Foreigner (band)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Foreigner | ||
|---|---|---|
 "Urgent" single cover
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| Background information | ||
| Origin | New York City | |
| Genre(s) | Hard Rock Rock Arena rock Soft Rock R&B Funk |
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| Years active | 1976–present | |
| Label(s) | Atlantic Records | |
| Members | ||
| Mick Jones Jeff Jacobs Thom Gimbel Kelly Hansen Jason Bonham Jeff Pilson |
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Foreigner is a hard rock band formed in New York City in 1976 by veteran musicians Mick Jones and Ian McDonald, along with then unknown vocalist Lou Gramm (Louis Grammatico).
Contents |
[edit] Biography
The band is led by British journeyman rocker Mick Jones (former member of Nero and the Gladiators, Spooky Tooth, and The Leslie West Band) who in early 1976 met with ex-King Crimson member Ian McDonald and formed Foreigner with Lou Gramm, Dennis Elliott, Al Greenwood, and Ed Gagliardi as a sextet. Jones came up with the name from the fact that he, McDonald, and Elliott were British, while Gramm, Greenwood, and Gagliardi were Americans. [1]
The band's debut album Foreigner sold more than four million copies in the United States and stayed in the Top Twenty for a year with such hits as "Feels Like the First Time", "Cold as Ice", and "Long Long Way From Home". Their sophomore effort, Double Vision, topped their previous selling five million records and spawned "Hot Blooded" and title track "Double Vision". Their third album, Head Games, is a more back-to-basics effort, which Gramm refers to as their "grainiest" album. This album was also successful due to the thunderous "Dirty White Boy" and another title track hit "Head Games".
1980 brought personnel changes so that now the band was a quartet and Rick Wills played bass. Gagliardi reportedly fainted when he was dismissed from the band.[citation needed] He and Greenwood went on to the failed band Spys.
Foreigner's next album, aptly named 4, was their biggest hit containing "Jukebox Hero", "Waiting for a Girl Like You", and "Urgent". Their next album, Agent Provocateur, released in 1984, gave them their only #1 hit, a gospel-inspired ballad backed by the New Jersey Mass Choir, "I Want to Know What Love Is". In the late 1980s, Jones and Gramm each put out solo efforts and the band went on hiatus. But in 1987 Foreigner regrouped and released Inside Information; spawning hits such as "Say You Will" and "I Don't Want To Live Without you". But then, reportedly due to the egos of Gramm and Jones, the band dissolved again .
In 1990, Mick Jones reformed Foreigner with a new lead vocalist, Johnny Edwards. This edition of Foreigner released the album Unusual Heat in 1991. This was their worst selling album and only climbed as high as #117 on the Billboard 200, although "Lowdown and Dirty" was a minor mainstream rock hit reaching #4 on the chart. But by 1992, however, Lou Gramm rejoined Foreigner and produced the band's second greatest hits album, "The Very Best and Beyond". Three years later Foreigner released what was supposed to be the band's comeback album, Mr. Moonlight. This album fared even worse than Unusual Heat due to the rising popularity of alternative and grunge rock, although the ballad "Until the End of Time" was a minor hit hitting #42 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was to be the last time to date that Foreigner charted on a Billboard singles chart of any kind. The reformed band stayed together through the hard times and toured throughout the United States until 2002.
In 2001, the Warner Music Group selected Foreigner and 4 to be among the first group of albums from their catalog to be remastered, enhanced and released in the new DVD Audio format. In 2002, the 25th Anniversary Year brought affirmation of the enduring respect for Foreigner recordings with Rhino Entertainment re-issuing the 1977 - 1981 multi-platinum albums in special enhanced formats. Foreigner, Double Vision, Head Games and 4 received the loving attention of Rhino's staff and bloom again with new photos and liner notes and bonus tracks of previously unreleased material. New Greatest Hits albums were also produced in the U.S. and in Europe. The U.S. version reached #80 on the Billboard 200 Album chart.
In 2003, Gramm again left Foreigner to embark on another solo career and formed the Lou Gramm Band. Jones, the only remaining original member of Foreigner, decided to reform the band once again, and hired Kelly Hansen to replace Gramm as lead vocalist for the group in 2005.
It is confirmed by Def Leppard's official website that Foreigner, along with Styx and themselves, are negotiating to tour in the US and Canada together in 2007. [1]
[edit] Members
[edit] Current members
- Mick Jones: guitar, piano, keyboards, background vocals (1976–Present)
- Jeff Jacobs: piano, organ, keyboards, background vocals (1993–Present)
- Thom Gimbel: saxophone, guitar, flute, background vocals (1995–Present)
- Kelly Hansen: lead vocals (formerly of Hurricane) (2005-Present)
- Jason Bonham: drums
- Jeff Pilson: bass guitar, background vocals (formerly of Dokken and Ratt)
[edit] Former members
- Lou Gramm: lead vocals, percussion, background vocals (1976–90, 1992–2003)
- Dennis Elliott: drums (1976–1991)
- Ian McDonald: guitar, keyboards, saxes, flutes, background vocals (1976–1980)
- Al Greenwood: keyboards, synthesizers (1976–1980)
- Ed Gagliardi: bass guitar, background vocals (1976–1979)
- Rick Wills: bass guitar, background vocals (1979–1992)
- Mark Rivera: guitar, keyboards, saxes, flutes, background vocals (1981–1984)
- Bob Mayo: keyboards
- Johnny Edwards: lead vocals, guitar (1990–1992)
- Andrew "Raven's Claw" Peters: drums (1992–1993)
- Bruce Turgon: bass guitar, background vocals (1993–2002)
- Mark Schulman: drums, background vocals (1993–95, 2000–2002)
- Ron Wikso: drums (1995–1998)
- Brian Tichy: drums (1998–2000)
- Denny Carmassi: drums (2002)
[edit] DVDs
- 2001: Foreigner (Concert)
- 2001: 4 (Concert)
- 2003: Foreigner: All Access Tonight (Live In Concert)
[edit] Discography
- Foreigner (1977) #4 US 5x Platinum
- Double Vision (1978) #3 US 7x Platinum, #32 UK
- Head Games (1979) #5 US 5x Platinum
- 4 (1981) #1 US 6x Platinum, #5 UK
- Records (1982) #10 US 7x Platinum, #58 UK
- Agent Provocateur (1984) #4 US 3x Platinum, #1 UK
- Inside Information (1987) #15 US Platinum, #64 UK
- Unusual Heat (1991) #117 US, #56 UK
- The Very Best of (1992)
- The Very Best of... and Beyond (1992) #123 US 2x Platinum, #19 UK
- Classic Hits Live/Best of Live (1993)
- JukeBox Hero: Best of (1994)
- Mr. Moonlight (1994) #136 US, #59 UK
- The Platinum Collection (1999)
- Rough Diamonds #1 (1999)
- Hot Blooded and Other Hits (2000)
- Anthology:Jukebox Heroes (2000)
- Complete Greatest Hits (2002) #80 US
- The Definitive (2002) #33 UK
- The Essentials (2005)
- Live in '05 (2005)
- Extended Versions (2006)
- The Definitive Collection (2006)
Source of platinum certification: RIAA
[edit] Singles
| Year | Song | US Hot 100 | US MSR | US A.C. | UK singles | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | "Feels Like The First Time" | 4 | - | - | 39 | Foreigner |
| 1977 | "Cold As Ice" | 6 | - | - | 24 | Foreigner |
| 1978 | "Long, Long Way From Home" | 20 | - | - | - | Foreigner |
| 1978 | "Hot Blooded" | 3 | - | - | 42 | Double Vision |
| 1978 | "Double Vision" | 2 | - | - | - | Double Vision |
| 1979 | "Blue Morning, Blue Day" | 15 | - | - | 45 | Double Vision |
| 1979 | "Dirty White Boy" | 12 | - | - | - | Head Games |
| 1979 | "Head Games" | 14 | - | - | - | Head Games |
| 1980 | "Women" | 41 | - | - | - | Head Games |
| 1981 | "Urgent" | 4 | 1 | - | 451 | 4 |
| 1981 | "Waiting For A Girl Like You" | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 4 |
| 1982 | "Jukebox Hero" | 26 | 3 | - | 48 | 4 |
| 1982 | "Break It Up" | 26 | - | - | - | 4 |
| 1982 | "Luanne" | 75 | - | - | - | 4 |
| 1984 | "I Want to Know What Love Is" | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | Agent Provocateur |
| 1985 | "That Was Yesterday" | 12 | 4 | 24 | 28 | Agent Provocateur |
| 1985 | "Reaction To Action" | 54 | - | - | - | Agent Provocateur |
| 1985 | "Down On Love" | 54 | - | - | - | Agent Provocateur |
| 1987 | "Say You Will" | 6 | 1 | - | 71 | Inside Information |
| 1988 | "I Don't Want To Live Without You" | 5 | 18 | 1 | 91 | Inside Information |
| 1988 | "Heart Turns To Stone" | 56 | - | - | - | Inside Information |
| 1995 | "Until The End Of Time" | 42 | - | 8 | - | Mr. Moonlight |
| 1995 | "White Lie" | - | - | - | 58 | Mr. Moonlight |
11982 re-release; originally peaked at #54 in 1981
[edit] Trivia
- In the "Revenge of the Mooninites" episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, (season one, disc two) the Mooninites acquire the Foreigner Belt, a magical belt that makes literal the lyrics of Foreigner songs. For example: "Cold as Ice" freezes Carl solid, "Dirty White Boy" makes Meatwad act like an irreverent redneck, "Double Vision" messes up Frylock's vision, "Hot Blooded" heats up a pool the Mooninites are swimming in, and "Head Games" turns Carl's head into a Connect Four grid. Carl also recounts having once "copped a feel off a passed-out broad" at a Foreigner concert in 1983 while they were playing "Urgent".
- The Foreigner song "Double Vision" was used in 2003–04 in a Coors Light commercial where a white male who is on the beach sees the Coors Light Twins and twin Coors Light beer cases. "Double Vision" was also used in Burger King commercials circa 1997.
- In the episode Bringing Up Buster of the television series Arrested Development, Will Arnett's character, GOB, plays the song "Cold As Ice" when trying to ask his mother if he can move into her penthouse.
- The Foreigner song "Urgent" was used in early 2006 in a Verizon Wireless commercial in the United States promoting its V-Cast service. It was also used in a 1996 Burger King commercial.
- Lead guitarist Mick Jones is stepfather to New York DJ Mark Ronson, who is the real son of Mick Ronson.
- Latin superstar Julio Iglesias has recorded 2 of Foreigner's hits for his "Romantic Classics" album, released on September 19, 2006, in which he sings the hits, "I Want To Know What Love Is" and "Waiting For A Girl Like You"
- Junior Walker plays sax on "Urgent".
- Memphis Bleek sampled the lines "In my life, there's been heartache and pain" from Foreigner's biggest hit "I Want To Know What Love Is" for his single, titled "In My Life" (Also the final track of his sophomore album, The Understanding)
- Duane Eddy performs the guitar solo on "Until The End Of Time".
- M.O.P. sampled "Cold as Ice" from Foreigner's first album for a song of the same title.
- Tone Loc sampled the guitar riff rom "Hot Blooded" for his rap hit "Funky Cold Medina."
- The song "Hot Blooded" was featured in episode 15, "Two Bodies in the Lab," on Fox's Bones (TV series)
- The song "Hot Blooded" was also featured on one of a series of Pepsi commercials advertising Diet Pepsi. In the commercial, a man is remembering his old jeans as the song plays.
- The song Waiting For A Girl Like You was featured on the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City soundtrack
- I Want to Know What Love Is was featured on the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories soundtrack
[edit] See also
- Best selling music artists
- List of number-one hits (United States)
- List of number-one albums (United States)
- List of best-selling albums in the United States
- List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
- List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart
[edit] External links
- Foreigner's Official Website
- Lou Gramm's Official Website
- Foreigner Fan Website
- Inside Information: The Foreigner Files Website
- Myspace Fan Page
Categories: Articles lacking sources from March 2007 | All articles lacking sources | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Musical groups established in 1976 | British rock music groups | American rock music groups | Bands with American and British members | Foreigner | Bands with only one constant member
