David Foster Biography
David Foster was among the most commercially successful
producers and composers in all of popular music, lending his signature sweeping
power ballad aesthetic to smash hits from Celine
Dion, Chicago
and Whitney
Houston and in the process virtually defining the adult contemporary format.
Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Foster began studying piano at the age of
five, and just eight years later enrolled in the University of Washington's
music program. At 16, he joined Chuck
Berry's backing band, and in 1971 relocated to Los Angeles with his group Skylark,
scoring a major hit the following year with the single "Wildflower."
Foster also became a sought-after session keyboardist, appearing on recordings
from superstars including John
Lennon, Barbra
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, 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."
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. 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 prod