Lou Gramm

Lou Gramm (born Louis A. Grammatico on May 2, 1950 in Rochester, New York) is an American rock vocalist and songwriter. He was the lead vocalist for the rock band Foreigner for over 27 years and also had a successful solo career. Lou is now recording and touring with the Lou Gramm Band.

Gramm began his musical career in his mid-teens, playing in local Rochester bands, including St. James Infirmary (later The Infirmary), and PHFFT. He later sang harmony vocals in another local band, Poor Heart; then went on to sing and play drums, and to eventually become frontman for the band Black Sheep. Black Sheep had the distinction of being the first American band signed to the Chrysalis label, which released their first single, "Stick Around" (1973). Soon after this success, Black Sheep signed with Capitol Records, releasing two albums in succession S/T (1974) and Encouraging Words (1975).

With his powerful vocals, Lou Grammatico became Lou Gramm as frontman for the band initially known as "Trigger," and later renamed Foreigner and became one of the most successful rock vocalists of the late 1970s and 1980s. Gramm was the lead vocalist on many of Foreigner’s hit songs, including "Feels Like The First Time", "Cold As Ice", "Hot Blooded", "Urgent", "Double Vision", "Juke Box Hero", "Head Games", "Dirty White Boy" and "Say You Will". The band achieved two of its biggest hits with the ballads "Waiting for a Girl Like You", which spent ten weeks at 2 on the 1981 American singles charts, and "I Want to Know What Love Is", which was a number 1 hit internationally in 1984.

In 1987 Gramm released his first solo album, Ready or Not, which received critical acclaim and contained a top five hit single with "Midnight Blue". This was followed by a late 1987 Foreigner album Inside Information and, eventually, a second solo effort, Long Hard Look, that included the top ten hit, "Just Between You and Me", and "True Blue Love", which reached the Top 40. Gramm also performed the title song from the 1987 movie The Lost Boys, titled "Lost in the Shadows."

Shadow King was another of Lou’s projects which released its self-titled album on the Atlantic label in 1991. It remains a cult classic among hard rock and heavy metal fans worldwide. With its evocative hooks and melodies, outstanding keyboards and guitars, and the ever powerful vocals of Lou Gramm, it is truly one of the best hard rock releases of the 90s.

Gramm returned to Foreigner in 1992 to record three new songs for the compilation, The Very Best of ... and Beyond, bringing a new energy back into the mix. In 1994, the group released the album Mr. Moonlight on the Rhythm Safari label.

In April 1997, two months after providing vocals for Christian rock band Petra’s Petra Praise 2: We Need Jesus, and on the eve Foreigner was to leave for a Japan tour, Gramm was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Surgery was successful and Lou continued to tour with Foreigner until late 2002.

In 2003, Gramm once again split from Foreigner to rejuvenate his solo career. Following the death of both his father and mother, Bennie and Nikki Grammatico (he a trumpeter and bandleader, she a singer for his Big Band, The Gateswingers), Gramm fulfilled a lifelong wish of his parents that their three musical sons might someday make their music together. Gramm and his brothers, Ben and Richard, formed the current lineup of the Lou Gramm Band (also known as "LGB"). The band has been touring the U.S., Canada, and Mexico steadily since January 2004, as well as occasional dates off the continent...and the touring continues. Lou, Ben, and Richard, with friends Don Mancuso and Andy Knoll, play a retrospective of Gramm’s work with Foreigner, his solo material, plus a few personal favorites of their own. In addition, the band has taken on Christian rock. The Lou Gramm Band will soon release a Christian rock album, which is currently in production, on the Spectra label.