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Foreigner
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Formed in 1976, the band was made up of experienced British musicians Mick Jones and Ian McDonald, and four relative newcomers to the arena of major rock, British musician Dennis Elliott, and Americans Ed Gagliardi, Lou Gramm and Alan Greenwood. Less than a year after getting together, the five released their first album "Foreigner" [March 7, 1977] and within months had two top-ten hit singles. The unexpected and immediate success of their debut album astounded everyone - including them! Put on the road by Atlantic Records to promote the album, these now successful recording artists had to transform themselves immediately into a live music act. No time for months of practice and planning. They were just out there, trying to establish their style and create a performance to match the success of the music and the album just released. "We grew up in front of the public and made all our mistakes in front of crowds of kids" says Dennis Elliott. But despite the chaos, the music carried them through and the fans didn't seem to care. "The problem at first", says Lou Gramm, "was that we only had ten songs. When asked back by our audiences to do an encore, we had nothing else to play!".
This situation was soon remedied when they went back to the studio to write and record their second album "Double Vision" [June 20, 1978]. Once again a surprising success and two more top ten singles. And, their first album was still on the national charts! A year later their third album, "Head Games" [September 11, 1979] hit the charts and produced two more hit singles. Surrounded by controversy at the time and considered a failure for the band, Head Games went on to sell 5 million copies in the U.S. alone. Some failure!
The recording of the next album, 4 [July 2, 1981], ended with the band lineup reduced to Jones, Gramm, Elliott and Rick Wills. Still Atlantic's best-selling album of all time, 4 produced Foreigner's top ranking single with "Waiting For A Girl Like You" staying at #2 for ten weeks of the five months it was on the national charts. Nearing the 10 million mark in sales, 4 is one of the most successful rock albums of all time. A classic on almost everyone's wish list.
1982 saw the release of the band's first Greatest Hits album "Records" [November 29, 1982]. This album, also a classic, continues to be a popular seller today and the current 7 million plus sales tally is still climbing. Two years later, "Agent Provocateur" [December 7, 1984] became their fifth album of new material and produced the top ten single "I Want To Know What Love Is". Following the release of "Inside Information" [December 4, 1987] the band went on hiatus while Mick Jones and Lou Gramm went their separate ways with solo projects.
Reunited in 1992, Lou and Mick wrote three new songs for the next generation Greatest Hits album "The Very Best and Beyond". Then, in 1993, after some seven years with no new releases, the band was again reformed with Mick and Lou and Bruce Turgon on bass and Jeff Jacobs on keyboards. An album of new material, "Mr. Moonlight" was soon released. The album produced, yet again, another top ten single "Until The End of Time".
In 2002, the 25th Anniversary Year brought affirmation of the enduring respect for FOREIGNER recordings with Rhino Entertainment re-issuing the 1977 - 1981 multi-platinum albums in special enhanced formats. Foreigner, Double Vision, Head Games and 4 received the loving attention of Rhino's staff and bloom again with new photos and liner notes and bonus tracks of previously unreleased material. New Greatest Hits albums were also produced in the U.S. and in Europe. And, in 2001, the Warner Music Group selected Foreigner and 4 to be among the first group of albums from their catalog to be remastered, enhanced and released in the new DVD Audio format.