An Upstate New York music legend has finally been nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
The 2024 Rock Hall nominees were announced Saturday, including Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Eric B. & Rakim, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Jane’s Addiction, Kool & The Gang, Lenny Kravitz, Oasis, Sinead O’Connor, Ozzy Osbourne, Sade, and A Tribe Called Quest.
Ten of those 15 artists are appearing on the ballot for the first time, including Foreigner — one of the best-selling rock bands of all time with more than 80 million records sold worldwide. The group had been eligible since 2002, making them one of the Rock Hall’s biggest snubs of the past two decades.
Original Foreigner singer Lou Gramm, a Rochester native who lives in the suburb of Webster, N.Y., would be inducted with bandmates Dennis Elliott, Ed Gagliardi, Al Greenwood, Mick Jones, Ian McDonald, and Rick Wills. Jones, 79, is the only active member but has stopped touring with Foreigner, according to Billboard.
“I deeply appreciate the recognition from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (nominating) committee,” Jones told Billboard. “It is wonderful that Foreigner has maintained its presence all these years and brought the music to our fans. Getting this news is an incredible endorsement of what we have achieved over time.”
“We’re more than thrilled,” Wills, 76, added. “It’s been over 20 years since we’ve been waiting for this day. I suppose we were frustrated, to be perfectly honest, but we tried to hide it as best we could because we didn’t want to appear like we were sad people [laughs].”
Gramm, a graduate of Gates-Chili High School and Monroe Community College, co-founded Foreigner with Jones, Elliott, Greenwood, Gagliardi, and McDonald in 1976. Wills replaced Gagliardi on bass in 1979, and performed on some of the band’s biggest albums, including “Head Games,” “4″ and “Agent Provocateur.”
Gramm, 73, was the original voice of Foreigner hits like “Hot Blooded,” “Cold As Ice,” “Feels Like the First Time,” “I Want to Know What Love Is,” “Waiting for a Girl Like You,” “Urgent” and “Juke Box Hero.” He and Jones were inducted together in the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2013.
Gramm officially left Foreigner in 1990 but continued performing as a solo artist and with a group of local musicians known as The Lou Gramm Band and Lou Gramm All Stars. He said he was retiring in 2017, joking that he might “get a part-time job at Wegmans.”
Gramm made limited appearances with Foreigner in the past decade due to health issues. Gagliardi died in 2014 and McDonald died in 2022.
Foreigner’s music has been featured on TV shows like “Stranger Things,” “The Simpsons” and “Miami Vice”; influenced a long list of artists from Bon Jovi and Melissa Etheridge to Mark Ronson; and still remains popular today. The band, currently on a farewell tour led by singer Kelly Hansen, drew one of the largest crowds in New York State Fair concert history with 38,000 fans in 2022.
To be eligible for nomination, an individual artist or band must have released its first commercial recording at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination. Only Cher, Peter Frampton, and Kool & The Gang have been eligible longer than Foreigner among this year’s nominees. Other first-time nominees include Carey, Cher, Kravitz, Oasis, O’Connor, Osbourne (who was previously inducted as a member of Black Sabbath) and Sade.
“This remarkable list of Nominees reflects the diverse artists and music that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame honors and celebrates,” said John Sykes, Chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. “Continuing in the true spirit of Rock & Roll, these artists have created their own sounds that have impacted generations and influenced countless others that have followed in their footsteps.”
Inductees will be announced in late April, according to the Rock Hall. The 2024 induction ceremony will be held in Cleveland later this year, airing live on Disney+ with a special airing on ABC at a later date that will be available on Hulu the next day.
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