best Foreigner songs (A-Z) ↓↓↓

Foreigner info & bio

Foreigner is a British-American rock band formed in New York City in 1976 by guitarist Mick Jones, vocalist Lou Gramm, drummer Dennis Elliott, keyboardist Al Greenwood, bassist Ed Gagliardi, and multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald, the last of whom was also a founding member of King Crimson. Foreigner is one of the world's best-selling bands of all time, with worldwide sales exceeding 80 million records, including 37.5 million in the United States.

Jones came up with the band's name because he, Elliott, and McDonald were British, while Gramm, Greenwood, and Gagliardi were American, meaning at least half of the band members would be considered foreigners regardless of the country they were in.

In 1977, Foreigner released its self-titled debut album, the first of six consecutive albums (including the 7× platinum 1982 greatest hits album Records) to be certified multi-platinum and reach the Top 10 in the US. The album produced two US Top 10 singles, "Feels Like the First Time" and "Cold as Ice". Their 1978 follow-up, Double Vision, was even more successful and included two more US hits: "Hot Blooded" and the title track.

Rick Wills replaced Gagliardi on bass before Foreigner recorded their third album, Head Games (1979), which featured the US Top 20 singles "Dirty White Boy" and the title track. After the departures of McDonald and Greenwood, reducing the band to a quartet, their next album, 4 (1981), hit No. 1 for 10 weeks in the US and became Foreigner's breakthrough album in the UK, where it reached the Top 5. The album produced three hit singles: "Urgent", "Waiting for a Girl Like You", and "Juke Box Hero".

In 1984, Foreigner released their fifth studio album, Agent Provocateur, which reached No. 1 in the UK and included their biggest hit single, "I Want to Know What Love Is". The song topped the charts in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, reached No. 3 in Germany, and made the Top 10 in numerous other countries. A second hit from the album, "That Was Yesterday", went Top 20 in the US.

After a break, Foreigner released Inside Information in 1987. Despite two more US Top 10 hits with "Say You Will" and "I Don't Want to Live Without You", it became their first album not to achieve multi-platinum certification or reach the Top 10 in the US, achieving single platinum sales and peaking at No. 15.

Since 1990, the band has undergone several lineup changes, including the departures of Elliott and Wills in 1991. Gramm left the band in 1990, returned in 1992, and departed again in 2003. The three studio albums released during this period—Unusual Heat (1991), Mr. Moonlight (1994), and Can't Slow Down (2009)—were not major commercial successes. However, the 1992 greatest hits album, The Very Best ... and Beyond, which included three new songs, achieved 2× platinum certification in the US and gold certification in the UK.

Since 2003, Mick Jones has been the only founding member actively involved with Foreigner, though the band has occasionally toured without him in recent years. Two founding members, Ed Gagliardi and Ian McDonald, passed away in 2014 and 2022, respectively. Since 2013, there have been occasional quasi-reunion tours, concerts, and guest appearances featuring varying combinations of former band members, including Gramm, Elliott, Wills, Greenwood, and (before his death) McDonald.

On October 19, 2024, Foreigner was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.