It’s not every day that York College’s music students enjoy a lesson delivered by the lead singer of one of the best-selling rock bands of all time.
But that’s what happened this week when Kelly Hansen – Foreigner’s frontman for the past 20 years – joined learners from the college’s A Level and vocational courses in the Lecture Theatre via a live link-up from his Los Angeles home.
Kelly took part in an hour-long talk, including a question-and-answers session, just four days after performing his final gig with the band, famous for their 1980s and late 1970s hits like I Want to Know What Love Is, Waiting for a Girl Like You and Cold as Ice.
I Want to Know What Love Is reached number 1 in the UK, US, Canada and Australia and the British-American band, formed in 1976 and still going, boast worldwide sales exceeding 80 million records.
Hansen’s Teams call was organised by A Level Music tutor Cat Wright, with the 64-year-old vocalist starting by talking about his love of singing as a child and early ability to remember the words of more than 400 songs at any one time that helped him make his first inroads into the industry.
As he fielded questions from a packed Lecture Theatre audience, Kelly complemented the raspy tone of the voice of one student called Archie, who he correctly identified as a singer.
He went on to provide tips for performing on stage, what makes a good frontman and the importance of stage balance, divulging that he has a tool bag of different stances and motions that have proved tried and tested through the decades.
Kelly also spoke about the difficulties of finding the right balance between being a technically good singer and a performer, as well as sharing some of the signals that he uses to communicate with sound engineers during a concert.
There was advice, too, on how he keeps his voice healthy before and after concerts.
He revealed that he avoids spicy food 24 hours before a performance as it gives him acid flux and that he begins his vocal warm-ups 60 minutes before he is due on stage, although he likes some phlegm in his throat to help create his unique sound.
Following a gig, he will then speak to people for no longer than 45 minutes afterwards before he stops talking completely to rest his voice, reasoning that there is, “Only so much tread on a tyre.”
Towards the end of the call, Kelly commented on the surreal nature of hearing 9,000 Bulgarians singing every word of I Want to Know What Love Is back to him and admitted that he loves performing in Europe during the spring months.
For somebody who has performed on almost all of the world’s greatest stages, including the Sydney Opera House, London’s Royal Albert Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York, he declared that is was impossible to have a favourite venue.
When asked, thought, what would represent his dream collaboration – dead or alive – he plumped for the former and answered Aretha Franklin or Ray Charles.
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