Your use of "was" made me worried that
Lou Gramm was no more
, so I looked him up, expecting the worst...and am glad to see see he is alive!
I read that he had a brain tumor that was successfully removed, allowing him to survive but with a permanently altered voice. I was also surprised to learn that he turned to Christianity to help him in his fight against addictions, so that his recent album is a Christian one. I hadn't expected that.
Lou Gramm brings new voice to old songs at Celebration
About Lou Gramm's voice when he was part of Foreigner:
I was interested to learn that my positive reaction to his voice is the same as many other people's reactions (including yours, US). I had never read anything about Foreigner until today, so my impressions of his voice were based on the songs alone rather than hype about them. I read on Wikipedia that "Circus magazine in 1978 upon release of 'Hot Blooded' commented that Lou Gramm had a voice that Robert Plant might envy." (I also like Robert Plant's vocals, so I appreciated the analogy.) And, Gramm's "unique vocals have made Foreigner one of Billboard's Top 100 Artists of All Time in hit songs history."
The "Urgent" video of the Foreigner TV performance: I like it because although it isn't flashy or particularly creative (although notice the "smoke" used to make the set look "exciting"), it lets me see the band perform as if I were there. I liked watching Gramm's expressions and the sax player. I especially liked how Lou Gramm watched appreciatively and clapped along as the saxophonist performed. That was very respectful and made me feel the band were a cohesive unit.
Also, I was surprised to see the drummer in the *front* of the stage, since usually drummers are stuffed in the back somewhere. Do many bands play with the drummers in the front? I didn't think so. I liked it, though. Drummers usually have to play "second drum" (as opposed to fiddle) to the vocalist and the guitarists. I'm thinking that the drummer was placed up front in this performance partly because the kit isn't miked, so they wanted to make sure the sound of the drums was prominent in the mix.