David Foster believes he knows the type of artist the world needs right now.
“Where’s that young good-looking kid with a guitar slung over his back that writes three-chord songs that the whole world wants to sing? Not country. Pop,” the Grammy-winning producer told Billboard. “Where’s that guy?”
Foster added: “The biggest slot available right now — the Neil Diamond slot.”
(Diamond, 78, announced last year that he was retiring from touring due to a Parkinson’s diagnosis. His long list of songs include “Sweet Caroline,” “Red Red Wine” and “Forever In Blue Jeans.”)
Foster has crafted hits for a long list of artists, including Michael Bublé, Céline Dion and Whitney Houston. But, the 69-year-old B.C. native admitted his list of failures is “very, very long” and he knows his limitations as a producer.
“[Bob] Dylan would be impossible because he can’t sing at all anymore,” he said.
Foster is the subject of a new documentary, David Foster: Off The Record (co-produced by Bell Media, parent company of this website). It premiered Monday night at the Toronto International Film Festival and will hit cinemas on Oct. 16 before airing on CTV on Nov. 28 and streaming on Crave (both owned by Bell Media).
In the film, Foster admits that despite his massive success, critics are rarely fans of his work. “But I don't care because I'm not interested in selling three records,” he told Billboard. “I want to sell to the masses.”