Lou Gramm has cooled down speculation about a potential reunion with Foreigner during the band’s 2025 tour.
When Foreigner announced they were extending their farewell tour into next year, they hinted that Gramm might be part of it. In a recent interview with Sirius XM’s Eddie Trunk, the singer shared details about what is standing in the way of a reunion — Kelly Hansen.
“I said, well I’d like to do ‘Jukebox Hero.’ [Foreigner’s manager] goes, ‘I’m not sure about that,'” Gramm explained. “I said, ‘Well, I definitely want to do ‘I Want to Know What Love Is.’ He says, ‘I don’t think so, Lou.’ So it sounds as if he talked to Kelly about it and Kelly made his claims on certain songs.”
“Every song I suggested that I would like to do, he told me he didn’t think so.” He added that he was told “only what I couldn’t sing, and then I would just have to pick from what’s left.”
When asked if management was worried about his vocal ability, the singer was straightforward. “No. Their concerns [are] about Kelly’s ego.” He added, “There are particular songs that are my trademark songs and if I can’t sing them, I don’t want to be out on the road. 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 going to tell them I’m not interested.”
Gramm left the band in 2003 and had his reasons to quit. “[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,” he explained in another interview. “‘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.”
Given the situation, it seems unlikely that Gramm will return. However, the band will continue with Hansen, as Foreigner is scheduled to start their international 2025 tour in the coming months.
