Including commentary from Mick Jones. To paraphrase a lyric from Foreigner’s song “Urgent”, Lou Gramm has “fire in his veins”. The timbre of Lou’s voice is unmistakable. That beautiful flowing tenor with a perfect measure of gravel that when he was with Foreigner in the 70s, 80s and 90s set the band apart from every other. When Lou wailed it was like the roar of a lion. With songs like “Jukebox Hero”, “Feels Like the First Time” “Cold as Ice”, “I Want to Know What Love Is” “Waiting For a Girl Like You”, “Hot Blooded” and so many more, Mick Jones, Lou Gramm, and Foreigner were the top of the heap. Here we celebrate the genius of Lou’s instrument, his voice.
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Hey music junkies Professor of Rock here to celebrate the greatest artists and songs of all time.
Today we have another episode of our show: VOX.
Where we celebrate a great vocalist from the rock era. Someone who has ignited our hearts, enlightened our souls and blown our minds with their incredible instrument. it’s about how they gave life to the song through the power and passion of their interpretation. In this edition of VOX, we celebrate the indomitable Lou Gramm.
The explosive original lead singer & co-lyricist for the legendary classic rock band Foreigner. To paraphrase a lyric from Foreigner’s song “Urgent”, Lou Gramm has “fire in his veins”. In the late 90s, Lou battled a life-threatening brain tumor, that would have killed most people, but Lou fought through it like the rock warrior he is to continue performing on- stage, making music, and building his family.
Before the world discovered Lou Gramm for the incredible vocalist that he is, he was actually not a singer, but a drummer- beating the drums for his grade school marching band in Rochester, New York. He began singing in the choir in that same elementary school, but he was primarily a drummer, even when he formed the band Black Sheep when he was 19 years old. His gift began to surface when he segued into becoming the lead vocalist for Black Sheep, and it wasn’t long before his peers began to notice his remarkable talent.
Lou Gramm is also an exceptional lyricist. He was inducted to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2013
Here’s my Lou Gramm FIVER: My top 5 Lou Gramm recorded performances
#5) “Hot Blooded”- Check it and see, baby. The scorching rock staple authored by Lou and Mick Jones from Foreigner’s second album Double Vision. Lou’s vocal on Hot Blooded exudes the carnally charged lyrics with needle bending testosterone.
#4) “Waiting for a Girl Like You”- Lou’s supreme bravura (bruh ver uh) made this one of the best power ballads of the Rock Era. “Waiting for a Girl Like You” was the 2nd single from the album Foreigner 4, which was the band’s opus and In my opinion one of the greatest records of the 80s/ It was co-written by Lou with Mick.
#3) “Feels Like the First Time”- The first single from Foreigner’s self-titled debut album, which climbed to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1977. It was the beginning of a string of hits that made Foreigner one of the biggest bands in the world in the late 70s and 80s.
#2) “Jukebox Hero”- My favorite anthemic rocker from Foreigner.. You can really feel the conviction in Lou’s vocal on "Jukebox Hero". He’s not just singing the lyrics, he is living the song. When you listen to ‘Jukebox Hero” you are so spellbound by the driving melody of Mick’s guitar riffs, and the punctuation of Lou’s passionate vocal, that you become the protagonist in a 4:19 rock drama.
#1) From 1984 album Agent Provocateur, “I Want to Know What Love Is”- Lou Gramm's finest hour. In Lou’s performance of “I Want to Know What Love Is” he shows why he is in an elite league of vocalists. Lou delivers a brilliant use of Legato phrasing to tell a musical story of a man craving to experience true love.
The everlasting spirituality of “I Want to Know What Love Is" influenced two of music’s biggest superstars. Michael Jackson’s incorporation of a gospel choir in 1988 for “Man in the Mirror," MJ’s 10th #1 single, and Madonna enlisted a gospel choir the following year in ’89 for her number one song “Like a Prayer”. The Rock hall should be ashamed that they haven’t inducted this overqualified band. But Foreigner is definitely in the people’s hall of fame.
