David Foster Net Worth: Canadian musician, composer, lyricist, and arranger David Walter Foster, OC, OBC, has received many Grammy Awards. Over the course of his nearly five-decade career, he has been one of the few prominent individuals in contemporary Western music to have significantly influenced the vast majority of the genre’s most recent developments.
He was a musical prodigy, and his upbringing was carefully orchestrated to support his extraordinary ability. When Foster was four years old, he began taking piano lessons, and nine years later, he enrolled in the music department at the University of Washington.
After moving to Los Angeles in 1974 to be a part of the band “Skylark,” and enduring the inevitable struggles that came with starting out, he finally won his first Grammy in 1980. Since then, he has helped create platinum and gold records for acts including Earth, Wind & Fire, Natalie Cole, Michael Bolton, Seal, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Chicago, Hall & Oates, Brandy, and ‘N Sync.
As a songwriter, he has contributed to the soundtracks of blockbuster films like “The Bodyguard,” “Urban Cowboy,” and “St. Elmo’s Fire,” with timeless great compositions. In 2012, he was promoted to president of Universal’s Verve Music Group, where he remained until 2016. He is now a member of the “Asia’s Got Talent” judging panel.
David Foster Net Worth
Canadian musician, record producer, composer, vocalist, songwriter, and arranger David Foster is worth an estimated $150 million. Throughout his career, he was responsible for discovering such notable musicians as Michael Buble, Josh Groban, and Celine Dion.
Foster has produced some of the most popular artists in the world, including Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli, Chicago, and Toni Braxton. The likes of Madonna, Air Supply, and the late great Michael Jackson are just some of the artists whose songs he has produced.
Out of 47 total nominations, he has won 16 Grammy Awards. More than 500 million records have been sold thanks to his efforts and those of the musicians he has worked with throughout the years. David’s wealth would have been far greater if he hadn’t gone through four marriage breakdowns.
His current wife is the singer and actor Katharine McPhee. Outside of his own needs, David has given hundreds of millions to charity, primarily through the David Foster Foundation, which aids children and teenagers fighting for their lives because of medical illnesses.
David Foster Early Life
David Walter Foster was born on November 1, 1949, in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. His parents, Maurice (Maury) Foster, a maintenance yard superintendent, and Eleanor May (née Vantright), a stay-at-home mother, raised him.
When he was only 13 years old, he enrolled in the music department at the University of Washington. The following year, in 1965, he went to a nightclub in Edmonton in hopes of being hired as the band’s leader. Famous jazz musician and club owner Tommy Banks helped Foster get his start in the business.
Foster and his band Skylark left Toronto for Los Angeles in 1974 after playing with Ronnie Hawkins and as Chuck Berry’s backup band there.
David Foster’s Personal Life
David Foster, who has been married four times, has five children of his own and is the grandfather to ten. His first kid, Allison Jones Foster, was born in 1970 when Foster was just 20 years old.
When she was a newborn, he felt obligated to give her up for adoption. He wouldn’t see her for another 30 years. Together with his first wife, the singer/songwriter B. J. Cook, he had a daughter named Amy Foster-Gillies (born in 1973).
After he and Rebecca Dyer split up in 1981, he married her again on October 27, 1982. Sara, Erin, and Jordan were born to her and her husband between 1981 and 1986. Foster and Dyer split up in the year 1986. In 1991, he tied the knot with singer/songwriter Linda Thompson.
When their marriage ended in 2005 after 14 years, they were already divorced. His fourth wife is the Dutch model Yolanda Hadid, whom he wed on November 11, 2011, in a ceremony themed around the date 11/11/11. After filing for divorce in late 2015, the couple’s split was finalized in May 2017.
To help Canadian families whose children require life-saving organ transplants, Foster established The David Foster Foundation in 1985.
David Foster Career
In the successful band Skylark, Foster was the keyboardist. Eirik Wangberg started the group, and their first hit, “Wildflower,” peaked at number 10 in 1973. After the group broke up, Foster remained in Los Angeles and formed the band Airplay with Jay Graydon.
In addition to singing his own music, he began working as a songwriter, producer, and arranger for a wide variety of other projects. As an example, he was a studio musician and arranger for the Earth, Wind, and Fire album “I Am” (1979) and also contributed to the writing of six of the songs on the album.
Foster, Bill Champlin, and Graydon’s song “After the Love Has Gone” won the 1980 Grammy for Best R&B Song. He maintained his work as a producer and songwriter throughout the ’80s.
In addition to his work on multiple Chicago albums, he also contributed to Kenny Loggins’ “Forever” (1985) and “Heart to Heart” (1982) and Kenny Rogers’ “What About Me?” (1984) and “The Heart of the Matter” (1985). (1985).
He has also composed the score for the film St. Elmo’s Fire and written songs for the films The Secret of My Success (1987) and Stealing Home (1985). (1988). In addition, his song “Winter Games” used as the anthem for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta.
As a result of a contract he made with Warner Brothers in 1995, Foster was able to launch his boutique label, 143 Records, as a joint venture between the two companies. The Corrs, an Irish folk rock band, was one of the first acts signed by 143 Records.
However, by 1997, Foster had handed the label back over to Warner and was working as a senior vice president there. Foster co-wrote “The Power of the Dream” with Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, the official song of the 1996 Summer Olympics.
Brandy’s versions of “Un-Break My Heart,” “Because You Loved Me,” and “Have You Ever?” by Diane Warren were among the most prominent songs he produced in the ’90s. In 2008, Foster produced a one-night-only concert in Las Vegas titled “Hitman: David Foster & Friends.”
Throughout his 35-year career, Foster was the star of the show as he sang songs that he had either written or produced. Some of the guest stars included Andrea Bocelli, Celine Dion, Blake Shelton, and Katharine McPhee.
In 2011, Foster was chosen as the new Chairman of Verve Music Group, however, he left the record label in 2016 due to organizational changes. He has produced records for artists like Bryan Adams, Andrea Bocelli, Mary J. Blige, Josh Groban, Michael Buble, and Renee Olstead.
Foster is well-known for producing multiple top-selling holiday albums, including Celine Dion’s “These Are Special Times” (1998), Josh Groban’s “Noel” (2007), Rod Stewart’s “Merry Christmas, Baby” (2012), and Jordan Smith’s “Tis the Season” (1998). (2016). In 1998, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2012, he had the best-selling Christmas album.
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