Lou Gramm, the former lead singer of the rock band Foreigner, is scheduled to perform July 4 at Deerpath Community Park, 400 Hastings Road, in Lake Forest at part of “Festival & Fireworks.”
Q: You started life as Louis Grammatico of Rochester, N.Y.?
A: Yes.
Q: And your parents were both musicians?
A: My dad played trumpet and had his own swing band in the 1940s, and my mother was the vocalist.
Q: What bands did you like growing up?
A: I was like 12 or 13 when the Beatles were on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” When I heard the songs – not so much the screaming girls – I knew that’s what I wanted to do with my life.
Q: Before Foreigner, you had a band named Black Sheep that was doing well. What happened with that band?
A: We had a two-album contract with Capitol Records and were supposed to open a tour for Kiss. We did one show. After a show in Boston on Christmas Eve, our equipment truck slid off a New York freeway. Ninety percent of our equipment was destroyed. We couldn’t afford equipment and our parents didn’t have the money to help us. We had to bow out of the tour and our record company dropped us.
Q: When Black Sheep ended, did you think about changing careers?
A: I had been going to college to be a history teacher. As soon as the music became an important factor in my life, I never transferred (to another college). I think everyone in Black Sheep was thinking about what to do next. At that time, I got a call from Mick Jones (founder of Foreigner).
Q: When you first joined Foreigner, did you think the band would become as big as it did, doing arena tours and breaking the Billboard 20?
A: No one can predict that, but I knew the players already in the band were very good and the songs we were working on were, I also thought, very strong.
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Q: Movies and TV shows frequently depict rock bands as surrounded by beautiful women, doing drugs and destroying hotel rooms. How does that compare to reality?
A: It can compare. It has for Foreigner at some point. It wasn’t anything that pervaded the atmosphere 24/7.
Q: After the first Foreigner album made it big, did you find it difficult to stick to your idea of what the music should be – as opposed to trying to write songs you thought would be popular?
A: I don’t think Mick or I ever sat down to write songs we thought would be popular.
Q: You’ve been doing solo work for a lot of years, even while with Foreigner. For example, the “Ready or Not” album in 1987 with the song “Midnight Blue.” Why the solo work when you were in a highly successful band?
A: After scoring big hits with “Waiting for a Girl Like You” and “I Want to Know What love Is,” I thought Foreigner was starting to lose its rock audience because there had been so many ballad hits. I had a one-year window when Mick and his wife went on an ocean liner and were gone for a year.
Q: You left Foreigner in 1990 to pursue solo work?
A: The direction of Foreigner at that time was permeated by synthesizers. I don’t think Mick picked up his guitar for half the songs. I let it be known I was very unhappy with the direction of that band.
Q: What happened next?
A: Then I recorded my second solo album while touring with Steve Miller. I got a call from the manager of Foreigner that I needed to end that tour and start a new record with Foreigner or I would be terminated.
Q: How did you respond?
A: I told the Foreigner manager and Mick that I had been taught by them over the last 12 years that when you put out a new album, you committed to promoting that album by touring. If they couldn’t wait another six weeks, then they needed to find themselves another singer. That’s what they did.
Q: In 1992, you became a born-again Christian. What inspired that?
A: I also went away to rehab and got myself free from a couple of terrible habits. With God’s help, I would be able to keep my sobriety. And I have for 26 years.
Q: How is it different touring on your own versus touring with Foreigner?
A: Everything is on a smaller scale. I don’t mind it at all. I felt it was fair trade for being able to steer my own show.
Q: What have you been up to in recent years?
A: I put out a Christian rock album four to five years ago. Lately, just touring and not the crazy way Foreigner did. A lot more time with my family and more time with my hobbies. I’m living a normal life.
Q: What hobbies?
A: I collect and restore American muscle cars.
Q: What can those planning to attend your Lake Forest performance expect?
A: It’s going to be a collection of Foreigner hits and hits from my solo albums. Maybe a Beatles song. We’re going to have a good time given that it’s the Fourth of July.
Twitter: @reporterdude
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