Foreigner Founders Talk About Reconnecting

On June 13th, Foreigner co-founders Lou Gramm and Mick Jones will reunite in Manhattan for their induction into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame, marking the first time the pair has performed together in a decade when Gramm left Foreigner for a second time. Gramm has just released his critically acclaimed autobiography, Juke Box Hero: My Five Decades In Rock N' Roll, which deals with his often tumultuous relationship with Jones and his recovery from both his battle with substance abuse and near fatal brain tumor in 1997.

Gramm spoke to Ultimate Classic Rock about reaching out to Mick Jones upon hearing the news that the pair would be receiving the highest honor a songwriter can achieve: "I made the first phone call. I just called him and congratulated him on the award. I think he was taken aback a little bit, but he congratulated me and I think that kind of broke the ice. We went right into asking how each other's kids are and then got right down to how we were going to approach our end of the music for the show."

He went on to explain: "We spoke and it was a very cordial conversation. . . it will be him and I and the house band at the award show. We're going to rehearse the day before the show and soundcheck the day of the show and do it. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. There were a lot of years of no communication leading up to this. How hard was it to work past that and put it all aside to get back in touch?"