Foreigner Talks New Singer, Spanish-Language Songs & ‘Moving Forward’

Foreigner‘s upcoming change of the singing guard, from Kelly Hansen to Luis Maldonado, may well make for a more productive Foreigner, according to bassist Jeff Pilson.

In other words, forget about all that farewell talk.

“There’s just a lot of forward movement, and the band is incredibly excited,” Pilson, who’s been with Foreigner since 2004 (and was also part of Dokken), tells Billboard. “What started off as being a farewell tour now ended up being Kelly’s last tour and (the band) moving forward.”

Back in 2022 Hansen positioned himself as the primary driver behind Foreigner’s Historic Farewell Tour, which began the following year. “This catalog of songs, it’s extremely challenging for a rock tenor vocalist like myself to sing,” he explained at the time. “I never thought in a million years I’d be singing these songs in the (original) keys at this age (then 61), and I don’t know how much longer I can do that at the level I need to…If I’m not doing it for real, I shouldn’t be doing it.”

The farewell tour got under way during the summer of 2023 and has been extended a couple of times since, due to demand — bolstered by Foreigner’s long-awaited induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last October. Earlier this year Hansen said he’d be skipping Foreigner dates in South America and Canada, with guitarist Maldonado, who joined the band in 2021, stepping up to the mic. Original Foreigner singer Lou Gramm made guest appearances during the former, with Geordie Brown from the cast of Jukebox Hero: The Musical doing the same this fall in the Great White North. Then, in May, Hansen announced he’d be stepping down for good after the current U.S. run, with his last dates planned for Oct. 10-11 in Atlantic City, N.J.

“I’ve had my time in here, and in the business, and the entertainment business is not the easiest business in the world,” Hansen explains. “I really want to be able to live my life outside of being on the road nine months a year. I want to be able to do other things in my life, with my family, while I still can. And I don’t want to be out there doing these songs at less than the standard that we’ve set, ever.”

Pilson says there are no hard feelings from the rest of the band. “We’ve had a great run together, and he deserves to have a wonderful life.” He adds that Maldonado was something of a surprise choice to step into the breach.

“Luis really had no intention of this,” Pilson says. “He was trying to talk Kelly into staying. And when it became clear Kelly really wants to live a life now…Luis just stepped up and, oh my God, that voice came through. We knew he could sing really well, but we were never thinking in terms of him replacing Kelly — so I would say no, we didn’t know exactly how well he could sing. But we knew he was great. He started doing shows with Michael (Bluestein, keyboardist) and Bruce (Watson, guitarist), acoustically, and once people started hearing him sing the Foreigner songs, it was like, ‘Wait a minute; what do we have here?!’ It happened organically, which is beautiful.”

The change may also open the door for fans to hear more music for Foreigner in the near future. The group has recorded two Spanish-language tracks sung by Maldonado, who was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, including a duet version of Billboard Hot 100 topper “I Want to Know What Love Is” with Joy Huerta of the Latin Grammy-winning duo Jesse & Joy. Pilson says more of those are planned. Meanwhile, Foreigner unearthed the unreleased 1996 track “Turning Back the Time” for a compilation of the same name that came out last fall. And for the upcoming reissue of the 1981 blockbuster 4, due out this fall, Foreigner finished the Mick Jones-Gramm track “Fool If You Love Him,” with Gramm singing and the current Foreigner members adding fresh parts.

Pilson says he’s also sifting through additional unreleased and in-progress recordings, and hopes some brand new material will be recorded as well. Gramm, who departed Foreigner acrimoniously in 2003 but began returning for guest appearances during the past eight years, told Billboard earlier this year that he’s definitely on board to contribute in whatever manner he can. And Pilson adds that Jones — who had to retire from touring due to Parkinson’s Disease — remains “really supportive” of Foreigner continuing and releasing new music.

“It’s creating a unified front,” Pilson says. “We’re able to integrate everything, not only with Lou but everything about Foreigner, into the present. Making this change, with Luis, with Mick and Lou’s endorsement and having the whole organization working more together, has been such a positive thing.”