David Foster - Off The Record - How David Foster has Produced the Soundtrack of My Life

At Christmas, my best friend and I watched the Walt Disney Holiday Special. It was one of the worst Disney holiday specials in my memory. That said, it prompted my best friend and I to have a conversation about a David Foster special she had suggested I watch ages ago that I'd never gotten around to. So, I decided to close up that gap in my knowledge and watch the documentary to close out the holiday weekend.

Image Source: Screen shot taken from Netflix page about the show

The documentary was released in 2019 and it paints Foster as a person who is very aware that he is in the latter part of his life. Foster says near the opening of the show, "I have more runway behind me than ahead of me." I appreciated how open Foster was about his shortcomings and his regrets. I imagine making this kind of public documentary while flattering to the ego also might want you to portray only the best of yourself, but Foster generally showed all sides of himself - and some of them are less than ideal.

While Foster is a good bit older than I am, it puts us in a unique juxtaposition with one another. Foster has produced the sounds that have filled my ears. Foster makes big sweeping music. Celine Dion says of him in the film, "David wants songs that will last forever."

Since this is not only a film review but also a Three Tune Tuesday post, I thought I'd share three of my favorite David Foster vocal moments and a snippet of the story you learn if you choose to watch the film on Netflix. Thanks as always to @ablaze for creating Three Tune Tuesday. This is a fun opportunity each week to share some music. I've not been writing much lately and this was a good way to get back into things. I love trying to come up with a theme for my post.

Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You

First, this song was not supposed to be in the movie. Second, Clive Davis and David Foster disagreed on how the opening should go. David wanted music under the opening and Clive said to leave it alone.

Celine Dion - All By Myself

I chose just this tiny clip to show that impossible note in All By Myself. Foster said that she did it perfectly on the first take and he made her do it 8 more times in the study to try to get something even better out of her. That is his general approach to all musicians.

I also chose this clip so that I could sneak in another brief story about Celine. My best friend and I went to Vegas to celebrate my friend's 30th birthday and we saw Celine's show. We happened to be there on a night that Oprah was in the house! We were in a balcony but were just above where Oprah was sitting.

Josh Groban - The Prayer

So, this song is supposed to be Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion but it's the song that brought us the incredible Josh Groban. I've seen Groban live in concert and loved him.

This clip is actually from the Foster film and shows how Josh Groban came to rehearse the first time with Celine Dion which then launched the career of a 17 year old kid.

Conclusion

Overall, I'd give the Foster documentary 4 stars. If you're musical and love any of these artists, it's definitely worth 90 minutes of your time.