Interview with Lou Gramm
Interview with Lou Gramm
Former Lead Singer of Foreigner is ready to rock the slopes of Ellicottville
The annual Ellicottville Summer Music Festival, July 1st-3rd, will feature Lou Gramm, former lead singer of Foreigner, along with John Payne of the band Asia and John Elefante of the band Kansas for a night that will take you back to the 1970’s and rock you into the current music scene.
Singer/songwriter Lou Gramm has had two successful careers - one with the band Foreigner and now as a solo artist. His voice is unmistakable as he belts out hits from his Foreigner days, including “Feels Like The First Time”, “Urgent” (which has one of the best saxophone solos of all time), “Waiting For A Girl Like You”, “Juke Box Hero” and “I Want To Know What Love Is”, to name just a few of the band’s 20 top 40 singles.
“I am enormously proud of my 26 years with Foreigner, and the music I made with them is still a big part of my solo shows today,” said Gramm.
Deciding to go it alone and try a solo career, the singer/songwriter’s debut album in 1987, “Ready Or Not”, would garner him the song that became Billboard’s #1 most played single at rock radio that year, “Midnight Blue”. As he continued with his solo career he would have major success again with the release of his second solo album in 1990 with “Long Hard Look” which produced the hit single “Just Between You And Me”.
Gramm was born in Rochester, NY, and after a few years living elsewhere during some of his Foreigner years, he returned to his hometown and still lives there today, which constitutes him as a “local” in the eyes of Buffalonians. “I just had to come back to Rochester,” stated Gramm. “Nowhere else felt like home to me.”
I spoke with the singer recently, who I interviewed back in 2012; we caught up on what he’s been doing, a possible new solo album that will include some unfinished songs from his previous solo album releases that he is finishing, addiction and the missed flight home that led to his sobriety and a new lease on life.
I asked the songwriter what he would consider a perfect day, to which he responded, “Spending quality time with my four-year-old daughter and being present in her life. I wasn’t present the years I had my other children when I was with Foreigner touring so much and making a career. That’s always been a major regret of mine. I’m getting another chance at being a father and I couldn’t be happier.”
For more information on Gramm, visit lougrammofficial.com. For ticket information to the Summer Music Festival concert, visit ellicottvilleny.com.
A CONVERSATION WITH LOU GRAMM
HULICK: Audiences must be ready for a good time after the past two and a half years.
GRAMM: I can attest to that myself. It’s been very interesting and an exciting feeling again.
HULICK: I interviewed you in 2012 and at the time you were in your third decade in the music industry. You joked then that you were good talking about two decades, but you weren’t so anxious to talk about three decades. How do you feel now that it’s over four decades?
GRAMM:(laughs) I’m fine with it. I’m getting to release an EP and then maybe in another six months or so another EP and then put the two together for an album release.
HULICK: You’ve gone back through some of your older solo recordings to put on these, correct?
GRAMM: Yes. There’s always three or four songs you record that did not make the album. You may also have strong ideas for a song but didn’t have time to finish them, so most times the ideas just sit around and collect dust, but a lot of these songs stayed in my mind and I thought it was time to dust them off, finish them and put together a compilation album. There’s some real interesting and powerful songs there.
HULICK: Your songs are ones that stand the test of time and are relevant no matter how much time has passed.
GRAMM: There is somewhat of a timeless element to them. They don’t sound dated and they’re still exciting to listen to and perform.
HULICK: You have an incredible voice Lou, and many artists have said to me that they consider your voice one of the best of all time.
GRAMM: Wow! That’s wonderful! Mick Jones (founder of Foreigner) really pushed me to sing our songs higher and higher and I was able to do it. But as you get older you lose a couple notes on the top end of your voice … it’s just a natural part of aging. What we do is perform the songs a half step down and it sounds exactly the same and allows me to hit those awesome notes that I would not want to leave out.
HULICK: Since we last talked, you were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
GRAMM: Yes. It was very exciting. It was the first time Mick and I had talked in 12 years. When we parted company in 2001 it was on bad terms. It was very, very upsetting to me that things ended that way. He was not in good shape healthwise and in a little bit of a self destructive mode. I went through an addiction to drugs and alcohol for 11 years during my time in Foreigner. After playing Madison Square Garden one night we attended a party afterwards with people from the recording company and some friends from Manhattan. It was 3:00am when I got to my hotel room and I had an 8:30am flight back home to Rochester. I didn’t even make it to the bed … I just slept on the floor. Needless to say I missed my flight that morning and it was then and there I made the decision to go directly into a rehab program … not even going home first. I called my wife and told her and she was crying and relieved I made the decision to get well. I am happy to say that I’ve been sober for 30 years.
HULICK: That’s terrific Lou! So that missed flight home in a way saved your life.
GRAMM: Yes it did.
HULICK: I think if you would have gone home first your thoughts would have been the same thing as any other time … I’m fine, I made it home and I’ll just keep doing what I do.
GRAMM: I think so too Melanie. I would have assumed the problems I always had up until then.
HULICK: Well congratulations! That is such a struggle every day to keep your sobriety. How did your family do through Covid?
GRAMM: My son got it, but he is fine and the rest of the family made it through OK.
HULICK: I know we talked about your EP’s and a possible new album coming down the road … are there any other projects in the near future?
GRAMM: I love muscle cars and I have a few of them so I’m getting ready for the season coming up … going to go on the road and go to cruise nights and car shows. It’s a fun time.
HULICK: I bet you meet a lot of interesting people along the way.
GRAMM: Oh sure. I don’t necessarily want to spend time talking about my career with them because I’m there to see cars. So I say hello and let them down gently. (laughs)
HULICK: There’s a lot of excitement building around your upcoming performance at the Ellicottville Summer Music Festival. Do you have a message to your fans that will be attending?
GRAMM: Yes. I’m excited about performing in upstate New York and seeing some friends I’ve known for years in that beautiful, nothing like it in the world that is Western and upstate New York … the trees, the countryside. It’s going to be awesome for me … I love it there. There’s nothing like it and we’re going to rock you real hard and you’re going to leave with a big smile on your face!