IN: Foreigner is an English-American rock band, originally formed in New York City in 1976 by veteran English musician Mick Jones ex-Spooky Tooth and fellow Briton and ex-King Crimson member Ian McDonald along with American vocalist Lou Gramm. Jones came up with the band's name as he, McDonald and Dennis Elliott were British, while Gramm, Al Greenwood and Ed Gagliardi were American. Their biggest hit single, "I Want to Know What Love Is", topped the United Kingdom and United States charts among others. They are one of the world's best-selling bands of all time with worldwide sales of more than 80 million records, including 37.5 million records in the US.

In the late 1980s, Jones and Gramm each put out solo efforts on Atlantic. Gramm released Ready or Not in January 1987 and shortly after its release, rehearsals for Foreigner's next album had started but ground to a halt as Lou's status with the group was uncertain. But after the promotion and concert dates for Lou's album were finished, cooler heads prevailed and Lou rejoined Foreigner in the studio for Inside Information, which was out at the end of 1987. Jones had Mick Jones in August 1989, then Gramm followed with his second solo release, Long Hard Look (October 1989), and decided to leave the group in May 1990 while preparing to tour behind Long Hard Look as the opener for Steve Miller Band. After finishing this tour, Gramm went on to form the short-lived band Shadow King, which put out one eponymous album on Atlantic in October 1991.  Meanwhile, Jones brought in a new lead singer, Johnny Edwards (formerly of the bands Buster Brown, Montrose, King Kobra, Northrup and Wild Horses). Edwards made his first live appearance with Foreigner at the Long Island club Stephen Talkhouse on August 15, 1990, where he, Jones, Dennis Elliott and Rick Wills appeared, joined by special guests Terry Thomas (on guitar, who produced their next album) and Eddie Mack on harmonica.  The new edition of Foreigner released the album Unusual Heat in June 1991. This was at the time their worst selling album and only climbed as high as No. 117 on the Billboard 200, although "Lowdown and Dirty" was a minor mainstream rock hit, reaching No. 4 on that chart.  In July 1991, the new lineup of Foreigner played some European dates then made its official US debut on August 9 performing on the second night of a Billy Joel benefit concert at Deep Hollow Ranch in Montauk, New York to raise funds for the preservation of Montauk Point Lighthouse.  For their 1991 tour, Jeff Jacobs, who had played in Joel's band, was brought in as the new keyboardist and Mark Rivera returned. But during the fall leg of this tour, Elliott decided to leave the group after a concert at The Ritz in NYC on November 14, 1991 and embark on a career as a wood sculptor. Larry Aberman was then recruited as a temporary replacement until Mark Schulman arrived in 1992 to hold down the drum throne for the next three years. Scott Gilman (guitar, sax, flute) joined the touring band in 1992 and Thom Gimbel took over from Gilman and Rivera in late 1992 after they departed. When Gimbel went to Aerosmith in 1993, Gilman returned to handle the guitar/sax/flute duties until Gimbel came back permanently in the spring of 1995.

Was he successful?

OUT: 


IN: Rain was born as Jung Ji-hoon on June 25, 1982, in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province in South Korea. His mother died in December 2000 as she struggled with diabetes. In the same year, Rain was recruited as a trainee for JYP Entertainment, led by recording artist and producer Park Jin-young. In a CNN interview and also in a Discovery Channel documentary called Discovering Hip Korea, he recalled being repeatedly rejected because of his looks: "In fact, I was told after one audition that my singing and dancing was great

On his World 2007 tour, his scheduled concerts in Shanghai, Toronto, San Francisco, and Hawaii were canceled, followed by the last concert in Los Angeles. The last event at the Staples Center was canceled only two hours prior to opening: Rain's producer blamed the situation on financial problems of the local promoter, while the local promoter blamed Wellmade STAR M calling them too "incompetent to handle the situation".  On March 19, 2009, a federal jury in Honolulu found that Rain, his former management agency JYP Entertainment, and two other promotion companies were guilty of breaching a contract and defrauding Honolulu promoter Click Entertainment for $2 million (originally just over $1 million) after the Hawaii concert was canceled and the promoters were not refunded the $500,000 licensing fee. Rain and JYP were ordered to pay $2.4 million each in punitive damages, $1 million for damages related to the fraud, and $2.3 million for breach of contract.  A separate lawsuit filed by promoters Wellmade STAR M was dismissed by a South Korean court on January 28, 2010. Judge Bae Kwang-Kuk ruled in favor of Rain and blamed the plaintiff for poor preparations surrounding the canceled U.S. tour.  In April 2010, Rain and other J. Tune Creative shareholders were accused of embezzling money from the company by a fabric manufacturing company. The company claimed they suffered financial losses. Rain and the shareholders were acquitted of the charges in December of that year. He was re investigated in September 2011 after a discrepancy was found, but was later acquitted again in June 2013.

What happened next

OUT: Honolulu promoter Click Entertainment for $2 million (originally just over $1 million) after the Hawaii concert was canceled and the promoters were not refunded the $500,000


IN: Raven was born in Lorenskog, Norway; her father is a teacher. She has an older brother and two younger sisters. Her surname is of Norse origin, with Ravn meaning Raven, which she adopted as her stage name Marion Raven as well as her trademark raven logo. Raven enjoyed singing from a young age, sometimes writing lyrics for the songs she sang.

In 1995, Raven's father arranged for her to make a demo in a studio in Oslo, together with her childhood friend, Marit Larsen. The duo got a record deal with EMI Norway and formed M2M. A year later, they produced children album titled, "Marit og Marion synger kjente barnesanger" which means "Marit and Marion Sing Well-Known Children Songs". M2M was nominated for the Norwegian Grammy, Spellemannprisen, the following year.  In 1998, M2M started recording pop demos in English and struck a record deal with Atlantic Records. The two collaborated with many songwriters from around the world and produced their multi-platinum debut album, Shades of Purple, that was released in 2000, with the lead single, "Don't Say You Love Me" featuring on the soundtrack of Pokemon: The First Movie. The song was co-produced by Jimmy Bralower and Peter Zizzo (Celine Dion), and mixed by Tom Lord-Alge. It peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 21, selling 39,000 units in a week, according to SoundScan. Their second album, The Big Room, which was recorded in a studio in Bearsville in Woodstock, New York, was released in 2002. After world tours to promote The Big Room ended, M2M joined Jewel on her world tour as an opening act. M2M later disbanded in September 2002.  Raven was offered a recording contract with Atlantic Records, though the offer was later revoked. She co-wrote "Pointless Relationship" that was the lead single of Australian singer, Tammin Sursok's debut album, 'Whatever Will Be'. She also collaborated on the track "That Day", a song released by Norwegian pop singer, Maria Arredondo, from Arredondo's 2004 follow-up album Not Going Under, and co-wrote the song "Disconnected", a song included on Lindsay Lohan's debut album "Speak" in 2004.

Was Raven successful in M2M?

OUT:
". M2M was nominated for the Norwegian Grammy, Spellemannprisen, the following year.