David Foster

David Foster
Foster in 2024
Born
David Walter Foster

(1949-11-01) November 1, 1949
Citizenship
  • Canada
  • United States
Occupations
  • Record producer
  • composer
  • songwriter
  • arranger
  • musician
Years active1966–present
Spouses
  • B.J. Cook
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1972; div. 1981)​
  • Rebecca Dyer
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1982; div. 1986)​
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 1991; div. 2005)​
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 2011; div. 2017)​
  • ​
    (m. 2019)​
Children6
Musical career
Genres
Instruments
  • Synthesizers
  • keyboards
  • vocals
Labels
Formerly of
Websitedavidfoster.com

David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian and American record producer, composer, arranger, and musician. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 45 nominations across four decades (the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s). Across the last 50 years, Foster has composed and produced some of the most successful songs of each decade, with multiple songs reaching the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and other individual genre charts. He has also been nominated three times in the Best Original song category at the Academy Awards.

Foster has contributed to material for prominent music industry artists across various genres. Some of the notable songs he has been involved with include: "I Will Always Love You", "I Have Nothing", "The Prayer", "After the Love Has Gone", "Hard to Say I'm Sorry", "Hard Habit to Break", "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)", "Glory of Love", "Winter Games", "Grown-Up Christmas List", "Best of Me", "Look What You've Done to Me", "She's a Beauty", "Somewhere", and "Wildflower".

Foster served as senior vice president of Warner Music Group from 1997, then he chaired Verve Records from 2012 to 2016.

In recent years, Foster composed Boop! The Musical, which premiered in Chicago in 2023 and debuted on Broadway in 2025. He was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music.