Working with prestigious musicians like Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion and Barbara Streisand David Foster made a mark in the music industry, but he had been trying to make it as a band! He was also crowned with a Grammy for the film Bodyguard. Finally, on the private side, David Foster was married to Linda Thompson, then Yolanda Hadid, before settling down with Katharine McPhee in 2018. The musician has four daughters: Sara, Allison, Erin, and Jordan.

Producer David Foster’s Secrets Revealed: 10 Facts! 

1. David Foster is the surrogate father for Prince Harry:

Living in Los Angeles Prince Harry could feel alone in another country, fortunately, he can count on the support of David Foster, whom he considers a surrogate father. The 72-year-old helps him with his procedures and answers his questions like… a father. And David Foster’s current wife Katharine McPhee agrees: “My husband has a really beautiful relationship with Harry. They are so cute and such good friends. They are like son and father”. 

But how can that be? They come from two different worlds – Harry is a prince whose life was watched from birth and who does not like the media whereas David Foster is a singer, producer, actor who has had successes using the media to promote his career. But their relationship might have come to fruition when David helped the royal couple to find their sumptuous Christmas home in Vancouver. 

According to Katharine McPhee, Prince Harry felt kind of ” lost in America” when he relocated from Canada to Los Angeles, and for good reason he found himself far from his family and friends. But David is the guy who knows all the places, who likes to help people..So he did everything to help them”. 

Did you know? Along with David Foster, Meghan and Harry were able to find support with Adele, who lives a few blocks from their home in Los Angeles. The British singer recommended several places for the couple, from nurseries for Archie, to restaurants to have a snack in peace.

2. David Foster’s love for playing music began at 4:

The future music composer was born to Maurice Foster and Eleanor May Foster.

Born on 1st November 1949 in Victoria, the capital of British Columbia in Canada, the future producer began to learn the piano at the age of 4. By the age of 13, he enrolled in music lessons at the University of Washington. 

3. At first, he was in a band called Skylark:

David Foster has been the producer of many artists like Christina Aguilera, Michael Jackson The Bee Gees, Whitney Houston, Céline Dion, Beyoncé Knowles, Andrea Bocelli, Brandy, Barbra Streisand, Mariah Carey, Chicago, Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Madonna, Rod Stewart, and more. 

But initially, David Foster was the keyboardist for the band Skylark, whose track Wildflower was a huge hit. The group broke up in 1975. “I participated in everything that was recorded and, every night, they were sessions. with Rod Stewart or George Harrison. But watching the musicians I replaced disappear, I understood that my turn was coming. ” 

Then in 1979, he won his first Grammy Award as a writer for the song After the Love Has Gone, from the group Earth, Wind and Fire. This is how his career exploded.

In 1980, he created with Jay Graydon and Tommy Funderburk the group Airplay. They released an album containing a cover of the title After the Love Has Gone.

In 1992, he collaborated with Whitney Houston on his film Bodyguard, which earned him a Grammy for Album of the Year, which contained the flagship track I Will Always Love You, which won Best Title of the Year. 

In 1996, he won Album of the Year with the title Falling Into You, performed by Celine Dion. The same year, he won another award for the famous title Un-Break My Heart by Toni Braxton. In the 2000s, David Foster helped 2 singers launch their careers: Josh Groban and Michael Bublé. He also continues to produce his own music, having released over 10 albums since the early 1980s.

Foster has also toured several times, often performing with “Foster and Friends”. In 2010, he released a live album called The Hit Man Returns, in which we find singers such as Seal and Donna Summer. In 2012, David Foster experienced a turning point in his career and became president of Verve Records, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. 

4. A tenacity that was born in Canada:

Producer, composer, arranger, musician. To be these things, you need to be strong and Foster blames his tenacity on his Canadian identity. 

“When I was young, we felt inferior to the Americans, that forced me to fight more” and he also recognized four essential influences on his career: his father, his classical piano learning, the Beatles and Bill Evans. 

At the beginning of the 80s, success rose to his head: everything he touched turned to gold. “I was an arrogant jerk for a year. I worked with Kenny Rogers and wanted everything he had: a plane, a yacht, the easy money. I came back to reality when I realized that my most recent hit could be the last. ” 

During his black period, in 1986, he took refuge behind artists like Neil Diamond. The loud sound of the ballads that had made his fortune no longer relevant.

Fortunately Foster has a fine ear after Unforgettable sung by Natalie Cole, and I’ll Always Love You, by Whitney Houston, which revived him to the top. His reputation as a producer grew. “Of course, you first have to know how to choose a good song, but then you have to be the shrink, the father, the mother, the friend all at the same time. Know how to be strict. To be strong with a weak artist who does not know himself. I am at the service of the singer, I do everything so that he gives the best of himself. ” 

Discreet, he avoids dwelling on the divas with whom he collaborates, and is content to defend their talent. About Celine Dion, he evokes the fleetingness of success. “You have to know when to stop. Celine did it just before the audience saturated. She thus saved her career. On the other hand, where is Lionel Richie, a superstar eight years ago today?. He also spoke of his tenacity saying: “Critics hate me. But I never sold myself. I just make the music I know how to do. ” 

5. The producer once met a little girl waiting for a liver transplant: 

This meeting touched him deeply, which prompted him to create, in 1985, the David Foster Foundation. The goal of this foundation is to financially support families from Canada whose children are awaiting a vital organ transplant. For more than 30 years, the foundation has helped more than 1,000 families.

The composer has other philanthropic work donating his time and services to more than 400 charities, including the Muhammad Ali Celebrity Fight Night, the Andre Agassi Foundation or the Carousel of Hope. With the help of his friends and many celebrities, he has organized many events that have raised millions of dollars for worthy causes.

6. David Foster has been married 5 times:

• His first marriage was to singer and writer BJ Cook in 1972 and they divorced in 1981. They have a daughter named Amy Foster-Gillies.

• Then, in 1982 he was married to Rebecca McCurdy Dyer for 4 years with whom he had 3 daughters: Sara Foster, Erin Foster, and Jordan Foster. David and Dyer separated in 1986 after four years together.

• David Foster’s third marriage is still by far his longest. He married actress Linda Thompson in 1991 following his divorce from Caitlyn Jenner (then known as Bruce Jenner). Foster became the stepfather of Thompson’s children with Jenner: Brandon Jenner and Brody Jenner. The couple legally separated in 2005 after 14 years together.

• David Foster’s fourth wife is Dutch model Yolanda Hadid whom he married in 2011, who was previously married to real estate mogul Mohamed Hadid. Hadid also became a star of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and Foster has also appeared on the show on several occasions. Foster also became the stepfather of Hadid’s three children: Gigi Hadid, Bella Hadid, and Anwar Hadid. However, Foster and Hadid filed for divorce in 2015, and their legal separation was finalized in 2017.

• David Foster wed his fifth and current wife, Katharine McPhee, in June 2019. In February 2021, the couple welcomed a son named Rennie Foster. 

Foster has married five times in the past 70 years and it’s unclear why Foster’s first two marriages ended, but Linda Thompson and Yolanda Hadid spoke about some things they weren’t happy with about their marriage to Foster. 

In Thompson’s 2016 memoir, “A Little Thing Called Life”, his ex-wife shared that Foster was “jealous” of her exes. Additionally, Thompson said he expected her to meet all of his needs. She wrote that sometimes he expected me to be there to serve and take care of him, make beds and do household chores… He really and truly wanted to be treated like a king, and not like a husband or a father, which speaks volumes about what the man was to live with, as lovable as he could be. “

Meanwhile, Hadid appeared to claim in her 2017 book, Believe Me: My Battle With the Invisibility of Lyme Disease, that she and Foster divorced because he couldn’t handle her battle with Lyme disease. She was diagnosed with an illness in 2012.

“I went from being the funny girlfriend who was up for anything and who had endless energy to the woman who is (was) too sick to be by his side,” Hadid stated in her broken English to BravoTV. “He lost his winger, his partner in crime, and I felt like he was starting to get impatient with my recovery”. 

However, Foster has always denied leaving Hadid because of her illness. In the producer’s July 2020 documentary David Foster: Off the Record, he stated: “How can I leave a sick woman? The point is, that’s not the reason I left”.

7. David Foster admits to having his own flaws:

In the documentary David Foster: Off the Record, the musician also admitted to having some faults that could have contributed to his divorces. For example, the producer shared that he’s a “runner” who frequently thinks “the grass is greener on the other side” when tough times arise in a relationship.

It’s also been revealed that Foster has a hard time connecting emotionally with people – “My generation is more open to communicating and understanding why you do what you do. You stick with the things that don’t work and figure out how to make them work, ”McPhee (his current wife) shared. 

“What we’re working on together is empathy, having long conversations that he doesn’t want to have “, the woman added.

She is much younger than him but Foster’s family appears to approve of his relationship with McPhee, with his eldest daughter Amy saying, “Katharine McPhee doesn’t need David Foster – very talented – very successful – has his own money – doesn’t need him – is with him only because she loves him. They are very good. “

8. He once said he knows the fragility of fame in 2001:

David Foster was voted man of the year in the early 2000s. He’s one of the giants of American music, but, he blurted out, “I’m not trying to be famous.” 

His career exploded in 1973 with the group Skylark and a brilliant solo career on the keyboard and then decides to be a producer. In more than twenty years, he has had a series of hits, notably for Barbra Streisand, Natalie Cole, Chicago, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion. He has composed extensively, including the classic After the Love Has Gone by Earth Wind & Fire. David Foster has received 14 Grammys (American Music Oscars) and 75 million albums sold bear his name. 

As he says himself, financial freedom is a great luxury. A satisfied producer, he nevertheless kept his feet on the ground. “Every other day I wake up feeling that I haven’t accomplished anything yet. This is what keeps me going. I have had as many failures as I have had success. I have 50 hits to my credit, but out of 400 songs written, that makes 350 not necessarily zero, but unknown. ” 

9. His transition from one music decade to another came from his daughter:

David Foster is aware that the music scene has changed. At 51, he spoke of the tide changing with his teenage daughters. 

“Without my daughters, I would never have heard of Korn. I stay tuned, but the challenge gets harder each time. Sometimes I’m at the peak of success, sometimes I’m just following. My philosophy: knowing how to withdraw to attack on another front. ”

Currently, Puff Daddy is accumulating hits, like me in the 80s. But in five years? I have been in the business for thirty years now. It is a miracle,” he continued.

10. Distinctions and awards:

On July 11, 1988, he received the Order of Canada, his country’s highest civilian honor, as well as the Order of British Columbia on October 30, 2003 for his compositions and support for numerous charities.

In addition to that, David Foster has received numerous awards for his undeniable talent in the world of music. It has been nominated 47 times, during which it won 16 Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe as well as 5 Junos. It has been nominated 3 times for the Oscar for Best Original Song.

He obtained a star on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame in May 2013 in front of the Capitol Records building. After getting that star he said that “in 100 years my great-grandchildren will go there and say ‘hey, that’s my great-grandfather’ and have a star next to it, that of the Beatles, in front of the building where I signed my first contract… that is priceless!