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Gary Gagliardi Biography & Facts

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 of more than 80 million records, including 37.5 million in the US. Jones came up with the band's name as he, Elliott and McDonald were British, while Gramm, Greenwood and Gagliardi were American, meaning at least half of the band would be foreigners no matter what country they were in. In 1977, Foreigner released its self-titled debut album, the first of six consecutive albums (including the 7x platinum 1982 greatest hits album Records) to be certified multi-platinum and go Top 10 in the US. The album produced two US Top 10 singles in "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 in "Hot Blooded" and the title track. Rick Wills replaced Gagliardi on bass before Foreigner recorded their third album, Head Games (1979), which included the US Top 20 singles "Dirty White Boy" and the title track. After the departures of McDonald and Greenwood reduced the band to a quartet, their next album 4 (1981) hit No. 1 for 10 weeks in the US, and became Foreigner's break-through album in the UK, going Top 5 there. The album produced three hit singles: "Urgent", "Waiting for a Girl Like You" and "Juke Box Hero". In 1984, Foreigner issued 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", a No. 1 hit in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, No. 3 in Germany and 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 (1987). Despite two more US Top 10 hits in "Say You Will" and "I Don't Want to Live Without You", it became their first album not to go multi-platinum or Top 10 in the US, achieving single platinum sales and peaking at No. 15. Since 1990, the band has undergone several more line-up changes, including the departures of Elliot and Wills in 1991, while Gramm left the band in 1990, returned in 1992 and left again in 2003. The three studio albums the band have released during these years - Unusual Heat (1991), Mr. Moonlight (1994), and Can't Slow Down (2009) - were not major sellers, although the 1992 greatest hits album The Very Best ... and Beyond, which included three new songs, did go 2x platinum in the US and gold in the UK. Since 2003, Mick Jones has been the only founding member still involved with Foreigner, though there have been several instances of the band touring without him in recent years. Two of the founding members, Ed Gagliardi and Ian McDonald, died in 2014 and 2022 respectively. Since 2013, there have been occasional quasi-reunion tours, concerts, and other guest appearances from varying combinations of former band members Gramm, Elliot, Wills, Greenwood, and (before his death) McDonald. In 2024, Foreigner was selected as a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. Band history Formation and debut album (1976-1977) Since its beginning, Foreigner has been led by English musician Mick Jones, a former member of Nero and the Gladiators, Johnny Hallyday's band, Spooky Tooth, and the Leslie West band. After the collapse of the Leslie West Band in 1976, Jones found himself stranded in New York City; West's manager, Bud Prager, encouraged Jones to continue his songwriting and rehearse a band of his own in some space Prager had near his New York office. Jones got together with New York keyboardist Al Greenwood, who had just played with former Flash members Colin Carter and Mike Hough in a group called Storm, drummer Stan Williams and Louisiana bassist Jay Davis, who later performed with Rod Stewart, and began jamming. Another friend, Stories singer Ian Lloyd, was brought in to sing but Jones decided the chemistry was not quite right and retained only Greenwood as he renewed his search for players. During a session for Ian Lloyd's album, Jones met up with transplanted Englishman and ex-King Crimson member Ian McDonald and another session for Ian Hunter unearthed another fellow Brit in drummer Dennis Elliott. But after auditioning about forty or fifty singers, they found that the right vocalist was becoming harder to come by until Jones pulled out a Black Sheep album given to him backstage at a 1974 Spooky Tooth concert by that group's lead singer, Lou Gramm. Jones put in a call to Gramm, who was back in his hometown of Rochester, New York, after Black Sheep's breakup, and sent him a plane ticket to New York City. Gramm proved to be the missing piece of the puzzle and Brooklyn bassist Ed Gagliardi completed the new sextet. A name, "Trigger", was tentatively agreed to and was the name that appeared on their demo tape, but it was passed on by all the record companies it was delivered to. John Kalodner, a former journalist and radio programmer who was working in A&R at Atlantic Records, happened to spot a tape on Atlantic president Jerry L. Greenberg's desk with the Trigger identification on it. Kalodner had just been to hear an outfit called Trigger and realized that this was not the same band. He convinced Greenberg that at least one of the songs on the tape could be a big hit and to look into signing this group immediately. Because the Trigger name was already taken, Jones came up with the Foreigner moniker from the fact that no matter what country they were in, three would be foreigners, because he, McDonald and Elliott were English, while Gramm, Greenwood and Gagliardi were American. In November 1976, after six months of rehearsals, the newly named Foreigner started recording their debut album with producers John Sinclair and Gary Lyons at The Hit Factory but switched to Atlantic Recording Studios where they finished recording the basic tracks and completed the overdubs. The first attempt at mixing the album was done at Sarm Studios in London. But because of the band's dissatisfaction with the results, the album was remixed back at Atlantic by Mick Jones, Ian McDonald and Jimmy Douglass. Bud Prager signed on as the group's manager, and continued in that capacity for the next 17 years. The band's debut, Foreigner, was released in March 1977 and was certified for sales of five million copies in the United States, staying in the top 20 for a year with a peak at No. 4. It also made the top 10 in both Canada and Australia and went to No. 1 in Norway. Foreigner had three significant hits in North America with "Feels Like the First Time" hitting No. 4 in the US and No. 7 in Canada, "Cold as Ice" reaching No. 6 and No. 9 in the countries and "Long, Long Way from Home" peaking at No. 20. "Cold as Ice" was also.... Discover the Gary Gagliardi popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Gary Gagliardi books.