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He is Canadian record producer and songwriter David Foster.

“I was always this guy who people knew but really didn’t know because I was working behind the scenes -- producing and writing the music -- sliding them under the door and they slide food from the under the door. I never saw daylight for 30 years,” he said in his concert, Hit Man Returns: David Foster and Friends (2011), held in Las Vegas.



(The concert was recorded and distributed via Blu-ray).

According to him though, this lack of recognition does not hold true for Asia.

During a phone interview with BusinessWorld on May 8, he said that he loved how in Asia, people love music and love the people who create the music as that is not the case in the West -- though there are some exceptions he noted, like Mark Ronson who generated a buzz after he collaborated with Bruno Mars for the 2014 song, “Uptown Funk” which got him a Brit Award for Best British Single the following year, and how Mr. Foster himself also gained recognition for his work on the soundtrack of the 1985 film, St. Elmo’s Fire. (The song, “Love Theme of St. Elmo’s Fire (Just for a Moment)” got 15^th place in the US and 7^th place in the Canadian music charts.)

This recognition and appreciation is the reason he keeps coming back to Asia.

In August, he will be playing in Genting, Malaysia for the third time and, as usual, he will be bringing stars like Peter Cetera (Chicago’s front man before going solo in 1985), Natalie Cole, Ruben Studdard (winner of American Idol season 2), and Boyz II Men among others.

He will also be coming back to the Philippines in October. He last came to Manila in 2011 for the concert David Foster and Friends.

“[The set list] is about what I think would be good,” he said before explaining that he isn’t thinking about tweaking the list to fit the places he’ll be playing at -- it is all dependent on what he thinks would be good.

DISCOVERING TALENT
As a record producer, he has discovered new talent, including Josh Groban, Michael Bublé and Filipina Charice Pempengco. He also produced their debut albums under his label, 143 Records.

“I love great voices,” he said before adding: “I’m not interested in the ‘sound of the moment.’”

The “sound of the moment” is, for him, something that wouldn’t last for 40 years, though some performers could morph over time.

He defined a “great voice” as something “ineffable,” and he looks for someone who can move him and move people in turn.

Of his discoveries, he said that he “always think[s] long term” and though you never know who will become popular, “you hope for the best.”

On his Web site, he notes the words of Quincy Jones, Jr., the great American record producer whose career spanned six decades: “If something isn’t exactly the way you think it should be, don’t put your name on it.”

“His words of advice had a great impact on me, and since then I’ve always fought for my artistic vision. I don’t always win, but I know when an artist hires me, it’s my job to push them toward greatness, and to get something out of them they didn’t know was there. My personal motto has become, ‘compromise breeds mediocrity,’” he says on the Web site.

He told BusinessWorld that while luck plays a part in discovering new artists, his definition of luck is different from “being in the right place at the right time” and is more “when preparation meets opportunity,” borrowing the words of Roman philosopher Seneca.

Sometimes people come to him and ask for his help but can’t even give him a CD of them singing songs nor put up a YouTube channel (which he said “is the easiest thing to get yourself out there”) or even sing for him on the spot -- things that scream lack of preparation.

He admitted that his days of producing Top 40 songs have passed, though he has no plans of retiring just yet.

“I can no longer do that. I would if I could,” he said.

He also said that he is not writing as many songs as he did in his heyday during the 1980s and the 1990s, but looking back on his songwriting, he said “the best songs comes fast… it comes through you, not from you.”

One his most popular songs, “The Prayer,” which won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song (for the film Quest of Camelot) and was nominated in the 1999 Academy Awards, is also one of his favorites as he likes the idea that he has written a song that moves people in weddings and funerals -- a song for joy and sadness.

GO ON TILL HE DROPS
“I planned on retiring when I reached 50 but that didn’t go so well,” he joked.

Now, 65, Mr. Foster said that he plans on performing more and being on TV more and he would like to work until he drops.

Mr. Foster, who is a judge on the TV show Asia’s Got Talent, said that while he is open to managing Asian acts, he has not yet seen “an artist I really love,” on the show, but since this is just the first season, he has high hopes for the future.

His “golden buzzer” grand finalist, Filipino classical singer Gerphil Geraldine Flores, is someone he believes would be in the top three come the grand finals night on May 14.

“I believe as a fan, she’ll be in the top three,” he said before adding that the singer has a great voice.