After 20 years fronting Foreigner, Kelly Hansen has chosen his next band, joining The Dead Daisies for a new chapter that also reunites him with guitarist Doug Aldrich.
by Paul Cashmere
Kelly Hansen has joined The Dead Daisies as their new lead singer, less than a year after completing his two-decade run with Foreigner, and his arrival immediately reconnects him with guitarist Doug Aldrich, his former Hurricane bandmate.
The new Dead Daisies line-up is Hansen on vocals, Aldrich on lead guitar, founder David Lowy on rhythm guitar, Tommy Clufetos on drums and new bassist Jimi Crutchley. The group has marked the change with “Lift Me Up”, the first song from a new album currently being developed for 2027.
For Hansen, the move is a deliberate step away from the role he occupied with Foreigner since 2005. “When I left Foreigner after 20 great years, I told everybody I wasn’t ‘retiring’ just moving on to other things,” Hansen said. “This project gives me the opportunity to stretch out with some new melodies, a new vibe and fresh energy. We’re gonna rock it!”
There is a significant piece of history behind the new partnership. Hansen and Aldrich were both members of Hurricane around 1989 and 1990, with Aldrich joining the Los Angeles hard rock band before recording the 1990 album Slave To The Thrill. More than three decades later, they are back in the same band.
Aldrich is already looking beyond the reunion to what Hansen can bring to The Dead Daisies. “It’s also gonna be amazing to be onstage with Kelly again after all these years,” he said. “His vocal range is exceptional and he’s a badass frontman.”
“Lift Me Up” provides the first indication of how the new combination sounds. Aldrich describes the song as beginning with a simple guitar riff and heavy groove before developing into a melodic rock track. The lyrics, he says, reflect a positive desire to provide some lift during “these crazy times”.
The song is accompanied by a video and is intended as the first taste of the next Dead Daisies album. The band will remain in the studio for the rest of 2026 completing the record before embarking on an extensive touring schedule in 2027.
The Dead Daisies have always operated differently from a conventional rock band. Formed in Sydney in 2012 by Lowy and singer Jon Stevens, the group was conceived as a rotating collective, allowing musicians from different corners of hard rock to move through its ranks.
Stevens was the original vocalist and helped establish the band through its 2013 self-titled debut. The early line-up included Guns N’ Roses members Frank Ferrer and Richard Fortus, Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake bassist Marco Mendoza and Guns N’ Roses keyboard player Dizzy Reed. Slash also appeared on the debut single “Lock N’ Load”.
John Corabi subsequently became the band’s best-known long-term vocalist, taking over from Stevens in 2015 after also contributing to the band’s historic Cuba performances. Corabi later returned to the group in 2023.
The list of musicians who have passed through The Dead Daisies reads like a history of hard rock. Darryl Jones of The Rolling Stones, Charley Drayton, John Tempesta of The Cult, Deen Castronovo of Journey, Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple and Black Country Communion, Michael Devin of Whitesnake and Tommy Clufetos of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath have all been part of the collective at different stages.
Glenn Hughes fronted the band from 2019 through the Holy Ground and Radiance eras before Corabi returned. The band released Light ‘Em Up in 2024 and the blues album Lookin’ For Trouble in 2025, continuing Lowy’s model of changing personnel around a consistent hard rock identity.
Hansen brings a different catalogue connection. Before Foreigner, he was the singer of Hurricane, recording Take What You Want, Over The Edge and Slave To The Thrill. He also worked with Unruly Child and appeared as a guest and session vocalist before joining Foreigner.
Hansen spent 20 years with Foreigner, becoming the voice of the band through its later recording and touring era and helping carry songs including “I Want To Know What Love Is”, “Juke Box Hero”, “Cold As Ice” and “Waiting For A Girl Like You” to successive generations of audiences. He left after Foreigner’s 2025 touring commitments, with Luis Maldonado subsequently taking on lead vocals.
Now Hansen has a new catalogue to build.
The Dead Daisies have announced European and UK dates for March 2027, followed by further touring in the United States, Europe and Scandinavia. The first shows will introduce a line-up that combines the band’s established Lowy and Aldrich core with Hansen, Clufetos and Crutchley.
For a band built around changing combinations of established rock musicians, the Hansen era has an unusually direct link to its own past. The singer and guitarist have already shared a stage, decades before either knew that Hurricane would eventually lead them back to the same band.
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