Foreigner - Double Vision (Live in Dortmund, Germany 1981) FM Broadcast

Foreigner - Double Vision (Live in Dortmund, Germany 1981) FM Broadcast

Foreigner is a British-American rock band, originally formed in New York City in 1976 by veteran British guitarist and songwriter Mick Jones and fellow Briton and ex-King Crimson member Ian McDonald, along with American vocalist Lou Gramm. Jones came up with the band's name as he, McDonald and Dennis Elliott were British, whereas Gramm, Al Greenwood and Ed Gagliardi were American.
In 1977 Foreigner released its self-titled debut album, the first of four straight albums to be certified at least 5× platinum in the US. Foreigner peaked at No. 4 on the US album chart and in the Top 10 in Canada and Australia, while yielding two Top 10 hits in North America, Feels Like the First Time and Cold as Ice. Their 1978 follow-up, Double Vision, was even more successful peaking at No. 3 in North America with two hit singles, Hot Blooded a No. 3 hit in both countries, and the title track, a US No. 2 and a Canadian No. 7. Foreigner's third album, Head Games (1979), went to No. 5 in North America producing two Top 20 singles, including its title track.
Reduced to a quartet, their album 4 (1981) hit No. 1 for 10 weeks in the US and No. 2 in Canada, while becoming Foreigner's break-through album outside of North America, going Top 5 in the UK, Germany and Australia. Three of 4's singles were hits: Urgent reached No. 1 in Canada and on the new US Rock Tracks chart, rose to No. 4 on the US Hot 100 and became their first Top 15 hit in Germany; the ballad Waiting for a Girl Like You peaked at No. 2 in both the US for a record 10 weeks, and Canada, topped the US Rock Tracks chart and became their first Top 10 hit in the UK and Australia; and Juke Box Hero reached No. 3 on the Rock Tracks chart and the Top 30 on the Hot 100. In 1982, Foreigner released its first greatest hits album, Records, which has gone on to sell 7 million copies in the US. In 1984, Foreigner had its biggest hit single, the anthemic ballad I Want to Know What Love Is, which topped the US, UK, Canadian and Australian charts, while hitting No. 3 in Germany and the Top 10 in numerous other countries. Its source album, Agent Provocateur, was the band's most successful in the UK, Germany and some other countries in Europe, where it peaked at No. 1, and in Australia where it peaked at No. 3, while making the Top 5 in the US and Canada.
After a break, Foreigner released Inside Information (1987), which despite the No. 6 US and Australian hit, Say You Will (which also rose to No. 1 on the US Rock Tracks chart) and the No. 5 US hit, I Don't Want to Live Without You (which also reached No. 1 on the US Adult Contemporary chart), had a large sales drop-off, only hitting the Top 10 in a few European countries with a No. 15 peak in the US. The band's most recent albums, Unusual Heat (1991), with the great Johnny Edwards on vocals! Mr. Moonlight (1994), with Gramm back on vocals, and Can't Slow Down (2009), once again without Gramm, were not major sellers because the entire album sounded like elevator music.
Lou Gramm, born 0n 2 May 1950, is a Living Legend American singer-songwriter, best known for being the lead singer of the rock band Foreigner from 1977 to 1990 and again from 1992 to 2003, during which time the band had numerous successful albums and singles.
Louis Andrew Grammatico was born on 2 May 1950, in Rochester, New York. He attended Gates-Chili High School in Rochester, graduating with the class of 1968, and majored in education and art at Monroe Community College.
Gramm became front man for the band Black Sheep. Black Sheep was the first American band signed to the Chrysalis label, which released their first single, Stick Around (1974). Soon after this initial bit of success, Black Sheep signed with Capitol Records, releasing two albums in succession: Black Sheep (1975) and Encouraging Words (late 1975). They were the opening act for Kiss when an accident with their equipment truck on the ice-covered New York State Thruway suddenly ended the band's tour on Christmas Eve, 1975. Unable to support its albums with live performances, Black Sheep disbanded.
A year earlier, Gramm met his future bandmate Mick Jones. Jones was in Rochester performing with the band Spooky Tooth, and Gramm had given Jones a copy of Black Sheep's first album. It was early in 1976, not long after Black Sheep's truck accident, when Jones, in search of a lead singer for a new band he was assembling, expressed his interest in Gramm and invited him to audition.
Gramm traveled to New York to audition and got the job. Lou Grammatico then became Lou Gramm. The band, which was initially known as "Trigger," was later renamed Foreigner. With Foreigner, Gramm became one of the most successful rock vocalists of the late 1970s and 1980s.
Foreigner's first eight singles cracked the Billboard Top 20, making them the first band since The Beatles to achieve this milestone. Gramm performed vocals on all of Foreigner's hits including Urgent, Juke Box Hero, Break It Up, Say You Will, and I Don't Want to Live Without You. He co-wrote most of the band's songs, including the hit ballads Waiting for a Girl Like You, which spent ten weeks at #2 on the 1981/82 American Hot 100, and I Want to Know What Love Is, which was a number one hit in eight countries.
Gramm and Jones had a volatile chemistry. Gramm wanted the band to remain true to its purer rock origins, favoring music with a solid drum and guitar structure, whereas Jones embraced the 1980s style of synthesizer ballads. Gramm has called the 4 album (1981) the high point of his work with Foreigner. Foreigner's next album, Agent Provocateur (1984), took three years to release due to the ongoing creative differences between Jones and Gramm. The band released Inside Information in 1987.
Gramm released his first solo album, Ready or Not, in January 1987 to critical acclaim. The single Midnight Blue reached the top five.
Also in 1987, Gramm contributed the song Lost in the Shadows to the soundtrack for the comedy horror film The Lost Boys.
A second solo effort, Long Hard Look (October 1989), that included the top ten hit Just Between You and Me as well as True Blue Love, reached the Top 40. The album also included Hangin' on My Hip, which was featured in the 1990 film Navy SEALs.