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Carla Bruni: “Collaborating with David Foster was a dream” [Interview]

Carla Bruni French Touch

Carla Bruni – ” French touch”

With a newly released cover album, French Touch, the singer-songwriter is bringing her French croon to classic hits like “Miss You” by the Rolling Stones, “Stand by Your Man” by Tammy Wynette and AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell.” Although it’s Carla’s fifth studio album, it’s just her second in English.

“My cover songs are like lullabies,” the mother of two says. “The album is made out of admiration for these songs.”

Q. The songs on French Touch are very eclectic. You cover Frank Sinatra, Lou Reed and Depeche Mode, among others. What drew you to these songs?

A. Most of these songs I discovered when I was a teenager and I loved to play them on my guitar. It’s me coming back to all these songs that were so much fun when I was younger. There’s something about music that goes straight to your memory, and that’s how the album was made.

Carla Bruni met David Foster in Los Angeles

Q. What was it like to collaborate with a hitmaker like Canada’s David Foster, who produced your album?

A. It was a dream. Working with very talented people … they make you feel talented. I met David in Los Angeles – he was the head of my label at the time, Verve at Universal – and he came to my concert and said to me, “I like your voice. Let’s write some songs in English.” And I said, “What? I can’t. I already tried.” He said, “Let’s choose songs. A cover album.” And I said, “Bingo.”

Q. What’s next for you – is a tour in the works?

A. Yes, I’m going to be touring in Europe, South America, Asia and North America. I’ll be here in Canada in February. It’s going to be a long time touring then I’ll pray for my life to continue as it is. I pray for my children to grow up, and I pray that I die before my man and my kids – I wouldn’t want to live without them.

Source: Hello Magazine

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David Foster ”Betty Boop” composer: moving to the Big Apple

David Foster Betty Boop

David Foster Betty Boop

David Foster to get ‘Betty Boop’ to Broadway

NY Daily News has reported that Grammy-Award winning composer David Foster has made the move to New York to get ‘Betty Boop‘ to Broadway. Foster confirmed the move at the Prince Grace Awards, saying, “I bought a place in New York City. You cannot be that West Coast pop guy who rolls into New York and says, ‘Hey, I am going to do a Broadway musical’… I want to be accepted and not be ‘that guy from the West Coast.’ ”

The name and talent of David Foster as one of music’s most acclaimed songwriters and producers is the stuff of legend. Having spent the last four decades creating hits for stars including Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston, Josh Groban, Earth, Wind + Fire, Chicago, Andrea Bocelli, Michael Buble’ and scores of others, this 45-time Grammy nominee, three-time recipient of The Grammy® Producer of the Year and Academy Award nominee has achieved extraordinary levels of success.

‘I love top 40 music, but it is not what I do anymore’

The 67-year-old composer says the move was a long time in the making, and hopes to do a reading for ‘Betty Boop’ as early as December, with Jerry Mitchell overseeing the project. Foster also told NY Daily News, “At a certain point in your career you need to go where you belong. I love top 40 music, but it is not what I do anymore. But on Broadway, I can still write a good song that moves people.”

Betty Boop starred in more than 100 cartoons

Betty Boop is one of the most iconic animated creations of the 20th century. First introduced in the 1930s, Betty Boop was created by Max Fleischer for his “Talkartoons” series, the first “talkies” of animation, which Max’s company, Fleischer Studios, produced for Paramount. Mae Questel provided Betty’s distinctive voice. By 1932 Betty, considered to be the first and only female animated screen star, had taken the country by storm. Betty starred in more than 100 cartoons, 90 of which are included in the official “Betty Boop” series, which ended in 1939. Since then, Betty has appeared in dozens of hit movies, television specials and commercials. She was the first cartoon character to be profiled by A&E’s “Biography” series.

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David Foster inside his L.A. apartment [DailyMailTV Interview-Pics&Video]

David Foster golden records

 

 

 

 

 

David Foster took DailMailTV inside the Los Angeles apartment

Their gargantuan Malibu home bowled viewers over on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

But since splitting from his wife Yolanda, one of the show’s former stars, legendary music producer David Foster has been living the single life in a trendy L.A. bachelor pad which DailyMailTV can now exclusively reveal photographs of.

This week, father-of-four David, 67, showed off the apartment which boasts its owns recording studio and his unrivaled collection of awards.

‘I’ve had the place for about 12 years but I just sort of moved back in about a year ago,’ Foster, 67, said as he welcomed DailyMailTV host Brandi Williams inside.

‘You know I miss Malibu but I don’t miss having to take care of that big, big home that we had.

‘It was beautiful, but I’m very happy here,’ he said, reflecting on his new, simplified abode.

David and Yolanda were married for four years but had been together for almost 10 when they parted ways in January 2016.

During their marriage, their enormous Malibu home – where they raised her supermodel daughters Gigi and Bella Hadid – featured prominently on the Bravo show.

Foster still has a relationship with the girls, who he says are doing ‘amazing’ in their careers.

‘I mean divorce puts a strain on everybody, yeah but Gigi and Bella are doing amazing and they’re so busy that I don’t talk to them much but we do text, yeah we’re still good,’ he said.

He is happy their mother has found a new home too in a farm on the East Coast, near New York City.

Their romantic split came as Yolanda, 53, was in the grips of Lyme Disease, a health struggle she has since documented in her memoir.

David features unfavorably in the book but, he insists, there are no hard feelings.

‘Yolanda had to write a book about her journey with her disease. In a way, I was a little bit of a drive by shooting in the book, but uhm, we’re all good now.

‘She’s happy, she’s healthy. She’s with her kids in New York, she’s on her farm. In a ten year, nine-year relationship you can find ten bad things to say about anybody.

‘And it’s a little disappointing that she went there a few times but the main thing is she’s happy, she’s healthy and her and I are good,’ he said.
He denied previous reports that her health battle contributed to their break-up, he adding: ‘No I don’t think it did.’

David Foster revealing a health problem

In his interview with DailyMailTV, Foster also revealed for the first time a recent health scare of his own.

‘This is a thing called A-Fib which is just an irregular heart beat and it’s not age related and it’s not gender related and it just came out of nowhere. It’s just something you have to live with. Hopefully, you live with it,’ he said.

Since parting ways with Yolanda, the composer, who is responsible for all-time hits including Whitney Houston’s ‘I Will Always Love You’, has been linked to more than one red-carpet regular.

Sightings have included rumored dates with Elizabeth Hurley and Christie Brinkley, which Foster laughed off: ‘I have a really good life.’

But no one has sparked more fan excitement than Katharine McPhee, 33. The pair were spotted strolling through Brentwood, California, last week and McPhee was even seen placing her hand on Foster’s behind in what appeared to be a show of affection.
Foster’s daughters, Sara and Erin, who he says are ‘hilarious’, both seemed to approve of the budding romance.

Alas, he says it is not to be and insists the pair are just friends after striking up a rapport in 2005 when they both worked on American Idol.

‘Katherine and I have known each other since Idol, since she was twenty-one, and we’ve worked together and you know she’s super successful and people can just be friends you know?’ he said.

‘Do they always put their hands on your butt though? We saw those pictures,’ host Brandi Williams continued, prompting his laughing response: ‘Next Question.’

 

 

Foster’s aforementioned daughters both work as writers for HBO and Fox and have won the gushing pride of their famous father.

‘They’re smart girls. They’re very smart girls. Everybody should follow them on Instagram, their Insta-stories are so hilarious, it’s crazy,’ he said.
While his new pad doesn’t have all the stylized finishes as the home he shared with Yolanda (he admits his new refrigerator is not as show-stopping as the see-through door creation she installed in their old house), it is packed with proof of his legendary musical talent.

Dozens of Grammy awards sit atop his full-grand piano in the living room. It is this piano where Foster wrote Earth, Wind and Fire’s hit After The Love Has Gone.

If you’re going to be wrong, go big wrong

While most of his musical instincts are spot on, he admitted making one error in judgement when he told Celine Dion not to record My Heart Will Go On.

‘I said it you record this song it will ruin your career. That’s how wrong I was. But, if you’re going to be wrong go big wrong,’ he joked.

There is also a recording studio on site. ‘You have to have a studio, I have studio wherever I go. And of course, now it’s so compact because everything is all digital. It’s simple but it works,’ Foster said.

While his focus on music continues, he is also devoted to continuing to raise funds for The David Foster Foundation. Its recent 30th anniversary dinner raised more than $10million.

The foundation provides financial support for non-medical expenses to families with children in need of life-saving organ transplants.

Source: DailyMailTV

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David Foster is looking forward to a new US Tour

David Foster US Tour

 

 

 

 

David Foster wouldn’t say no to be married again

After four divorces, David Foster says he is open to reuniting again with the singing voice with singer Katharine McPhee.
After having divorced her fourth wife Yolanda Hadid earlier this month, 67-year-old Canada native has not sworn all women, having recently seen McPhee.

“It’s quite obvious by my track record that I love being married, so I wouldn’t say no to being married again,” Foster tells PEOPLE exclusively. “I like the concept, I’m just not that good at it.”

David Foster is going to tour US

Although David admits he is not “good” at marriage, he is a musical talent and he can not wait to go back on tour. The songwriter, who has not shot in the US since 2010, will launch his Hitman tour in Palm Desert, California, in March, PEOPLE reveals it exclusively.

“I wouldn’t mind traveling and not working,” he tells PEOPLE. “The only time I’ve ever traveled is for work. I want to go to the Antarctic. I just have this pull to get there. And I’ve never been to South America, which is kind of weird, but I’d like to go there to just hang out.”

“I’ve toured extensively in Asia and I figured, why not stay at home?” L.A.-based Foster says. “The thing about Asia that’s so great is the people seem to really care there about who wrote the songs. They don’t necessarily want the stars standing in front of them. They just want to hear the songs. And we’re thinking America is ready for that kind of thing too.”

David Foster is searching for the next Josh Groban and Michael Bublè

Instead of legends such as Andrea Bocelli, Céline Dion, Bette Midler and Barbra Streisand performing the songs they have released with Foster, they will have singers like American Idol alumn Ruben Studdard and Pia Toscano, in addition to unknown talents, take the stage. If the producer has his way, the fresh faces will explode like Michael Bublé and Josh Groban, the latter of whom Foster staged in 1999 after meeting his mixtape.

“I joke with Josh and Bublé all the time; I go, ‘I’ve been looking for the new you for the past 10 or 15 years,’ ” says the 16-time Grammy winner. “But I just can’t find them because the longer I go, the longer I realize how extraordinary Josh and Michael are. They’re total one-offs.”

The long list of legends that Foster has worked with has added Mariah Carey, Chicago, Earth, Wind & Fire, Madonna, Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston. And while the hitmaker can not promise a Taylor Swift style tour that every day has a difference in guest appearance, Foster hopes to bring out some of the great names.

“I won’t be able to do that,” he says referring to Swift’s 1989 tour, “but I might be able to give a surprise or two.”

PBS will perform again the David Foster Hitman concert

In front of his next launch of the tour, PBS will perform his 2008 Hitman concert: David Foster and Friends. The two special hours highlight Foster’s shows along with dozens of great collaborators like Bocelli, Bublé, Brian McKnight and Blake Shelton. It will include some unprecedented movies, such as an exclusive clip with Dion.

“Getting so many big stars together for one night was almost insurmountable [in terms of] the amount of work my manager and I had to do to pull it off,” Foster recalls. “But it was just an amazing night — kind of like my funeral while I was alive.”

Foster is still writing music for the upcoming Betty Boop musical

In addition to preparing for the tour and the relaunch of the special concert, Foster is writing music for the upcoming Betty Boop musical. He also bought a new place in Manhattan with the hope of immersing himself in the city’s culture and demonstrating he has what it takes to do it on Broadway.

“I think the Broadway community, they don’t take people like me lightly. A West Coast, pop guy blows into town, thinks he can write a musical,” the Asia’s Got Talent judge says. “But I’ve been working on Betty Boop for seven years, so it’s not just an overnight thing. I know I need to do my part to be accepted in the Broadway community.”

Source: People

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David Foster said he retired from “making records” last December

David Foster retired Donald Trump Katharine McPhee

 

 

 

 

 

David Foster met Donald Trump at a fundraiser

David Foster did not expect to meet Donald Trump playing a fundraiser at Florida’s Florida president earlier this year, but he wished he had a piece of advice.

“What I wanted to say that night at Mar-a-Lago — which I didn’t say — is when you’re doing a concert, if the room hates you, you’re going to do a terrible job,” the Victoria-raised producer said during an interview earlier this week.
“It’s just the weight of the room hating you. The president is faced with a lot of hate, and I’m sure that’s weighing him down.”

Foster took some action on social media in February after affirming a charity event to what Trump calls his “Winter White House”. The musician insists that he does not know the president he was planning to attend, even though he had already pledged to play a role in supporting the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute a year earlier.
The man behind Whitney Houston “I Have nothing” and Peter Cetera’s “Glory of Love” calls Trump “associate” and “acquaintance” for almost 20 years, but has remained away from links to Trump in the past.

David Foster refused an offer to attend Trump’s inauguration

In December he posted a message on Instagram claiming he had “kindly and respectfully” refused an offer to attend Trump’s inauguration, a statement that followed the rumors he was helping to align the artists for the ceremonies related to the grip of Trump.

“I live in America and I have an American passport as well as a Canadian passport. He’s my president, and that’s the end of the story,” Foster said.
“I’m a Democrat so, you know, that could almost start and end this conversation.”

The veteran of the music industry is active in many charities and has marked the 30th anniversary of its foundation David Foster with the annual Miracle Gala and concert last Saturday in Vancouver. The live entertainment evening included Oprah Winfrey, Steven Tyler and Carly Rae Jepsen’s appearances.
The showcase raised $ 10.2 million to help families with children who need organ transplants. The funds go towards reducing the weight of mortgage payments, travel costs and other expenses.
Some celebrities have turned up in the city days before the event, Foster said. Tyler in particular wanted to make sure he pulled out an impeccable performance. The producer said they become big names like the rock star and Winfrey to engage the time has become easier over the years.

“If you believe in karma, I think a lot of it comes back to you,” he said, while suggesting he’s also become bolder in his approach to recruiting famous people.
“Kenny Rogers taught me a long time ago (that) you should never go to the artist or celebrity directly to ask them.
“Whenever I wanted to do a duet with somebody I’d always have my manager reach out to their manager. I guess I kind of broke that rule when it comes to charity.”

David Foster retired from making records?

Foster isn’t planning any more duets in the studio any time soon. The producer said he retired from “making records” last December.
Next year he plans to embark on a 10-concert tour to raise money for his foundation. He’s also writing two musicals on the side and appears as a judge on the reality competition series “Asia’s Got Talent.”
He expressed hope that Trump, a former reality show star himself, can push for more unity in the United States.
“We need to try and uplift this presidency and hope that good things happen,” Foster said.
He added: “Even the most staunch Democrat is in some way pulling for him to get it together and do a good job.”

Source:  CTVnews