Lou Gramm Retiring From the Stage: It Feels Like the Last Time
by Best Classic Bands Staff
l. to. r.: Foreigner’s Mick Jones and Lou Gramm, and Billy Joel, at Madison Square Garden, January 11, 2018
Foreigner has been in the news a lot lately. After decades of eligibility, the classic rock band was finally nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024. The announcement of this year’s inductees will be made in May. The joy of their nomination was brief, however. Not long after, the band’s primary architect, Mick Jones, revealed that he is suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Today (March 13), news arrived that the singer of all of the band’s hits, Lou Gramm, is finally retiring from performing after this year. In a video interview, Gramm said, “This is gonna be it. I’ve been putting it off and putting it off. And I still enjoy performing, but when you’ve been doing it for as long as I have — the travel is the worst. It really takes its toll. And that’s a sign that you’re getting old.”
In the March 8 interview, transcribed by Blabbermouth.net, Gramm said, “I’ve been doing it — Jeez — for almost 50 years, and I would like to turn my attention to my family and my muscle cars and just enjoy myself knowing that when I lay down at night, it’ll be in my own bed.”
This isn’t the first time that Gramm, who turns 74 on May 2, has said he’s done. He told the audience for his Dec. 29, 2018, concert in Schenectady, NY, that they would be witnessing his farewell solo performance. He said to the crowd, “You’ve got to be smart enough to know when to walk away from it and I feel it’s that time for me.”
“It’s been a ball; I love you guys very much,” Gramm told the Schenectady crowd.
Foreigner was one of the biggest bands to emerge in the late ’70s as their 1977 debut effort for Atlantic Records yielded the future classic rock hits “Feels Like the First Time” and “Cold As Ice.”
As the years followed, so did the radio-friendly singles “Hot Blooded,” “Double Vision” and “Urgent.” Those were followed by their two highest-charting hits “Waiting For a Girl Like You” (#2) and “I Want to Know What Love Is” (#1).
Related: The inside story of how Foreigner signed with Atlantic
Gramm initially left Foreigner in 1990 and returned occasionally. In 2017, Jones announced that Gramm and fellow former members Ian McDonald and Al Greenwood would appear on select dates of the band’s 40th anniversary tour.
The first such appearance was July 20, 2017, when fans finally got their wish as the trio joined the current band members for three songs at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, NY.
Thanks to all those hits, Foreigner has sold a reported 50 million albums.
Gramm has several performances scheduled dates in 2024. He’s part of a brief tour this summer called Parti-Gras with Bret Michaels, Don Felder, Dee Snider and others. Tickets are available here.
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Jump into a conversationOne of the Greatest Rock vocalists and who fronted one of the Greatest Rock n Roll bands.
No one could really replace Gramm. I grew up with this group. So sad about Lou & all is health battles. Lots of prayers for him!