"Just Between You and Me" by Lou Gramm

Top 10 Alert!

Song#:  4088

Date:  10/28/1989

Debut:  83

Peak:  6

Weeks:  21

Genre:  Soft Rock

Pop Bits:  Foreigner lead singer Lou Gramm stepped outside of the band in '87 for a debut solo effort titled Ready or Not. It would do fairly well getting to #27 and spawning the #5 Pop/#1 Rock hit "Midnight Blue." He would return to Foreigner for their '87 album Inside Information, but then move back into solo mode for his second LP Long Hard Look. This first single would be issued out and it would go on to be his second Pop Top 10 hit while also reaching #4 Rock and #4 AC. A second single, "True Blue Love," would only reach #40 Pop/#23 Rock. Despite featuring a Top 10 hit, the album floundered a bit and would only manage to reach #85. It would be Gramm's last solo effort for twenty years.

ReduxReview:  For most of the album Gramm worked with composer/producer Peter Wolf, but for this single he was hooked up with hit songwriter Holly Knight. I'm just guessing, but my thought is that Gramm's label Atlantic didn't hear a hit among the tracks Gramm was recording and pushed for a collaboration with Knight. The ploy paid off with this song making the Pop Top 10, but it was certainly a lot more pop-oriented than what Gramm had dished out before save for the #5 Foreigner hit "I Don't Want to Live Without You." While rock fans of Gramm/Foreigner may not have appreciated this track, it was a well done pop tune that deserved its Top 10 spot. Unfortunately, this tune has been forgotten over the years. I don't believe I've heard it since its days on the chart. It may not have had the same long legs of hits by Foreigner or even Gramm's "Midnight Blue," but it was still a quality track that gave Gramm one last significant hit.

ReduxRating:  7/10

Trivia:  With his solo career doing well and his relationship with Foreigner bandmate Mick Jones somewhat fractured, Gramm decided to leave the band in 1990. Instead of continuing on with his solo career, Gramm formed a new band called Shadow King. They would release a self-titled debut album in '91. It failed to chart, but did spawn the minor #22 Rock track "I Want You." The band would fold soon after. That same year, Foreigner would release their album Unusual Heat with new lead singer Johnny Edwards. The album tanked at #117 with only the track "Lowdown and Dirty" getting to #4 at Rock. With Gramm and Jones experiencing career dips, they began to talk again and it led to Gramm rejoining Foreigner. However, by the time they released '95's Mr. Moonlight, it seems interest in the band had waned. While the first single "Until the End of Time" would get to #8 AC, it stalled at #42 Pop and that left the album halting at a very minor #136. Gramm would stick with the band and tour with them for a while, but in 2003 chose to leave again. Since that time he has only appeared with them on a couple of special occasions. Back in '92, Gramm would go through drug rehab and become a born again Christian. In 2009, he would release his first album of Christian rock under the moniker Lou Gramm Band.

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