David Foster: master of many styles
David Foster: master of many styles
In the 1970s, an aspiring Hollywood songwriter named David Foster finagled an audience with the pope of Motown soul music, Berry Gordy. Cutting to the chase, Gordy asked what kind of songs Foster might create for his artists. In a nervy panic, Foster made a beeline for the piano and hastily improvised. “I just sat down and began singing this line, ‘after the love has gone’,” recalls Foster. “It just fell out like a gift from heaven. And at the end, Gordy goes, ‘Whoa! That’s pretty d@#! good.”
Foster’s on-the-spot melody evolved into “After The Love Has Gone,” the Earth, Wind & Fire hit that would capture the 1979 Grammy for Best Rhythm & Blues song. Today, some 30 years after his fateful meeting with Gordy, Foster is renowned worldwide as a go-to man for the regal likes of Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston, Chaka Khan, Mariah Carey, Andrea Bocelli, Natalie Cole and more. A three-time Oscar nominee, Foster’s mantle veritably buckles under the weight of 15 Grammys and seven Juno awards. He has performed on — and/or composed songs for — some the world’s best-selling albums, including Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Lionel Richie’s Can’t Slow Down and The Bodyguard original soundtrack. A key player in the discovery and development of Celine Dion and Josh Groban, Foster’s WEA-distributed 143 Records label is home to Groban, Michael Bublé and American Idol alumna Katherine McPhee, among distinguished others. Read more
