Jul 1, 2018 3 min read

Having KeyBank Pavilion right in their backyard has afforded Burgettstown Area School District students some perks over the years – free concert tickets, a venue for graduation ceremonies and year-end carnivals, an employer where the biggest names in music provide a soundtrack for summer work.

More than 20 high school chorus members got another unique opportunity Wednesday night at the outdoor amphitheater when they joined headliner Foreigner onstage to sing backup on one of the band’s most well-known hits.

“I want to know what love is,” they sang, “I want you to show me.”

Foreigner’s marketing director, John Lappen, said the band started invited high school and local choirs to participate in their shows about nine years ago. Often, the schools of the participating choirs sold the band’s greatest hits CD and all of the proceeds were donated to the Grammy Foundation’s Music in the Schools initiative to support arts curriculum in economically-disadvantaged schools. Foreigner was able to donate almost $1 million through those sales.

More recently, the band donates to Shriner’s Hospitals for Children.

Lappen said that schools usually compete to selected for the gig through a radio contest in which listeners choose the winner.

Burgettstown’s involvement came about in a different way, though.

Several years ago, a different group of Burgettstown High School students got to sing with the band when they performed at the venue located in Hanover Township. But when Melissa Secco, a school board member and die-hard fan, went to see them last year, a Pittsburgh high school had the honors. Secco decided to contact the band, imploring them to give Burgettstown students the chance the next time around.

“The worst they can say is ‘No,'” she said.

Secco talked with Superintendent James Walsh, who wrote a letter to Foreigner.

“Performing on the stage at KeyBank Pavilion can be the spark to re-light the smoldering embers among our arts students. You see, for the first time in decades, there was no marching band on our sidelines at Friday night football games. We just didn’t have the interest or commitment from students,” he wrote. “For those few who have committed, we have focused our efforts on their advancement in hopes it ignites a fire in others. … We are desperate to maintain even a flicker of interest in music. We would be thrilled for any encouragement Foreigner can offer our young artists.”

When the band performed in Greensburg a few months ago, Secco had the chance to present the letter personally.

“We all agreed it was something we should do,” Lappen said. “It was a very nice letter. It would have been hard to say no to that.”

So, Lappen emailed Secco, inviting Burgettstown students to join Foreigner on “I Want to Know What Love Is.”

In addition to a once-in-a-lifetime experience, the band also gave a $500 donation to the music department, which music teacher Deborah Bicker said could be used for a host of things.

Lappen said that singer and guitarist Mick Jones, who wrote the song, enjoys having choirs support the band on that number.

“The band loves having the kids sing with them, the community gets excited,” said Lappen, adding that the Grammy Foundation and Shriners have also benefited from the collaborations. “I would say the kids, in my mind, are the biggest winner – getting to get on stage and sing. Unless they grow up to be rock stars, this is the only chance they have to do something like that.”