David Foster’s star power will get a big boost when he is honoured on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next week.
The 16-time Grammy Award-winning musician from Victoria will have a star bearing his name unveiled on the sidewalk at 1750 North Vine St., on May 31. The ceremony, to be live-streamed on walkoffame.com at 11:30 a.m., will feature singer Natalie Cole among guest speakers.
The location — in front of the fabled Capitol Records building — is particularly meaningful, said Foster. Capitol was the label that, in 1971, launched his career when it signed his band Skylark, which had a 1972 Top-10 hit in Wildflower, co-written by guitarist Doug Edwards and retired Saanich cop Dave Richardson.
Foster, self-described as the “biggest Beatles fan on the planet,” will have his star adjacent to those dedicated to John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. It was the Beatles’ 1963 hit single She Loves You, he said, that inspired him to pursue his music career.
The 63-year-old singer-songwriter’s many achievements include becoming a composer, arranger, producer, recording artist and chairman of Universal’s Verve Music Group.
“One hundred years from now, my great-grandchildren will go, ‘Hey, there’s my great-grandpa!’ ” Foster said. “Having a star next to the Beatles … outside the building where I first got signed … that’s perfect.”
His star, the 2,499th on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, is also near one honouring Cole, whose music — notably Unforgettable — Foster has produced. He’s also shepherding her first Spanish-language album featuring Latin music standards her father recorded.
“David will be in really good company,” said Ana Martinez, ceremonies producer for the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “It’s because of all the beautiful music he’s written and produced, and all the people he’s worked with.”
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce tries to position honourees in locations that reflect their achievements, she said.
Foster, whose discoveries include Michael Bublé and Josh Groban, started studying piano at age four and joined Chuck Berry’s band at age 16.
“I operate under the guiding principle that if I love something, millions of others love it, too,” he said.
Although Foster has nurtured a who’s who of musical superstars, he’s most famous for collaborations with Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Andrea Bocelli, Rod Stewart, Chicago and Stevie Wonder.
Leading Verve — the jazz label that is home to Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and Ella Fitzgerald — has presented a new opportunity “at the right point of my life for me to do it,” he said. “There’s a legacy there that’s been lost over the years and it needed to be rebuilt,” said Foster, who is shepherding 19 new releases, including albums from Stewart, Bryan Adams and Mary J. Blige.
The Hollywood Walk of Fame honour follows Foster’s induction into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame and David Foster Way, the five-kilometre Victoria harbour walkway named in his honour.
