David Foster

Background

David Walter Foster was born on November 1, 1949, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Foster is the son of Maurice “Maury” Foster, an office worker, and Eleanor May Foster, a housewife. He joined the University of Washington’s music department when he was 13 years old (1963). He auditioned for the position of bandleader in an Edmonton nightclub owned by jazz artist Tommy Banks (1965). Foster was mentored by Banks in jazz, record production, and the music industry. He decided to move to Toronto to perform with Ronnie Hawkins after a year there. In 1966, he joined Chuck Berry’s support band, and in 1974, he moved to Los Angeles with his band, Skylark.

In 1975, Foster worked with George Harrison on the albums “Extra Texture” and “Thirty-Three & ⅓” the next year. He also contributed to Earth, Wind & Fire’s album “I Am” (1979). The maestro had a busy decade in the 1980s. Foster worked as a producer for the San Francisco-based band, The Tubes. “The Completion Backward Principle” (1981) and “Outside Inside” (1983) were his two albums for the band. He also produced three albums by the American rock band Chicago, including “Chicago 16” (1982), “Chicago 17” (1984), and “Chicago 18” (1986). In writing the chart-topping song ‘Glory of Love,’ he collaborated closely with the band’s frontman, Peter Cetera (1986). ‘I Have Nothing,’ which was sung by Whitney Houston in the film “The Bodyguard,” was co-written by Foster and his then-wife Linda Thompson. In 1995, he signed a deal with Warner Brothers that allowed him to launch his own boutique label, 143 Records, with his then-manager Brian Avnet as the C.E.O. In the composition of ‘The Power of the Dream,’ the official song for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, he teamed with Kenneth ‘Babyface’ Edmonds. With his daughter Amy Foster-Gilles, he wrote ‘I’ll Make It Up As I Go.’ The song was included in the film “The Score,” starring Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando (2001). The song ‘Stand Up for Love,’ written by the father-daughter duo and Beyoncé, became the anthem for World Children’s Day.

In the early 2010s, Foster began a new chapter in his career by becoming the chairman of Universal’s Verve Music Group. He welcomed Andrea Bocelli, Diana Krall, Natalie Cole, Sarah McLachlan, and Smokey Robinson to the fold with the ambition of turning the iconic jazz company into the leading label for both industry veterans and promising young performers. Following the restructuring of the record label, he and Verve parted ways in 2016. He has been a member of the “Asia’s Got Talent” judging panel since 2015.