KELLY HANSEN to sit out FOREIGNER's Latin American tour due to 'some issues'; LOU GRAMM to step in as “guest singer”
28-03-2025
FOREIGNER singer Kelly Hansen has revealed that he will be forced to miss the band’s spring 2025 Latin American tour, which is scheduled to kick off on April 28 in Mexico City. He said in a statement: “Some issues have forced me to limit appearances outside of the USA this year, and this means, unfortunately, I will miss FOREIGNER‘s South American run. 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!”
Gramm most recently joined FOREIGNER‘s current lineup on stage at the end of the band’s March 15 concert at the BayCare Sound in Clearwater, Florida to perform two of the legendary rock group’s classic songs, “I Want To Know What Love Is” and “Hot Blooded”. Fan-filmed video of his appearance can be seen below.
Gramm previously said he planned to retire at the end of 2024, but later revealed that he was in talks to make appearances at “select” tour dates with FOREIGNER‘s current lineup in 2025. Bassist Rick Wills and drummer Dennis Elliott are also expected to appear at some shows, including FOREIGNER‘s upcoming Las Vegas residency.
Gramm addressed the possibility of playing shows with FOREIGNER in 2025 during a November 2024 appearance on SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”. He said: “FOREIGNER‘s management asked me, Phil Carson asked me if I would be interested in doing some shows with the band. 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 ten 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 Phil 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.”
Lou elaborated on his reasons for not wanting to go on an extended tour again, saying: “I just don’t feel like I wanna travel. I’m not sure that the world is a safe place to be touring right now in the way that the state of the world is. So, I don’t know. I don’t get a real good feeling about doing that. If it was just the States, I would consider it. So I know we’re gonna talk. I also wanna know what my compensation would be. If I put an end to my touring for my career, it wouldn’t be really an end if I was gonna pick up and go out with the new FOREIGNER for a FOREIGNER farewell tour. I’m not exactly sure how I feel about it. It would be much more interesting to me if it was members of the original FOREIGNER with augmented instrumentation, like another guitar player or something, rather than go out with another band that calls themselves FOREIGNER. I have a tough time wrapping my head around that.”
Asked how many songs he would be expected to sing if he was to appear as a guest on FOREIGNER‘s 2025 tour, Lou said: “Well, I asked Phil, and he was talking about me doing about five songs. And I says, ‘Well, I’d like to do ‘Jukebox Hero’.’ And he goes, ‘I’m not sure about that.’ I says, ‘I definitely wanna do ‘I Want To Know What Love Is’.’ And he said, ‘I don’t think so, no.’ And I says, ‘Well, I definitely would like to do…’ — I can’t remember what other song it was, but he goes, ‘Hmm, I don’t know about that.’ So it sounds as if he talked to Kelly about it and Kelly 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 ’em, I don’t wanna be out on the road… I suggested four songs, maybe five songs, and he says, ‘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.’ (Laughs)”
He added: “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 ’em that I’m not interested.”
Asked if he thinks they have concerns about his ability to sing some of FOREIGNER‘s classic songs, Lou replied: “No. Their concern’s about Kelly‘s ego.”
FOREIGNER guitarist Mick Jones has revealed last year that he is battling Parkinson’s disease.
The 79-year-old musician, who has not performed with FOREIGNER since 2022, opened up about his diagnosis in a social media post earlier today.
He wrote: “Fans will have become very aware that for some time now, I have not been performing onstage with the band. Several years ago, I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. I want everyone to know that I am doing alright. However, I’ve always liked to be at my best when performing onstage, and sadly, at present, I find that a bit difficult. I am still very much involved in the background with FOREIGNER and remain a presence.
“Parkinson’s is a daily struggle; the important thing is to persevere and remind myself of the wonderful career I’ve had in music.
“I thank all the fans who have supported FOREIGNER throughout the years and continue to attend our concerts — I want you to know I appreciate your support; it always means so very much to me, but especially so at this point in my life.”
Mick is a Songwriters Hall Of Fame inductee, and Grammy and Golden Globe-nominated rock legend. Jones, also a recipient of the prestigious British Ivor Novello Songwriter Award for “The Flame Still Burns”, the soundtrack for the film “Still Crazy”, is the founding member of the British-American rock band FOREIGNER.
Jones is the creative force behind iconic rock and roll hits such as “I Want To Know What Love Is”, “Urgent”, “Cold As Ice”, “Hot Blooded” and “Waiting For A Girl Like You”. Formed in 1976, FOREIGNER has become one of the world’s best-selling groups, with global sales exceeding 80 million.
Michael Leslie Jones, known professionally as Mick Jones, was born and raised in England. He began playing the guitar as a teenager and formed his own blues/rock band. After opening for THE ROLLING STONES in South London pubs, Jones got his first significant break working for French hitmaker Sylvie Vartan, with whom he opened for THE BEATLES at the Olympia in Paris. He also accompanied Jimi Hendrix on tour in France.
Jones then became the musical director and songwriter for French rock icon Johnny Hallyday, contributing to some of Hallyday‘s biggest hits. Jones continued to work in France until 1971. George Harrison had encouraged him to move to New York, after which he reformed SPOOKY TOOTH with Gary Wright and played with THE LESLIE WEST BAND and George Harrison himself.
In 1976 Jones formed FOREIGNER. The group, comprised of two other Englishmen, Ian McDonald and Dennis Elliott, and three Americans, Lou Gramm, Al Greenwood and Ed Gagliardi, went on to release some of rock and roll’s most enduring classics, including “Cold As Ice”, “Feels Like The First Time”, “Long, Long Way From Home”, “Juke Box Hero”, “Hot Blooded”, “Waiting For A Girl Like You”, “Head Games”, “Say You Will” and the global No. 1 hit “I Want To Know What Love Is”.
With more top 10 hits than JOURNEY and as many as FLEETWOOD MAC, and 10 multi-platinum albums, FOREIGNER continues to chart on radio airplay and the Billboard 200 almost five decades later.
Outside of his work with the band, Jones has maintained a solo career as a producer, working with BAD COMPANY and producing the best-selling albums of Billy Joel (“Storm Front”) and VAN HALEN (“5150”). He co-wrote the Grammy Award-winning song “Bad Love” with Eric Clapton and “Dreamer” with Ozzy Osbourne.
In July 2023, FOREIGNER commenced its two-year farewell tour with a spectacularly successful headline run at Live Nation amphitheaters. The second part of the tour will begin in June 2024 with a 40-show adventure across America.
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