Canadian musician, composer and producer David Foster married singer and actress Katharine McPhee on Friday in London.
The nuptials – in front of about 100 guests, including tennis pro Roger Federer, songwriter Carole Bayer Sager and TV’s Dr. Phil – took place inside St. Yeghiche Armenian Apostolic Church in Kensington.
Foster was dressed in a traditional black tuxedo while McPhee wore a custom Zac Posen strapless ivory tulle gown with a plunging sweetheart neckline custom and a matching veil.
The bride shared on Instagram: “Exactly 13 years ago today my very first single, ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow,’ was released right after Idol. Today... I’m marrying the man who produced it. Life is full of beautiful coincidences, isn’t it? Thank you for taking me over the rainbow, David.”
McPhee wore a strapless light blue dress at the couple’s wedding reception inside Oswalds Club in Mayfair.
The couple hired London event planning company Banana Split to coordinate their special day.
Foster, 69, and McPhee, 35, were engaged on Canada Day in 2018 while vacationing in Italy. Foster popped the question atop a mountain in Anacapri, McPhee shared in an Instagram post a couple of days later. “Thankfully he didn’t push me off the cliff,” she wrote. “He said it was one or the other and in the end he spared me.”
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This is the fifth marriage for Foster, the Victoria-born producer behind hits for artists like Whitney Houston, Céline Dion and Michael Bublé. He was previously married to B.J. Cook (with whom he had daughter Amy), Rebecca Dyer (with whom he has daughters Sara, Erin and Jordan), Linda Thompson, and Yolanda Hadid. Foster also has a daughter, Allison, from a relationship when he was 20.
Foster was dating Hadid when he brought her to Ontario’s Fallsview Casino Resort in November 2006 for a charity gala benefitting his eponymous foundation. Among the performers that night was… Katharine McPhee.
McPhee and first husband Nick Cokas separated in 2013 after five years of marriage when photos surfaced showing her kissing Michael Morris, a director on her TV series Smash. Their divorce was finalized in early 2016. Foster’s divorce from Hadid was finalized in 2017.
Foster and McPhee met in 2006 when he mentored contestants on Season 5 of American Idol. She lost to Taylor Hicks but Foster produced her debut single, a cover of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” (Fun fact: McPhee is now the aunt of American Idol Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken’s son Parker because Foster is the child's biological uncle.)
McPhee has released five albums and has had roles in film, television and in the stage musical Waitress. Her series Scorpion was cancelled last year after four seasons.
Earlier this year, Foster was honoured with the Humanitarian Award at the Juno Awards in London, Ont. He was back in Canada in early June for concerts in six Ontario cities.
Foster returns home to B.C. for shows in Kelowna on July 8 and 9.