FOREIGNER’s LOU GRAMM On AXL ROSE – “I Could Tell That He Was Damaging His Vocal Cords Simply By The Way He Sang”

Foreigner legend Lou Gramm was a guest on the Appetite For Distortion podcast and was asked about his initial impressions of Axl Rose and his voice when he first heard Guns N’ Roses.

Gramm responded: "I thought the music was very good, just sloppy enough to acknowledge that they were very spontaneous in their playing. And it was very good music, honestly, and I think the songs were good too. Axl's voice; he had a great range, but I could tell, because they toured a lot too, I could tell that he was damaging his vocal cords simply by the way he sang. And I know that when I sing, towards the end of the night, some of my high range starts to go a little bit. 

“You kind of have to acknowledge the characteristics of your voice, and when they're tired, if you keep pushing them at that level, they're damaged and you shouldn't be singing for the next six months. Your nose and throat doctor will tell you that they need rest and time to heal and then get supple again, because a lot of times when you when you sing too often and too hard, there's something called nodes that develop on your vocal cords, and they're like little tiny hard calluses. And when you go to sing a note, air will come out, not the note."