FOREIGNER (band) - WikiVidi Documentary

brought to you by wiki VD com foreigner band foreigner is a British American rock band originally formed in New York City in 1976 by veteran English musician Mick Jones and fellow Britain an ex-king crimson member Ian McDonald along with American vocalist Lou Gramm Jones came up with the band's name as he MacDonald and Dennis Elliott were a British while Graham al Greenwood and agalya Dee were American their biggest hit single I want to know what love is top the United Kingdom and United States

charts among others they are one of the world's best-selling bands of all time with worldwide sales of more than 80 million records including 37 point five million records in the u.s. beginnings and peak since its inception foreigner has been led by English musician Mick Jones after the collapse of the Leslie West band in 1976 Jones found himself stranded in New York City where West's manager Bud Prager took him under his wing and encouraged Jones to continue his songwriting and rehearse a band

of his own in some space Prager had near his New York office Jones got together with New York keyboardist Al Greenwood drummer Stan Williams and Louisiana bassist J Davison began jamming another friend story singer Ian Lloyd was brought in to sing but Jones decided the chemistry was not quite right and retained only Green word as he renewed his search for players during a session for Ian Lloyd's album Jones met up with transplanted Englishman an ex-king crimson member Ian McDonald in another ses

sion for Ian hunter on earth to another fellow Briton drama Dennis Elliott but after auditioning about 40 or 50 singers the right vocalist was becoming harder to come bye until Jones drag out an old black sheep album given to him backstage at a spooky tooth concert a few years prior by the group's lead singer Lou Gramm Jones put in a call to Graham who was back in his hometown of Rochester New York after black sheeps breakup and sent him a plane ticket to New York City Graham proved to be the mi

ssing piece of the puzzle in Brooklyn New York bassist ed Gagliardi completed the new sextet a name trigger was tentatively agreed to and was the name that appeared on their demo tape but it was passed on by all the record companies it was delivered to John Kalodner a former journalist and radio programmer who was working in a two spot a tape on Atlantic President Jerry L Greenberg's desk with a trigger identification on it Khalid nur had just been to hear an outfit called trigger and realized t

hat this was not the same band he convinced greenberg that at least one of the songs on the tape could be a big hit and to look into signing this group immediately because the trigger name was already taken Jones came up with a foreigner moniker from the fact that no matter what country they were in three would be foreigners because he MacDonald and Elliott were English while Graham Greenwood and Gally Rd were American in November 1976 after six months of rehearsals the newly named foreigner sta

rted recording their debut album with produces John Sinclair and Gary Lyons at the hit factory but switched to Atlantic recording studios where they finished recording the basic tracks and completed the overdubs the first attempt at mixing the album was done at SARM studios London but due to the band's dissatisfaction with the results the album was remixed back at Atlantic by Mick Jones I am MacDonald and Jimmie Douglas bird Prager signed on as the group's manager a role he would continue in for

the next 17 years the band's debut foreigner was released in March 1977 and sold more than four million copies in the United States staying in the top 20 for a year with such hits as feels like the first time cold as ice and long long way from home by May 1977 foreigner was already headlining theaters and had already scored a gold record for the first album not long afterwards they were selling out US basketball arenas and hockey rinks but after a show at Memorial Hall in Kansas City Kansas on

May 6 1977 drummer Elliot injured his hand prompting the band to call any and Wallace to play alongside Elliot on some of the dates until were hand was healed after almost a year on the road the band played before over 200,000 people at California Jam too on March 18 1978 and during the following month the band toured Europe Japan and Australia for the first time their second album double vision co-produced by Keith Olsen taught their previous selling 5 million records and spawned hits in hot bl

ooded the title track double vision and blue morning blue day album number three head games co-produced by Roy Thomas Baker which was referred to by Graham as their grania stal b'm was also successful because of the thunderous dirty white boy in another title track hit head games for head games bassist ed Gagliardi was replaced by Englishman Rick Wales in his autobiography jukebox hero Graham explains why the band parted ways with Galliard II 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 Jones often had to stop sessions to get Ted back on track after a while it became tiresome and slowed down the recording process Brown went on to say that he was disappointed overall with head games and thought it sounded unfinished it ended up selling about two million fewer than its predecessor in a 2015 interview with cla

ssic rock revisited Graham explains his thoughts about why head games sold less than the first two the big change in the band happened after head games and before foreigner fall we were really aware that head games didn't sell nearly as much as the first album all double-vision part of that was because of the cover the song head games was banned by a lot of radio stations after the cover of the album came out today that would not have even been a problem but in the Bible Belt the cover of the cu

te little girl in the boys bathroom are raising her number of the wall they didn't see the humor in that it wasn't supposed to even be sexy she was sexy dot she was cute it was just the time and the place of what she was doing that was supposed to leave the impression she was erasing her phone number off the wall of the boys bathroom and that's all it was a big deal was made out of that and it really hurt our sales in September 1980 co-founders Al Green wooden Ian McDonald were sacked as Joan's

wish to have more control over the band and write most of the music in his book Graham goes on to talk about this difficult time the chemistry that made the band right in the beginning didn't necessarily mean it would always be right I think a pretty major communication lapse appeared and I don't think anybody really knew what anybody was feeling a deep you know belief about the direction of the band and how we were progressing we had reached a point where there was a lot of dissatisfaction in t

he liner notes for the 2000 release jukebox heroes the foreigner and ecology Jones went on to elaborate further Ian McDonald who I consider a great musician and multi-instrumentalist began to focus more and more on guitar playing while I believed his true talent lay more in the dimensional and creative imagery he gave the first two albums al Greenwood our keyboard Wiz and a very important part of the foreigner sound at the beginning had also started to focus more on songwriting although both the

ir contributions to the band had been vital a conflict was developing about the musical direction of the band I just felt we needed to clarify it so lyric Dennis and I made the decision and that's when we went down to four according to McDonald in a 1999 interview Mick and Lou decided they wanted to be the focus of the band Mick wanted to make it more apparent that it was his group so he decided to make a smaller group that was his decision I wouldn't have left I loved the group it was not my de

cision MacDonald noted that there was much creative compromise working in the band and that he did more then he received credit for much as he did in King Crimson MacDonald stated that he had a lot to do with a making of those records and the arrangements and the creating of those songs more than is probably apparent I did a lot that went uncredited which I was happy to do though when you're in a group you must contribute as much as you can I was happy to do that but as I said it maybe didn't ap

pear that I was doing as much as I in fact was I had a lot to do with that group as well as Mick Jones obviously and everyone else I'm not trying to take all the credit but I'm just saying that I was there I was involved and I loved it the band was now stripped down to a quartet with session players brought in as needed to record at all Greenwood soon joined Galliard Lee to form the AOR band spies with John bland Co Billy Milne and John dig audio the band released two albums a self-titled debut

and the follow-up behind enemy lines in the meantime foreigner began work on the next album at Electric Lady studios in New York City with producer Robert John Mutt Lange engineered by Dave Whitman for contained the hit surgeon waiting for a girl like you do pox hero and break it up before releasing albums of his own Thomas Dolby played synthesizers on fall for their 1981-82 tour in support of for the group added PETA real itch former Peter Frampton band member Bob Mayo and Mark Rivera Mayo and

Rivera had also appeared on the sessions for for real it was dropped in May 1982 but Mayo and Rivera continued with a band through 1988 the next album Agent Provocateur co-produced by Alex sad can was released successfully in December 1984 and gave them their first and only number-one hit in 1 985 I want to know what love is a ballad backed by Jennifer Holliday and the New Jersey Mass Choir the song was their biggest US hit that was yesterday was the next single from the album in early 1985 and

proved to be another sizable hit during the 1985 summer fall tour foreigner appeared at the very first Farm Aid on September 22nd in Champaign Illinois in between his foreign and commitments Jones also started a side career as a producer for such albums as Van Halen's 5150 bad companies fame and fortune and Billy Joel's storm front in December 1987 foreigner released inside information spawning hits such as say ëwell and I don't want to live without you on May 14 1988 the band headlined antic Re

cords 40th anniversary concert at Madison Square Garden culminating with I want to know what love is in which the likes of Phil Collins crosby Stills and Nash Roberta Flack another Atlantic artists joined in singing in the choir later during the summer the band went back on the road but the touring for inside information was limited to Europe Japan and Australia for this tour Rivera and Mayo were not available so larry oaks and luke or tell at sea augmented the quartet of graham jones Elliott an

d Will's Leah Graham's departure in the late 1980s Jones and Graham each put out solo efforts on Atlantic Graham release ready or not in January 1987 and shortly after its release rehearsals for foreigners next album had started but ground to a halt as lose status with the group was uncertain but after the promotion in concert dates for Liu's album were finished cooler heads prevailed and Liu rejoined foreigner in the studio for inside information which was out at the end of 1987 Jones had Mick

Jones in August 1989 then Graham followed with his second solo release long hard look and decided to leave the group in May 1990 while preparing to tour behind long hard look as the opener for Steve Miller Band after finishing this tour Graham went on to form the short-lived band Shadow King which put out one self-titled album on Atlantic in October 1991 meanwhile Jones brought in a new lead singer Johnny Edwards Edwards made his first live appearance with foreigner at the Long Island Club Steve

n took house on August 15 1990 where he Jones Denis aliasing Rick wills appear joined by special guest Terry Thomas an early Mack on harmonica the new edition of foreigner release the album unusual heat in June 1991 this was at the time their worst selling album and only climbed as high as number 117 on the Billboard 200 although lowdown and dirty was a minor mainstream rock hit reaching number four on that chart in July 1991 the new lineup of foreigner played some European dates then made its o

fficial US debut on August 9th performing on the second night of a Billy Joel benefit concert at deep hollow ranch in Montek New York to raise funds for the preservation of Montek point lighthouse for their 1991 tour Jeff Jacobs who had played in Joel's band was brought in as the new keyboardist and Mark Rivera returned but during the full leg of this tour Elliott decided to leave the group after a concert at the Ritz in NYC on November 14 1991 in embarked on a career as a wood sculptor Larry a

Burman was then recruited as a temporary replacement until Mark Schulman arrived in 1992 to hold down the drum throne for the next three years Scott Gilman joined the touring band in 1992 and Tom gamble took over from Gilman and Rivera in late 1992 after they departed when Gimbel went to Aerosmith in 1993 Gillman returned to handle the guitar sax flute duties until Gimbel came back permanently in the spring of 1995 Gramm returns during the Los Angeles Riots inside the confines of the Sunset mark

was hotel in West Hollywood where Mick Jones had gone to meet with Lou Gramm they both ended up sequestered due to our city curfew they decided to use their time together resurrecting their partnership I flew to Los Angeles during the riots says Gramm we got flown to John Wayne Airport instead of LA because they were shooting at the planes mick and i were holed up in the sunset mark was in LA with armed security guards walking around on the roof it was a little weird to say the least Graham end

ed up for a joining foreigner and co-produced the band's second greatest hits album the very best and Beyond which included three new songs in October 1994 foreigner released what was supposed to be a comeback album mr. moonlight in Japan featuring new drummer mark Shulman and augmented by a fifth member keyboardist Jeff Jacobs this album was not released in the US until February 1995 and fared even worse than unusual heat although the Ballad until the end of time was a minor hit reaching number

42 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1995 Ron wick so took over percussion duties from Shulman and Bryan TG succeeded wick so in 1998 before Shulman would return in 2000 in 1997 Graham underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor the medications he was prescribed to cause considerable weight gain and weakened his singing voice by 1998 the band was back on the road but Graham was visibly struggling and it would take him a decade to get back to the point where he felt comfortable on stage in the s

ummer of 1999 foreigner went on tour as the opening act for journey and the following summer Jeff Jacobs had to leave the road for a short time during the band's 2000 summer tour while his wife was giving birth to their child keyboardist John Pirtle stepped into sub for Jacobs until he was able to return in 2001 the Warner Music Group selected foreigner and for to be among the first group of albums from catalog to be remastered enhanced and released in the new DVD audio format in 2002 the 25th a

nniversary year brought affirmation of the enduring respect for foreign air recordings with Rhino entertainment reissuing the 1977 to 1981 multi-platinum albums in special enhanced formats foreigner double vision head games and for received the attention of rhinos staff with new photos liner notes and bonus tracks of previously unreleased material new greatest hits albums were also produced in the US and in Europe the US version reached number 80 on the Billboard 200 album chart for the group's

25th anniversary tour in 2002 they were joined by former heart and mantras beekeeper Denny commerce' in late October early November then December of 2002 foreigner played in Belgium and Germany at the annual night of the Proms festival it was the last time that the Lou Gramm and Mick Jones would play together until June 2013 Graham would leave the group in early 2003 Jones stated that he and Graham split because they weren't communicating I think we really tried hard to save it but it got to the

point when we both realized that to go on would be detrimental for both of us new frontman Jones the founder and only remaining original member of foreigner decided to take some time off before looking to form a new lineup in 2004 on July 25th 2004 in Santa Barbara California at Fest Parker's Doubletree Resort Jones appeared at a benefit show for muscular dystrophy with a brand new version of foreigner that included Jeff Jacobs Thom Gimbel for Maddock and bass player Jeff Pilson future Black Co

untry Communion drummer Jason Bonham and Bonham singer Chaz West West Was frontman for the show only and was eventually replaced by former hurricane singer Kelly Hansen who had sent the band an audition tape and was invited aboard in March 2005 making his debut with a group on March 11th at Boulder station near Las Vegas during their 2005 spring tour Chas West briefly continued with the band as a special guest playing rhythm guitar they 2005 BMG album extended versions featured the new lineup pl

aying all their classic hits live in concert in one of the most studio like clean sounding live album recordings produced foreigner joined Def Leppard along with Styx on tour in 2007 they also toured extensively in their own right in 2007 the 30th anniversary of the release of their debut in late 2007 keyboardist Jeff Jacobs left foreigner after 16 years and was replaced first by Paul Mia kovitch then by Michael blue Stein and in 2008 Bonham also parted ways with foreigner Brian Head was then br

ought in to fill the drum chair but his tenure was short and he also departed to be replaced by the returning tici the band released a greatest hits anthology on July 15 2008 titled no end in sight the very best of foreigner the anthology included all of their greatest hits plus some new live recordings and a new studio track too late which was their first new song release since the 1994 album mr. moonlight and the first recorded output of the new lineup too late was released as a single on June

the 17th 2008 recent events foreigner released a new album on September 29th 2009 titled can't slow down it was one of several recent classic rock releases to be released exclusively through the Walmart stores chain in the US while in Europe the album was released by ear music charting top 20 in Germany and top 30 in Switzerland in early 2010 foreigner teamed up with Styx and Kansas for the United in rock tour on May 4th 2010 it was announced that Bryan teach his replacement as drummer would be

Jason Sutter on May 22nd 2010 foreigner played a show at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas Whitesnake guitar player doug aldrich subbed for jones for this show leaving the band with no original members for this date Jason Sutter's time with a band was short as he left by 2011 mark Schulman then returned to foreigner for his third go round as drummer On February the 20th 2011 the band played for the first time in Bangalore city in India along with sitar player Maillard Riku Maher in Ju

ne 2011 foreigner supported journey on the UK tour after this they joined up with Journey a night Ranger on a triple bill summer full tour of the US for some dates of this tall journey drummer Deen Castronovo filled in for foreigners drummer mark Schulman when he was not available from August 19th September 10th 2011 night ranger guitarist Joel Hoekstra did double duty playing Fournier as well as subbing for Jones who had taken ill right after this guitarist Bruce Watson was brought in as Jones

stand-in for the tour's remaining dates and continued to tour with a group when they hit the road again in February 2012 after Jones underwent a Otto iliac bypass surgery in Miami on October 4 2011 foreigner release acoustic which presented their best and most famous songs along with some newer tracks recorded in stripped-down acoustic mode in May 2012 after being diagnosed with colorectal cancer Bluestein was forced to take a leave of absence from the band his standing on keyboards was Ollie Ma

rland blue Stein was able to return to the group in August 2012 and teach he once again rejoined in the interim until his schedule with Whitesnake hauled him away in September 2012 the man teach he replaced in Whitesnake Chris Fraser became foreigners new percussionist on August 31st 2012 after over a year away Jones returned to the concert stage at Atlanta's Chastain Park guitarists Watson in the meantime stayed on until Jones was able to return to full health at this very same show keyboardist

Eric Hiland came on board to sub for blue Stein for the group's late summer fall tour dates and again during the winter spring of 2013 until blue Stein was able to return On January 9th 2013 the band's original drummer Dennis Elliott joined foreigner on stage at the Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood Florida to play on hot blooded in addition to touring small clubs and venues the band frequently is engaged for private parties and conventions including playing at SeaWorld in Orlando for an IBM rational

conference at the Gaylord Convention Center in Washington DC for the Tara day two partners 2012 conference and yet saps field kickoff meeting in Las Vegas On June 13 2013 at the 44th annual Songwriters Hall of Fame awards ceremony Jones and Graham were officially inducted to the Songwriters Hall of Fame Billy Joel was on hand to induct Jones and I'm singing snippets of foreigners hits in his introduction speech Jones said he was proud as the owner makes his work legit the duo then took stage on

e more time and along with Thom Gimbel and the house band performed jukebox hero and I want to know what love is with Antony Morgan's inspirational choir of Harlem a performance that brought the entire audience to its feet in 2014 foreigner teamed up with Styx and former Eagles guitarist Don Felder for the soundtrack of summit all original bassist ed Gagliardi died on May 11th 2014 age of 62 after an eight-year battle with cancer although discussions if an original member reunion had been propos

ed the original band had not performed together since 1979 On June 18 2014 foreigner teamed up with the Brockton High School Concert Choir at the Blue Hills Bank Pavillion in Boston Massachusetts they performed one of their greatest hits I want to know what love is On January 12th 2015 in Sarasota Florida foreigner were joined on stage by original drummer Dennis Elliott and former bassist Rick wills to play hot blooded in Hartford Connecticut On June 24 2015 foreigner began a summer tour as the

opening act for Kid Rock foreigner appeared on The Today Show on February 11th 2016 along with a choir from Our Lady of Mercy Academy to promote their acoustic tour and the release of their new album in concert unplugged on Saturday September 24 2016 foreigner performed before an estimated 20,000 people at the 100th anniversary of the Durham fair in Durham Connecticut the Encore song I want to know what love is utilised the local cogent shock High School Concert Choir for backup their performanc

e having been rehearsed with a band via during the previous months in a 2016 interview Jones talked about a possible 40th anniversary reunion tour featuring the head games ear a lineup it's quite possible we've actually been talking about it I'm not at a point where I can say it's definitely gonna happen but we're all working on trying to make it happen it's kind of exciting and hopefully it'll be feasible and possible to pull it off next year Lou and I have communicated and we've kept her per s

ort of loose communication as I have actually also with Ian McDonald al Greenwood Dennis Elliott and Rick wills we're at the early stages but we're trying to put something together to commemorate 40 years on November the 25th 2016 in celebration of their 40th anniversary foreigner released a limited-edition 10 inch vinyl EP the flame still burns on Rhino Records for Record Store days Black Friday event the EPS track listing contained the title song plus live unplugged versions of feels like the

first time long long way from home and jukebox hero on July the 20th 2017 at Jones Beach theater in New York the current foreigner lineup were joined for their encore by Lou Gramm Ian McDonald and Al Green wood to help celebrate the band's 40th anniversary Denis earlier at likewise joined his old mates for two songs at foreigners show on august 2nd 2017 at Mudd Florida Credit Union amphitheater in Tampa Florida another reunion was announced for a pair of shows to take place on October the 6 7 20

1 seven at the Soaring Eagle Casino to be joined again by Lou Gramm Dennis Elliott al Greenwood Ian McDonald and Rick wills the concerts were slated to be filmed for a TV special DVD and live album all expected to be released during 2018 brought to you by wiki VD com would you like to