I had a feeling something was up with all the shows he missed. I wish him well in his recovery.
P.S.
Did they really say his heart surgery was "urgent"?

I think in this case there was no pun intended.

Foreigner keyboardist Michael Bluestein, who has also performed with Stevie Nicks and Boz Scaggs, has been diagnosed with cancer, and will take an indefinite leave of absence from the band as he undergoes treatment.

As Bluestein explains in a statement released to the forum section of Foreigner’s official website, “I recently went to the hospital following some symptoms, and it was discovered that I have colorectal cancer. This has required me to take a leave of absence from the band for a significant period.”

The Berklee College of Music graduate is thankfully keeping his spirits up, and already looking forward to performing for fans again as soon as possible. “The good news is that I caught this early enough so that through chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, I will be able to treat this and return to normal life after it’s over. And of course normal life for me includes rocking with Foreigner!!”

Bluestein has started a blog to document his journey, and from the sounds of it he’s doing all the right things already: “I’m doing a lot of reading and research about nutrition now, and I bought a heavy duty blender and lots of veggies and fruit to begin some serious juicing this week.”

Foreigner and Bluestein thoroughly rocked our socks off in concert last summer, and we can’t wait for him to get better and return to our hometown. You can send your best wishes to him at Rectifyin.tumblr.com.

Between Lou Gramm's brain cancer from a while back, Mick Jones' recent problems and now this, Foreigner is not having an easy time of it.

Best wishes to Bluestein for a full and speedy recovery.

From classicrockrevisited.com:

Lou Gramm and Foreigner took the world of music by storm when they released their 1977 self-titled album. The band consisted of members from different countries, so that no matter where the next gig was held, there would always be a foreigner in the group.

By the time 1978’s Double Vision was released it became clear that the band were really the creative juggernaut of two individuals, guitarist Mick Jones, and vocalist Lou Gramm. The two men possessed a certain musical synchronicity. The band was able to blend hard rock with pop sensibilities, mixing raw rock and roll energy with well written songs. The band’s first four albums have, cumulatively, eclipsed the twenty million sales mark in the USA alone.

With success came strife. Jones wanted the band to continue in a more pop direction, while Gramm wanted the band to keep to their hard rocking roots. When the song “I Want to Know What Love Is” became a huge hit, it was clear that Jones was pushing for more ballads and the big money and fame that came from their success. The musical differences led to Lou finally quitting Foreigner. He was poised to be a solo artist, and had success with his 1987 solo album Ready or Not, which featured the hit song “Midnight Blue.” Lou could never match the success of that album, as the trappings of fame, as well as his growing drug addiction, and an ever changing musical landscape kept him from duplicating the success he had with Foreigner. To make matters worse, in 1997, Gramm was diagnosed with a brain tumor, the treatment of which had significant effects on his voice, his weight and his self-esteem.

Over 35 years have passed since Lou first appeared on a Foreigner album and now Gramm has released his official biography titled Juke Box Hero. Lou opens up in the book and discusses his early days growing up in Rochester, New York and how his band, Black Sheep, nearly made the big time before an icy highway put their dreams at bay. He speaks in-depth on his success in Foreigner and the trials and tribulations he has had overcoming the treatment for his brain tumor.

In Juke Box Hero Lou tells a tale of dreams coming true, nightmares coming to life and, most of all, of hope, perseverance and a true love of rock and roll.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jeb: Your health is better, the weight is better and the voice is better. It’s got to be a great feeling after such a hard fight to start seeing positive results.

Lou: It really is. I was wondering if I ever was going to see them. I learned I needed to be a little more patient; good things come.

Jeb: Tell me why you decided to write the book, Juke Box Hero, at this time in your life.

Lou: Plenty of time had gone by and I’ve had a full career. I still want to stay active in a number of ways, but in-between all of the history of the band, my solo albums and all of the exciting truck crashes and things like that; I thought I had enough material to do a book.

I contacted a fellow named Scott Pitoniak, who is also from Rochester, New York. He does sports biographies, so this is a little left of center of him. I enjoy his style of writing and I thought we could collaborate, so I contacted him and it has been nothing but good.

Jeb: Did you know him before this book?

Lou: We did not know each other. He had a daily article in our local paper. He is a big music fan. Someone put us in touch with each other and we met. We struck a common chord and we were off to the races. He is very good to work with. He didn’t just leave it to me to tell my stories. He prodded me along the way. We didn’t do it on a timeline when we talked. We would jump all around with my career with Foreigner. He, then, took all of it and put it on a timeline. When he was getting the information out of me we were going in leaps of fifteen or twenty years!

Jeb: You’re having your book release at the community college in Rochester that you actually attended. Why did you choose that location?

Lou: It is a great school and I have a lot of memories there. That was the time in my life where, although I knew I needed an education, and I got my Associates Degree, I made the decision where music was going to be my life. I knew I was going to proceed at full speed.

Jeb: That’s great for the college that you are doing such a huge event there.

Lou: It is going to be An Evening With and I am going to talk about everything there is too talk about. I am going to take questions and I am certainly going to tout the school. We are going to play some songs acoustically. You also get the book as part of the ticket price. After the show is over people can line up and I will sign the book for them.

Jeb: There are a lot of rock and roll biographies coming out at this time. Your story is unique, as you have the story of coming up and joining Foreigner, your health and drug addiction.

Lou: It was interesting when it happened. Some parts were very emotional to talk about and some were very cathartic. Some parts really pumped me up and some made me angry. It was really a cross section of emotions to talk about it all.

Jeb: Are you doing a book tour?

Lou: We are going to do a book tour. We will do some in store appearances and we are going to do more things like the community college sort of thing. If I have a show somewhere on Saturday, then I will get in town Friday afternoon and do an appearance at a book store on Friday night. You can also buy the book on line.

Jeb: Do you have to go to an appearance to get a signed copy?

Lou: We are starting to sign some books now and have them for people who order on line.

Jeb: It sounds like you’re very excited about this project.

Lou: I am, as it is so different for me. It is not something that you’re going to write a sequel too [laughter]. This is a onetime only sort of job.

Jeb: How did you balance between being honest and being too honest?

Lou: I handle things like my alcohol and drug addition by being honest, but without elaborating so much that it starts to sound like a trashy magazine. I explain how I was feeling and the guilt and the angst that went along with that. I also talk about how hopeful I was when I finally found myself to rehab.

Jeb: You don’t glorify things.

Lou: No, not at all.

Jeb: When you talk about the health issues, you can really feel the wide range of emotions that you went through. Was that difficult to go back and relive?

Lou: It was. To be honest, and Scott would tell you, I broke down a couple of times and I had to excuse myself a couple of times when talking about it.

Jeb: I bet it was fun to look back at the pre-Foreigner days?

Lou: It really was. My band Black Sheep were really struggling and we finally got our big break. We were signed to Capitol Records and did two albums for them.

Ultimately, it was not meant to be. Our truck crashed after we opened for Kiss on Christmas Eve of 1975. We were supposed to open for them for the whole tour. Our next show was supposed to be on the 27th. On the 24th, our truck crashed on the way home from Boston, where we opened the tour with them. We had two days to come up with the equipment and a way to get it to the next show. We begged Capitol Records to front us some money and we even begged our parents. There was a recession in ’75 and nobody in the band had parents with that kind of money lying around, so we had to call the manager of the band Kiss and tell them that we would not be able to continue and, because of that, Capitol Records dropped us.

We went from the highest high, when we opened for Kiss on Christmas Eve at the Boston Music Hall, where we got a standing ovation…the tour manager for Kiss usually wants to get bands off the stage as fast as possible, as Kiss is the main act, he told us to go out for an encore.

We went bonkers and were on top of the world when we drove home after the show. There were the five members of the band and our manager all in the same car. About three hours later, the crew and the equipment hit a patch of ice on the New York State freeway and they slid off the freeway and the truck tipped over. They called us at about 2:30 in the morning stranded.

I got one of the guys in the band up and we drove all the way up to Albany from Rochester to pick them up on Christmas morning. We had to cancel the tour because we had no transportation for the equipment and when we were finally able to get the sliding door up on the truck, I would say that 85% of the equipment was destroyed.

Jeb: You have a tendency to have major events like that. Did you ever think, “Why couldn’t it have been smoother?”

Lou: If it had been smoother, then this would not be a very good book (laughter).

Jeb: Talk about breaking up with Foreigner.

Lou: I left the band three times and the third time was the final time. The first two times were because I wasn’t given much artistic freedom within the band when it came to my ability to co-write. Every time I came up with an idea it had to be critiqued by Mick before he would decide whether he was going to use it or not. It was like I was raising my hand to tell the teacher something. It really did a lot of damage to my self-confidence.

When the opportunity came to do my own album, I jumped at it. I did it to show him that I was certainly capable of doing this, but mostly, I did it for myself and to show myself I had what it took.

Jeb: Because you were the singer and Mick was the guitar player, I thought, back in the day, that Mick was the rocker and you were the ballad guy. I now know that is not true.

Lou: Oh no, it was totally the opposite.

Jeb: I had bought every album until I heard “I Want to Know What Love Is.” It is a nice song, but I was like, “What happened to my band?”

Lou: Yep. Because that song crossed over to Adult Contemporary and Soft Rock, it was a huge, huge hit. Because it crossed over to those areas, it made it bigger than big and that made it very tempting to Mick to want to do that again.

“I Want to Know What Love Is” was the last single on the album. The first single on the next album was another ballad, “I Don’t Want to Live Without You.” I thought to myself, “Get me out of here…right now.”

Jeb: A lot of fame and a lot of money went with those ballads.

Lou: I co-wrote “Waiting for a Girl Like You” with him. I also co-wrote “I Want to Know What Love Is” but he jilted me out of it. We worked on that song for about ten or twelve weeks.

When we would complete a song, we would each write down on a little piece of paper what we each thought that the split should be. I wrote “Mick 65, Lou 35.” I thought that was being fair. He wrote, “Mick 95, Lou 5.” I saw that and I said, “You’ve got to be kidding me?” He said, “No, I think that is what is fair.” I said, “Well, why don’t you have all of it then because I know that is what you want.” He said, “Okay.” He, then, made zillions of dollars.

The next song, “I Don’t Want to Live Without You” he had written already when we got together before the album was written. He wanted to be sure that all of the ones that would potentially be classics were all him.

Jeb: Outside of the book, you are getting elected to a couple of Halls of Fame.

Lou: Yes, the Rochester Music Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Jeb: The Writers Hall of Fame will see Mick and you take the stage together.

Lou: We are doing a couple of songs with the house band.

Jeb: How long had it been since you had spoken to Mick?

Lou: We had not spoken in over ten years. When I found out that we were the winners, I called him and congratulated him. I think he was shocked that I called him. We had a good conversation and we knew that we were going to be asked to do a couple of songs and we said that we would talk again. We are going to meet a couple of days before the show and rehearse, and I have not spoken to him again, but it is coming right up.

Jeb: Are you wondering if you guys will still have that spark?

Lou: I don’t think it will be that difficult to do songs that we’ve done a million times.

Jeb: Do you ever see a day where you and Mick could be back in Foreigner together?

Lou: His management and my management are tossing around the idea of a farewell tour. I would really like to do that. It would be really great to do that instead of leaving it with such a bitter and unfinished ending.

Jeb: What are your plans after the book? Will there be a new album from Lou Gramm?

Lou: My band goes out and we play all of the hits from Foreigner and from my own albums. However, I don’t think there is any point in doing anything new because radio won’t play anything new from someone like me. I don’t know if it is the corporations or what. If I have something new, they will still only play the old hits. The only bands getting new songs played on the radio are the new, popular artists. Classic Rock radio won’t even play new songs from Classic Rock artists. The Eagles put out a new album a few years back and I never heard any of it on the radio. The Stones put an album out and they would not even play it.

Jeb: Does that shut down your desire to write songs?

Lou: Absolutely it does.

Jeb: That is sad.

Lou: It is sad, but that is the corporate end of this business. I really have nothing to say about it and I have no power to do anything about it.

Jeb: I saw you only a year or two after your surgery when you had to come back to Foreigner for contract obligations. There was an ambulance next to the stage and I thought, “What in the fuck is he doing out here?”

Lou: I had my operation in 1997 and because of that Foreigner had to cancel a tour of Japan and the Southeast Asian rim. My operation was in early April and in September, we were playing. I was still really sick and I was very medicated.

I was so out of it that I couldn’t remember the words to the old songs. I had all of the lyrics to the old songs taped on the floor. I had no business being on stage, but the bills had to be paid. Management and Mick were pressuring me hard.

Jeb: That was reality, but the fans didn’t know that, or understand what was going on.

Lou: Not only that, but because of all of the steroids I had to take I gained over 100 pounds and the critics were crucifying me after every show. Many of the fans were shouting very rude things to me on stage saying I was eating too much spaghetti and stuff like that. It was heartbreaking. I was not there by choice and I knew exactly how I looked and I knew I didn’t belong on stage.

Jeb: Did that experience hurt your recovery?

Lou: I think it did. I spent hours and hours on the bus. I have always had trouble sleeping on a bus and having all of the medication and everything made it even harder to sleep. I rarely got more than an hour or two of sleep at night. That enhanced my clumsiness and it made me look even more medicated than I was.

Jeb: You have really worked hard on your physical health and your emotional health. Which was harder to overcome?

Lou: My self-esteem was really buried in a deep, deep hole. I knew that the guy that I was seeing in the mirror was not me. Until I was able to cut back on the steroids, which was the doctor’s decision, not mine…I would diet and I would exercise to lose the weight and nothing would come off. That only added to the frustration.

When they finally cut back on the steroids and the other medications, I began to lose weight. I am just under 200 pounds now, so I have lost 70 pounds. Before the operation, I weighed between 140 and 145 pounds my entire life. I told my doctor that I wanted to get back to 140 and he said that would not be good for my health to be back at that weight. He said that if I can get to 175, then that would be good for me. That is my goal.

Jeb: How would you rate your voice now? With zero being when you came back from your surgery and 100 being how you were back in 1978.

Lou: I put myself between 87 and 92 percent. The medication really did a number on my voice. I was doing a lot of squeaking and I was short of breath. There was a lot of incidental damage done, but I am looking better and I am feeling very good. I would say that my voice is pretty damn strong again.

Jeb: Did you ever question if you had the fight in you to get through all of this? Did you ever think, “I can’t do this anymore.”

Lou: I did think that. It was one of those things where you have to give it one more try. It was, ‘Try something a little different.’ You make small gains and you build on it, that’s all.

Jeb: The Foreigner albums have to be like your kids, but, that said, if there was one that you liked to visit more than the others…which would it be?

Lou: I really enjoy 4, but honestly, and this is not a particularly popular answer, but my favorite Foreigner album we ever did was the last one that we did, Mr. Moonlight. I think the songs are very different, the writing is strong and the playing is relaxed and confident. I think it is Foreigner at its best. Unfortunately, we had a small independent record company. I would say about 75% to 85% of the population didn’t even know we had that album out.

Jeb: Lastly, I want to thank you for talking with me. Good luck with the book and we will all cross our fingers for a Foreigner reunion!

Lou: You never know and do keep your fingers crossed.

Thanks for posting that...very informative. I did not know about Gramm's health issues. I just thought that his age and hard living had killed his voice.

Rumours are going around about a possible Foreigner tour with Lou Gramm.

Yeah, I've read a bit about that. I saw Lou 2 years ago and he sounded very good, despite what I'd read. He even signed my Foreigner debut album! I've seen the current lineup a few times and they do an excellent job as well. One time, Mick Jones wasn't even in the lineup due to illness.

I'd see a reunion show for sure. Maybe they'd throw a few curveballs in the setlist.

I've seen the current Foreigner two times in the past few years and they have been great. Never did see the Lou Gramm version.

I did see Foreigner with Gramm, but it was right after his surgery and he was definitely off. Still, glad I got a chance to see Lou and Mick before the split, because with Lou, it aint Foreigner for me. It would be great if Foreigner could do a proper sendoff or farewell to the classic era, but that remains to be seen.

Pleased to see Lou's shout out about the merits of "Mr. Moonlight," too. Always loved that album. Of course I love five of the first six LPs, too. ("Head Games," you ARE the weakest link!)

I've seen the classic lineup and the current one.

In his prime Lou was one of the best Rock singers around. Kelly Hansen is dynamite. I don't need a reunion (they already did that from 1992-2003), but might go see them again if Lou's voice and health are back. The last few tours I saw Lou w/ Foreigner were very poor.

But I'm fine with Hansen and I'd be curious what happens here if Gramm returns even for one tour.

Former Foreigner frontman Lou Gramm's camp is dashing hopes for a reunion tour after news spread of the possible trek after the singer mentioned talks in a recent interview.
As we reportedly earlier this week, Gramm spoke with Classic Rock Revisited about his new autobiography, "Juke Box Hero: My Five Decades In Rock 'N' Roll," and during the chat the subject of him reuniting with Foreigner came up.

When he was asked "Do you ever see a day where you and Mick Jones could be back in Foreigner together?" he replied, "His management and my management are tossing around the idea of a farewell tour.

"I would really like to do that. It would be really great to do that instead of leaving it with such a bitter and unfinished ending."

Apparently some media reports made it sound like a reunion tour was a done deal (not at all what he said) and Gramm's camp issued a statement on Thursday that said that no reunion is on the horizon.

The statement said in part, "Though both Lou Gramm and Mick Jones will be on hand next for next month's (Thursday, June 13) Songwriters Hall of Fame 44th Annual Induction and Awards Dinner in New York City, there are no plans for the two to head out on a reunion tour.

"Despite recent media reports that a reunion is being planned, at present time, there are no dialogs about any dates, though both continue to tour."

While fans hope that a reunion may be worked out, they can now read Gramm's new book which was released this week.

Chief among bands with insane amounts of ubiquitous hits and little critical acclaim sits Foreigner, alongside the likes of Journey, REO Speedwagon and upcoming tourmates Styx. Foreigner have, of course, sold millions of records, but traditional approval metrics for rock bands of a certain era — a Rolling Stone cover or Rock and Roll Hall of Fame consideration – have eluded them.

Last year, however, another institution — the Songwriters Hall of Fame — honored Foreigner’s original songwriting team of Mick Jones (guitar) and Lou Gramm (vocals). Billy Joel presented the Jones/Gramm team at the ceremony, where he said, “They were jukebox heroes, back when there were jukeboxes!”

But despite the multiple platinum albums, the lack of formal props can still get under one’s skin. “It used to bother me a bit,” Mick Jones tells Radio.com. “Gradually, I found out that some of our detractors were closet fans.”

One of the more surprising examples can be seen, according to Jones, in perhaps the most famously curmudgeon rock critic of them all, Lester Bangs. ”He ripped us to pieces in the press, and I found out that he had these parties at his house on weekends, where he would play air-guitar, and he always played at least two Foreigner songs,” Jones claims. “He had air-guitar movements to both of them!”

Related: Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Immortalization of Lester Bangs

Bangs faux rocking-out to ‘Hot Blooded’ is a pretty great visual, but here’s an even better one: Sex Pistols frontman Johnny Rotten playing air-guitar along to the classic rock hit.

“Then I discovered that even [Sex Pistols frontman] Johnny Rotten was a closet Foreigner fan,” Jones continued. “I found this out from his ex-girlfriend who had to sit there when he got the first pressing of ‘Hot Blooded,’ which was on red vinyl; she reminded me of that. She said, ‘I just had to sit there all f***ing day listening to him doing all these moves and air guitar-ing to it!’ She said, ‘It drove me crazy!’”

“There was almost resentment from the press at one point, because the press were not responsible for building us,” Jones explained. “We came out of the blue,” referencing the success of Foreigner’s 1977 self-titled debut album, which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard album chart and yielded three Top-20 hits (“Cold As Ice,” “Feels Like The First Time” and “Long, Long Way From Home”). ”It wasn’t like we had slogged away [for years], although I had paid my dues, and a couple of other guys in the band had, too.”

For his part, Jones had played in the backing bands of French stars Johnny Hallyday and Sylvie Vartan (opening for the Beatles with both acts); he’d also been a member of Spooky Tooth, and played on albums by George Harrison and former Mountain man Leslie West.

“We were regarded as a flash-in-the-pan, a one-hit-wonder,” Jones says, “but we went quite a bit farther than that, I think,” which is quite a bit of an understatement looking back on it all.

Later this year, they’ll kick off a co-headlining tour with Styx, which ex-Eagles guitarist Don Felder will open. To promote the tour, members of Foreigner and Styx, along with Felder, recorded a new version of “Hotel California.” A Styx/Foreigner/Felder jam on the classic rock hit would seem to be a logical encore for the tour, but Jones says, “We haven’t discussed that yet, but anything’s possible, my mind’s completely open. We’ve been hanging out together in the past few days, and playing together, and the chemistry is incredible. We’ve never done anything like that with anyone we’ve toured with before.”

After those dates, Foreigner will do a tour where they play their 1981 album, 4, in its entirety.

“That was a close as I think we came to a perfect Foreigner album,” Jones explained of the choice. “I think it is the best one, I think you can hear through the first three albums, how the band evolved, and I think we really had a clear picture of where we wanted to go with that one.”

He’s quick to note that the band is also planning their first new album since 2009′s Can’t Slow Down,” featuring new material and some guest appearances (“we’ve gone to several friends and prominent artists”). That album will be their second with singer Kelly Hansen, who joined the band in 2005.

Last year at the Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony, Jones and Lou Gramm reunited to perform “Juke Box Hero” and “I Want To Know What Love Is.” So, with all due respect to Hansen, fans are asking if a more large-scale reunion is in the cards?

“The award really, in a way, validated us to our peers,” Jones said. “We were both very humbled by the bestowing of that honor, and and it was great to share that with Lou. It was a great chance to hang out and get to know each other a little bit again. I think anything is possible, there’s more of a cordial feeling between us. I’m sure at some point, something like that could very well happen.”

And does he still lose sleep about that other Hall of Fame?

“When I see some of the decisions they make, it’s mind-boggling,” Jones said. “It’s quite elitist, to say the least. I just don’t think they’re in touch with the tastes of the audience. I just don’t think they get it. Even though we were incredibly successful and popular, they continue to ignore artists of our era.”

Foreigner’s Mick Jones says he expects new songs written with the band’s co-founder and former vocalist Lou Gramm will be released next year.

Gramm and Jones haven’t written together in 20 years, but the pair performed together in June 2013 at the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York City, playing “I Want To Know What Love Is” and “Juke Box Hero.”

Now Jones has told Classic Rock magazine that the pair are considering a new collaboration. "Lou told me a few weeks ago he's discovered a few songs we were writing in the '80s, but never quite finished,” Jones said. “We might take time next year to bring a couple of those out of the vaults… It's a question of wading through them and finding a cassette machine to play them on.”

Jones said that if a reunion with Gramm took place, the band’s current lead singer Kelly Hansen would continue to be involved. “Kelly has dedicated everything to the band,” he said. “He's phenomenal. So anything I do will be sensitive to that. If Lou and I do something, it'll be inclusive. No way will he replace Kelly.”

Not the Foreigner reunion I'd hoped for, but at least Mick and Lou seem to have buried the hatchet...

Lou Gramm Confirms Reunion With Ex-Foreigner Bandmate Mick Jones

Lou Gramm has confirmed a long-hoped-for reunion with former bandmate Mick Jones, though the songs are tabbed for solo projects rather than a future studio effort by Foreigner.

“Sometime in September, Mick and I are gonna get together and write some music,” he tells Rochester, N.Y.’s 95.1 the Brew. “I’m excited about it and very much looking forward to it. I’m actually helping him with a couple of songs on a solo album that he’s gonna be releasing, and he’s gonna help me with a couple of songs on an album that I’ll be releasing next year.”

Gramm left Foreigner in 2003, with his last album with the band dating back to in 1994. Kelly Hansen has fronted the group since 2005, but Gramm and Jones, who co-founded Foreigner in 1976, reunited last summer for performances of the hits ‘Juke Box Hero’ and ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’ during induction ceremonies for the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Reunion talk has been heating up ever since.

More recently, Jones said the two were considering a return to some leftover material from the ’80s that had been left unfinished. Gramm says they ended up focusing on demos that were of a newer vintage.

“It’s actually the songs we were writing, working on together when we split up in 2003,” Gramm says. “So those were songs that were done at the end of the ’90s and early ’00s, and they’re really good.”

Jones, the only remaining original member of the group, is currently leading Foreigner on tour with Styx and Don Felder. The ‘Soundtrack of Summer‘ shows continue through July 27.

Photo: Lou Gramm Confirms Reunion With Ex-Foreigner Bandmate Mick Jones Lou Gramm has confirmed a long-hoped-for reunion with former bandmate Mick Jones, though the songs are tabbed for solo projects rather than a future studio effort by Foreigner. “Sometime in September, Mick and I are gonna get together and write some music,” he tells Rochester, N.Y.’s 95.1 the Brew. “I’m excited about it and very much looking forward to it. I’m actually helping him with a couple of songs on a solo album that he’s gonna be releasing, and he’s gonna help me with a couple of songs on an album that I’ll be releasing next year.” Gramm left Foreigner in 2003, with his last album with the band dating back to in 1994. Kelly Hansen has fronted the group since 2005, but Gramm and Jones, who co-founded Foreigner in 1976, reunited last summer for performances of the hits ‘Juke Box Hero’ and ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’ during induction ceremonies for the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Reunion talk has been heating up ever since. More recently, Jones said the two were considering a return to some leftover material from the ’80s that had been left unfinished. Gramm says they ended up focusing on demos that were of a newer vintage. “It’s actually the songs we were writing, working on together when we split up in 2003,” Gramm says. “So those were songs that were done at the end of the ’90s and early ’00s, and they’re really good.” Jones, the only remaining original member of the group, is currently leading Foreigner on tour with Styx and Don Felder. The ‘Soundtrack of Summer‘ shows continue through July 27.

If this leads to one last blowout for Foreigner, it's a good thing....

http://classicrock.teamrock.com/news/20 ... udio-plans

Foreigner duo confirm studio plans
17/09/2014 ~ by Bruce Henne
Mick Jones and Lou Gramm will reunite for solo projects

Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones says it will be “fun” hooking up with the band’s original frontman Lou Gramm later this year.

They are teaming up for the first time in over a decade to write songs for each of their solo albums, which may surface in 2015.

Jones tells Ultimate Classic Rock: “We want to delve back into some of the ideas we both knew we had. Then there’s this little trove of goodies that Lou’s got that I haven’t heard. So we’ll start basically just messing around with those ideas and maybe that will inspire us into something new."

He adds: “I think we’re both going into it quite openly – just let it come naturally. We have no specific plans to do anything more at the moment. But it will be fun and a great way of us reestablishing more contact with each other. And I’m very happy about that.”

Gramm, who left Foreigner in 2003, met Jones last year, when the pair were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, sparking rumours of a reunion.

Foreigner will release 7-disc box set The Complete Atlantic Studio Albums 1977-1991 on October 13, which includes remastered albums and bonus tracks from their classic lineup with Jones and Gramm, along with Unusual Heat, featuring frontman Johnny Edwards.

Foreigner Announce Tour Dates With Kid Rock
by Jeff Giles
February 17, 2015

Once again, Kid Rock is out to give fans the biggest value for their concert ticket dollar — and this summer, he’s bringing out Foreigner to help him deliver.

As previously reported, the two veteran acts are teaming up for a package tour that will offer tickets at prices well below the industry standard — just like the $20 Best Night Ever run Rock made in 2014. According to a press release announcing the summer dates, tickets from the second row to the lawn will be $20, and the parking and service fees have also been reduced, which will reportedly keep the total cost at or less than $30.

For Walmart shoppers, there’s an “all-in” package, which offers tickets and parking for $20, as well as a coupon for $2 off Rock’s new album, First Kiss. In order to try and thwart scalpers, the acts will also be setting aside 1,000 tickets from each show for Live Nation’s Platinum ticketing program — and the first row of seats for every show will also be given away as free upgrades for select ticket holders. On the concession front, $20 food packages and T-shirts will be offered, along with $4 draft beers.

Tickets are set to go on sale to the public Feb. 24, with pre-sales available to members of Kid Rock’s fan club as well as those who purchase First Kiss through his official site.

Saying he expects the experience to be “really interesting,” Foreigner bassist Jeff Pilson predicts that touring with Kid Rock would make new fans out of a whole new demographic. “I think that’s going to be expose us to a different audience that I think is gonna be shocked at how much they enjoy us — which I always love doing. That’s the best kind of tour to do.”

Kid Rock and Foreigner Summer 2015 Tour Dates
6/24 – Hartford, Ct.
6/25 – Mansfield, Mass.
6/27 – Scranton, Pa.
6/28 – Burgettstown, Pa.
6/30 – Holmdel, N.J.
7/02 – Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
7/03 – Bethel, N.Y.
7/07 – Camden, N.J.
7/08 – Bristow, Va.
7/11 – Raleigh, N.C.
7/14 – Charlotte, N.C.
7/16 – West Palm Beach, Fla.
7/18 – Tampa, Fla.
7/19 – Atlanta, Ga.
7/22 – Woodlands, Texas
7/23 – Dallas, Texas
7/25 – Maryland Heights, Mo.
7/26 – Tinley Park, Ill.
7/30 – Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
8/01 – Noblesville, Ind.
8/02 – Cincinnati, Ohio
8/04 – Darien, N.Y.
8/07 – Clarkston, Mich.
8/08 – Clarkston, Mich.
8/11 – Clarkston, Mich.
8/12 – Clarkston, Mich.
8/14 – Clarkston, Mich.
8/15 – Clarkston, Mich.
8/26 – Phoenix, Ariz.
8/27 – Irvine, Calif.
8/29 – San Bernardino, Calif.
8/30 – Mountain View, Calif.
9/02 – Marysville, Calif.
9/04 – Ridgefield, Wash.
9/05 – Auburn, Wash.


Read More: Foreigner Announce Tour Dates With Kid Rock | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/foreigner-kid-rock-tour/

From abcradio.com:

Lou Gramm hasn't performed with Foreigner since leaving the group in 2003, but the powerhouse vocalist says he'd like to see the band's original members reunite next year to mark the 40th anniversary of the release of the group's self-titled debut album.

"I think it would be terrific," he tells ABC Radio. "It wouldn't have to be any kind of commitment or anything. Just to honor that anniversary and do something."

Gramm admits, however, that the decision to do some kind of reunion event isn't necessarily his to make, suggesting that it really is up to founding Foreigner guitarist/songwriter Mick Jones, who leads the band's current incarnation and is the only original member left in the group.

"I do talk to Mick, periodically. I haven't heard anything about any kind of reunion show or anything," Lou reports, adding, "Maybe he'll celebrate that 40th anniversary with his own band in his own way. And if so, I'll certainly honor it with my [solo] band too."

Gramm also points out that a full reunion of the original Foreigner lineup can't happen since founding bassist Ed Gagliardi "is no longer with us, and that's a shame." Gagliardi died of cancer in May 2014 at the age of 62. Regardless, Lou tells ABC Radio he that thinks "if we don't do anything to mark [the anniversary], then we never will."

Foreigner's other founding members are multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald, keyboardist Al Greenwood and drummer Dennis Elliott. McDonald and Greenwood played with the group until 1980, while Elliott left the band in 1992. Gramm and Jones did reunite for a one-off performance in June 2013, when they were inducted jointly into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Meanwhile, Gramm has begun adding new dates to his 2016 solo itinerary. He recently joined Phil Collins on the bill of the Little Dreams Foundation's second annual gala concert, which takes place March 11 in Miami Beach, Florida. The fundraiser benefits the charity that Collins founded with his ex-wife Orianne. According to his recently relaunched website, the singer has about a dozen or so U.S. shows spread throughout the year.

Interestingly, Gramm reveals to ABC Radio that his site was updated with help from Ruth McCartney, Paul McCartney's stepsister, who runs the McCartney Multimedia company.

"She is extremely talented and has an incredible staff," says Lou, "and we're excited about the possibilities of how much that could help us to leave a positive lasting impression with our audience."

Interesting timing on Gramm joining the Little Dreams Foundation concert on March 11 in Miami Beach, what with Foreigner playing casino shows near and in Miami on the 11th and 12th. I'm planning to see the latter show (after a day of baseball in Jupiter), but wouldn't place any bets on Lou showing up.