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 Q&A 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.
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.
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, and advice on how he keeps his voice healthy before and after concerts.
He’s 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, but declared that is was impossible to have a favourite venue – though said that he loves performing in Europe during the spring months.
When asked, though, 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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