Calling all high school choirs: Here's your chance to jam with Foreigner

Radio stations across the river in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. are looking for a high school choir from the twin Saults to join Foreigner on stage when the band plays GFL Memorial Gardens this spring.

Rock 101, Oldies 93 and 99.5 Yes FM are holding a contest where local high school choirs on either side of the border are encouraged to enter a video performance of a Foreigner cover of their choice.

The winner will also receive $500 that will go directly to the choir program.

“Foreigner had been doing this for in North America for nine or ten years,” said Alli J, on-air host for Oldies 93 and Rock 101. “They get an area choir to come up and sing I Want To Know What Love Is.”

Similar choir contests have been staged by Foreigner since 2011, when the band initially partnered with the Grammy Foundation to raise money for high school music programs across North America.

Alli J says that Foreigner - a group that hasn’t performed in the twin Saults since a May 2012 concert at Kewadin Casinos - will also have members of the winning choir selling Foreigner CDs at the concert to raise funds for the Grammy Foundation.

Concert-goers who purchase a CD will then be entered into a draw for a guitar autographed by members of the band.  

Although any Foreigner tune is fair game in this contest, Alli J says that playing it safe with a rendition of I Want To Know What Love Is may be the way to go in this instance.

“They will be singing that particular hit on stage if they win, so I guess it’s in their best interest to practice that one,” she said. “That’s why we’re giving them until Feb. 15, so they have some time.”

Videos can be posted directly to the contest’s Facebook page.

“We’ll later let area listeners and folks on Facebook like their favourite, and that’s just going to help us to determine the winner,” Alli J said.

With 10 multi-platinum albums and 16 top-30 hits under its belt, Alli J tells SooToday that Foreigner is one of those staple bands that never seem to quit touring.

“I think they’re just a great band,” said Alli J. “Not only a great sound, but fantastic lyrics that have withstood the test of time.”

“Foreigner’s just a kind of band that everybody seems to know and love, and I think even some of the younger students, they’re listening to what their parents have listened to, so no doubt they probably heard them and we play Foreigner as well.”

Foreigner's The Cold As Ice Tour comes to GFL Memorial Gardens March 5.