Foreigner was/is Still Fantastic!!!!! SURVIVORS!!!

The list of Foreigner hits is almost as long as the list of its former members, but with songs like “Feels Like the First Time,” “Cold as Ice,” “Hot Blooded,” and “I Want to Know What Love Is,” the music has continued to thrive.

The band started by Mick Jones, Ian McDonald, Lou Gramm, Dennis Elliott, Al Greenwood and Ed Gagliardi in New York City in 1976 has survived numerous lineup changes, waning interest and, finally, a recent resurgence.

The latest CD, last year’s “Can’t Slow Down,” debuted at No. 29 on the Billboard 200. It was Foreigner’s highest-charting release since 1987. The band’s music has been featured in games like “Rock Band” and “Guitar Hero,” and last month, it played at the iTunes and High Voltage festivals, both in London.

“It was great, really very successful,” Jones told the Weekender recently from his adopted hometown of New York City. “We’ve really regained a lot of prestige, and the crowds were really into it. It’s a nice feeling when I go back to England. It’s my birthplace, it was very satisfying for me.”

Foreigner’s music may have survived the band’s tumultuous past, but the relationship between Jones, the only remaining original member, and original singer Lou Gramm did not. Kelly Hansen has been singing lead vocals for Foreigner since 2005 — and was the third singer to follow Gramm’s iconic voice.

“I think there was a bit of reticence in the beginning,” Jones confessed about Foreigner having a new voice. “Long-time fans were a little dubious about what was going on — I was, too.

“It was a sad day when Lou and I finally broke up. There was a lot of history between us, a lot of great achievements together, you know? Nothing will ever change that, but it just got to the point where we’d come to the end of the line together.”

During an impromptu jam session with drummer Jason Bonham and bassist Jeff Pilson, Bonham, a Foreigner fan, suggested that the trio do a few Foreigner songs.

“It just sounded killer,” Jones said. “From that little simple beginning, everybody was sort of encouraging me to not just close this down. So I made the decision, but I knew that I wouldn’t have made it unless I thought I could have really put a serious band together with great musicians and to really represent fully what Foreigner meant — and what it meant to me.”

Today’s Foreigner lineup also features Pilson, guitarist Thom Gimbel, keyboardist Michael Bluestein and drummer Jason Sutter.

“The last piece of the puzzle there was Lou,” Jones paused to gasp at his faux pas, before correcting himself with a laugh, “Kelly. And with his arrival, everything started to get really real, and I think the band just evolved over the last five years.

“It’s the happiest time I’ve ever had, to tell you the truth, playing and going on stage with these guys. It’s a very exciting show, and I just look forward to going on stage every night now. I’m really much, much more content and much more passionate about what I do than I had been for many years.”

Jones and Gramm have no contact these days.

“I guess time will heal,” Jones said. “But so far, (there isn’t) really anything that you’d call friendly.”

A comment like that makes a Jones/Gramm Foreigner reunion farfetched, unless, as Jones said, the band ever got into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

“I definitely would be OK with that,” Jones said candidly. “This (lineup) has become so important to me now, and we’re kind of regaining the prestige a bit with the fans and new fans.

“(For me), it’s almost like we’re paying our dues again. It’s been challenging, but now it’s getting successful, and really, we’ve cut through a lot. We’ve really elevated the band status quite a bit in the last few years, and I’m quite happy about that.”