foreigner

Formed in 1976 in New York by British guitarist Mick Jones, American singer Lou Gramm, and former members of King Crimson, Foreigner belongs to the wave of British rock rooted in the United States, straddling hard rock, FM rock, and AOR. The band quickly established a sound blending hefty guitars, melodic keyboards, and choruses built for big arenas, with tracks like “Feels Like the First Time,” “Cold as Ice,” and “Hot Blooded.” The albums Foreigner (1977), Double Vision (1978), and Head Games (1979) put the group on the international map, while 4 (1981) and Agent Provocateur (1984) pushed further toward rock ballads and radio‑friendly formats, epitomized by “Urgent,” “Waiting for a Girl Like You,” and “I Want to Know What Love Is.” Through the 1980s and 1990s, Foreigner went through several lineup changes and continued its discography with Inside Information (1987), Unusual Heat (1991), and Mr. Moonlight (1994), before returning to the studio with Can’t Slow Down (2009). With Mick Jones, the sole remaining founding member, at the helm, Foreigner then focused on touring, became a fixture on festival stages and classic‑rock venues, and kept refreshing an onstage repertoire largely associated with the mainstream rock of the 1970s and 1980s.