Lou Gramm Explains Decision to End Solo Live Career
Lou Gramm has explained his decision to end his solo live career, after announcing onstage last month that the show he’d just performed had been his last.
The former Foreigner singer said he plans to keep appearing onstage on occasion, and added that he was continuing to work on the release of previously unheard material.
“When I left Foreigner in 2003, I put together my own band and I’ve been playing with various versions of that band, on and off,” Gramm, 68, told WXXI. “I decided that I’ve been doing this for over 45 years, and we have a little one at home, and I wanted to spend time at home with [wife] Robyn, and my baby girl’s name is Luciana. … She’s a little redhead and she’s feisty and sweet and so much fun to be around.”
He added that it wasn't a difficult decision when the moment came. “I thought it would be," he said. "But I’ve talked to some professionals in sports, and they tell me that they knew when it was time. And it wasn’t because their skills were diminished; they just knew it was time to change courses.”
Turning to his plans for the future, Gramm noted he would still "be doing occasional shows with Foreigner. And there’s other configurations. I do a show as a guest vocalist with Asia and there’s a few other things that pop up every now and then,” including European tours where classic rock tracks are performed with an orchestra. “That kind of thing sounds real interesting on ‘Juke Box Hero and things like ‘Cold as Ice’ and stuff,” he added.
Gramm also confirmed that, along with all-new songs, he was continuing work on material he’d started writing years ago. “Back in the days when I did my solo albums, I put 10 songs on the album," he said. "There were probably 13 songs, and the other three weren't finished. And so those songs would be not put on the album … [so] there's about another album's worth of songs that were never finished. And what I’m doing is finishing them three at a time and putting them where they can be downloaded.”