A classic rock singer from Upstate New York says he had to relearn how to talk after undergoing brain surgery.
Lou Gramm, the original voice of Foreigner, told the Rock & Roll High School podcast that he was diagnosed with a brain tumor called a craniopharyngioma nearly 30 years ago. The tumor was benign, but it had tentacles wrapped around his optic nerve and pituitary gland and made his adrenals defunct.
He underwent a 19-hour surgery that damaged his pituitary gland, leading to weight gain and a lengthy recovery before he could fully speak and sing again. His doctor encouraged him to take a year and a half off from performing, forcing Foreigner to cancel some tour dates in 1997.
“I had to re-learn how to talk,” Gramm told “Rock & Roll High School” host Pete Ganbarg. “Strangely enough, they rescheduled the tour about three weeks after I got outta surgery. And the doctor wanted me to not perform or travel for at least a year and a half because traveling with the air pressure in an airplane and just exerting myself when I’ve been through such a traumatic experience, he wanted to make sure everything was in order and running smoothly before I started performing again. But Foreigner‘s management had had booked the shows all over again about a month after I got outta the hospital.”
Gramm said he couldn’t remember the words to the songs when he returned to performing just two months later.
“I used to dance around a lot on stage. I planted my mic stand in one place and had the beginnings of the first three or four words of every verse written out in a semicircle around me. And we toured the world like that,” Gramm recalled.
The Upstate New York native is set to release his first new solo album in 17 years, “Released,” on March 27. It features 10 previously unreleased tracks originally written for other solo albums in the 1980s or Gramm’s side project Shadow King in 1991 but never finished.
Lou Gramm of Foreigner performs during the 39th Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
It will be his first full-length release of original music since The Lou Gramm Band’s self-titled LP in 2009. The songs feature Gramm’s former Black Sheep bandmate Bruce Turgon (who also played bass in Foreigner for about a decade), Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell, his brother Ben Grammatico on drums, Jeff Jacobs on keyboards, Scott Gilman on sax, Tony Franklin on bass, and Gary Hoey on guitar..
“These are powerful, heartfelt songs with a great vintage sound taken right from my old multitrack tapes. This new album was a long time coming and it’s a real nostalgia trip,” Gramm said in a statement. “When I pulled these songs out of the vault, I knew I had to finish them for my fans around the world so they can experience what I did when I first heard them after all these years.”
“It means a lot to me to finally see this album released, to be taken back in time when I hear this music again, to remember working with all these great musicians, and to feel that my catalog is now complete.”
Gramm was the original lead singer of Foreigner, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group known for 1970s and ‘80s hits like “I Want to Know What Love Is,” “Hot Blooded,” “Feels Like the First Time,” “Waiting for a Girl Like You,” and “Cold As Ice.” Gramm, a Rochester native who currently lives in Webster, N.Y., co-founded the band with guitarist Mick Jones; they were also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame together.
Gramm left Foreigner in 1990 and again in 2003, opting for a solo career. He released two solo albums, “Ready or Not” in 1987 and “Long Hard Look” in 1989, featuring songs like “Midnight Blue” and “Just Between You and Me.” He also performed with Black Sheep and Poor Heart; released albums with Shadow King (with Campbell) in 1991 and The Lou Gramm Band in 2009; and shared reissues and compilations of previously released material (like 1993’s “A Foreigner in a Strange Land (The Early Years)” and most recently “Questions and Answers: The Atlantic Anthology 1987-1989″ in 2021).
The 75-year-old singer has reunited with Foreigner as a guest vocalist at some concerts over the past year, including to promote a reissue of the 1981 album “4″ and to celebrate the band’s upcoming 50th anniversary. The current lineup features singer Luis Maldonado, bassist Jeff Pilson, keyboardist Michael Bluestein, guitarist Bruce Watson and drummer Chris Frazier; former lead singer Kelly Hansen stepped down in October after 20 years with Foreigner.
Luis Maldonado, Lou Gramm, and Jeff Pilson perform “I Want to Know What Love Is” during the Foreigner 4 The Deluxe Tour with Lou Gramm at The Capital Theatre on December 3, 2025 in Port Chester, New York.(Photo by Joy Malone/Getty Images)
Jones is the only original member that’s still officially in Foreigner, though he hasn’t performed live since 2022 due to his battle with Parkinson’s disease.
Gramm told Ultimate Classic Rock in October that he plans to retire next year sometime after releasing his solo album.
“I’ve been doing this over 54 years,” Gramm told UCR. “I just feel like there’s some other things that I want to do. I want to spend more time with my children — my older children and my younger child — and spend more time playing with my cars while I’m still capable of driving.”
“[I’d like to] just stay off the road and enjoy my home, the surroundings and my family and friends, something that I’ve had to sacrifice for over 50 years,” he adds. “I’ve done all there is to do I feel. And being in the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are huge milestones for me. You know, I think in this business, you just know when it’s time.”