More than 30 years ago Foreigner transcended musical genres and international boundaries with some help from a New Jersey gospel ensemble. The chorus of the British-American band's 1984 mega-hit single, "I Want to Know What Love Is," featured backing vocals from the Newark-based New Jersey Mass Choir.
"When I first wrote the song it was much more of a love song, but I felt it had more of a universal feeling," said Mick Jones, guitarist for Foreigner, which performs Thursday, March 9 at the Visalia Fox Theatre.
Tickets for the concert are sold out, but promoters say there's a chance more will be available.
The song, released on Foreigner's "Agent Provocateur" album, sold 2 million copies and was a No. 1 hit in seven countries, including the U.S.
On March 9, "I Want to Know What Love Is" will get a bit of a South Valley treatment. Foreigner will be joined onstage by the Lemoore High School Choir.
Foreigner is donating $1,000 to the school, which won a contest to perform with the band.
"Music is the most powerful form of communication between the peoples of the world and provides a gateway that opens up a fantastic new dimension of feeling and creativity," Jones said.
Hundreds of high school choirs have sung with Foreigner over the past seven years and the band has raised close to $1 million for the Grammy Foundation, which helps with music education.
Jones, a native of England, founded Foreigner in 1976 in New York. Jones and original singer Lou Gramm formed a prolific songwriting team that produced a multitude of instantly recognizable rock anthems, including "Feels Like the First Time," "Cold As Ice," "Double Vision," "Hot Blooded," "Urgent," "Juke Box Hero" and "Waiting for a Girl Like You."
In addition to their standing as rock radio classics, the songs have been used in numerous movies, television shows and commercials. Jones and Gramm last year were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Foreigner has sold more than 80 million albums worldwide and its songs have been downloaded more than 4 million times. The band has had nine Top 10 and 14 Top 20 singles and five albums that placed in the Top 5 of the Billboard Top 200 albums chart.
"There are still people discovering, or in some cases rediscovering, the music," Jones said. "We're also getting a lot of young people at the show, which is really great. There's no longer a generation gap where it's not cool to play what Mom and Dad liked."
Details: The Foreigner concert has sold out. Additional tickets may be released by the promoter near concert day
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