Foreigner Reunites with Former Frontman for Latin America Tour
Classic rock band Foreigner is about to embark on the Latin America leg of its 2025 tour with its former frontman from the band’s “classic era.” Lou Gramm, a co-founding member of Foreigner, will join the band as a guest in the wake of current frontman Kelly Hansen’s absence.
Hansen announced he will be missing the band’s spring tour in Latin America, due to some issues that make travel outside the U.S. difficult. Gramm recently performed with the band on March 15 in Clearwater, FL. He joined Foreigner onstage to sing I Want to Know What Love Is and Hot Blooded, sharing lead vocals with Hansen.
“Some issues have forced me to limit appearances outside of the [U.S.] this year, and this means, unfortunately, I will miss Foreigner’s South American run,” Hansen said in a statement. However, our incredible bandmate Luis Maldonado has been recording some of our hits in Spanish and he will be handling most of the vocals along with [original Foreigner singer] Lou Gramm who will be guesting with Foreigner for those shows. I know they will smash it!”
Foreigner’s 2025 Latin America Tour begins on April 28 in Mexico City.
Foreigner’s current lineup consists of Hansen, Maldonado, bassist Jeff Pilson, keyboardist Michael Bluestein, guitarist Bruce Watson and drummer Chris Frazier. Co-founding guitarist Mick Jones is also a member of the band, but hasn’t toured since 2023 due to health issues. With Jones’ absence, Pilson is the longest-tenured member on tour, having joined Foreigner in 2004. Hansen joined the band as its fourth frontman in 2005, replacing the interim frontman Chas West who filled in for Foreigner after Gramm quit it in 2003.
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Gramm helped found Foreigner in 1976 with Jones, guitarist Ian McDonald, bassist Ed Gagliardi, drummer Dennis Elliott and keyboardist Al Greenwood. The lineup lasted for three years, recording and releasing 1977’s Foreigner and 1978’s Double Vision.
Gramm’s Reunion with Foreigner Was Unlikely
The prospect of Gramm joining his former band on the road seemed rather unlikely as recently as last November, for a variety of reasons. The singer has sited his impending retirement from the road as a major reason for why a 2025 tour with Foreigner was not likely to happen:
“Foreigner’s management asked me, Phil Carson asked me if I would be interested in doing some shows with the band,” Gramm said on Trunk Nation with Eddie Trunk in November of 2024. “And I said, ‘Well, I said I’m ending my band at the end of June because I don’t wanna be on the road anymore. I’m not sure, whether I’m out with my band or your band, it’s still on the road.’ I said, ‘I’m not sure I would be up for doing that.’ But I said, ‘Talk to me more about it.’ He was telling me that they wanna do a substantial tour of the world, which doesn’t appeal to me. I don’t wanna be out for eight or 10 months again without seeing my kids and without being able to drive my cars. I had this planned out that I would wrap up my career in June of next year and then have the summer to play with my cars and see my kids and start the rest of my life. So I’m not sure I wanna go out on the Foreigner farewell tour with the new band. And I told [Carson] I would think about it. And he says that he will come back to me with the particulars, ’cause they’re going around the world and stuff.”
Gramm was also hesitant to commit to performing with Foreigner due to what he perceives as the band’s “concerns about [Hansen’s] ego.” The former Foreigner frontman inquired about several songs he’d like to sing if he were to participate as a guest on the tour, and was given some skeptical answers to his requests:
“Well, I asked [Carson], and he was talking about me doing about five songs. And I [said], ‘Well, I’d like to do Jukebox Hero.’ And he goes, ‘I’m not sure about that.’ I [said], ‘I definitely wanna do I Want to Know What Love Is.’ And he said, ‘I don’t think so, no.’ And I [said], ‘Well, I definitely would like to do…’ — I can’t remember what other song it was, but he goes, ‘I don’t know about that.’ So it sounds as if he talked to [Hansen] about it and [Hansen] made his claims on certain songs… I couldn’t do Hot Blooded. Every song I suggested that I would like to do, he told me he didn’t think so. I think he told me what I couldn’t sing. And then I would just have to pick from what’s left. Mind you, there’s a lot of great songs that are left, but there’s particular songs that are my trademark songs, and if I can’t sing them, I don’t wanna be out on the road. I suggested four songs, maybe five songs, and he [said], ‘Not that one. No, I don’t think so.’ So I just stopped there, because I figured I could keep going for a while and he would keep telling me the same thing. It would be, ‘I don’t think so, Lou.’ ‘Pick another one, Lou,’ blah, blah, blah, blah. I mean, how do I pick songs that I helped to make famous, and he’s telling me, ‘Not that one.”
“It’s frustrating, but I don’t want it to be frustrating. I’ve been thinking about it for about a month; that’s when I found out that I couldn’t sing my own favorite songs on the tour. So I think I’m just gonna tell them that I’m not interested.”
Gramm has had a contentious relationship with the current iteration of Foreigner, despite making guest appearances since 2017. His criticism of Hansen’s tenure as frontman of the band, disappointment of the lack of involvement of other original members and his strained relationship with Jones is well-documented and often subjects of conversation in interviews.
At the present moment, it’s unclear if Gramm will join the band beyond its 2025 Latin America Tour.
