In a conversation with SiriusXM’s Classic Rewind, Lou Gramm shared the reasons behind his decision to leave Foreigner. The former frontman revealed the main reason for his departure—his difficult relationship with Mick Jones.
“[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,” the rocker explained. “‘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,” Gramm continued. “[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.”
The singer added that he “never had any regrets about it since.”
Gramm also explained what caused his exit from Foreigner in an earlier interview, saying he had started to dislike the band.
“It was a couple of things. It was mostly because I didn’t like the direction at the band had been going for the last couple albums,” he explained. “Mick seemed to be incredibly enamoured with all the new keyboards that had been coming out. He went out and bought all the modern new keyboards and would stay up nights playing with the sounds, thereby the songs he wrote were keyboard songs.”
“I told him face-to-face, ‘We’re gonna lose our rock audience.’ A lot of our keyboard songs were ballads; after we had a hit with ‘Waiting For A Girl Like You’, next album was ‘I Wanna Know What Love Is.’ Those albums were laced with ballads and mid-tempo songs that could pass for ballads. I started to dislike being involved in the band,” Gramm added.
Foreigner was recently inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. While Mick Jones and Dennis Elliott didn’t attend the ceremony, Rick Wills, Al Greenwood, and Gramm were there to honor the band. The induction ceremony included performances by Slash, Sammy Hagar, Chad Smith, Demi Lovato, and Kelly Clarkson.
Foreigner’s extended tour continues until September 21. The last show will take place at the Big E in West Springfield, Massachusetts.