Also, (keyboard player) Al Greenwood joined. I had a list of people that I wanted to work with-(drummer) Dennis Elliott was the first member when it came to rehearsing my songs. We’d turn up everyday at his office, with a stream of different people coming through. My manager (Bud Prager) had a studio in his office, and it was like a very homegrown type of situation. Jones: Yes, I held auditions in New York.

One of those songs was “Feels Like The First Time.”ĭK: Is that when you put the band together? Before I knew it, I had two or three songs, and I wondered what to do with them.

It was then, that maybe out of desperation, I’d started to write songs and feel really creative. So I was stuck in New York and I thought, I’d better do something here, otherwise I’m just going to head back to England and see what I could piece together as a career. Here’s the original video of Foreigner’s hit “I Want To Know I’d gotten a lot of experience working with Spooky Tooth, but there were too many ex-musical problems with personnel and stuff like that. So I was kind of left high and dry in New York. At the time, Gary Wright was basically the leader of Spooky Tooth, and he had left to do his (solo) album, Dreamweaver. I was kind of left in New York…stranded almost (laughs). But eventually, things kind of disintegrated. So we’d come over to tour and base ourselves in America, and that was good for a little while. We recorded a couple of albums over here. Mick Jones: Well, I had come to America with Spooky Tooth in the early ’70s. He has also written songs with Eric Clapton and Duncan Sheik.ĭK: Back in the 1970s, you had already worked with Johnny Halladay and Spooky Tooth. He co-produced Billy Joel’s Storm Front album (which included the hit “We Didn’t Start The Fire”) and Van Halen’s 5150 album (which Included the hits “Why Can’t This Be Love” and “Dreams”). In addition to his work with Foreigner, Jones has produced and/or written songs for other artists. FOREIGNER (Mick Jones, pictured left) (photo credit: Bill Bernstein)įoreigner’s current lineup includes Jones (lead guitar), Kelly Hansen (lead vocals), Jeff Pilson (bass), Thom Gimbel (rhythm guitar & sax), Michael Bluestein (keyboards), Bruce Watson (guitar) and Chris Frazier (drums). Impressively, in 2013 Jones and Gramm were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, for writing Foreigner’s classic songs. Foreigner had nine Top 10 hits, including the #1 hit ballad “I Want To Know What Love Is,” “Feels Like The First Time,” “Cold As Ice,” “Hot Blooded,” “Double Vision,” “Urgent,” “Waiting for a Girl Like You,” “Say You Will” and “I Don’t Want to Live Without You.” Their other Top 40 hits were “Long, Long Way from Home,” “Blue Morning, Blue Day,” “Dirty White Boy,” “Head Games,” “Juke Box Hero,” “Break It Up” and “That Was Yesterday.” Subsequently, the band went on to sell 75 million albums and had 16 singles which became Top 40 U.S. In 1977, they signed with Atlantic Records and released their debut album, Foreigner. Jones assembled the band’s original lineup, which included Lou Gramm (lead singer & co-writer), Dennis Elliott (drums), Ian McDonald (rhythm guitar & keyboards), Al Greenwood (keyboards) and Ed Gagliardi (bass). After leaving Spooky Tooth, he wrote some key songs which included “Feels Like The First Time,” which became Foreigner’s debut hit single. Jones formed Foreigner in 1976, after first working with French star Johnny Halladay and British rock band, Spooky Tooth. Here’s an excerpt of our interview with Mick Jones of Foreigner, who tells how he wrote his classic hit song, “I Want To Know What Love Is.” But before we start the interview, here’s a brief rundown of the band’s history and hit discography. We are pleased to do this new Q&A interview with Mick Jones, which focuses on how he wrote or co-wrote the band’s classic hit songs. Foreigner’s concert will also mark the release of their live acoustic album, In Concert: Unplugged. This show, which is in partnership with the GRAMMY Foundation, will help raise money for music in school programs. Notably, on October 25 they will be performing at the famed Carnegie Hall in New York City for the first time. concert tour called The Hits Unplugged, where they are performing acoustic versions of their hit songs. Jones continues to lead Foreigner, which remains a very active, touring band. Foreigner is best known for their classic rock hits from the late ’70s and 1980s, including “Urgent,” “I Want To Know What Love Is,” “Feels Like The First Time,” “Hot Blooded,” “Waiting For A Girl Like You” and “Cold As Ice.” He recruited the band members, and he’s written or co-written all of the group’s hit songs. Mick Jones, founder, songwriter & lead guitarist for Foreigner, has been the band’s driving force since its inception 40 years ago.

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