band stood together on stage. In 2018, producer Randy Johnson confirmed the premiere of the Foreigner musical Jukebox Hero for February 2019 in Toronto . The musical was written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais.

In autumn 2019 almost all original members of the band were on stage for the Double Vision - Then and Now concert tour , except for Lou Gramm, who had to cancel the concerts due to illness.

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1977	Foreigner	-	-	-	-	US5 × 5 Quintuple platinum (113 weeks)US	First published: March 8, 1977 Sales: + 5,000,000
1978	Double vision	-	-	-	UK32 (5 weeks) UK	US3 × 7 Seven times platinum (88 weeks)US	First published: June 20, 1978 Sales: + 7,000,000
1979	Head Games	DE39 (5 weeks) DE	-	-	-	US5 × 5 Quintuple platinum (41 weeks)US	First published: September 11, 1979 Sales: + 5,000,000
1981	4th	DE4th platinum (68 weeks)DE	-	-	UK5 gold (62 weeks)UK	US1 × 6 Six-fold platinum (81 weeks)US	First published: July 2, 1981 Sales: +7,100,000
1984	Agent provocateur	DE1 platinum (35 weeks)DE	AT10 (10 weeks) AT	CH1 platinum (24 weeks)CH	UK1 platinum (32 weeks)UK	US4th × 3 Triple platinum (45 weeks)US	First published: December 7, 1984 Sales: + 4,000,000
1987	Inside information	DE7th gold (21 weeks)DE	-	CH7th gold (13 weeks)CH	UK64 silver (7 weeks)UK	US15th platinum (37 weeks)US	First published: December 4th, 1987 Sales: + 1,000,000
1991	Unusual heat	DE13 (16 weeks) DE	AT30 (5 weeks) AT	CH8 (14 weeks) CH	UK56 (1 week) UK	US117 (9 weeks) US	First published: June 14, 1991
1994	Mr. Moonlight	DE21 (10 weeks) DE	-	CH17 (9 weeks) CH	UK59 (1 week) UK	US136 (6 weeks) US	First published: October 31, 1994
2009	Can't slow down	DE16 (8 weeks) DE	AT58 (2 weeks) AT	CH26 (3 weeks) CH	-	US29 (8 weeks) US	First published: October 2, 2009

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Live albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2006	Extended Versions	-	-	-	-	US88 (10 weeks) US	First published: November 26, 2005
2011	Acoustique	DE32 (1 week) DE	-	CH48 (2 weeks) CH	-	-	First published: October 4, 2011
2018	Foreigner with the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra & Chorus	DE9 (5 weeks) DE	-	CH14 (6 weeks) CH	-	-	First published: April 27, 2018
2019	Live at the Rainbow '78	DE75 (1 week) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: March 15, 2019
	Double Vision: Then and Now (Live)	DE26 (1 week) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: November 15, 2019

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1982	Records	DE22nd gold (16 weeks)DE	-	CH- gold CH	UK58 silver (11 weeks)UK	US10 × 5 Quintuple platinum (27 weeks)US	First published: November 29, 1982
1992	The Very Best of Foreigner The Very Best ... and Beyond (DE and US only)	DE23 (23 weeks) DE	AT34 (3 weeks) AT	CH20th gold (11 weeks)CH	UK19th gold (7 weeks)UK	US123 × 2 Double platinum (20 weeks)US	First published: September 22, 1992
1998	The Best of Ballads - I Want to Know What Love Is	DE81 (2 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: 1998
2002	Complete Greatest Hits	-	-	-	-	US80 (7 weeks) US	First published: May 7, 2002
	The definitive	DE48 (4 weeks) DE	-	-	UK33 silver (3 weeks)UK	-	First published: March 26, 2006
2007	The Very Best of Toto & Foreigner	-	-	CH84 (2 weeks) CH	-	-	with Toto First publication: August 17, 2007
2008	No End in Sight - The Very Best of Foreigner	DE46 (4 weeks) DE	AT23 (5 weeks) AT	CH64 (2 weeks) CH	-	US132 (11 weeks) US	First published: July 15, 2008
2011	Juke Box Heroes: The Very Best of Foreigner	-	-	-	-	US109 gold (50 weeks)US	First published: June 20, 2011
	Feels like the first time	-	-	-	-	US45 (4 weeks) US	First published: September 13, 2011
2014	I Want to Know What Love Is - The Ballads	DE60 (2 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: January 31, 2014
	The Soundtrack of Summer: The Very Best of Foreigner & Styx	-	-	-	-	US69 (12 weeks) US	with Styx first published: May 6, 2014
2014	The Best of Foreigner 4 & More	-	-	-	-	US162 (4 weeks) US	First published: November 19, 2014
2017	40: Forty Hits from Forty Years - 1977-2017	DE94 (1 week) DE	-	-	UK79 (1 week) UK	US106 (6 weeks) US	First published: May 19, 2017
	Number one albums	DE1DE	AT-AT	CH1CH	UK1UK	US1US
	Top 10 albums	DE4thDE	AT1AT	CH3CH	UK2UK	US6thUS
	Albums in the charts	DE17thDE	AT5AT	CH10CH	UK11UK	US19thUS

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More compilations

• 2004: Hot Blooded and Other Hits (US:gold)
• 2010: The Very Best Of (Chicago & Foreigner) (UK:silver)
• 2014: An Acoustic Evening With

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1977	Feels Like the First Time Foreigner	-	-	-	UK39 (6 weeks) UK	US4 (22 weeks) US	First published: March 1977
	Cold as Ice Foreigner	-	-	-	UK24 (10 weeks) UK	US6 (21 weeks) US	First published: July 1977
	Long Long Way from Home Foreigner	-	-	-	-	US20 (14 weeks) US	First published: November 1977
1978	Hot Blooded Double Vision	-	-	-	UK42 (3 weeks) UK	US3 gold (17 weeks)US	First published: June 1978
	Double vision double vision	-	-	-	-	US2 gold (20 weeks)US	First published: September 1978
	Blue Morning, Blue Day Double Vision	-	-	-	UK45 (4 weeks) UK	US15 (14 weeks) US	First published: December 1978
1979	Dirty White Boy Head Games	-	-	-	-	US12 (14 weeks) US	First published: August 1979
	Head Games Head Games	-	-	-	-	US14 (14 weeks) US	First published: October 1979
1980	Women Head Games	-	-	-	-	US41 (9 weeks) US	First published: February 1980
1981	Urgent 4	DE12 (25 weeks) DE	-	CH84 * (1 week) CH	UK45 (9 weeks) UK	US4 (23 weeks) US	First published: June 1981
	Juke Box Hero 4	DE24 (17 weeks) DE	-	CH87 * (1 week) CH	UK48 (4 weeks) UK	US26 (13 weeks) US	First published: September 1981
	Waiting for a Girl Like You 4	DE29 (11 weeks) DE	AT16 (2 weeks) AT	-	UK8 (13 weeks) UK	US2 gold (23 weeks)US	First published: October 1981
1982	Break It Up 4	-	-	-	-	US26 (13 weeks) US	First published: May 1982
	Luanne 4	-	-	-	-	US75 (6 weeks) US	First published: July 1982
1984	I Want to Know What Love Is Agent Provocateur	DE3 (22 weeks) DE	AT7 (14 weeks) AT	CH2 (17 weeks) CH	UK1 platinum (16 weeks)UK	US1 gold (21 weeks)US	First published: November 1984
1985	That Was Yesterday Agent Provocateur	DE31 (10 weeks) DE	-	CH29 (2 weeks) CH	UK28 (6 weeks) UK	US12 (15 weeks) US	First published: February 1985
	Reaction to Action Agent Provocateur	-	-	-	-	US54 (8 weeks) US	First published: April 1985
	Cold as Ice (Remix)	-	-	-	UK64 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: June 1985
	Down on Love Agent Provocateur	-	-	-	-	US54 (8 weeks) US	First published: September 1985
1987	Say You Will Inside Information	DE22 (13 weeks) DE	-	CH20 (10 weeks) CH	UK71 (4 weeks) UK	US6 (19 weeks) US	First published: November 1987
1988	I Don't Want to Live Without You Inside Information	-	-	-	UK91UK	US5 (17 weeks) US	First published: March 1988
	Heart Turns to Stone Inside Information	-	-	-	-	US56 (10 weeks) US	First published: May 1988
1994	White Lie Mr. Moonlight	DE51 (20 weeks) DE	-	-	UK58 (1 week) UK	-	First published: October 1994
1995	Until the End of Time Mr. Moonlight	-	-	-	-	US42 (16 weeks) US	First published: February 1995
	Rain Mr. Moonlight	DE84 (5 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: September 1995
	Number one singles	DE-DE	AT-AT	CH-CH	UK1UK	US1US
	Top 10 singles	DE1DE	AT1AT	CH1CH	UK2UK	US9US
	Singles in the charts	DE8thDE	AT2AT	CH6thCH	UK13UK	US22ndUS

*: Placed in the Swiss charts only in 2008 as a single download from the best-of album No End in Sight

More singles

• 1979: Love on the Telephone
• 1980: I'll Get Even with You
• 1985: Growing Up the Hard Way
• 1991: Lowdown and Dirty
• 1991: I'll Fight for You
• 1992: Soul Doctor
• 1992: With Heaven on Our Side
• 1995: All I Need to Know
• 2009: Can't Slow Down
• 2016: The Flame Still Burns (EP)

Awards for music sales

Golden record  Australia 2005: for the album The Definitive  France 1982: for the album 4 1985: for the Agent Provocateur album 1992: for the album The Very Best of Foreigner 2001: for the album Records  New Zealand 1985: for the Agent Provocateur album  Netherlands 1982: for the album Foreigner

Platinum record  Australia 2001: for the album Foreigner  Canada 1978: for the album Foreigner  Netherlands 1992: for the album The Very Best of Foreigner 2 × platinum record  Canada 1979: for the album Double Vision 4 × platinum record  Canada 1982: for the album 4

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Australia (ARIA)	-	gold1	platinum1	105,000	aria.com.au
Germany (BVMI)	-	2 × gold2	2 × platinum2	1,500,000	musikindustrie.de
France (SNEP)	-	4 × gold4th	-	400,000	infodisc.fr snepmusique.com
Canada (MC)	-	-	7 × platinum7th	700,000	musiccanada.com
New Zealand (RMNZ)	-	gold1	-	7,500	nztop40.co.nz
Netherlands (NVPI)	-	gold1	platinum1	150,000	nvpi.nl
Switzerland (IFPI)	-	3 × gold3	platinum1	175,000	hitparade.ch
United States (RIAA)	-	6 × gold6th	34 × platinum34	40,000,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	4 × silver4th	2 × gold2	2 × platinum2	1,440,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	4 × silver4th	20 × gold20th	48 × platinum48

swell

1. ↑ Ed Gagliardi passed away ( Memento of the original from July 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed September 25, 2014 
2. ↑ The Foreigner musical celebrates its premiere. Retrieved November 29, 2018 . 
3. ↑ FOREIGNER - Lou Gramm is canceled due to illness on the anniversary tour , rockhard.de, accessed March 18, 2020
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Chart sources: DE AT CH US
5. ↑ Foreigner in the Official UK Charts (English)
6. ↑ Release dates
7. ^ Black Friday 2016> Foreigner - The Flame Still Burns. Retrieved April 13, 2019 . 

Web links

Commons : Foreigner  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website
• Foreigner at laut.de