Photo: FilmMagic, Inc
Lou Gramm may have performed with his former band Foreigner last month to celebrate their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, but in a recent interview the founding vocalist admitted he's "never had any regrets" about leaving the band for good in 2002 and revealed what led to his decision.
"In the late '90s, early 2000s, Mick [Jones] and I began writing. And we put some really, really good ideas together… I think we had about seven songs complete. And we were hoping to finish with about three or four more songs and put out a new Foreigner album, which there hadn't been a new Foreigner album in over a decade," he recalled. "We were also touring. We were playing something called 'Night Of The Proms' [in October 2002]. It was done in Brussels, Belgium, and they had a huge indoor tennis arena where there could be four games of tennis going on at once. It held 80,000 people. And after that series of shows, I left the band…. I just had enough."
"[Mick is] the founder of the band, he's the leader of the band, but he wasn't necessarily doing the job the way he used to do it, and he was suppressing a lot of my creativity," Gramm continued. "'Just sing your parts, Lou.' And after contributing to just about every hit song that the band had released in 20-some years, to be reduced to just a non-creative part, just the singer, didn't sit well with me. So, after that 'Night Of The Proms,' we all flew back to the States [and] I informed the management that I was leaving the band. [They said], 'Why? What could be wrong? Everything's going so good.' I said, 'It's not going good.' I said, 'I'm being shut out creatively, which is extremely important to me.' I said, 'I'm not just a singer. I'm a songwriter.' I said, 'And I always have been, even before Foreigner.' So I left the band. And I've never had any regrets about it since."
Gramm sang some of the band's biggest hits, including "Feels Like The First Time" and "Cold As Ice" from Foreigner's self-titled debut in 1977, as well as "Hot Blooded" and "I Want to Know What Love Is."
Jones was not present at the Rock Hall induction after revealing his battle with Parkinson's Disease. Founding drummer Dennis Elliott decided to skip the ceremony because of the "totally unacceptable" schedule presented to him.