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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 and enjoyed some of their biggest commercial
success: Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, and especially
Foreigner. Foreigner's leader from the beginning has
been British guitarist Mick Jones, who first broke into
the music biz as a "hired gun" of sorts, appearing
on recordings by George Harrison and Peter Frampton,
and as part of a later-day version of hard rockers Spooky
Tooth. By the mid-'70s, Jones had relocated to 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 long before 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 of rock,
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 of whom were British), along with New York
musicians Al Greenwood (keyboards), Ed Gagliardi (bass),
and Lou Gramm (vocals), the latter of which was previously
a member of an obscure '70s outfit called Black Sheep.
Jones found immediate songwriting chemistry with Gramm
(one of the first songs they wrote together was the
eventual hit "Cold As Ice"), resulting in
the newly formed band taking the name Foreigner and
signing a recording contract with Atlantic Records.
Foreigner's self-titled debut was issued in 1977 and
became an immediate hit on the strength of the hit singles
"Feels Like the First Time," "Long, Long
Way From Home," and the aforementioned "Cold
As Ice," as the album would 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 further hit 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 success established the sextet as an arena
headliner and would go on to become Foreigner's best-selling
album of their career (selling seven million copies
in the U.S. alone by 2001). The group's third release
overall, Head Games, followed in 1979 and marked the
first of many subsequent lineup changes for the group,
as Gagliardi was replaced by ex-Peter Frampton and Roxy
Music bassist Rick Wills. While the album was another
big seller and turned out to be their most straight-ahead
musically, both Gramm and Jones felt that the album
failed to break 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 fresh off the success of AC/DC's
classic Back in Black) was enlisted to oversee the proceedings.
The ploy worked and the resulting 1981 release, 4, was
another massive seller, spawning such further hit singles
as "Urgent" (which featured a blazing sax
solo from Motown vet Junior Walker), "Jukebox Hero,"
and the power ballad "Waiting for a Girl Like You."
Although the latter tune was a massive hit, it confused
some of the band's following as to whether Foreigner
was a hard rock band or balladeers. In 1982, a stopgap
best-of set, Records, was released and featured ten
of band's biggest hit singles, remaining a steady seller
to this day (becoming Foreigner's second album to achieve
sales of seven million by 2001).
It took Foreigner three year s to complete a follow-up
to 4 with Agent Provocateur being issued in 1984. The
band made the transition to the MTV video age without
a hitch with the over-the-top, gospel-inflected ballad
"I Want to Know What Love Is" (which featured
the New Jersey Mass Choir) becoming one of the biggest
MTV and radio hits that year. But despite the single's
success, there was a noticeable dip in sales for Agent
Provocateur when compared to their earlier albums due
to the fact that the album wasn't as focused and strong
overall as their previous recordings. After a mammoth
nine-month tour wrapped up a year later, both Jones
and Gramm focused on non-Foreigner projects during 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 album overall, Inside Information, came
in 1987. While both were successful and spawned Top
Ten hits (Gramm with "Midnight Blue" and Foreigner
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 as its predecessor, while Jones
produced Billy Joel's Storm Front and issued a star-studded
self-titled solo debut. Jones, Elliot, and Wills tried
to keep Foreigner afloat with a new singer, Johnny Edwards,
issuing a largely ignored album in 1991, Unusual Heat,
while Gramm faired no better with a new outfit, Shadow
King, issuing a forgotten self-titled debut the same
year. Seeing the error in their split, both Jones and
Gramm 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
in several 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 on board. The latest version of Foreigner
issued an all-new studio recording in 1995, Mr. Moonlight,
which failed to return the group to the top of the charts.
Foreigner remained a popular concert attraction, but
the band's future was thrust into doubt in 1997 when
Gramm was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Luckily, the
tumor was non-cancerous and was removed shortly thereafter.
Gramm's recovery was slow and painful, but by 1999,
the singer was well enough for Foreigner to team up
with Journey for a summer tour. The early 21st century
saw the release of several archival collections courtesy
of the Rhino label: a pair of additional collections,
Jukebox Heroes: The Foreigner Anthology and Complete
Greatest Hits, as well as reissues of the group's self-titled
debut and 4, both of which included extra bonus tracks.
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