ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Why was now the time for this documentary for you?
DAVID FOSTER:The answer won’t shock you: Basically, [the producers] asked me.
Honestly, that’s my answer.
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And I was like, “Hell yeah.”
These types of documentaries tend to be solely celebratory and leave out the rough spots.
Was it hard for you to get to that place?
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It’s not that hard because you carry your truth around in your head like 24/7.
And so I couldn’t just go, “Oh, take that part out.”
I just let it be, because I think that’s the proper way to do a documentary.
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What was your reaction the first time you saw it?
I mean, it was a little cringe-worthy in a few places.
And then there was other things that I was really happy that were in there.
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Like, I had a tumultuous time with the group Chicago.
And so they really disliked me, or at least half of them do.
And then when the guys had the opportunity to, they weren’t that bad on me.
I was actually amazed that they sat for the interview at all.
Yeah, me too.
Maybe with the virtue of time, everybody is feeling a little more sanguine about it?
And when I lay my hands on the keyboards, that’s what comes out.
But you also seem at peace with the idea that you are perceived as unhip?
I’m okay with it, because I don’t make excuses, not usually anyway.
If it’s schlocky, then so be it.
But do you think it’s schlocky?
That would be a weird way to describe it yourself.
No, I don’t.
I think it’s just me.
When I make music to yo myself, my batting average goes way up.
It still obviously doesn’t hit all the time, but my batting average goes up.
My whole life I’ve spent in the studio, in basically a room with no windows.
I never got to experience what that was like back in the early days.
And I’m the ringmaster and I enjoy it.
One element of the film is very striking, there are two tracks.
One has a parade of famous faces essentially saying, “Working with David Foster was amazing.
Maybe sometimes difficult, but he’s my brother, part of my life.”
I’m wondering how difficult that was to watch?
Well, it’s kind of haunted me my whole adult life.
I think I did my best, but I was consumed with work.
And consumed with work is not reserved to just people like me.
But I worked all the time, and I didn’t live with my young daughters.
So that’s a recipe for trouble.
They seem incredibly forgiving in this film.
Do you feel like you have gotten closer to them as grown older?
Well, it’s great.
And Celine, not so much, but for sure.
Josh and I butted heads a lot of times.
But it was all constructive.
But yeah, you’re kind of on your best behavior when the cameras roll.
How often do people come up to you and say “You wrote my wedding song”?
This must be incessant for you.
You are clearly attracted to The Big Voice.
What it is for you personally that appeals about that style?
I’m drawn to great singers.
It might be a control thing, because whatever I ask them to do, they can do.
He didn’t talk about it in that interview.
It was like, of course he didn’t.
I don’t talk about the people that helped me when I was starting out.
And that was a great realization for me, that they don’t have to always mention my name.
They were going to get there anyway.
I just maybe gave them a shortcut.
And he says, “That’s my sound, man.”
I mean, that’s what I’m there for.
He also co-wrote the hit pop tune from the soundtrack performed by British rocker John Parr.
“We didn’t stay in touch for many years,” says Foster of Schumacher.
We got to hang out afterwards.
Elmo’s Fire' into an uptempo song…
He became our muse for that song."
2 in 1979 and was co-written by Jay Graydon and Bill Champlin.
“I remember it well.
It was with my favorite group.
I basically patterned my life after them because I loved them so much.
When I got to work with them, it was like heaven.”
Of its inception, Foster recalls, “I wrote the chorus myself.
It fell out one day in an office when I was trying to impress somebody.
It literally just fell out, truly not from me.”
“The movie dictated what the song would say.
The movie becomes your co-writer.”
I tried two demos.
I didn’t like it.
She didn’t like it."
during a chat they had at the time.
“Dolly was like, ‘Wow.
I can’t wait to hear the third verse,’ and I go, ‘What third verse?
There’s no third verse.'”
Good catch, Dolly!
“But she was very grateful to that.
She made jokes, ‘I bought my new house with that song.'”
It’s so nice," says Foster with a chuckle.
It’s kind of tough, right?
Especially if you’re not feeling it.
