Foreigner: Here’s What Was Supposed To Happen At Rock Hall
In late September, just a few weeks before Foreigner were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, singer Lou Gramm laid out for our friends at Premiere Radio Networks one of the scenarios for their performance that night.
Foreigner – What Was Supposed To Happen
“Since Mick [Jones] hasn’t played guitar in over two years now — can’t play guitar anymore — and he really can’t play keyboard anymore either, but they’re gonna have a grand piano facing the audience, but he won’t be playing anything. It’ll be somebody off-stage playing a grand piano and he’ll be mimicking playing. And he’ll have a microphone so it he wants to sing ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’, whatever he wants to do — as long as he’s comfortable on stage, that’s the most important thing.”
So what happened and how’s Lou feeling about it?
Unfortunately, Mick was unable to attend due to the advanced stages of Parkinson’s disease. So, instead of Gramm and two of the six original members — drummer Dennis Elliott and guitarist Al Greenwood — along with bassist Rick Wills who joined for their third album, 1979’s Head Games, doing two songs, which was also one of the plans, producers of the show had Sammy Hagar and current Foreigner singer Kelly Hansen do “Hot Blooded”; and Demi Lovato did “Feels Like the First Time” with Slash on guitar, Chad Smith on drums and members of the current incarnation of Foreigner backing on both. They were then followed by Kelly Clarskon, who, with the help of a choir, did “I Want to Know What Love Is” with Gramm joining halfway through while Wills and Greenwood sang backing vocals with Hansen. And none of this sat well with Gramm.
“The thing that bothered me was that we’re being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and we’re not playing any rock songs.”
As it turned out, Elliott did not attend after being told they wouldn’t perform, but there’s no reason why Gramm, Greenwood and Wills couldn’t perform with support from the current lineup.
But Foreigner’s management felt differently, telling Premiere Radio, “We tried to be kind, courteous, and respectful to Lou. It is an unfortunate reality that with some older singers, their voices are not what they used to be. We believe that we owed it to the audience to have the fine songs that Lou helped create be presented in the best possible light.”
Ironically, Greenwood and Wills will join Foreigner on select dates of their ongoing farewell tour, and management is also in discussion with Lou Gramm to join them as they head toward their 50th anniversary in 2026.
