A visionary producer, gifted arranger and prolific composer, David Foster brings a rare combination of talent, taste and dedication to his work. Over the past two decades, he has gone from achievement to achievement, including a phenomenal string of hit records and multi-platinum awards. He has served at Atlantic Records and Warner as Vice-President, as well as having his own Atlantic-distributed label, 143 Records. Among his many achievements, Foster is a fourteen-time Grammy Award winner, with a remarkable 35 nominations to his credit.
Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, Foster began studying piano at the age of five: it quickly became apparent that his talents far surpassed those of other children his age.
Living up to that early promise, he was enrolled as a student at the University of Washington at the age of 13, and three years later, when offered an opportunity to join the backing band for rock n’ roll legend Chuck Berry, Foster embarked on his professional performing career.
In 1971, Foster relocated to Los Angeles, and within two years, his group Skylark scored the top ten hit “Wildflower”. Foster also became a sought-after session keyboardist, appearing on recordings from superstars including John LennonBarbra Streisand Diana Ross and Rod Stewart. Foster’s production career began when he helmed the 1976 eponymous debut from his group Attitudes; he soon turned to outside projects as well, writing and producing material for Hall & Oates, Deniece Williams, Carole Bayer Sager, Boz Scaggs and the Average White Band.
In 1979, he earned his first Grammy Award for penning Earth, Wind and Fire’s “After the Love Has Gone”. From there, Foster’s career exploded, and he was soon writing and producing for artists including Kenny Rogers and the Tubes and Kenny Loggins.
In 1982, he won a second Grammy for producing the original cast album to the Broadway hit Dreamgirls; he also composed and produced Chicago’s hit “Hard to Say I’m Sorry”, followed in 1983 by work on Lionel Richie’s blockbuster “Can’t Slow Down”.
With 1984’s Chicago 17, Foster scored his greatest success to date, with the smash single “Hard Habit to Break” earning him a Grammy for Producer of the Year.
A year later, Foster wrote and produced John Parr’s hit “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)”, and in 1986 reunited with Chicago not only for their 18 LP, which launched the hit “Will You Still Love Me”, but also with the group’s singer Peter Cetera, for whom he wrote the chart-topping “The Glory of Love”. Foster also produced platinum-plus selling motion-picture soundtracks for “Ghostbusters” and “Footloose”.
By now Foster was among the most successful producers in pop, though reviled by critics, his work was enormously successful on the charts, with dozens of Top 40 hits. However, he was atypically quiet during the latter half of the 1980s, most notably teaming with Neil Diamond on his 1988 album “The Best Years of Our Lives” and working on a variety of film projects and one-off studio dates.
Over the years, Foster has been involved in a variety of projects for Atlantic Records, including a series of solo albums; his self-titled debut release in 1986, his second solo album, “The Symphony Sessions” in 1988 and the album “River 0f Love” in 1990, and in 1991 Foster’s acclaimed “Rechordings” was a stunning collection, featuring versions of Foster’s best-loved compositions.
In 1990 Foster began his collaboration with Celine Dion, writing and producing material for her “Unison” album and generating the hit “Have a Heart”. A year later, he teamed with Natalie Cole for her mega-hit “Unforgettable”, winning three more Grammys: Record of the Year, Album of the Year and Producer of the Year. In 1992, Foster collaborated with Whitney Houston on the soundtrack to her hit film “The Bodyguard”, which netted him another Album of the Year Grammy at the following year’s award ceremonies, with the blockbuster single “I Will Always Love You” also winning Record of the Year. Again, he took home Producer of the Year honors as well; additionally, “When I Fall in Love”, the theme to “Sleepless in Seattle” performed by Celine Dion and Clive Griffin, garnered Foster another trophy as arranger.
For Dion, he next produced 1993’s “The Colour of My Love”, which spawned the smash “The Power of Love”, and a year later, he helmed All-4-One’s “I Swear”.With Dion’s 1996 “Falling into You”, Foster again took home the Album of the Year Grammy; the blockbuster “Because You Loved Me (Theme From Up Close & Personal)” also was a nominee in the Record of the Year category. He also produced Barbra Streisand’s “Broadway” and “Back to Broadway”. Between 1994 and 1997, four of his productions reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and remained there for 42 weeks.
In 1995 Foster discovered Irish band The Corrs. A major hit from 1996 was Toni Braxton’s “Un-Break My Heart”. A three-time Academy Award nominee, Foster recently produced Christian band Plus One, the song “Come What May” for the “Moulin Rouge” soundtrack. He also produced and co-wrote the song “I’ll Make It Up As I Go” (with daughter Amy Gillies) for “The Score” soundtrack. Other production credits include “Me Ire” sung by Alejandro Sanz and The Corrs, and “For Always”performed by Lara Fabian and recording artist Josh Groban, whose debut album, a blend of pop and operatic music, went triple platinum.
In 2003 Foster discovered Michael Bublé, a young singer from Vancouver, a total entertainer with vocal talents which encompass the influences of the big band sounds, jazz, and the roots of rock and roll. Foster produced his self-titled album over a five-month period in Los Angeles, featuring cover songs that span the ’50s to the ’70s, and the album sold more the one million units all over the world.
Foster maintains a residence in Los Angeles, although he still regards his native Canada as home. David has four daughters and keeps very busy with his many charities including the David Foster Foundation.
David and Clay have been friends for years and Clay has participated and helped David with a variety of charitable functions. David wrote the song "Lover All Alone" with Clay and it first appeared as a special bonus for the album A Thousand Different Ways. We were lucky enough to have it included on the full album On My Way Here.
You can also hear David accompanying Clay on piano on the song "The Real Me".
Most of this biography was taken from Christian Di Carlo's site, www.Davidfoster.info . It is an excellent site for the most up to date information about David Foster.