Art & Style

Super-Producer David Foster Honored at Star-Studded Grammy Museum Gala in LA (PHOTOS)

Published on September 22, 2017

Music super-producer David Foster, who has worked with such superstars as Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson and Madonna, was recently honored in LA at the annual Grammy Museum Gala, which raised more than $1 million for music education programs.

Foster received the Museum’s “Architects of Sound Award” for his contributions to music, which includes 16 Grammy Award wins and selling more than 500 million copies of the songs he’s worked on.

It was a star-studded affair at The NOVO in downtown LA, with legendary music producer Quincy Jones, a recipient of 27 Grammy Awards himself, on hand to present the award to Foster, who Jones called “a brother from a different mother.”

“Not one person in this room would disagree with me that we are facing a real crisis in [access to music in schools], and I applaud the GRAMMY Museum for their tireless commitment to that cause,” Foster said when accepting his award.

The gala also featured special performances from a host of singers, who sang songs Foster’s either produced, written or arranged. Performers included violinist Catherine Campbell; Katharine McPhee, who performed “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “Something to Shout About”; Sheléa, who got a standing ovation for her performance of the Whitney Houston hit “I Will Always Love You”; Ruben Studdard, who performed “I Swear” and “After The Love is Gone”; Pia Toscano, who sang “All by Myself” and “The Power of Love”; and Fernando Varela, who performed an operatic version of “The Prayer.”

Also on hand to support Foster were producer Jimmy Jam and legendary songwriter Diane Warren.

For more than four decades, Foster has had a hand in creating some of music’s biggest hits, including Whitney Houston’s version of “I Will Always Love You,” Earth Wind & Fire’s “After the Love Is Gone,” Natalie Cole’s remake of “Unforgettable,” Celine Dion’s “Power of Love” and “All By Myself.”

Among the 16 Grammys he has earned, Foster has earned three awards for “Producer Of The Year” (Non-Classical), three for “Album Of The Year” and two for “Record Of The Year.” He has received 45 Grammy nominations, and he is also a past recipient of the Recording Academy’s President’s Merit Award.

The Grammy Museum Gala, now in its third year, was hosted by TV personal Giselle Fernandez. Also honored that evening was educator Nathan Strayhorn, who received the Jane Ortner Education Award, for using music in the classroom as a powerful educational tool.

Funds raised from the event will benefit the Museum’s newly expanded education programs, which were integrated with those of its sister organization, the Grammy Foundation, earlier this year.

Photos from the gala are below.