Foreigner guitarist, producer and founder Mick Jones has revealed details of a health scare years ago that left him in a haze and unable to play guitar.
When Jones was forced to take a year off, he publicly blamed it on a heart valve problem, but now admits it was much more than that.
"I'd had a virtual nervous breakdown, brought on by a bad prescribing of medication,” the guitarist tells CBS Sunday Morning. "It was a very dark time for me. I literally didn't know where I was anymore. I didn't know who I was. I mean, honestly I never thought I'd play on stage again."
The situation left Jones unable to play guitar.
"I lost the ability to play chords briefly, only for a couple of months,” he reveals. “And my brother brought a guitar over for me and said, 'You play guitar. Play it. You're a guitarist. Play the guitar, you know.'"
“It was terrifying," said Jones of his health ordeal. “You just somehow try and hold on."
Jones – who celebrated his 70th birthday on December 27 – did recover and return to the band he formed in 1976 … and he no longer takes anything for granted.
"Sometimes, I think, yeah, wow. What a gift to have regained."
Jones and the band recently released “The Best Of Foreigner 4 & More”, a new collection that features most of 1981’s “4”, as well as some of the band’s best-known hits recorded live the Borgata Hotel’s Music Box theatre in Atlantic City in October.
See also:
VIDEO: Foreigner premiere new live version of Juke Box Hero
AUDIO: Foreigner premiere live version of I Want To Know What Love Is
AUDIO: Foreigner premiere new live version of Urgent
Foreigner announce Best Of Foreigner 4 live collection
Search Foreigner at hennemusic
