In a recent interview with VRP Rocks, Lou Gramm opened up about Mick Jones’ efforts to bring him back to Foreigner.
“I’m not sure Atlantic gave me the support that I thought they should have because as soon as ‘Midnight Blue’ broke into the top five, I had friends in Atlantic Records, the office is there and one of them called me and he said, ‘I’m saying this under anonymity,'” the singer explained.
Gramm went on to say, “He said, ‘Mick just had a big meeting with Ahmet Ertegun.’ That’s the chairman of the chairman of WEA (Warner-Elektra-Atlantic) and the gist of the meeting was that if Lou’s solo album reaches a very popular stage, he’ll never come back to Foreigner.”
“That’s what Mick holds on to it. So, suddenly after ‘Midnight Blue,’ the next song that came out was… I can’t remember what it was but it was ‘Ready or Not.’ It was the title track and it did okay and then, the third single disappeared after two weeks,” the rocker added.
He also pointed out, “They didn’t promote it. They didn’t promote it because Mick told him that he was sure I would come back to the band if the album didn’t do well.”
Gramm also believes Jones sabotaged his supergroup, Shadow King. He formed it in the early ’90s with Vivian Campbell and Bruce Turgon. Despite excitement around their debut album, it failed to sell well. Gramm thinks Atlantic Records didn’t support the band enough.
The vocalist told Eddie Trunk, “I was told that, just before the album came out, Mick [Jones] had a talk with (label co-founder) Ahmet Ertegun, the chairman of WEA (Warner-Elektra-Atlantic) and whoever at the time was the president of Atlantic, and told them that if Shadow King achieved success, then Lou will never come back with Foreigner.”
“We were ready to go on the road for the long haul because we were so stoked about the material, attitude, and imagery of the band,” he also previously shared with UCR. “Atlantic [Records] did not do us right.”
Shadow King disbanded in late 1991 and never released another album. Gramm rejoined Foreigner the following year.
