‘David Foster: Off The Record’ Examines Professional Triumphs And Personal Failings Of Hit Music Producer And Reluctant Reality TV Star

David Foster has won, “16 fucking Grammys,” and sold, “half a billion records.” David Foster is a “control freak,” an “egomaniac” and an “asshole” (his words, not mine). David Foster has starred in two reality television shows and through his multiple ex-wives and stepchildren is linked to America’s first family, the Kardashians. He loves L.A., hates New York, and is afraid of elevators. He’s also created some of the most famous recordings of all time.

To list his entire catalog of works would be long and boring. Suffice to say, he’s worked with nearly every major singer of the last 50 years. Most of the time it resulted in a hit. Some of the time it resulted in hits so big they defined the year they were released. If all he had ever done was produce Whitney Houston’s 1992 single “I Will Always Love You,” he’d still be a big deal. He also resurrected the career of Chicago, helped Celine Dion break through in America, and discovered Michael Bublé and Josh Groban.

The 2019 documentary, David Foster: Off The Record, examines the 70-year-old musician’s professional triumphs and personal failings and is currently available for streaming on Netflix. Charismatic, quick witted, insightful and a little bit of a dick, Foster makes for a good biographical subject. Between the music he made and the life he’s lived there’s no shortage of great stories. “You think that you’re just going to put this film together and it’s going to be exactly the way you want it,” he tells director Barry Avrich during the film’s opening. “But it’s not because I’m going to be over your shoulder the whole fucking way.” Like I said, bit of a dick.

Foster grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, one of seven kids and the only boy. He was spoiled early, his mom making him bacon and eggs while his sisters ate toast. After displaying perfect pitch, he was enrolled in a music program where he learned multiple instruments, skills he’d later use as an arranger and producer. Hearing The Beatles changed his life and he followed his dreams to London and later Los Angeles, where he immediately felt at home.

Foster played on his first hit record in 1972, when his band Skylark hit the top 10 with their song “Wildflower.” He became an L.A. studio musician, recording with ex-Beatles and Barbara Streisand before working as a producer. Streisand talks about his “carrot and stick approach,” saying, “He flatters the singer and then he says, ‘Let’s do it again’.” Celine Dion recalls recording some 30 vocal takes before getting his approval. That’s a lot of flattery.

Foster says he probably wouldn’t like the younger version of himself, who he calls “cocky” and “brash.” His work with Chicago is used as an example; Foster said their new material was shit and remade them as a pop group, focusing on bassist and singer Peter Cetera. It resulted in a string of hit singles and albums. It also broke up the original lineup of the band. By the end of the 1980s, Foster was one of the biggest and most successful producers in music.

While his career climbed from peak to peak, Foster’s personal life has been a wilderness trail of failed marriages and broken homes. He calls himself “a runner,” saying, “when things get rough or bad, I run.” He’s been married five times and has five daughters by three different women. He’s also a workaholic who slept at the studio and admits being seduced by “the shiny new thing.” His daughters, four of whom are interviewed, can’t seem to make up their minds, talking about the pain and trauma they lived through, then singing their father’s praises. To his girls, Foster says he’s sorry but also, “pull up your bootstraps and get on with it,” then admits he could never sit with any of his children and tell them he really loved and cared about them.

In 1986, Foster left his second wife and three young daughters to move in with Linda Thompson and her sons by Bruce Jenner, Brody and Brandon. The Jenner boys would later turn their life into the 2005 reality TV show, The Princes of Malibu. In 2012, fourth wife Yolanda Hadid dragged him back onto reality television when she starred in three seasons of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Foster didn’t like the experience, the show or being cast as the villain in his breakup with Hadid. For the first time he was involved in something he couldn’t control. New wife number five is American Idol runner up Katherine McPhee. While they currently have no plans to turn their marriage into a TV show, their 34 year age difference and her tendency to take no shit from him would make a good viewing experience.

David Foster: Off The Record is a thorough portrait of a complicated individual who was not always kind to those who loved him most. But he’s also a good storyteller with an interesting tale to tell and there’s no denying his impact on music and popular culture. He’s frank about his shortcomings and often as hard on himself as anyone else. Pondering his limited time left on Earth, he tells us, “On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I wake up and I think I am the greatest thing ever. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, I think I suck and that I haven’t accomplished anything, and that I better get to it and that I’m a fake and I’m a fraud. And on Sundays, I don’t think about it at all. And that is the truth.”

Benjamin H. Smith is a New York based writer, producer and musician. Follow him on Twitter:@BHSmithNYC

Where to watch David Foster: Off The Record