Original FOREIGNER Singer LOU GRAMM Hospitalized With Severe Respiratory Infection, Dehydration And Fatigue

Lou Gramm, original lead singer of FOREIGNER, was hospitalized at the Unity Hospital at Park Ridge in Rochester, New York last week with a severe respiratory infection, dehydration and fatigue. He hoped to be ready to appear during the FOREIGNER "Double Vision: Then & Now" tour and some scheduled shows with ASIA. Unfortunately, at his recent follow-up appointment, his doctor pronounced him unable to perform at these shows.

Gramm stated: "I'm very disappointed about not being able to perform at the FOREIGNER 'Double Vision: Then & Now' shows for all the fans. My doctor insists if I pushed myself to perform, I would be in big trouble. So doctor's orders, I ride the bench. Rock on!"

Fellow original band member Mick Jones expressed: "We will all miss Lou at our upcoming shows and we join all his family, friends, and fans in wishing him a speedy recovery."

The FOREIGNER "Double Vision: Then & Now" tour will go on with other original members as they join Jones and the current lineup of FOREIGNER when they perform at Mohegan Sun Arena on October 3 at 7:30 p.m. If fans wish for refunds on tickets; an option for refunds is possible and can be received at point of purchase prior to the start of the show.

Last November's "Double Vision: Then And Now" concerts — which were held in Los Angeles, California; Rancho Mirage, California; Atlantic City, New Jersey; and Uncasville, Connecticut — featured current and original members of FOREIGNER, including Jones, drummer Dennis Elliott, keyboardist Al Greenwood, bassist Rick Wills and guitarist/saxophonist Ian McDonald.

Asked what it was like to perform with FOREIGNER again, Gramm told "The Eddie Trunk Podcast": "It's been sensational. There were a few of the [original FOREIGNER] guys that stopped playing after [the original lineup disbanded]. And when the talk of the reunion was brought up and everybody was excited about it, I was worried that if we played live, their deficiencies would show. But we had about three or four months from the time we decided to play till the time we actually played, and the guys who hadn't played dug up their equipment and started practicing. And I think that first show as a reunion, they sounded better than they ever did when the band was together. So you never know."

Gramm went on to say that he isn't opposed to the current version of FOREIGNER continuing to perform the music that he helped create.

"I'm very, very proud of the music," he said. "Mick and I, right off the bat, were a very potent and creative writing team. And that didn't stop for years and years. And I understand that when we stopped performing together that he still had the itch to keep a band going. So he started the current version of FOREIGNER. And I understand that. I can't say I'm thrilled with it, but I understand it. So by having the original band onstage with the current band gives the audience… There's a large portion of the audiences, I think, that may have never heard the original band, 'cause it's been a while. By the response that the original band has received at the live shows, I was kind of stunned when we finished our last song, and the applause was thunderous and people got out out of their seats. I did not expect that."

FOREIGNER's first-ever ticketed reunion concert featuring all original members took place in August 2018 at The Sturgis Buffalo Chip in Sturgis, South Dakota.

Gramm and Jones's June 2013 performance of "I Want To Know What Love Is" and "Juke Box Hero" at the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in New York City marked the first time the pair performed together in a decade after Gramm left FOREIGNER for a second time. Kelly Hansen has fronted the group since 2005. Jones is the sole remaining founding member in FOREIGNER's current lineup.