David Foster (2017)
Recording Artist
Additional Artist Information
David Foster is a Canadian musician, composer, songwriter, arranger, and record producer. Few other songwriters and producers have had their imprint on more major moments in all of popular music. Foster has created hit songs and award-winning gold and platinum albums for a diverse array of artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Chicago, Natalie Cole, Céline Dion, Josh Groban, Barbra Streisand, and many others.
Foster began studying the piano at the age of four and enrolled in the University of Washington’s music program eight years later. At the age of 16 he moved to Los Angeles as a member of a Chuck Berry’s backup band—and one-year later had a hit single with his own band, Skylark. He became a much sought-after session keyboardist appearing on recordings with musical superstars.
In 2009 when David Foster was visiting Salt Lake City, he volunteered to play piano for the Choir’s recording of “The Prayer,” an award-winning song he co-wrote with Carol Bayer Saager. “It’s always been a goal of mine to work with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Foster said. Foster appeared with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square in a video introduction of the song “The Prayer” performed by Katherine Jenkins for the 2012 Pioneer Day concert which was later made into an Emmy award winning BYUtv special. David Foster was also instrumental in the Choir’s collaborations with Josh Groban’s 2007 Noël album and Andrea Boccelli’s 2009 My Christmas albums.
For his illustrious work through the years, Foster has won 16 Grammy Awards, including three for Producer of the Year, and has been nominated a total of 47 times. He has been nominated three times for an Academy Award for Best Original Song and won the 1999 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for the song “The Prayer” from the film Quest for Camelot. He has been named BMI’s “Songwriter of the Year.” In 2010, Foster was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Since 2011 David Foster has been serving as chairman of Verve Music Group.