Foreigner (band)

Foreigner is a British-American rock band formed in New York City in 1976 by guitarist Mick Jones, vocalist Lou Gramm, drummer Dennis Elliott, keyboardist Al Greenwood, bassist Ed Gagliardi, and multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald, the last of whom was also a founding member of King Crimson. Foreigner is one of the world's best-selling bands of all time, with worldwide sales exceeding 80 million records, including 37.5 million in the United States.

Jones came up with the band's name because he, Elliott, and McDonald were British, while Gramm, Greenwood, and Gagliardi were American, meaning at least half of the band members would be considered foreigners regardless of the country they were in.

In 1977, Foreigner released its self-titled debut album, the first of six consecutive albums (including the 7× platinum 1982 greatest hits album Records) to be certified multi-platinum and reach the Top 10 in the US. The album produced two US Top 10 singles, "Feels Like the First Time" and "Cold as Ice". Their 1978 follow-up, Double Vision, was even more successful and included two more US hits: "Hot Blooded" and the title track.

Rick Wills replaced Gagliardi on bass before Foreigner recorded their third album, Head Games (1979), which featured the US Top 20 singles "Dirty White Boy" and the title track. After the departures of McDonald and Greenwood, reducing the band to a quartet, their next album, 4 (1981), hit No. 1 for 10 weeks in the US and became Foreigner's breakthrough album in the UK, where it reached the Top 5. The album produced three hit singles: "Urgent", "Waiting for a Girl Like You", and "Juke Box Hero".

In 1984, Foreigner released their fifth studio album, Agent Provocateur, which reached No. 1 in the UK and included their biggest hit single, "I Want to Know What Love Is". The song topped the charts in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, reached No. 3 in Germany, and made the Top 10 in numerous other countries. A second hit from the album, "That Was Yesterday", went Top 20 in the US.

After a break, Foreigner released Inside Information in 1987. Despite two more US Top 10 hits with "Say You Will" and "I Don't Want to Live Without You", it became their first album not to achieve multi-platinum certification or reach the Top 10 in the US, achieving single platinum sales and peaking at No. 15.

Since 1990, the band has undergone several lineup changes, including the departures of Elliott and Wills in 1991. Gramm left the band in 1990, returned in 1992, and departed again in 2003. The three studio albums released during this period—Unusual Heat (1991), Mr. Moonlight (1994), and Can't Slow Down (2009)—were not major commercial successes. However, the 1992 greatest hits album, The Very Best ... and Beyond, which included three new songs, achieved 2× platinum certification in the US and gold certification in the UK.

Since 2003, Mick Jones has been the only founding member actively involved with Foreigner, though the band has occasionally toured without him in recent years. Two founding members, Ed Gagliardi and Ian McDonald, died in 2014 and 2022, respectively. Since 2013, there have been occasional quasi-reunion tours, concerts, and guest appearances featuring varying combinations of former band members, including Gramm, Elliott, Wills, Greenwood, and (before his death) McDonald.

On October 19, 2024, Foreigner was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Since the band's inception, they have been led by English guitarist Mick Jones, a former member of Nero and the Gladiators, Johnny Hallyday's band, Spooky Tooth, and the Leslie West band. 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.

Jones connected with New York keyboardist Al Greenwood, who had recently played with former Flash members Colin Carter and Mike Hough in a group called Storm, drummer Stan Williams, and Louisiana bassist Jay Davis, who later performed with Rod Stewart. They began jamming together. Another friend, Stories singer Ian Lloyd, was brought in to sing; however, Jones decided the chemistry was not quite right and retained only Greenwood as he resumed his search for other players. During a session for Ian Lloyd's album, Jones met transplanted English musician and former King Crimson founding member Ian McDonald. Another session, this one for Ian Hunter, led to his discovery of fellow Brit and drummer Dennis Elliott.

Despite auditioning approximately forty to fifty singers, the group struggled to find the right vocalist until Jones revisited a Black Sheep album given to him backstage at a 1974 Spooky Tooth concert by that group's lead singer, Lou Gramm. Jones reached out to Gramm, who had returned to his hometown of Rochester, New York following Black Sheep's breakup, and sent him a plane ticket to New York City. Gramm proved to be the missing piece, and Brooklyn bassist Ed Gagliardi rounded out the sextet.

A name, "Trigger," was tentatively chosen and appeared on the band's demo tape, but it was rejected by all the record companies that received it. John Kalodner, a former journalist and radio programmer working in A&R at Atlantic Records, noticed a tape labeled Trigger on Atlantic president Jerry L. Greenberg's desk. Kalodner had recently listened to a band called Trigger and realized this was not the same group. He convinced Greenberg that at least one song on the tape had the potential to be a hit and urged him to consider signing the band immediately. Since the name Trigger was already taken, Jones proposed the name Foreigner, inspired by the fact that in any country they performed, three members—Jones, McDonald, and Elliott—would always be foreigners, as they were English, while Gramm, Greenwood, and Gagliardi were American.

In November 1976, after six months of rehearsals, the newly christened Foreigner began recording their debut album with producers John Sinclair and Gary Lyons at The Hit Factory. However, they later moved to Atlantic Recording Studios to finish recording the basic tracks and complete the overdubs. The initial mixing took place at Sarm Studios in London, but the band was dissatisfied with the results. They opted to remix the album at Atlantic with the involvement of Mick Jones, Ian McDonald, and Jimmy Douglass. Bud Prager signed on as the band's manager and remained in that role for the next 17 years.

The band's debut album, Foreigner, was released in March 1977 and achieved significant commercial success. It was certified for sales of five million copies in the United States, remaining in the top 20 for a year and peaking at No. 4. The album also reached the top 10 in Canada and Australia and climbed to No. 1 in Norway. Foreigner produced three major hits in North America: "Feels Like the First Time" reached No. 4 in the US and No. 7 in Canada, "Cold as Ice" peaked at No. 6 in the US and No. 9 in Canada, and "Long, Long Way from Home" hit No. 20. Additionally, "Cold as Ice" saw moderate success in the UK, Australia, the Netherlands, and Belgium, reaching the top 20 or 30 in those countries.

By May 1977, Foreigner was already headlining theaters and had earned a gold record for their debut album. Shortly afterward, the band began selling out U.S. basketball arenas and hockey rinks. Following a show at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas, on May 6, 1977, drummer Dennis Elliott injured his hand. The band brought in Ian Wallace (formerly of King Crimson) to assist Elliott by playing alongside him on some dates until his hand healed.

After nearly a year on the road, Foreigner performed for more than 200,000 people at California Jam II on March 18, 1978. The following month, they embarked on their first tour of Europe, Japan, and Australia.

Their second album, Double Vision, was released in June 1978 and co-produced by Keith Olsen. The album surpassed their debut in sales, achieving seven million copies sold in the US and peaking at No. 3 in both the US and Canada. In Australia, it reached No. 13. It became the band's first album to chart in the UK, where it peaked at No. 32. However, Double Vision (as well as their next two albums) failed to chart in Norway, where their debut had reached No. 1.

The album generated even greater hits in North America than their debut, with "Hot Blooded" reaching No. 3 in both the US and Canada, the title track "Double Vision" peaking at No. 2 in the US and No. 7 in Canada, and "Blue Morning, Blue Day" climbing to No. 15 and No. 21 respectively. Outside North America, only "Hot Blooded" made an impact, reaching No. 24 in Australia. The singles from Double Vision and their subsequent album, Head Games, saw little airplay or sales in other countries.

Album number three, Head Games, released in September 1979, was co-produced by Roy Thomas Baker. The album was described by Gramm as their "grainiest" album and was commercially successful, in part due to the success of the single "Dirty White Boy" and the title track "Head Games". Both songs were top 15 hits in the US and Canada but did not chart in other countries. The album reached No. 5 in North America, but sales declined significantly in Australia (No. 45) with no improvement in other markets.

For Head Games, bassist Ed Gagliardi was replaced by Englishman Rick Wills. In his autobiography, Juke Box Hero (named after the iconic Foreigner song), Gramm explained the reasons for the band's decision to part ways with Gagliardi: "He was a little headstrong and had his own ideas that weren't always compatible with what we were trying to accomplish. Ed was obstinate at times, playing the song the way he wanted to play it rather than the way it was drawn up. Mick often had to stop sessions to get Ed back on track. After a while, it became tiresome and slowed down the recording process." Gramm also expressed disappointment with Head Games, stating that he felt it sounded unfinished. The album sold about two million copies fewer than its predecessor.