Over the next year Terje Fjelde has agreed to listen to nothing but David Foster on his iPod. He’s loaded the thing with over 1,200 songs produced, arranged, composed, and/or played by the man. A deal with the devil? He keeps wondering.
“I have a style, but it’s very subtle.”
David Foster, March 1985
“What About Me,” by Kenny Rogers, Kim Carnes & James Ingram, from Kenny Rogers’s “What About Me,” 1984
It may be a little-known fact that David Foster is one of the dominant forces in the history of the modern duet pop ballad, but throughout the last 25 years he has peppered the charts with duets in all flavors, in addition to trios, quadruples, quintripets and whatnots. Oh, yes. It started in the early ’80s, when he played a couple of duet sessions, like, “Baby, Come to Me” and “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?” with Patti Austin and James Ingram and “Love All the Hurt Away” with Aretha Franklin and George Benson.
In 1983, after he produced the Bob Seger tune “We’ve Got Tonight” for Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton, all hell broke loose in terms of power duets. “We’ve Got Tonight” was a monster hit and ever since that, Foster has written and produced up to several duets every single year: John Travolta/Olivia Newton-John, David Foster/Newton-John, Paul Anka/Peter Cetera, Julio Iglesias/Stevie Wonder, Lou Rawls/Tata Vega… and let’s not forget Chicago’s Grammy-winning “Hard Habit to Break,” which is a duet between Peter Cetera and Bill Champlin.
There’s no point carrying on, really — I could continue for days.
Then there’s “What About Me,” Foster and Rogers’ follow-up single to the insanely successful “We’ve Got Tonight.” They topped it in all possible ways. Written by Foster, Rogers and Richard Marx, there’s pretty much a modulation for every verse, chorus and bridge. There are strings, horns, splashing cymbals and toms and a plethora of keyboards. There are not two, but three lead vocalists, all of them had enjoyed substantial chart success in the preceding years and all of them, amusingly, are wondering “what about me?”
So what about “What About Me?” (more…)
In 1982, hot on the heels of his success as a producer and songwriter for Chicago 16, David Foster started recording his first solo album for a Japanese label. Following in the footsteps of his easy listening forefather Burt Bacharach, he recorded instrumental versions of hit songs he had written for other artists. That is, some of them were already hits — and others had lyrics added to them and became hits later on.
Kenny Loggins was never the one who kicked you in the ass with his no-nonsense musical attitude. He’s more like the musical equivalent of a friendly pat on the shoulder – and yes, he’s frequently nonsensical. But that doesn’t really bother me. He’s had a couple of magical moments in his career, and this is one of them. As far as I’m concerned, “Heart to Heart” is the definition of smooth music – and I mean that in a good way. It was co-written by Loggins with Michael McDonald and David Foster.
I heard 
The Manhattan Transfer, “Nothin’ You Can Do About It” (from Extensions, 1979) 
