All language subtitles for David.Fotfrtrrv

David: You think that

you're just gonna put this

film together,

and it's gonna be exactly

the way you want it.

But it's not,

because I'm gonna be over your

shoulder the whole fucking way.

And, you're gonna have to

deal with me, unfortunately.

Can't wait for this.

- Light it up! Let's go!

- Okay.

[Michael Bublé

"Feeling Good" plays]

Michael: There is no subject

that makes me happier

to be able to talk about,

than David Foster.

There are so many parts of him

that I wish

the whole world knew,

what I know,

because if they knew

greater reverie for him.

they would have even

- Go!

Céline: David is one of

the greatest

producer/songwriter

of all time.

You've probably heard

of Barbra Streisand,

um, Michael Jackson, maybe.

Josh: David Foster was

my first believer in me.

when I didn't have it,

My confidence

but the truth is,

you get vocals that

you never dreamed of.

- Guess I'll answer that.

Hey, what's up, Steve?

What you doin', man?

Lionel: He's a comedian,

he's an entertainer.

A very talented musician,

songwriter.

When he walks in the room,

he is Mr. Show Biz.

so easy, and it's so hard.

Diane: He makes it looks

Within the historical

music business,

there's him and Quincy Jones.

Quincy: That's when you're

dealin' with God, man.

You have to know what

that artists capacity is.

You just keep diggin'

'til you get it.

Barbara: I'm very funny

and extremely easy

to work with in a studio.

He's not.

Kristin: When he writes

for someone,

he speaks their language.

- How many people are behind

as many hits as him?

I don't know,

the list is quite short.

Katharine: David Foster,

the life, the legend,

the mystery.

people

I am one of the fortunate

a really intimate,

that gets to have

deep relationship with him.

I guess I'm like that person

in his life

that's just sort of, going

like knock, knock.

David: This is probably

maybe the first time

that I've landed in New York,

where I haven't said to myself,

"Oh fuck, it's New York,

I don't wanna be here."

New York, it outpaces

Los Angeles

by a multiple of ten,

and I don't like that.

It has to do with

the claustrophobia,

and the tall buildings.

New York crushes me, and um,

I don't like the energy,

and I don't like all

that weight on me

when I'm walking around.

way out of my comfort zone

And I'm way, way,

about the unknown

of getting to Broadway.

I think you have more luck of

getting killed by lightning

than you do of having

a hit Broadway show.

Man: You have room on

the piano for a Tony Award?

I mean, I look back there.

- I sure do.

more than me -

Nobody wants the EGOT

Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony.

And then I have

the Golden Globe,

and I have the Emmy,

and I have the Grammy,

so I'm-I'm a little light.

Man:

Kristin: Broadway as a tendency

to be like, prove it.

So there's a feeling that

David needs to pay his dues,

David, we are so ready.

but I would also add,

We are so ready for you.

Give us that gift,

and then tell your story.

Todd: New York is its own

creature,

like LA is its own creature.

He has crossed over,

he's pop, he's radio,

he's done film,

he's done television.

between Broadway is,

Kelly: I think the difference

you work with a bunch

of other people,

into the studio

as opposed to just going

and creating something

on your own.

You have the director,

you got the choreographer.

A lot of people jump

into the party,

and that's probably new

for him.

to Broadway is,

- The notion of David coming

what has taken you so long,

David?

Come on, now. Come on.

It's time.

David: I have more runway

behind me

than I do ahead of me.

3915 Ascot Drive is,

is where I grew up.

A suburb of Victoria,

British Columbia.

The smell of grass being cut,

everybody ran the streets,

in the summer.

everybody stayed out

Nothing but great memories.

I have six sisters;

unfortunately, one passed away,

so I only have

five sisters now.

- We're all very close.

There's just a respect

and appreciation.

He loves his sisters;

we love him.

David: My father

was an office worker,

my mother was a homemaker.

We had no money,

but we weren't poor.

My childhood is like an

almost-perfect childhood.

My mother would make my

sisters a piece of toast

in the morning before

they went to school,

and she'd cook me

bacon and eggs.

If you were one of my sisters,

would you not be pissed off?

- Anybody you interview

that knows David,

knew our mom,

because he took her

everywhere,

and he loved having her

with him.

David: Apparently when my

mother was dusting the piano,

I was three, four, five

years old, or whatever,

and I yelled out,

"That's an E!"

what are you talking about?

And she was going,

I said "That's an E

you just hit."

Eleanor: And I thought,

"Oh, there's something

wrong with this child."

So I phoned his dad at

work and told him,

and he got so excited,

that he came home from work.

And, his dad was just

totally beside himself.

He was so excited.

David: And he came home

and he said,

"The kid's got perfect pitch."

That would probably

be some indication

that you should do music.

In '63, I would've been 13

or 14,

there was a program

to go learn music

at University of Washington,

and I did it two years

in a row.

And I'd play every instrument:

clarinet, flute, baritone,

trumpet, trombone, bassoon.

Which helped me later on

in writing for orchestra,

because I understood the

workings of every instrument.

But then a magical thing

happened.

On my little transistor radio,

and I heard this song.

["She Loves You" by Beatles

playing on piano]

The Beatles.

I was 13-years-old,

and I could not believe

this sound that I was hearing.

It literally changed my life,

and I said, "That's what

I want to do. That!"

Bill: David once as a teenager

played Ronnie Hawkins' band.

he knew David loved

He fired David because

the rock 'n' roll life.

And he said,

David you're a genius,

rock 'n' roll man.

and I'm a three cord

And if I fire you

there is a chance you'll

find your genius.

David: My mother and father,

when I was 16,

they took their life savings.

Life savings.

$1700.

And bought a piano

and amplifier for me.

But to wipe out your

savings for your child,

is pretty crazy.

I really thought that

I was gonna make it

in the music business.

Well, we put this band

together

and moved to England.

We had illusions of grandeur

that we were gonna fit in

and be stars.

The world scene at that time

was Pink Floyd,

and The Doors,

and Deep Purple,

and were like this clean cut,

horrible dance band

kinda thing.

We just had no clue

about what we were doing.

just getting this gig

We ended up, through an agent,

to be Chuck Berry's

back-up band.

I was classically trained,

and I didn't really know

much about rock 'n' roll,

so I didn't play his music

very well, at all.

Chuck was just an asshole,

there's no other way

of putting it.

He would just get out

there with his guitar,

and just crank away,

out of tune,

and he didn't really care

what was going on behind him.

properly,

I didn't play his song

which is not a good fit,

and ended up in a disaster.

Most of the band quit.

They got disillusioned,

they wanted to go home.

And I said,

"Well, I'm not goin' home,

I'm stayin'.

I'm here to make it."

I stayed for about a year

and it was, without a doubt,

the loneliest time of my life.

I auditioned for everything.

London was so cruel to me,

nothing short of a tragic life.

After a year of doing that,

I gave in and my parents

sent me sixty dollars,

and that was a air ticket home.

more money than my father,

By age 13, I was making

and I was on this music train.

I knew there was a world

out there

and I knew that I could be

part of it.

This one night, I came home

at 5:30 in the morning.

My father was up.

He sat me down and he said,

"So, this music business,

you really like this, huh?"

I said, "Yeah, I do."

He said, "You think you have

a chance at making it

in the music business?"

I said, "Yeah, I really do."

And then he just said,

"Okay then, good night."

And that was the only time

that I had a man-to-man

conversation with him,

and then he died a couple

of months later.

I woke up to go to school

and the car was gone,

and my mom said that,

he'd had a heart attack.

He was in the hospital

for 11 days

before he had another

heart attack and died.

I only visited him once.

there everyday.

I should have been up

Big mistake.

Imagine if I could have like

broke through that barrier,

like man-to-man

and like, talk to him

for 10 days, it would have been

amazing.

Jaymes: I think Dad's

dying truly affected David.

He was only 18,

and our dad was only 54.

And at the same time,

he was conflicted

because he was starting

his own musical career.

David: When my father died,

left at home plus myself.

there was three girls

It was kind of chaos at home;

my mother, 47-years-old,

three young girls.

She didn't know

how to deal with it.

I should have stepped in

and taken care of it.

You know, brought order

to the house, but I don't.

Instead I made a selfish

decision to leave,

and not deal with the chaos.

I chose my career

over helping my mother

and my three sisters.

By the time I was 25,

I was making enough money

that I can send her money

and buy her cars,

and pay off her house,

and stuff like that.

B.J.,

Me and my soon-to-be wife,

moved to Los Angeles.

That was 1972.

That's when we put "Skylark"

together.

I'd lived in London,

I'd lived in Toronto by then,

I'd lived in Vancouver,

I'd lived in Edmonton,

I'd lived in Victoria.

None of it felt right.

to Los Angeles,

The second that I got

it felt right.

I wanted to be studio

musician so badly.

This is where I knew

I belonged.

Our friend, Barry De Vorzon,

had discovered us,

and he brought us here

specifically,

to get us a recording contract

and record an album,

and that's exactly what we did.

And amongst that album

was the song, "Wildflower".

That song started

getting airplay,

then it just started spreading

throughout the country

and became a huge hit.

That was the first taste.

It just really wet my

appetite; I wanted more.

I started playing

rehearsal piano.

I eventually got a job playing

for "The Rocky Horror Show".

Every night, you would

look out into the audience,

and you would see

all these movie stars.

They all came to see Tim Curry

in "The Rocky Horror Show."

I was in the band, I later

became the musical director.

Through the musicians

in that band,

I got to meet other musicians

who actually were in the throes

of the session work.

And I met a drummer

named Jim Keltner.

He was the drummer that

was closest to The Beatles.

The musicians

would come and jam.

Piano faced the wall,

so I couldn't see

the other musicians.

I would just be playing along,

just like,

just grooving on a Sunday

night at three in the morning,

and John Lennon would pop in,

and Joe Cocker.

And drums would drop out

just playing solo piano,

and then eventually I was

and I just kept goin',

kept goin'.

And then, the bass

would come in again,

the drums would come in again.

And I just thought

they were letting me play,

but they were actually

going and doing drugs.

The other guys in the band

were like,

how can this kid stay up

all night and play music,

and not do drugs?

I didn't know,

I just wanted to play music.

- I first met David

at a recording session

in the uh, 70's.

David: I was barely

a studio musician.

I was one of two or three

piano players.

the studio.

I remember walking in

She had diamonds by the

yard wrapped around her arm.

She has the most beautiful

hands.

She's a very elegant,

beautiful woman.

I just remember her kind

of floating in the studio.

We were playing along, and

in the middle of it she goes,

"Stop! It's not right!

It's not working for me. Stop."

- And I was singing a song,

but it didn't have the right

opening,

something was wrong about it.

- She said,

"Let's take a lunch break."

Me, being the opportunist

that I am,

I was in the corner

on my electric piano,

way in the corner,

hoping that the mic was on

lunch in the control room.

because she was having her

- And then I heard someone

playing a figure on a piano.

- And literally,

like out of the movies,

she walks through the door,

and she goes,

"Marty," to her manager,

"Listen to this!"

- And I said, "Was that you

playing that on the piano?

I like that. I like that."

- It worked.

- Let's do it the way

this guy was playing it.

- We're gonna do it like that.

- That happened

to be David Foster.

to the record today,

- And if you listen

it's her and I.

So then, 10 years later,

Barbra's doing

a Broadway album,

and there's a song called,

"Somewhere"

and she'd like you

to produce it.

And I went, "Dude, I'm in."

Barbra said to me,

"David, I want this record

to sound

on this planet,

like it was not created

but I don't want you to use

any orchestra,

I only want you to use

synthesizers."

through a lot together.

- David and I have been

We're on the same wavelength.

Now, we agree far more

than we disagree.

David: So it took one month.

We finished the mix.

In all modesty, I killed it.

So I called her up,

I said, "It's finished."

She said, "I wanna hear it

tonight."

out and play it for you."

I said, "Okay, well I'll drive

Drove out to her Malibu place.

She was having a party.

I knock on the door,

and the door opened,

it was Elizabeth Taylor

and Clint Eastwood.

And Elizabeth said to me,

"Hello, can I help you?"

I was like,

"You're Elizabeth Taylor."

She said, "Well yes,

that's quite right."

You know, I don't know

what the hell I said,

but it was,

it was a Hollywood party.

It was like,

everywhere you turned,

there was Dustin Hoffman,

and this one, and that one.

And then Barbra comes down,

she says,

"Oh, you're here to play me

the mix. Oh, this is great."

in her evening gown...

And she leaned back like this,

...and she went, "I love it.

I love it."

And she loved it.

Quincy: We've all had

the identical same notes

for 700 years.

Through harmony and rhythm,

the choice is yours

that represent who you are.

You have to be a babysitter,

you have to be a shrink,

you have to be a mama,

a nanny, everything.

You have to get the studio,

to get backgrounds,

you have to find the songs, man.

That's the power right there,

the songs.

Carole: He's been responsible

for doing hit figures

on songs of mine

that he didn't even write.

On "That's What Friends

are For",

to play keyboards,

he came into the studio

and came up with the

da, da, da.

just a little bit flat.

David: Is, it's going

And you're dropping on 'star'

so if you'll hold that up

we'll have it.

Barbara: David has a way

of coaxing what he wants

out of an artist.

- That sounded good.

- And it's very clever.

He uses a sort of um,

carrot and stick approach,

you know.

He flatters the singer,

and then he says,

let's do it again.

Paul: The way David

will drive these artists

and abuse the shit of 'em,

You got it in take three!

Do you know how many takes

Sinatra did with "My Way"?

One.

Céline: David is very

perfectionist.

So am I.

If you're not willing

to have a relationship

and accept the over,

and one more,

and one more time,

and you've got it you,

and you've got it in you.

And you're saying to yourself,

takes I have given it to you?"

"Do you think that after 29

But, you know what?

The 30th time that you sang,

he went, "Bingo!"

David: I produced the original

"Dreamgirls" in 1981,

I think it was.

It was Jennifer Holliday.

She came into the studio,

she walked in with a fur

coat and a dog under each arm,

and I said,

and she walked up to the mic,

"Okay, Jennifer, let's see

what it sounds like?"

- She sang her ass off,

just like the show.

But we were scrambling

in the control room.

We weren't ready.

We wanted just a run through

so that we could

get the levels.

So at the end of it, I went,

"Great Jennifer,

that was fantastic.

We're ready, we got our

levels, let's do one."

She put her coat on,

grabbed her two dogs

and she said,

"I only sing the song

once," and walked out.

I would say the next big,

explosive moment in my life

was Earth, Wind & Fire.

musician for three years,

I had been a studio

so I had played

on The 5th Dimension records,

and on Dolly Parton.

As a piano player,

I watched very carefully,

the producers on the other

side of the glass,

because I wanted that job.

I wanted the producer job.

I managed to get an

audience with Berry Gordy,

the founder of Motown Records.

Now I'm panicked.

And I walked from his sofa

to his piano in his office,

and in those 10 steps,

I faked it,

and I sat down at the piano,

and this is what fell out.

That's when I met

Earth, Wind & Fire,

and I played it

for Maurice White,

"I wanna record it."

and he said,

He said, "Tonight."

I said, "When?"

Went on this three-album

rampage with them,

and that propelled me

into the 80's.

Paul: There's a definite vibe

that David gets into,

that is very majestic,

that's very well-produced,

that gives you

that big richness.

He has literally changed

the face of music.

The best piano player

I've ever played with,

and I've played with Herbie.

The way he attacks a key

is like no other.

When it gets big, it's big.

produced

David: When Quincy Jones

"We are the World," in 1985

to help famine relief

in Africa.

Well, he called me and he

said,

"Hey David, you should do

the same thing in Canada

with all the Canadian stars."

So, I called Bryan Adams,

and together we wrote

"Tears are not Enough".

David: We got together a super

group of Canadian artists

for a one-day epic session.

Joni Mitchell, Neil Young,

Gordon Lightfoot,

Loverboy, Bryan himself.

a number one hit

The song became

and it raised millions

for an amazing cause.

- Come on, Neil,

give it to me, baby.

- Little flat on innocence,

but other than that,

it was great. We'll go

again. One more time.

- That's my sound, man.

I don't think I particularly

would have liked

the younger David Foster,

because I was cocky,

and I was brash,

maybe a little know-it all.

I'm thinking, in particular,

of when I produced the group,

Chicago.

Take that out of the shot

because you guys

are always late on the shot,

on the walk-down things.

You're not with the clique,

so I pulled it out.

- Lee.

- Jimmy.

- Robert.

- Wait a minute, wait a minute,

I just need to ask this,

are we doing an interview

about Chicago,

or an interview

about David Foster?

- Well, why don't we let him

do the interview?

- Yeah. Do your thing.

Do your thing.

- We're with you.

- Man: Thank you.

Lee: We were at a stepping-off

point in our career.

We were coming away

from Columbia Records,

the word

and they were putting out

that these guys aren't

worth your salt anymore.

- And we had been very,

very, very successful.

Lee: Irving Azoff came

and asked us if we would mind

if David Foster produced us?

- By then, we were ready

to work with anybody

to try to get something

going again.

right when Chicago needed

Peter: David Foster came in

something like him.

There was chaos in the group.

Nobody was talking

at that point.

David: They had lost their way,

and I was a huge Chicago fan

before I even got a chance

to work with them.

I knew every lick.

Lee: First time we met him,

we had a bunch of songs that

we wanted to play for him,

that we thought were gonna

be on our next album

that he was gonna record.

He came in, he listened

to all of the songs

and said, "It's all mediocre."

sure I could.

- I can put it together,

I had to have the job

of telling Chicago

that the songs they had

written for Chicago 16,

were terrible, and they had

to start all over again.

But it's a little overwhelming

to concentrate

on all four songs at once.

- He was very young; he was

turning our world upside down.

just a minute to listen

- Why don't you give me

because sorry,

I was on the phone.

Peter: He's intimidating,

and when he came in the studio,

we were all intimidated.

I was intimidated.

songs aren't good enough?

Jimmy: All of a sudden our

You know, you're thinkin',

"Man, did I lose it?"

- When I got in the room

and they played me their song,

I was going like,

these are nothing like

what I remember you guys,

these are terrible.

Like, what happened

to you guys?

- He made a little comment

about it,

over the loudspeaker

after a take,

"You know, that's not right,

that bass part's not right."

I went inside the booth

So I put my bass down,

and I said, "Don't ever talk

to me like that, again."

- Switch to 6 there

for that line, okay?

Please?

- Every producer we had

worked with up to that point,

they let us be Chicago.

David made a record

that was his impression

of what Chicago should be.

to command the ship,

- We needed somebody

and he did.

Some people liked it,

and some people didn't.

- David controlled every

aspect.

We were not used

to that either.

- He wanted to participate in

the writing and the playing.

Jimmy: We understood that

we have to trust this guy.

We needed this.

And he was fast.

He was quick.

Song needs a bridge.

Okay, done. I'd sit there

and I'd go, "Holy shit, man."

- I went in there with

all eight cylinders goin',

and all guns blazing.

It was a dictatorship -

you do this, you do that,

I'm gonna be the bass player,

I'm the piano player, I'm

gonna co-write all the songs.

This is what we're gonna do,

you're gonna record this song.

we had huge success.

And of course,

The Chicago days,

I was just a hired gun

coming in to fix a problem.

I saw an ugly side,

just a very aggressive

production techniques

from David.

- I was trying to imagine

record sounded like.

what a great Chicago

didn't include a lot of horns.

Unfortunately for them, it

- There was nothin' to do.

On videos,

I'd be on a keyboard,

Lee would be on a guitar,

and you know,

what the hell's goin' on here,

because there ain't no horns

to play.

So next thing you know

we're relegated

to playing synth parts

on videos, and on stage.

for a while.

I was pretty upset

You put your ego in a bag,

bury it in the yard,

and you make a record.

Robert: I wasn't ready

to do that.

My reaction was immature.

I'm a keyboard player,

what do you mean I can't play

the keyboards on these songs?

We thought we knew better.

Jimmy: Another problem arose,

which was the relationship

with Peter and David.

David: I immediately connected

with Peter Cetera.

We formed a great writing

bond and a great kinship,

and Peter and I became the

songwriters of the group.

Peter: I would listen to him,

and he would actually

listen to me.

I think that was unique

for him.

He lets me actually talk

through his hands.

that, that was great, you know.

He'll playing, now what was

We ended up writing a bunch

of fantastic songs.

We had a string of number

one hits.

People say, on you turned

them into a ballad group.

Just that people picked

the ballads to be the hits.

And it just so happens

that I sang them,

and of course, when you do

a video, the guy that sings,

all those things played

into it.

Robert: I realized that

something good was happening

when Warners took us out

to dinner

with all their top executives,

of many gold discs

picking up the first

from songs from that album.

But in the back of my mind,

I was thinking,

yes, but it's not Chicago.

- Nine times but we did it.

Now, we just gotta decide

whether we want we-wa.

David: I can understand,

in reflection,

how the group was pissed off

at that.

Meanwhile, they went

from 50,000 albums

to 7,000,000 albums.

were good.

- We knew that the songs

I mean, we got ears.

Robert: David was gonna

get us back on the charts,

and that's what he aimed for.

Everything he did

was exactly right.

I didn't wanna walk away.

Peter: It was tense.

David and I took over

writing at that point.

It was a really low point

for everybody.

Jimmy: We wanted to have fun.

We wanted to be a band.

We've always been a band,

and we didn't have any use

for somebody

that didn't wanna be

a team player.

He started to listen

if you will,

to a different drummer,

and David was the straw

that broke the camel's back

and convinced him yeah,

I'm a solo guy.

So...

- We had a string of number

one hits that continued

into my solo career

with "Glory of Love."

That was in "The Karate Kid"

we got an Academy Award

nomination.

- If Peter hadn't wanted

to just go off on his own

and still be in the band,

it would've been great,

out that way.

but it just didn't work

- We had this great run.

David: Yes, I came in hot,

yes, I came in arrogant,

yes, I came in cocky.

I understand completely

why they don't like

what went down,

and I get it,

and I understand it.

But they're still pissed

off about it.

They're still working on

the backs

of those albums right now.

Natalie Cole,

her voice like silk.

Beautiful human being.

I was the lucky one

that got to put her

and her father together

for "Unforgettable".

Gave me the opportunity

of a lifetime.

Could've been anybody.

She chose me.

The Unforgettable album

was done for the love of music.

It was as pure

as I've ever been.

It was an album made

from the heart.

and a little bit of wizardry.

We applied a little bit of math

We retried the vocal

from the vaults,

we recorded a new track.

Natalie sings, Nat sings.

When she heard that,

she just came apart.

She said, "Sounds like my

father's singing

right over my shoulder."

David: I was with Toni Braxton

last night actually,

about our times together.

and we were reminiscing

I think we made one of the

greatest records ever,

"Un-break My Heart".

Written by Diane Warren,

produced by me.

- That key change,

there's nothing better

than that in pop music.

The whole arrangement,

and the whole vocal.

It's just pure perfection.

something,

Every time David touches

it goes to a whole other level.

a lot simpler,

David: My life would've been

and my children's life would've

been a lot simpler and easier,

if I had of not been

married so many times.

- No one's more afraid of

his track record than himself.

- Women have always

been his weakness.

- There's so many women.

daughters and sisters um,

- It's funny that he was given

and he was very close

with his mother too,

and he's always been close

with every woman in his family.

- Three older sisters

to dote on him,

three younger sisters

to look up to him.

- I don't think that he

planned on being married

five times in his life.

- So obviously, yes, women.

- If I was sitting in front

of a psychologist,

or a psychiatrist,

he would call me a runner.

When things get rough,

or bad, I run.

Erin: Having mixed families

is really challenging.

- There're never any pictures

of Grandpa Maury,

- Why?

holding the camera.

- ...because he was always

- I was three

when they broke up,

and he immediately was

living with the person

he had left our mom for.

And living in a house

with her and her kids.

David: Nice key.

You're gonna sense scar tissue

with every child of mine

that you talk to.

the story

Most of them would tell

that I was divorced

from their mother

by the time they were five

or six years old.

time, literally all the time.

I was working all the

Sleeping at the studio for

two or three days at a time.

So, you're gonna see

a lot of scar tissue.

Amy: My father and I look

for exit strategies

the same way that other

people make dinner plans.

When conflict arises,

my dad's first instinct

is to avoid,

and evade, and deflect.

My father stayed in LA.

We were poor as shit.

I mean, we were poor.

My father sent child support,

but that's all we had.

And then, I would go during

the summer to see my dad,

and he was living in Malibu

in like a palace.

And I was like, wait.

David: It's more like,

hey, there is a shiny,

new thing over there.

In my mind, it's like,

on the other side.

the grass is always greener

It's a lot of that.

This is not working so...

that looks a lot better

to me over there.

- He lived like a king.

The mansions in Malibu

that I didn't live in,

to the neighbourhood

that I lived in, in Toronto,

to the very unconventional

family that I had.

I have 10 siblings,

and I'm an only child.

Wait. That's really fucked up.

David: You can just imagine

with children

from three different women,

and how tough it's been

for all the players.

When I run,

it's a knee-jerk reaction,

I just go.

I just move on.

And there are always

consequences.

The biggest mistake

I ever made

was leaving Rebecca.

Imagine leaving

and we have three children;

age 5, 4...

and Jordan was 7 months.

What a fucking stupid

thing to do.

I would just say I'm sorry.

You know, I'm sorry

that I really fucked it up.

Jordan: I do remember

having crying sessions,

just feeling like, oh God,

my dad doesn't love me.

And that's a horrible feeling.

he'd created

Erin: There was a situation

where he didn't live

with his own children.

He lived with someone

else's kids.

There was a lot of tension

there.

- You grow up a little bit

faster

than you would necessarily,

if you didn't have that

relationship with a parent.

a casualty of his ambition.

Amy: I believed that I was

- From my earliest memory,

I was in the studio with him.

While I did see the back

of his head for many years,

in the studio, I never

felt like he wasn't there.

I just always had so much

respect for him

and what he did.

Amy: I never felt angry,

I just accepted it.

If I wanted to see my dad,

I had to do it at the studio.

I love my father.

I adore my dad.

You know, when he shines

his light on you,

it is fantastic.

Sara: It wasn't always easy.

It wasn't easy as a kid.

I don't know,

if I had to choose to be

really close with my parent

as a kid, or as an adult,

I would pick an adult.

He's such a sounding board,

and such um,

almost like a friend

in a lot of ways.

- I would like to point out

at this moment,

that all five of my

daughters are here,

all the way from Florida,

Zurich, Edmonton,

Nashville, and LA.

Thank you, girls.

I have five amazing daughters,

all successful.

all strong-willed,

I think I did something right.

- There was never a time

he didn't pick up the phone

when you called.

- No.

- Anytime he was in the studio,

no matter what hour, what day--

- Or if he was working

with Madonna or something,

he'd be like, hold Madonna.

- There was never a time

that they came back

to the phone

and said he's not available.

- Never.

- I think that sometimes he

thinks he wasn't a good dad,

and that hurts my feelings,

because he was a good dad.

David: My message to them

is, you know, I did my best,

I could have done a lot better.

I'm trying to do my best now.

and get on with it.

Pull up your bootstraps

It would be hard for me to

sit with any of my children

I really love you.

and go, you know,

I really do.

And I really care about you.

That's probably never come

out of my mouth with my kids.

It's not hard for me to say

"I love you" at all.

It's a little bit rogued,

you know at the end of a

conversation with your kids,

love you. Love you too.

There is a big difference

between "love you"

and "I love you".

- And what do you say?

- Love you.

Amy: I know that he loves me

in the only way that he can.

The first time a song of

mine went number one,

he said, "Mhmm,

well, you know, Amy,

there's only one thing harder

than getting a number one

hit song."

And I went, "What?"

He's like, "Getting two.

And when you get two,

call me then."

Katharine: I hope Erin

doesn't mind.

She called me one day,

not too many months ago.

really upset about her dad.

And was hysterical and was

And it was to do with a

conversation that they had,

around a big, personal

event happening in her life.

Really not honouring

her feelings.

He was so upset,

but he couldn't say,

you know what,

it was just awful,

I feel horrible,

I'm so upset.

He couldn't say

any of that stuff.

I said, you know, you really

don't wanna go weeks now

not talking to her,

you need to fix this tonight.

And he looked at me so,

so defiantly and just said,

you know then, maybe she should

just go and do that.

And I was like, wow,

this is your own daughter,

like, you don't mean that.

I got him on the phone

with Erin that night,

and they're working

through it.

They have years and years

of stuff to work out.

I know how much he loves

his children.

be more intentional

I'm trying to get him to

with everything he does.

Whether that's having

relationships with his kids

because he know it's the right

thing to do,

but also because he genuinely,

genuinely cares.

And genuinely is interested

in wanting to know

who Sara is and Erin is,

and Jordan, and Amy

and Allison for that matter.

daughter that I had

David: Allison is a

when I was 19 or 20

with a girlfriend.

We gave the baby up

for adoption.

I knew that some day

she would come looking for me

and she did.

She was maybe 30, when she

found me on the internet.

She's really smart,

but it's a different feeling

than when you raise somebody.

And I think honestly

she probably would like

more from me,

it's just I can't,

I'm just spread too thin.

I had met Kevin Costner

in Vancouver.

He said, I'm about to do this

film called "The Bodyguard,"

would you be interested

in doing the music?

Quincy did tell me,

you are about to do the most

important project of your life.

He was absolutely right.

"The Bodyguard" itself,

Clive: You start with

the film.

When I first saw the rushes

at Christmastime,

I thought it was weak.

I thought that Warner Bros.

were much too dependent

on making this

a gripping thriller,

and there was very little,

if any,

of Whitney.

demonstration of the stardom

- All right, I'm up.

- It was Whitney's first film.

She was feeling her way

as an actress.

The chemistry between

Kevin Costner and Whitney

must be felt.

- Well, you don't look like

a bodyguard.

- What'd you expect?

Clive: Typically, the head

of any record company

is gonna want more music

in the film,

but unless you establish

Whitney's stardom,

the script didn't provide that.

So, I wrote a letter to

the director and Kevin,

saying just that -

if you don't get more music,

if you don't get more

performance from Whitney,

you do not have

a great film here.

Kevin Costner literally

took this letter to heart.

He assumed a very vital role

working with David Foster

on this.

The number of songs

were dramatically expanded.

David and his then wife,

Linda Thompson,

wrote "I Have Nothing."

Clive: But the big object,

what kind of song,

the essence of the film,

can really capture

the chemistry of the leads,

affect the emotion,

make it more than

just a thriller?

- Originally they were gonna do

"What Becomes

of the Broken-Hearted".

It's really a good hook,

but past that, there's not

a lot going on with it.

Whitney didn't like the demo,

David: I did a demo for it.

I didn't like the demo.

And Whitney was like,

"Really, David?

I don't, I'm not gettin' this."

And then, luckily,

the song hit the charts

with Paul Young,

so I ran to Kevin Costner

and said,

"Ah, we can't do this song,"

feigning like,

that I'm disappointed.

come up with another song."

So he said, "Okay, let me

Dolly: Thank you.

to the record store.

David: I sent somebody

I said, "Get me a copy of

'I Will Always Love You'

by Dolly Parton."

They came back and they said,

they didn't have Dolly

Parton's version,

but they have

Linda Ronstadt's version.

so I called her

- I knew Dolly Parton,

and I was excited. I said,

"Guess what, Dolly,

we're doing your song,

'I Will Always Love You.'"

And she said,

"Oh, that's great!"

She said, "I could just

hear Whitney singing..."

And I'm going,

what lyric is that?

That's, that's not part

of our record.

The Linda Ronstadt version

is only two verses.

She said, "What are you

talking about?

The third verse is the

most important verse,

it sums up the whole song,

and the whole feeling that

I was trying to go for."

And I hope life

Treats you kind

And I hope that

You have all

That you ever dreamed of

And I wish you joy

And happiness...

David: I immediately knew how

to make this a great song

for Whitney Houston.

I would imagine that if

Whitney's performing it live,

that they would get

a standing ovation,

where the people jumped

to their feet.

Breaker take one.

Man: Scene 86.

A cam rolling. Marks.

Clive: Kevin who said,

"Look,

I want the record to begin

with an a cappella."

- I didn't want to do

the first part a cappella,

and Kevin was like,

"No, I want it to be

no music for the first part."

I was like, "Come on, Kevin.

for your movie maybe,

I mean, okay,

but when I get it back

in the studio,

I'm gonna put music on it."

- Right after the first

run-through,

David sent it to me,

and it gave me chills.

- He loved my rough mix of it.

I said, you can't use

the rough mix.

- And in this particular case,

we did not see eye-to-eye.

- I know Whitney, I know what

she wants, blah, blah, blah.

Of course, nobody knew

Whitney better than Clive.

- And he repeated more

obscenities

in this conversation,

than I had ever heard.

- And he said, "David,"

very calmly,

"I think we should hang up

before one of us says

something that we will regret."

- All of Warners was calling me.

I had to make a decision,

and I went with that

first version.

- Whoever thought a radio

would play this?

I was standing in the ballroom

beside her mother,

and Whitney gets up on stage

in her beautiful dress,

and she goes,

"If I..."

and she goes,

and the mother turned to me

"You know you're witnessing

greatness right now."

And then the strings come in.

Clive: It was David who came up

with the arrangement.

Each of the three of us

loved it.

I literally had chills

I was ecstatic.

and goosebumps.

- Wait.

Announcer: The Bodyguard,

original soundtrack album;

Whitney Houston.

Announce: The number one

album of the year

for "I Will Always Love You."

- The record of the year,

this is the one.

This is the one, you know.

It's very special.

It really is.

- Within hours,

he called me up to apologize.

He said, "Everybody's calling,

that it's the greatest

record they've ever heard

in their life."

Announcer: Ladies and

gentlemen, Whitney Houston.

Clive: It only cemented the

bond between David and myself.

- Welcome back to

the Whitney Houston show.

- Guess I should just stay

up here, huh. Hoo!

important project of my life.

- It became the most

The album sold 45 million

copies.

Bodyguard producers,

David Foster.

Clive, again, I love you,

and I thank you.

- It's carried me over these

last 20 years, a lot.

has been going 100/mph,

For the most part my life

but then there is those

things that happen to you,

the unexpected -

that just bring you

to your knees

and bring you to a full

stop halt.

I was in the studio in

Hollywood with Michael Bolton.

He kept pushing, he said,

let's stay later, later, later.

I really wanted

to leave at midnight,

but I embed up staying

until 2:00 o'clock.

I was living in Malibu,

I'm driving home.

It's a beautiful summer night.

I'm coming up on the top

of this hill.

Now, it's 2:30 in the morning.

And there is this thing

in the middle of the road.

Arms up like this.

It takes a second to process

that it's somebody

in the middle of the road.

to think I've gotta brake,

It takes another second

and by the third second BAM!

Then it was just...

dead silence.

I dialled 911.

Operator: 911,

what's your emergency?

- I've just killed somebody,

I've just-I think I've just--

I just killed somebody.

You gotta get here right away.

on PCA section

Yeah, I'm driving

I just hit a person, I think

I just killed a person.

Operator: All right. I'm gonna

help you, sir. Okay?

Where are you?

- It's right near Sycamore.

You gotta come. Please.

- Stay with me, okay?

I'm gonna stay on the phone

with you, all right?

- Okay, but you gotta get here,

you gotta get here fast.

Please hurry!

body was in a fetal position,

- I ran down the road, this

and there was blood everywhere.

Out of the ears, out of

the nose, out of the mouth.

I mean, I-I just

destroyed his body.

All of a sudden I saw like

his hand just move slightly

and I thought, oh my God,

he's still alive.

Ambulance is on the way...

the helicopter lands.

All hell is breaking loose.

They get out the body bag

because they think

the guy is dead.

- Now it's 5 o'clock

in the morning.

He must have had some ID

on him. And then they said,

do you know who that was

that you hit, right?

That was Ben Vereen.

theatre...

- Master of the musical

Newsreel: Ben Vereen--

Broadway for "Pippin".

- Who won a Tony award on

Who was in "Jesus Christ

Superstar",

and "Hair"

and "Jelly's Last Jam"

and starred in "Grind",

and was so brilliant in that

wonderful Bob Fosse movie

"All That Jazz".

Ben Vereen--

David: Every 60 seconds

I would see the impact.

Like that.

Like every minute.

Ben: I was pretty broken up.

I got to the hospital

and they said it was-

I was pretty much over.

I had a trech.

This right side

was completely stroked.

My left femur was broken.

My spleen was taken.

I was really a mess.

- I thought,

I'm gonna go to jail.

I've killed somebody.

I'm going to jail.

Three months to the day,

He rings me up on the phone

he didn't identify himself.

Hello?

Man that must have been one

of your greatest hits ever.

It was Ben.

And I knew that,

that he was gonna live.

When he was flown to UCLA

they scanned his whole body

and they saw this

subdural hematoma.

in the brain

And he was bleeding to death

which is why he was acting

so crazy,

standing in the middle

of the road.

have been dead by 7:00 a.m.

The Doctor said that he would

from that aneurysm.

So the worst moment of my life

ended up being something

that weirdly saved his life.

- My goal when I go in the

studio with a singer is,

I believe in my head

that I'm gonna get a better

vocal out of this singer,

than he or she

has ever done before,

or ever will do again.

I got a tip that this young

singer was up in Canada.

She was already famous

in Quebec,

so I'm not taking any credit

for discovering her.

I flew to Montreal,

I drove 100 miles in the rain.

Céline: I was performing

in a tent.

The weather was awful,

that David Foster

but I could not believe

was going to come

and hear me sing that night.

I'm about to meet one of the

greatest producers of all time.

Tonight?

He came and he watched

the show,

and then we met after.

- When I heard her sing,

it was like that,

when you watch a movie,

and everything just goes...

It was her.

And her singing.

And it was just this phenomenal

thing, and I went,

"My God!

Millions and millions of people

are gonna love this woman."

And they did.

You are truly remarkable.

Céline: He said that he would

be interested to produce

English album.

a few songs for my first

"No way, Jose. Na-uh.

I said to myself,

I'm gonna believe this thing

when it happens."

David: Oh God, you sing great.

- Really?

I couldn't believe

that David was like,

about to produce

with an unknown singer,

first English album.

I couldn't believe it.

Céline: It was hard.

I was very shy.

I wanted to impress David.

To show him that the chance

that he was giving me,

that I was not gonna

blow it away.

That I was not going

to disappoint him.

David: So, I came up

with this impossible note

for Céline to sing.

So loud, so high,

so long, so ridiculous.

The horrible story is,

that she did it once,

and it was pretty much perfect.

Then I made her to do it

seven more times.

- Well, his name

is David Foster,

and he was very right,

and that's why he's one

of the greatest.

And it's true, it was great.

- As I recall, what I said

to her was jokingly,

"If you can't hold the note

as long as I need you

to hold it,

Whitney Houston is down

in Studio C,

I'll get her to come in

and hold the note for you."

As a joke.

It was one of the days

that she really hated me.

I know that.

Céline: When you start

to work with him,

you never sit down.

David knows exactly

what he's looking for.

He knows what he wants,

and he's gonna push you.

He brings the best out of you.

We just have to jump in the

train with him and trust him.

You trust, or you leave.

- Many of my songs

were all produced or written

by a good friend of mine.

David Foster.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I wanted to take this

opportunity tonight,

that you've done for me.

to thank you for everything

For my life, my career,

you've been the first one

helping me out.

You were there for me,

and for me to have you

on this stage tonight,

is more than a thrill.

He does classy songs.

- David is a classy act.

You might have a big,

big, big song

that will give you a life

for the rest of your life.

You might have a career.

David wants songs

that live forever.

- For a guy that said

two years ago

records anymore, which I did,

that I wasn't gonna make

and other than

the Michael Bublé record,

I have stuck to my guns,

that's the only record

I've made in two years.

- He doesn't know

about holidays.

"Oh David, it's Easter."

He's like, "What?

I don't care,

we're working today."

- For a guy that doesn't wanna

make records anymore,

damn busy. It's crazy.

I still seem to be pretty

- You're very busy.

[Rhythmic finger snapping,

music plays]

- I believe that music is full

of slots that are available.

The Michael Bublé slot

was wide open.

Everybody else that made

that kind of music was dead.

Michael: I had been told

daughter was getting married,

that the Prime Minister's

and that they were friends

with David Foster,

and that the great David

would be at the wedding.

David: Brian Mulroney, the

ex-Prime Minister of Canada,

was having a wedding

for his daughter.

He's saying,

you've gotta hear this guy

that's about to sing

at our wedding. He's amazing.

Brian: When we arrived at

the wedding, I said to David,

"David, I want you to listen

to this guy

who's gonna come up

and sing now."

- I said, "Oh great, great."

And he says, "Come on up to

the front, he's about to sing."

- Foster says to me,

"Prime Minister, look it,

this is what I do for a living.

I'm fed up with this."

- This guy walks out,

good-looking guy, right,

and he goes,

Everything closes in on him.

It's like in the movies,

you know,

everything goes away.

All the noise of the wedding,

the dishes, the clanging,

the conversation,

and all I could see

was Michael Bublé.

- I looked over,

I could see the Honourable

Brian Mulroney,

and he kind of had David

under his arm,

kind of saying,

"Look at this kid, David."

Brian: And I said no,

"I'm about to do you

the biggest favour

of your life."

He sounded like a cross between

Frank Sinatra and Bobby Darin.

- He was a crooner.

He could do the-the

fast tempos.

- Yeah, really.

He was quite--

- He was quite somebody.

Brian: I knew right away,

this guy was something special.

David: And I told him

that night,

"I'm bringing you

to Los Angeles,

here's $5,000 to pay off

your bills,

you're moving into

my guest house,

and you're not leaving

until we make a record."

Michael: David came up to me,

he said,

"Hey, Mike man,

you got your own lane.

You wanna come down to LA?

Maybe we could work on

some stuff?"

I remember going home

that night,

calling my Grandpa,

jumping up and down

in the hallway,

because I had met, honestly,

one of the greatest ever,

and uh, he liked me.

- Very exciting day today,

because we're doing strings,

which actually Michael

has nothing to do with and...

gotta go to work.

- The first time that

we worked together,

believe that he was there.

I was just a kid who couldn't

I was a massive fan.

Musically, it was huge for me.

Every day that I went home

with rough demos,

they were so much better

than I had ever heard before.

There was no business here.

Business did not come

into this relationship.

This was all personal.

I had cornered him,

and I said, "Listen,

I think we're doing

something special here.

Take me to Warner Bros.,

let me play my case.

If they don't sign me, I will

never bother you again."

And four days later,

he called me

and he said, quote,

"Let's see what

a 25-year-old fuck

business."

knows about the record

The president of Warner Bros.,

Tom Whalley,

looked at me and he said,

"Hello, Michael,

why should we sign you?

We have Sinatra on Reprise."

And I said, "With all due

respect, Mr. Whalley,

Sinatra's dead."

I said, "Give me a chance.

I'll work my ass off for you.

I love this music,

and there's no reason why it

shouldn't be kept alive."

Who the fuck was I?

I was 25-years-old.

David literally put

his future on the line.

A few days after that,

I got a phone call.

David Foster said,

"Hey, Mike man."

I said, "Hi, David."

He said, "I wanna welcome you

You're gonna be okay."

to the family of Warner Bros.

Announcer: And the award

goes to Michael Bublé.

Announcer: Juno goes

to Michael Bublé.

Announcer: It is Michael Bublé.

Michael, come on up.

Announcer: Michael Bublé.

- And please welcome,

Michael Bublé.

David: The bottom line is,

he's a national treasure

for Canada.

He knows what he wants,

he knows who he is,

and I think we're a great

working combination.

I see no end in sight.

To have spent the last

17, 18 years with him,

has been amazing.

- We have become...

I mean, brothers.

There's a deep emotional

attachment and loyalty

because I love him, you know.

- David fuckin' Foster!

- All right.

Tommy: It is the street

of broken dreams.

I say to everybody,

making music, for us,

is kindergarten compared

to the challenges

you have to overcome

on Broadway.

David: On Mondays, Wednesdays,

and Fridays,

I am the greatest thing ever.

I wake up and I think that

On Tuesdays, Thursdays,

and Saturdays,

I think I suck and that I

haven't accomplished anything,

and that I'd better get to it,

and that I'm a fake,

and I'm a fraud.

about it at all.

And on Sundays, I don't think

And that is the truth.

- The first idea was

the opening.

And maybe it starts with a

scene. And then the two kids--

- Not having complete control

was very difficult for me.

My most success has come

when I'm completely in charge

and left alone.

So of course,

I went into Broadway

going like,

with that same attitude,

leave me alone,

let me do my thing.

But Broadway's a very different

collaborative process.

Kelly: It's an adventure.

You just start

from the beginning,

and you just start laying

bricks, and go from there.

David: Write a song,

get it thrown out.

Write another song,

get it thrown out.

Write 30 songs,

get them all thrown out.

Start again. New script.

- You know what David Foster's

never done?

He's never put himself

in a box.

If he hears a Broadway singer,

he goes for it.

Dare I say,

that people would see

a new side of David Foster.

- Write 10 more songs,

third new script,

new story here.

fourth new script,

Now she goes to Hollywood.

And it was just...

it was just insanity.

I always like to say, how many

summers do you have left?

At age 68,

if I get really lucky,

I have maybe 15 summers left,

and that's not a lot.

That's a very finite number.

But I'm not leaving until

I get something on Broadway.

Carole: We were just writing

for this little girl

that was going forth

into the big forest,

so I said, well, let's write

a little prayer.

We wanted Céline to be the

mother's voice in the film,

and she said yes.

David: So it was called

"A Mother's Prayer."

of music,

It was a beautiful piece

and the music supervisor

on the movie said,

you know, "You should turn

that into a bigger song."

- I said, "David we have

to find something

for the song to be heard."

I don't even know

how we got to Bocelli,

but I do remember being

in New York with David,

and Bocelli was singing,

and I thought, "Wow."

- No chorus yet.

Nothing.

Andrea and I have made records

for the last

20 plus years together.

- Andrea Bocelli!

- Andrea Bocelli is one of

the most spectacular voice

of all time.

What an amazing artist.

What a greatest honour for me,

that they considered me to sing

one of the most beautiful songs.

David: So I wrote

the B section,

and then the extended verse.

Finished Céline's vocal,

then I brought Bocelli in

into to New York,

put him on Céline's vocal,

and I think we made magic.

Céline: This is not a hit song,

this is a moment.

This is a song

that will live forever,

and that's what David does.

That's his forte.

become what it has become

I did not imagine it would

with David's arrangement

and Celine's great performance.

It is without a

doubt a great song

but every great song also needs

all the ingredients to be

included.

and great singers.

It needs a great arranger

out.

For the song to become a

masterpiece, nothing can be left

- From this movie that

embarrassed Warner Bros.

and cost them a lot of money,

came this song

that has its own life

and is heard today.

It just found its way

into our popular culture.

David: It was the Grammys,

to make the rehearsal,

and Bocelli was not able

so I needed to find somebody

to do his part

on "The Prayer" with Céline,

for rehearsal.

So I called my friend,

Seth Riggs,

who's a great vocal coach.

- Middle, middle,

chest, chest,

middle, middle.

Head voice.

do you have anybody

David: I said, "Seth,

that happens to sound

like Andrea Bocelli?"

I got like 5 or 10 guys

He said, "Oh yeah,

that sound like him."

He sends me a cassette tape.

The first three,

they're just miserable,

like just so awful.

Gets to the fourth one,

and it's a 17-year-old

Josh Groban.

See, what's been happening is,

that's been a lot of people

that have been so nice.

for you to do,

- And I think that the thing

would be to not be nice.

- Oh, got it.

I was a Sondheim fanatic,

I was an Andrew Lloyd Weber

fanatic,

I was singing along

at the top of my lungs

bedroom, and closing the door.

to "Les Misérables" in my

David: I call Seth and I say,

"I gotta have his phone number."

Josh: The first call

I ever got from David,

and such date, 3:00 p.m.?"

"What are you doing such

I said, "Uh, school, you know."

"I need you to leave

a little early,

because I need you to be

at the Shrine Auditorium.

it's called "The Prayer".

I've written a song,

It's nominated for a Grammy.

Andrea missed a flight,

he's in Germany,

he can't get on a plane,

and I need you to come

and sing it with Céline

until he gets here.

- And he goes, "Oh I can't,

I can't do that."

- This is where the naiveté

bit me in the ass.

- I said, "Why not?"

He said, "Oh, I'm a baritone,

I can't hit those high notes."

- When he says I want you to

sing this song, "The Prayer"

I'm listening to it,

I've got the CD of it,

This is...

and I'm going, I can't.

this is, how tight of pants

do I have to wear

to actually accomplish

this song for you?

but you're going to,

- Not only can you,

because I have no other choice,

because there's nobody else

but you,

and we're down

to the 11th hour.

- Thank you, but I've got

homework to finish.

Thank you so much,

I love you, thank you so much.

And I hung up the phone.

"Oh, who was that?"

And I'm telling my parents,

"Oh, that was David Foster."

"Oh! Oh, he called you?"

"Yes, yeah, he called me.

Crazy thing, you're not gonna

believe this,

he asked me to sing

'The Prayer'.

You've heard 'The Prayer'

right? I mean, it's so high.

So I didn't wanna embarrass

myself. There's no way.

Right? Right?"

I-I just, right guys?

And my parents are just looking

at me blankly,

and just blinking, and they're

just going, "Mhmm, yeah,

but you told him no?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah,

I told him no."

Thankfully he called back.

"I-I don't think you heard me

very clearly,

like I'm not asking you,

I'm telling you.

Get your ass to the

Shrine Auditorium, 3:00 p.m.

You'll do great!

You'll do great!"

David: He shows up the next

morning, nervous as heck.

His parents drove him.

David: And I'm there

with my dad,

I'm walking around the stage,

I'm looking around,

there is Madonna.

there is Aerosmith,

I'm walking around,

Céline comes in.

"Oh, this is, this is Josh,

he'll be singing it with you."

I'm going, "Hello."

And she's going,

"Oh. Oh okay.

Okay. Yeah.

Oh, Okay. Great."

And like she got it,

she instantly got it.

Oh! Oh, David. Oh. Oh.

David's giving this kid

an opportunity.

Got it.

David: You could see it

on YouTube.

His father, Jack,

took a video tape,

and to Céline's great credit,

she took such good care of him.

- She immediately understood,

without missing a beat,

this is special for him.

David: So, she's now the pro.

that I had seen up in Quebec.

She wasn't the 19-year-old

And he was so nervous.

- I'm holding this thing

in my hand...

and she's going,

and she takes my hand,

and we move up to the front,

and she's just holding

that hand.

David: Everybody's loving him.

Rosie O'Donnell was hosting.

She's sitting there watching,

and she's going,

"hey opera boy, get over here!"

I mean, he's in high school.

He walks over, she says,

"I like your voice,

I want you on my show."

Go sit down.

Audience:

- David was basically finding

these moments for me

to be myself.

Cut to many hundreds of hours

in the studio together.

That dance, that marriage,

producer collaborations have.

is one that all great artist

- I've looked

for the new Josh Groban,

and I tell Josh that

to his face.

I wanna find another

17-year-old Josh Groban,

they just don't exist.

David: I was trying to convince

Warner Bros.

because they were unsure about

an opera quote, unquote kid.

I said, "You put this album

out now,

people are gonna want to hear

more music from Josh Groban,

this 18-year-old kid."

It's gonna sell 50,000

in the first week

if you put it out

and time it right.

in fact, 50,000 the first week.

They did, and it did sell,

And, a star was born.

Crowd:

- Good night, everybody!

Thank you, guys!

Thank you, David!

Crew: A and C marker.

Probably more people

know me from reality TV

and from being married

a lot of times,

than from my actual music.

Well, let's analyze

because I was married to Linda,

who was married

to Bruce Jenner,

who then married

Kris Kardashian,

and had the Jenner kids,

and the Kardashian kids.

And then I was married

to Yolanda Hadid,

who had Gigi and Bella.

And then I was married

to Rebecca and B.J.,

where we had our own daughters,

so it's very,

very complicated.

about me and reality TV.

Well, here's the thing

My first shot at it was

"The Princes of Malibu."

These are my stepsons,

Brody and Brandon Jenner,

and they're the kids

that just won't leave.

Brandon and Brody,

my stepsons,

and Spencer Pratt,

started following us around

with a camera,

whenever I was in the studio.

wherever we went,

And I said,

"What are you doing?"

"We're making a reality show."

I said, "If you guys can

ever get that show

on a network television,

I'll get a tattoo."

And sure enough,

they sold it to Fox.

I had to get this tattoo.

Brandon! This has got

to come to an end.

Spencer!

Brody and Spencer.

Bro-dy!

What are you doing?

What is this?

This, you have to put

a stop to.

This has gone too far.

Erin: When you put

a camera in your home,

you think I'm gonna come

across this way.

who you are, right?

You don't even know

You don't know how

they're gonna view you,

you don't know how

they're gonna spin it.

- Me being on "The Princes

of Malibu" was silly.

It was stupid.

But I thought my career

is so cemented

in quality and success,

that I was impervious

to anything hurting me.

Gimme that.

Don't touch my .

Is Stevie Wonder

not gonna work with me

because he saw me on

"The Princes of Malibu?"

No, so all is good there,

even though it was a wacky show.

We were ahead of our time,

by the way.

It was before the Kardashians,

it was,

of the curve.

you know, we were ahead

- At the end of the day,

my dad has the personality

of a person who's the star -

he's funny, he's handsome,

he's comfortable in front

of a crowd,

he owns any room he walks in.

- The new season of "The Real

Housewives of Beverly Hills"

premieres, and on last nights--

Jordan: We did beg him to not

do "The Real Housewives" show.

He wanted Yolanda

to have a job.

- "The Real Housewives

of Beverly Hills"

that was a different story.

My wife at the time, Yolanda,

wanted to do the show.

I didn't want to be the guy

to say no.

- He needed to be part of it

a little bit,

for her to have this spot.

I think he felt like,

he was just gonna be a very

small piece of it.

He did it after he had done

"Princes of Malibu" as well,

his first rodeo.

so it wasn't exactly

I mean, he knew

what could happen

when you do a reality TV show.

- We move to the latest

Hollywood heartbreak.

David Foster and his reality

star wife, Yolanda,

call it quits.

Yolanda, who has been

fighting Lyme disease

for the last three years--

a sick woman?

David: How could I leave

The fact of the matter is,

that is not the reason

why I left,

it was for a different reason,

which I will never disclose,

but it had nothing to do

with her being sick.

I would get, and still get,

,

"I know you.

You're, you were on 'The Real

Housewives of Beverly Hills.'"

And what I wanna say is,

"Hey, I got 16 fucking Grammys,

okay?

I've sold half a billion

records. Fuck that show."

[Plays a slow tune

on the piano]

into the room.

Oh. Somebody just walked

I can guarantee you one thing,

Katharine McPhee

and David Foster,

will never do a reality show.

That is for sure.

- Katharine McPhee and

David Foster are in love,

and they don't care

who knows it.

The couple have been happily

celebrating--

Erin: I wouldn't be great at

lying about their relationship,

if I didn't like it.

The truth is,

I really like them together.

Reporter: Their 34-year age gap

has been a hot topic of

conversation,

but the two are much more

focused on their future.

Amy: Katharine McPhee does

not need David Foster.

Very talented, very successful,

has her own money.

Does not need him.

Is with him purely

because she loves him.

They're a very good match.

- As strange as it might seem

to support your dad

who's younger than you,

being with someone

because she is two years

younger than me.

David: They could be really

pissed off at me for this.

Really, what are you doing,

she's our age, come on.

And, there's no drama

with her and my kids.

Jordan: That stuff doesn't

matter to us.

We just want our dad

to be happy.

right now,

They're staying with me

and like I can hear them

from across the apartment,

you know, 11:30 at night

just like giggling at,

while they're in bed.

Katharine: We have

the choice to make

an amazing life together,

and you don't just like,

snap your fingers and go,

yay, we're gonna live happily

ever after.

My generation is more open

to communicating

you do the things you do.

and understanding why

You stick with the things

that don't work

and you figure out how

to make them work.

And I think

it's a challenge for him.

- And sometimes it's annoying,

like when you have to sit

all afternoon

and talk about your feelings,

something I'm better doing

at the piano.

together is empathy.

Katharine: What we work on

Having long conversations

that he doesn't wanna have.

David: I've always said,

I never wanna dig too deep

for the fear of what

I might find.

Which is why I've never

really been to therapy

because I don't wanna know

what's done there.

heard him say things like--

- Since I've known him I've

I call them like

"David slogans".

Like, "Oh yeah, I don't go to

therapy because I'm afraid

of what I'm gonna find out."

I'm like, you don't even--

You're just saying that.

That's just like a slogan

It's like a dinner topic.

Right?

Like, he just doesn't wanna

talk about it.

It's hard for him to take

a moment and just feel.

He doesn't want to.

There have been moments

where you feel like,

God, does this guy

have any feelings?

Does he have empathy at all?

He's so good at disguising

what he feels.

He just wants everything

to be okay at all times.

And if it's not...

he's gone.

- I think I hit it on the head

when I said I'm a runner.

- Are you tired of running?

Uh, I'm not tired of running.

No.

No. But I'm very happy

were I am.

I'm really fortune now

because Kat is so evolved

that we will continue to drill

down when we have a problem,

and that I won't run.

to him,

Katharine: I basically said

I go, if we don't work on these

things this isn't gonna work.

I need you to,

at least to try to understand

how I feel.

And he was like,

well then, you should just

maybe leave then.

And I was like, no-no-no.

I know that this is

what you do.

So don't play that game

with me.

that calls me an asshole

David: I'd say that anybody

for the things that I've done,

I think they're right.

I think I have been

an asshole a lot.

But I'm not a cold-hearted

mother fucker either.

Katharine: The guys that all

of his friends

and family know and love is

a very, very generous guy.

It's great that we go

on these amazing trips

friends and all that stuff.

with your really wealthy

But I, I say to him, I go,

they don't know who you are,

and he doesn't like that.

I think we both have

to be vulnerable.

You know we both have to ask

for what we want

- She's an old soul. And you

see that piano behind us,

some of our greatest

moments together

are when she's just sitting

behind me,

and I'm playing,

and she's singing.

I mean, she's amazing

in 1,000 ways:

she's beautiful, she's smart,

and she's focused,

and she's well beyond

her years.

That's quite a package.

Katharine: You decided

to marry a young woman,

I wanna be genuinely happy

with you and I wanna know,

I'm-I'm-I'm obsessed

with knowing who he is.

It's not conventional,

but it's the best thing

that ever happened to me.

It'll be the deepest

relationship we've ever had,

the things that don't work.

were you don't run away from

I know we've made

the right decision

since we had our nuptials.

I knew who he really is.

I've been deconstructing him

for a while now.

We'll see, I'm gonna...

keep working on it.

David: It's a strange pairing,

but we are in love,

and it works for us.

by Cheryl Lynn plays]

["Got to be Real"

the 25th to Lanai,

David: So, we're gonna fly on

but I don't know

if we fly to Maui

or if we fly to Honolulu.

Kathy: He just goes-goes-goes.

He's already on

to the next thing.

Interviews, touring,

meetings with people.

He could be in Asia

at some point.

Marc: He's the number one

entertainer in Southeast Asia.

- My name's David Foster.

- And uh, it's great

to see you all.

- You mention the name

David Foster, they go crazy.

Everybody's singing his music.

- Yes! That's what

I'm talking about!

Kathy: "Asia's Got Talent",

you have to be in Singapore

on the 4th.

- Of? December.

- December.

finish?

- Yeah, and when does it

- And then returning

on the 15th to LA.

David: I started going

to Asia in the late 80's,

and I started getting

this following.

Being an egomaniac,

who wouldn't go for that?

- He's making his entrance.

Man: Here we go, David.

Announcers: The hit man

himself, David Foster.

- Good evening, everyone,

and welcome back

to Mandalay Bay!

- He's claimed

that he has retired,

and then a few months later

will say,

"I have to work, I have

to work, I have to work.

I-I just have to."

David: I always planned on

leaving the music business

before it left me.

I know where I belong

and where I don't belong.

Look at where we are, okay?

For the majority of those

45 years

I was in a room like this;

a submarine.

No windows, no light.

No vitamin D.

I spent my life.

A submarine. That's where

I don't wanna do that anymore.

I've always said about myself

I know where I belong

and where I don't belong,

in a room with Lady Gaga.

and I don't belong

- Bullshit!

I listen to "Shallow"... here's

what David Foster would do with

"Shallow". Of course you could

be in that room.

Yes, I would have said yes

to that.

If I have heard that song,

Bradley Cooper and Gaga,

"A Star is Born"

I would have done it.

50% I don't wanna be there,

and add.

50% I have nothing to say

If you could have another 50%

I'd say I'm bored with myself.

I am truly bored

and what I can do here.

with myself

I don't love this.

I love being out there.

Playing live has been great

for me and I'll tell you why.

I'm making the music,

and then the artist

has the luxury to go out

and enjoy what we've created

together

and-and watch the peoples faces

as they sing it.

I've never had that thrill.

So now when I go out

and play live

I get to watch their faces with

the music that I've created.

Even though, I didn't sing it.

I still created it.

I try to be great every day,

and I learned that

from Quincy Jones,

when I handed him an album,

from many, many years ago,

"Have a listen, but don't

listen to track 5

'cause it's outta tune,

and don't listen to track 2

because the song's

not that good,

and track 7,

just skip over that.

But there's like,

track 4 is really good."

And he said, "Gimme that

thing!" And he goes...

"What does it say right there?"

"Produced by David Fos--."

David Foster."

"Yeah, produced by

He said, "You give me something

with your name on it

and you make excuses for it?"

And since that day,

I have never, ever

not tried to be great

every day,

because good is the enemy

of great.

and respect.

Quincy: Love, trust,

Your music can never be more

or less

than you are as a human being.

That's the bottom line.

So you work on being a good

human being first,

but even before a good musician.

Jeffery: Success, hits,

fame, money, power,

all seemed like the things

that were driving him.

Then, when I got

to know him better,

I saw a totally

different person.

I always thought,

this is a man with a huge ego,

and yet, the amount of people

he's helped is extraordinary.

- I got a call from my mother,

30 years ago,

and she said,

"There's a young girl at UCLA,

go visit her."

She was all hooked up with

wires, she was five years old.

She needed a liver transplant.

I just asked her you know,

what would she like more than

anything in the world,

thinking she would say she

wants to go to Disneyland,

or that she wants to meet

whoever the star was

at the time.

And what she said was,

"I wanna see my sister."

For the price of an airline

ticket, flew the sister down.

And that moment,

when the two sisters' eyes met,

it's etched in my brain,

and that is the moment

when I went,

this is what I gotta do.

We help the families

of children

that need organ transplants,

and we take care of all

the costs,

and we are the one bright light

of a family's life.

in the worst day

Even a family that's doing well,

that are involved

can't absorb the costs

in trying to keep two

households going for weeks,

months, or even years sometimes,

and we pay all that.

It's hard work.

Oprah: I'm here tonight

to pay tribute,

to give honour,

honouree

and celebrate tonight's

of the David Foster Foundation.

- Tonight, we have raised...

$10.2 million!

Michael: There's definitely

a heart behind this man.

He feels deeply about making

a difference,

bringing together

and keeping together,

families of these children

who are fighting

for their lives.

Marc: Everybody's calling him,

and do my charity,

do my charity.

Not just David's charity,

everybody else's charity.

The first thing that comes out

of his mouth is, "Yes."

He's not afraid to pull on

his celebrity friends.

He would do everybody's

charities, and he has.

David: You know I had a friend

tell me recently,

poor real estate decisions

he said, you've made some very

based on the fact that you

haven't been on an elevator

for 30 some-odd years.

For a guy that likes to be in

control it must be annoying.

And people think that it's

like just some kind of a joke.

How do you push the button

to get it here?

I run into people and they go,

"Oh yeah,

I don't like elevators either,

you know".

Yeah, but you take them.

Oh my God.

It controls my life.

It's something that I,

I've tried to deal with

and never fixed,

and I probably never will.

Oh my God.

I calculated once,

how many stairs I've done.

- No. No I can't do it.

Man: 10 seconds.

Turns out, that I've done more

than 3 million stairs.

10 floors, man.

Does it get any easier.

recently,

I have had health scares

and my reaction is not

I don't give a shit.

My reaction is "crap".

Recently I have had

a tumour on my lung.

Thank God it was benign,

but I've had three surgeries.

I also have a bicuspid

aortic valve,

which needs to be swapped out.

Which is a big five hour

surgery.

I think everybody is afraid

of death, aren't they?

It's the only

one unavoidable thing.

And it's the thing that

everybody is least prepared for.

Plain and simple.

Don't wanna leave the party.

It's exactly what it is.

- My dad always said,

if I'm a vegetable,

never pull the plug.

- Never.

you'll never pull it,

He's like promise me

let me just lie there.

We're like--

- He's the person--

- He's gonna wanna be frozen.

- He's the person who'll get

frozen, for sure,

so he would come back.

He loves living.

- Hi, baby.

- Hi.

- So, welcome

to my reality show.

about how

- Were you just talking

we have a FaceTime

relationship?

- I was not talking about that,

a FaceTime relationship.

although we do have

- I'll get better, I promise.

- I'll call you from the hotel?

All right.

- Okay.

- Love you.

- Bye. I love you.

David: Well, I certainly don't

wanna drop dead in the studio,

because that would just be

too ironic.

I don't wanna be working

the day I die.

I wanna be like,

on a boat somewhere,

laying in the sun,

have a nice little glass

of wine beside me.

Go to sleep and not wake up.

Katharine: I've never met

anyone

who is more focused

on the idea of longevity.

He is, more than anyone,

obsessed with staying

on this earth.

Amy: He can't sit still.

He's not capable of staying

out of the game.

Amy: And I think he

is in search of

that perfect something

that will make him finally stop

feeling the need

to move all the time.

- He's got a real sense of

how things should be presented

to have real impact on people.

and flashy and brassy -

He's no embarrassed to be big

he's lived life to the fullest.

- His legacy will keep going

even though he might not think

so 'cause he's still great.

Carole: And he hasn't learned

how to say 'no' yet.

It's probably the good news.

Maybe not for him,

but for all of us.

- He deserve that honour,

this legacy.

as an artist

I feel very privileged

that has the chance

to work with him.

Those big songs will never

disappear. Never.

Andrea: David said that I am

the best singer of the planet.

I can say the same thing

for him.

He's the best producer

of the planet.

Peter: If you look

at the number of people

that he's had success with,

I think that's a legacy enough.

The stable of artists

that he's worked with,

recorded with,

and had enormous success with,

and I'm just lucky enough

to be a small part of it.

Michael: He's a complex,

distinct,

and amazing human being.

There are so many parts

of him that I'll never know,

of him

and there are so many parts

that I wish

the whole world knew.

Clive: David Foster is one

of the greatest producers

of all time, without question.

David has received

47 Grammy nominations.

You've gotta be careful

with somebody

who's had a great deal

of success,

to stereotype that,

to typecast that,

to say oh,

that is what he can do.

- We're very funny together,

I would say.

But I put up with him because,

as he frequently reminds me,

he's so brilliant.

And you know what? He is.

Quincy: All I can say is,

David, is YOLO KOKO -

so keep on, keepin' on, man.

you only live once,

and learning this,

Keep on struggling with this,

and learning this, and growing.

David: If Mozart actually

did in fact say

that he never thought he

completed a perfect work,

then what chance do the rest

of us stand?

I'm driven by the need

to succeed.

I will drive myself

into the ground

trying to have a hit Broadway

musical,

and it may or may not happen,

but it won't be for lack

of trying.

["Love Theme from

St. Elmo's Fire" plays]

Look, you've come into my life,

you've dug so deep,

I don't like it. I think it's

time for this to be done.