FEMME FATALE's LORRAINE LEWIS Says Her Duet With 'Iconic' Singer Will 'Probably' Be Released In Late February

In a new interview with Rev. Tom Brice of Sportzwire RadioLorraine Lewis was asked about a possible 2026 arrival of a new full-length album from her long-running band FEMME FATALE, after the recent release of two singles, "Bad Love" and "Living Like There's No Tomorrow", via Cleopatra Records. She said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, absolutely. That is the plan. We've been dropping singles and videos. I know that there's a new single and video coming out with a really prominent rock artist singer. I can't mention [the artist's name] yet. That's coming out probably late February. I'm really excited about that. It's being mixed and mastered as we speak. It's a duet with an iconic singer. So stay tuned for that, everybody. I'm really excited. And then I have been in the studio, again with Scott Gutierrez, laying down my lead vocals. There is a song coming out that I love. I'm just gonna say the title of it — it's called 'Somebody', and it was written by Tommy Henriksen, who plays with Alice Cooper, Steve Brown [TRIXTER guitarist/producer, who is producing the FEMME FATALE album] and myself. And oh my God. So Steve actually messaged me this morning. He showed himself singing the chorus in the studio this morning and putting backing vocals on it. But I love the song. I really, really love the song."

Lorraine continued: "I'm so fortunate, I'm so lucky to be working with Steve, 'cause Steve knows everybody. And he brings in [a lot of guest musicians] to work on the tracks. And I'm just so grateful, I can't even tell you. But, yeah, sometime this year after we have dropped all of the singles and videos, we will gather everything up and a full album will be released on Cleopatra Records."

Last November, Lewis told George Dionne of The Rock Is George podcast about her plan of releasing several singles prior to the arrival of a full-length album: "Look, we could have done it a bunch of different ways. We could have done it old school, recorded an album and released it, and then you've got, like, four to six weeks to make a splash and hope that something catches fire. So, the way we are doing it, Steve and I, we decided, and Cleopatra agreed, is that we just kind of stay in the news. So every eight to 10, 11 weeks, we drop a single and a video, and it's, like, 'Oh, there's FEMME FATALE again.' … We have another single to drop that is ready to go, which actually… I'm gonna say what it is. It's the FEMME FATALE 'Falling In And Out Of Love' that has been re-recorded. And it's in the same key. It's badass. Steve just brought it. It's so huge sounding. It's massive. And I do wanna say Bruno Ravel has mixed and mastered all of the tracks. And I was thinking about that this morning. I was on my walk this morning, and I was thinking about the mixes and how they're mastered. And Bruno just has this thing that they're crunchy. The traps are crunchy and there's this frequency that sounds so radio to me. No matter what the tracks are, there's this thing that he does. I don't know how he does it. I just know when I listen to 'Bad Love' or 'Living Like There's No Tomorrow', it's there, this crispness, and it's yummy. It's radio to my ear, and I just want more of it. So shout-out to Bruno — great at mix and master."

She continued: "So that is the plan — dropping this stuff so that I stay in your face, if you will, as we go along. And then we gather everything up, and we'll drop an album [in 2026]. We have about — I wanna say we have six tracks in total that are 'done done'. There's also a duet that is coming out next year. And I will say originally it was [supposed to be] with [former FOREIGNER singer] Lou Gramm. And then Lou got super busy. We had recorded a song together, 'Heroes', and then Lou got really busy — [taking part in the FOREIGNER] Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, and now he's on tour with FOREIGNER and doing all of these amazing things. So instead of just kind of waiting and sitting on it, we've made some other arrangements, and the vocals are done with another heavyweight artist that I think people are gonna be kind of blown away that I recorded this song with this badass that is iconic — honestly, iconic. And I can't wait for people to hear the track. So, it is 'Heroes', but it is with someone special. And I am going to have Scott Gilman put some saxophone on the track, and then Steve and I will be putting some backup vocals on it. But I'm hoping that will come out in February."

The official music video for "Bad Love", which was directed by Vicente Cordero and shot by David Hernandez, can be seen below.

Written by Lorraine, Brown and guitarist David Julian, "Bad Love", she previously said, "is about that magnetic kind of connection you know isn't good for you, but you keep going back anyway. It's messy, it's addictive and it's real. I wanted to capture that push-and-pull between desire and self-preservation. We've all been there. We see the red flag and still jump in headfirst... but if that red flag's on fire? Baby, that's your cue to run."

"Bad Love" also features the rhythm section of Joey Cassata on drums and Sean McNabb on bass, plus what Lorraine described as "a slaying guitar solo" from former GUNS N' ROSES guitarist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal.

Regarding her collaboration with Brown, Lewis told Rev. Tom Brice of Sportzwire Radio: "A lot of people are working with Steve, because Steve is an amazing producer. It was last year that Steve reached out to me. He was just coming off the success of [Ace Frehley's] '10,000 Volts' album. [The '10,000 Volts' title track is a] great, great song. That and 'Cherry Medicine' I loved off the album. Classic Ace but in 2024. It was great."

She continued: "I'm just so lucky that Steve reached out to me. Steve and I were labelmates back in the day on MCA. We've also done the cruises together. We've known each other a long time. And so he reached out to me and said, 'Hey, let's do an album.' And I said, 'Let's go.' So the first song was 'Living Like There's No Tomorrow'. He had the chorus ready to go. I immediately was, like, 'Oh, this is such a great anthem.' And it just spoke to me then with everything that had gone on in the previous months before we started working together."

"Living Like There's No Tomorrow" was written by Lewis and Brown, who also produced the song at his Mojo Vegas 6160 studio in New Jersey. The track was engineered by Brown and Scott Gutierrez and was mixed by Bruno Ravel.

"Living Like There's No Tomorrow" features Brown and David Julian on guitars, with the guitar solo played by R.J. Ronquillo, and drums played by Kent Slucher.

FEMME FATALE released a self-titled MCA album in 1988 which produced two big rock singles and MTV videos: "Waiting For The Big One" and "Falling In And Out of Love".

The 67-year-old Lewis reactivated FEMME FATALE after a nearly six-year run as the lead vocalist of VIXEN, whom she was invited to join in 2019. Lorraine has also been recording with Lou Gramm, the original FOREIGNER lead singer and Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer. They have recorded an interpretation of David Bowie's "Heroes".

Lewis was fired from VIXEN in May 2024 and was replaced by Rosa Laricchiuta.

In January 2019, VIXEN recruited Lewis as its new lead singer following the departure of Janet Gardner.

Lewis had already performed with VIXEN in March 2018 in Durant, Oklahoma while Gardner was recovering from surgery.

A collection of demos for what was supposed to be FEMME FATALE's second album, "One More For The Road", was released in 2016 via FnA Records. The demos were recorded back in 1989/1990 with the original bandmembers and had never seen the light of day until more than a quarter century later.

"One More For The Road" contained 14 tracks, including a version of Janis Joplin's "Piece Of My Heart".

FEMME FATALE released a live album in April 2024, "Demos + Live", that also included five demo tracks and a cover of AC/DC's "It's A Long Way To The Top".

In a recent interview with Jeff Gaudiosi of MisplacedStraws.com, Lewis stated about the current FEMME FATALE lineup: "Well, it's all guys, for one thing. I've had a wonderful time being with the ladies of rock and roll — do not get me wrong — I've had a major blast. But FEMME FATALE originally was myself and four rocking guys, and we're getting back to the roots of that.

"Look, we can't go back to the '80s — I don't wanna do that — but I do want to be the front person, the leader of the pack that has these great rocking guys in back of me," she explained. "And so we're getting back to that look, getting back to that sound."

Photo credit: Ron Lyon (courtesy of Cleopatra Records / Schneider Rondan Organization)