David Walter Foster OC OBC (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian record producer, film composer, and music executive.

[1][2] Foster's career began as a keyboardist for the pop group Skylark in the early 1970s[3] before focusing largely on composing and production.

Often in tandem with songwriter Diane Warren,[4] Foster has contributed to material for prominent music industry artists in various genres since then, and is credited with production on over 40 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

[3] When the group disbanded, Foster remained in Los Angeles[8] and, together with Jay Graydon, he formed the band Airplay.

Foster was a major contributor to the 1979 Earth, Wind & Fire album I Am, as a studio player and arranger.

Another song from the film, "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)", recorded by John Parr, reached No.

The album was recorded by a group of fellow Canadian artists including Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and Bryan Adams.

[11] Foster collaborated with then-wife Linda Thompson on the song "I Have Nothing", sung by Whitney Houston in the 1992 film The Bodyguard.

[12] One of the label's first signings was a then-little known Irish folk-rock band, the Corrs, whose debut album he produced.

[12] Foster and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds composed "The Power of the Dream", the official song of the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Foster produced major-label debut albums for Josh Groban (2001), Michael Bublé (2003),[13] Renee Olstead (2004), and Charice (2010), which were released under his 143 Records.

Foster, with his then-wife Linda Thompson, composed "Light the Fire Within", sung by LeAnn Rimes for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

In 2003, Foster won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Music and Lyrics for The Concert for World Children's Day.

The 2001 film The Score, starring Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando, features a Diana Krall recording, "I'll Make it Up as I Go".

[16] In 2009, it was revealed by songwriter Diane Warren that she had worked with Foster to produce tracks for Whitney Houston's upcoming album and the singer's comeback single would be the Foster-produced "I Didn't Know My Own Strength".

[17] On May 30, 2011, Foster teamed with young singer Jackie Evancho in her Dream With Me Concert on PBS at the Ringling Brothers Museum in Sarasota, Florida.

It features artists Marc Anthony, Jessie J, The Clark Sisters, Barbra Streisand, and Chris Botti.

[21] Foster composed a musical based on Betty Boop, with lyrics by Susan Birkenhead and a book by Bob Martin.

In early 2001, Foster appeared in Popstars, a WB reality series aimed at coming up with the next girl group.

[23] In 2005, his and Linda Thompson's home life was featured in a "staged" reality television show, The Princes of Malibu, on Fox.

[24] The premise was Foster attempting to teach his spoiled stepsons, Brandon and Brody Jenner—the children of Thompson and Olympian Caitlyn Jenner[25]—to straighten their lives up and earn their own way.

[26] In 2006, he was a judge on the FOX TV show Celebrity Duets and appeared on Star Tomorrow, for which auditions were held in Los Angeles and New York City for undiscovered talent.

[27] Also in 2006, Foster was featured in Under the Desert Sky, Andrea Bocceli's live album and DVD of a pop concert held in Las Vegas.

In November 2007, Foster appeared in The Oprah Winfrey Show's annual "Favorite Things" episode, performing with Josh Groban.

The show includes his wife Katharine McPhee, tenor Fernando Varela, Pia Toscano, Loren Allred, and Shelea.

[42] In 2018, Foster and his then-fiancée Katharine McPhee attended a fundraiser gala for Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.

[49] The two became a songwriting team, collaborating on several songs, including "I Have Nothing", performed by Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard (1992), and "Grown-Up Christmas List".

Both Jenner boys starred in a short-lived TV reality show called The Princes of Malibu in 2005 which also featured Foster and Thompson and was filmed in their home.

[51] Foster married his fourth wife, Dutch model Yolanda Hadid, in Beverly Hills, California on November 11, 2011.

[62] Teaser-Tommy Bolin 1975 In 1985, Rolling Stone magazine named Foster the "master of ... bombastic pop kitsch".