The British-American band Foreigner was formed in 1976 and first achieved fame with the original singer Lou Gramm that was part of the group until 1990, returning from 1992 to 2003 and performing a few concerts as a guest in 2017 and 2018. Since 2005, the band’s vocals are led by Kelly Hansen that recorded only one studio album with the group: “Can’t Slow Down” (2009).
In an interview with The SDR Show (Transcribed by Blabbermouth), Hansen talked about Gramm and said that he respects him a lot and that the door is always open for ex-Foreigner members. But he also said that he understand that those feelings might no be reciprocal.
Foreigner’s Kelly Hansen talks about Lou Gramm
“The door is always open to all the original members, all the surviving members of the band to come and play with us. I encourage that and I really enjoy doing it. I’ve always loved having those guys and respected everything that they’ve accomplished, even though sometimes it’s not always reciprocal, and I understand why.”
“Because if you’re the guy who did the stuff originally and someone’s out there doing it now and you’re not, I understand. But I’m only trying to extend the legacy and present these songs as faithfully as I can, and I’m not trying to hurt anybody. I’m just trying to do my thing,” Kelly Hansen said.
Foreigner is currently on their farewell tour across the United States and the guitarist and keyboardist Mick Jones is the only original member that is still one the group.
Lou Gramm recorded 9 studio albums, eight of them with Lou Gramm on vocals. They are one of the best-selling bands of all time with an estimated amount of more than 80 million records sold worldwide.
Some of their most famous songs are “I Wanna Know What Love Is”, “Feels Like The First Time”, “Cold As Ice”, “Jukebox Hero”, “Urgent” and “Hot Blooded”.