David Foster returns to town for concert

How would you like to be David Foster's neighbor?

To illustrate how portable recording technology is today, the famed music producer explains what happened after his Malibu, Calif., house and studio burned in the wildfire of 2007.

"I moved into a condo in Santa Monica, and it was a two-bedroom condo on the ground floor." There he recorded Seal, Michael Buble and Andrea Bocelli.

"No soundproofing at all. None. Zero. Just put the mic up in the master bedroom and the (equipment) in the guest bedroom, and off we went. There was traffic noise, there were airplanes, people knocking on the door, and it just doesn't matter."

So, to repeat the question, what was it like to be his neighbor?

"Strangely enough, the woman upstairs was deaf. Literally."

Ah, life's cruel ironies.

A lesser one has Foster doing double duty in Las Vegas on consecutive weekends. Last Saturday was his annual turn at the musical helm of Andre Agassi's "Grand Slam for Children."

Today, he is back in town for "Hitman Returns," the third annual concert that adapts the Agassi format to a commercial venture, filmed for PBS and DVD release.

The producer surrounds himself with singers from his past, present and, in the case of Martina McBride, his future: The two are in talks to record a Christmas album. The event also promises Seal, Kenny Loggins, Natalie Cole, Donna Summer, Chaka Kahn, Ne-Yo -- doing a tribute to Michael Jackson -- young Filipina vocalist Charice and "surprise guests."

"The Agassi thing sort of showed me that I could do this," Foster says. "I do have to thank Andre for showing me the way and allowing me to hone my skills on his stage, so I could have my own PBS special. I stole his thing. But it was kind of partially mine, anyway."

On the day of this phone interview, Foster said he planned to help Seal and Donna Summer rehearse a duet for the concert. "I'm picking up Donna, and we're going over to Seal's house, just like an everyday occurrence," he says with a chuckle.

Seal and Foster just finished "Seal 6: Commitment," which marked another kind of liberation from recording studios.

"Seal wanted to make this new album old-school, like we all live in a house together, which I haven't done in 30 years. It was kind of a culture shock," Foster says of the five-month process. "He rented my girlfriend's (Yolanda Hadid) house in Santa Barbara, the house that I'm used to staying in. Except he now is in the master bedroom and I'm in the guesthouse!"

Kenny Loggins plans to sing "Forever" and "Heart to Heart," two hits he co-wrote with Foster.

"He brings a distinctive David Foster thing to everything he touches," Loggins says. "I think maybe he was one of the first producers to bring that approach to pop music.

"For an artist like me that didn't really have a band, that was probably the perfect producer to find. Somebody to take what I had and refine it into something that was contemporary to what was going on."

However, Loggins says he and Foster once got into an argument over how far this auteur approach could stretch. "He would replace everyone in the band with (Toto guitarist) Steve Lukather and all his guys.

"I said 'Dude, if you'd have produced The Doors, nobody would have been on their records. It would have been you and Jim Morrison!' At a certain point you've got to trust the act. But he's proven me wrong, at least as far as his career goes. We're probably both right."

The new Seal disc sounds less like Foster's adult-contemporary hits and more like trusting the act. Foster says he was the first to rat himself out when he told Seal, "My music's a little soft, and you're this edgy guy. I don't want to take you down the tubes.' "

But Seal told him, "The edge comes from the artist, not the producer."

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.