December 13, 2022 • 23 mins
He's written and/or produced countless chart-topping hits, been nominated for 47 Grammy awards, (and won 16 of them!) He's "discovered" talents such as Josh Groban and Michael Buble, and now, finally, I was able to corner David Foster long enough to capture a podcast chat!
David has recently teamed up with his gorgeous and talented wife, Katharine McPhee to record "Christmas Songs," a collection of timeless classics that sound other-worldly with Katharine's soaring voice and David's brilliant arrangements.
Pull up a chair and come on in. You won't want to miss a single word of what this charming man has to say. ~ Delilah
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas. I'm playing
all your favorites on the air, and all my favorites,
and the kids at home in the car we bounce
around between holiday errands, shopping Christmas festivities. My tree is
up and decorated with gifts collecting beneath the bows. We've
been popping a lot of popcorns, sipping a lot of
(00:28):
hot chocolate, spicy cider, and of course my tea, all
absolutely necessary for the number of Christmas movies the kids
have been watching. And the year is absolutely tingling with
excitement and anticipation. Oh how I love this time of year.
Christmas time gives equal weight to the remembrance of years
(00:50):
past and the making of new memories. It can be
a bit of an emotional roller coaster in ways, but
oh so very good for the soul. It would be
difficult to invite a guest to love someone that's had
more to do with the soundtrack of our Christmas playlist,
or with what will be listening to in the present
(01:12):
in the future than the man joining us today. Having
produced albums that have sold over half a billion records globally,
David Foster is one of the most successful commercial producers
and composers of popular music of all time. He won
(01:33):
his first Grammy way back in for Earth Wind and
Fires After the Love Is Gone, and his collection of
winds has grown every year or two since then. Would
be here for hours if I tried to list them
all all week, if I were to read all forty
seven of his Grammy nominations. That said, I do want
(01:55):
to mention some of my favorites, like Chicago's Hard Habit
to Ache, Natalie and nat King, Cole's Unforgettable, Whitney's I
Will Always Love You, Seline Dion's album Falling Into You,
and the Irresistible Michael bou Bleat call me Irresistible and
Crazy Love. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
(02:18):
The legendary sixteen time Grammy winning producer has worked with
artists like Natalie Cole, Amy Grant, Michael Boubli, Seline Dion,
Josh Grobin, just to name a few, on their own
Christmas albums. This year, David partnered up with his beautiful wife,
the phenomenal singer songwriter Katherine McPhee, to release their own
(02:40):
rendition of all time Christmas tunes, simply titled Christmas Songs
is a passion project to bring a little more joy
and music to the holidays, and David is going to
tell us all about it just after I share a
little Christmas love with today's podcast sponsor my Ends. Family
(03:01):
and listeners know my love of tea, especially all things
that come from the Bigelow Blends. Did you know that
they have an incredible line of wellness teas called Bigelow
Benefits Benefit Tea. Blends helped to fuel our bodies with
quality ingredients that are both good for you and full
(03:21):
of aromatic flavor. Maintaining our health is important all the
year through, but the months spent indoors can be especially challenging.
With blends such as lemon and Echinasia to support our
immune system rows and meant for stress relief, camemel and
lavender for a good night's sleep, and others that helped
(03:44):
to create balance, focus, and even one to help calm tummies.
They've got me and my family covered. Cold weather is coming,
but you can rise to the challenge like the satisfying
steam from a hot mug of Bigelow Benefits Wellness tea.
Let's commit to keeping ourselves as healthy as we can
(04:05):
by sipping a cup together as I play all your
request and dedications over the air waves each night with me.
I love someone today is the amazing David Foster, who
you said you're feeling a little under the weather looking
at your schedule, I hope you're slamming the vitamin season
(04:26):
d s because my gosh, you're burning the candle at
both ends. My friend, we are for sure. And you know,
I'm afraid to take a COVID test because I haven't
had it yet and it sort of feels like that
might be what it is. But we'll get through this
interview first, and it's great to talk to you as usual.
So have you lost your sense of taste or smell? No?
I have not. You know, I lost my sense of humor.
(04:48):
Is that anything to do with COVID? Or you have
not lost your sense of humor. Last week we spent
time together. You were promoting your book and I was
dela I did when I read it to see that
your sense of humor was infused on every page. Oh good,
And that was probably a dozen years ago. Do you
(05:08):
remember when I came to your place? Do I remember
when you came to my place and we dined together. Yeah. Yeah,
who's now momm ng living her best life with two
baby girls. That's great. And I don't know how it is.
Everybody's getting older, but you and me, Uh well, we're
(05:29):
on the side of the dirt. Amen to that. Every
day I wake up on this side of the dirt.
I said, thank you God, that's right. And you're killing
and you're still killing it trying, you know, because I
have so many young people. I adopted a little boy
who's six now, and then I have a thirteen year
old and an eighteen year old still at home. I
have to kind of stay current. Otherwise they think that
(05:51):
I'm just like this ancient dinosaur. Yeah, and so that
helps me a little bit to try to stay relevant.
But when I told one of my older daughters, my
second oldest daughter, that I got to interview you this morning,
and I said, we're gonna be talking about the new
Christmas album he did with his wife. And she said,
who's his wife? And I said Katherine McPhee. She says,
(06:13):
oh my god, and she just fell out, like like
fell out. She says, I watched her every episode when
she was on the idol, and I've watched every movie
she's ever done, and oh my god, mom, she's so
beautiful and blah blah blah, can you get an autograph?
And I'm like, David's kind of a big, kind of
big deal to like um, but you know that's her
(06:36):
generation and Catherine is is speaking to her heart, so yeah, yeah,
I get it. It's it was pretty fun to see
her reaction. I never know how how my kids are
going to react. Like when I tell them, you know
that that I got a kiss on the cheek from
Lionel Richie, they think that's pretty cool, especially nowities like
Hall of Fame and us gonna ar. Yeah, so that
(07:01):
was cool. But you know, when I say that I
got to hang out with Celini Dian, They're like, who seriously,
I know, but what abs? Because you and I have
been in the same music industry for a minute, a
little minute or two. I knew a lot of the stories,
(07:22):
but I didn't know the story stories. And I loved
that you shared the back stories and the whole pictures,
painted the whole pictures. And after that, when I listened
to the music that you've been a part of, it
meant so much more to me. And now you and
your beautiful wife Katherine got this great Christmas album out
(07:42):
and I've listened to it twice already. But there's a
world winds schedule. You guys are everywhere. You're everywhere. You're
lighting Christmas trees, you're doing parades, you're good Morning America,
you're everywhere. Well, we made a near fatal mistake with
this Christmas and I'm saying that time in cheek because
you know what it takes to promote a record, you
know better than anyone. And we just thought we would
(08:04):
put this record out on Instagram and have some fun.
And you know me, when I once I decide I'm
gonna do something, I sort of go all in. And
then our manager, Mark Johnson, who's wonderful guy, he said,
let's go get a record deal, and so we thought, okay,
well that's okay, and then he went to my old
friend Tom Wally, who used to be chairman of Warner
Brothers with me and Um and Tom has Concorde Records
(08:24):
and Lotos Records, and before you knew it. Long story
short is, we were on a label, a great label,
and they're like, we got to promote this thing, and so, yes,
you're right, we're doing the Rocket Feller, NBC tree Lighting,
we did the CBS tree lighting. We're doing Kelly and Ryan.
We're doing all this stuff, and it's a real promo.
I had kind of forgotten what it takes um to
(08:44):
really get out there and do the record. Otherwise it
just gets he goes into the ethos and nothing happens
with it. Yeah. And so you have to be on
a plane every other day or every day, depending upon
your schedule. And you have to look good while you're
doing it, you know, which is no problem for Cat,
a little harder for me. Uh. And then you get
(09:05):
to set in the green room and you get to
wait and wait and wait and wait, and then you
have all these stories. Yet whenever I do this, I
have all these stories I want to share. You get out,
they ask you two questions and I'm like, okay, thanks
for being here. I'm like, wait, wait, I didn't even
get to my good stuff. But you know what, the
great thing about Christmas music is a lot and and
you probably know that I've done you know, Michael Buble
(09:27):
and Josh Groban, but Shelly and Selene and a lot
of really cool Christmas records. You get a free pass
at Christmas. So you can't be too corny, and you
can't pick a song that you know. As long as
you pick a song and everybody knows it's gonna be
okay and you get to you don't have to worry
about top fort you and having a hit and being
on the chart with Bruno Mars or Taylor Swift. You
just have to do good quality music and do songs
(09:49):
that everybody loves, and you get a free pass basically.
And that's what I love about it. You can be
in the studio without thinking about, you know, I gotta
make a hit. You know, I might like Christmas me
is it a little bit um? But I really love
the way my listeners respond to Christmas music. And when
(10:09):
n O eleven happened, we made the decision, my team
made the decision to start playing Christmas music a little
earlier because we really needed it, the nation really needed it.
And somehow that stuck and then we kind of backed
it up a little bit, backed it up a little bit,
got it closer to you know, just the month of December,
(10:30):
and then COVID hit and again that sadness and that grief.
Everybody's like, we need Christmas now, we need Christmas like
in July, and so we started, you know, we started
playing Christmas music a little earlier. And this album that
you and Catherine have done has just what you said.
(10:52):
It's got the songs we love, but it's got, um
like a fresh twist. I don't know if it's just
Catherine's sweet voice, are your arrangements are what? But I
listened to Blue Christmas yesterday, I think four times. I
couldn't get enough of it. Yeah, it's it's, it's it's.
Of course, she is a fresh Signy singer and I
love the way she sings. And I'll give myself a
(11:13):
little credit to for being inventive. I've done most of
these songs many, many times with many artists, but you
always find a way to put a little twist on it.
And you know you mentioned Blue Christmas. It's a strange
song because it's actually a sad song. It's a very
sad song, and I was listening to it because of
a very sad reason. But um my gosh, her her
(11:35):
voice and your arrangement on that it brought me to tears.
Oh that's nice. Well, well, it is a magical song
even though it is sad. But you can find some
some magic and happiness and beauty in it as well.
Um and and so next year, by the way, we're
gonna add five songs to this record and and and
have a fuller, full album if such a thing exists anymore.
(11:57):
And I'm really looking forward to uh that. So maybe
ask your listeners to send in, like what would they
like to hear? I can do that. I can do that.
And then if they say Grandma got run over by
a reindeer or the Christmas shoes, I'm not telling you that,
I'm just kidn't like, just delete, delete, delete. Yeah, you know,
it's an interesting thing that probably your listeners will would
agree with that people don't want to hear new Christmas songs.
(12:21):
They don't they want they want the old, the stuff
that they recognize, even if you put a new spin
on it. But I'm I just hate it when an
artist comes out and I'm I'm I'm really going to
be awful here. But when they come out and they
go the stockings are full and the chimneys on day
and the fire is lit and stand it, you know,
it's like, no, you can't do it. These songs have
been around for almost a hundred years and just leave
(12:42):
them alone. Yeah, what you said earlier about the Christmas
is a magical time in my world because is we
don't have the hype. We don't have we don't have
(13:04):
to deal with the stuff we have to deal with
the rest of the year. We just have pure love
and songs that have stood the test of time, and
lyrics that everybody can sing to. I mean, I have
the music playing in my car, my kids sing to it,
my grandkids sing to it. And there's something healing about
(13:24):
that intergenerational connection when we're all singing the Christmas Song
together or grown up Christmas list. I agree. And of
course your family, in particular you, You've you've done such
great things bringing your family together from a lot of
different places. You brought a lot of children together, a
lot of children together, a lot of different places, a
(13:47):
lot of different circumstances, but one thing in common is love.
That's right. Love good for you. And I just have
a quick question for you that I think your listeners
would probably be curious about. You probably talked about it
many times, But when you were a little girl or
when you were a teenager, did you imagine that your
(14:08):
life would be filled with so many children? Is that
what you always wanted. I did want a big family.
I envisioned four kids, two boys to girls. That's what
my family of origin was, and I would have been.
You know, I thought I would have a modest house,
a white picket fence, two boys, two girls, maybe three
and three. Um, but fifteen, No, that that never crossed
(14:34):
my mind. And my family, my mom had us fairly
close together. There's you know, like ten years between the
oldest and youngest, and we're all crammed in between. There's
like thirty six years, no, thirty eight years between my
oldest and youngest. Um, so you're not you're not gonna
(14:54):
miss heaven. On a technicality, I can tell you that.
Thank you, Thank you so David, you and Katherine. What
if you get to slow down after your your your
album tour, what is your favorite holiday tradition? Like, is
there something that no matter what, no matter what, where
you're doing, where you're going, what you're doing, you gotta do,
(15:14):
you gotta share, you gotta have this thing. Well, it's
it's a moving target, as you can imagine, but we
found something that we love and that is the desert
which is near Los Angeles where we live. Palm Springs
a Palm desert and we I mean, I'm going tonight
unless I have COVID, and then I won't be going.
I'll be staying here by myself. But uh, we get
(15:37):
there every chance we get, and this year will be
our first Christmas there and we're really excited. Nobody's there
at the club that we're at for Christmas because they're
all in exotic places, you know, skiing and doing whatever.
But we're happy just to be there. The weather is great,
the vibe is great, it's healing out there, and as
you said, we're going to need a little slow down.
(16:00):
So after we get back from our last concert is
December seventeen in Vegas, We're at the wind On Court
Theater in Vegas six and seventeen December, and then we
don't work from the seventeen until January nine something like that.
So nice little break and we'll be in the desert.
And can you just turn off the phones and relax
(16:22):
or is that not in your not in your capacity?
I've never seen you slow down. No, it is, It
is possible. I have a few things I have to
work on. I'm working on a Broadway musical called Betty Boop,
and I have two songs I have to finish before February.
So if, if you know, if I get moved, maybe
at the beginning of January, in between Christmas and New
(16:43):
Year's I might pick away at the piano. But yeah,
we can turn off. It's it's easy. I'm not that
guy that has to run to the piano every day
and and make a song, write a song, play a song.
Although sometimes because I have a built in beautiful singer
that I'm married to, sometimes we'll just sit at the
piano and make some music. It just for ourselves and
and just for fun. I was working with a couple
(17:04):
of producers last year Broadway folks, and they're like, oh
my god, we want to do the the Delilah story
with all the songs you've played, you know, on your
show during your career. And I'm like, David Foster needs
to do this. That's every song. I mean, you literally
have played every song every known to mankind. So God,
(17:26):
if you can write a story around every song that's available,
then you're no good. David. Thank you for your music
for decades. How many Grammy nominations like forty something crazy?
You know, I know, I don't want to be coy
and go let me think. No, it's it's seven Holy moly.
See that's how long it's been since we talked because
I didn't update my research. Forty seven Grammy nominations. Yeah,
(17:50):
and I've lost a lot, but I've won sixteen, so
I've lost whatever that math is one, I've lost thirty
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(18:12):
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(18:35):
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Love for percent off. So much crea activity and talent
(20:01):
in one man it almost doesn't seem fair, But then again,
we get to reap the rewards and all the music
he has helped to create. We're catching up with David Foster.
Everybody that I adore in our industry is connected to you.
When I met Josh Grobin, he was like eighteen years
(20:22):
old and I met him because of you. Yeah, he's
forty two now, by the way, I know, it's like
same uh same with Michael Boublay. I mean he was
a kid singing in bars with grandpa and what a career.
That what career, and what a life, What a life
(20:44):
he has built? Yeah, I agree. So thank you for
for all the connections and all the love and mostly
my music man, all the music. Thank you, Delia. It's
always great to talk to you. And next time I'm
near where you are, I promise I'll come out make
that drive to see you. And it's not short drive,
by the way, folks. I promise I'll cook for you
when you do. Alright, Happy holidays, God bless you. Give
(21:09):
my love and my daughter Tandy's love to Catherine. Yes, yes,
David Foster and his wife Catherine have already been super
busy this holiday season, appearing on Disney's Holiday Special, performing
at the Rodeo Drive Holiday Light Celebration and the Tree
Lighting Ceremony at Rockefeller Center, visiting the set of The
(21:30):
Today Show, and completing an eight city holiday tour, and
they show no signs of slowing down. Catch them on
CBS annual Home for the Holidays program on December eight
on Live with Kelly and Ryan. On the nineteen watch
the Disney Holiday Special that will re air on Christmas Day.
(21:53):
You might be able to catch them on December sixteen,
when they perform at when Las Vegas, heck, are everywhere,
take a look around, catch them wherever you can. They
are phenomenal together. Christmas Songs released digitally the day after
Thanksgiving on November. The CD became available on December two.
With the soaring vocal talents of Katherine McPhee and stellar
(22:17):
production of the legendary David Foster. You're gonna want to
add this to your Christmas music collection. You can find
them both on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, as well as links
to Christmas songs and so much more if you go
to David Foster dot com. Are there gifts piling up
under your tree? Have you planned your Christmas menu? Are
(22:38):
you stocking up on ingredients? Or are you more like
my Jenney, a last minute everything do er. I'm a
little both with my huge family. I've got to start
gift shopping early and then I pretty much let everything
else fall into place. It either does or it doesn't,
and I try not distress about it. Whatever camp you
(22:58):
fall into, I to wish you the merriest of Christmas
is and invite you to join me on the Airy tonight.
This is a crazy time of year, to be sure,
and I'll be playing a little bit of everything well
thanks to David Foster, another crazy talented artist, for every
holiday mood that's out there, the excitement that nostalgia, the
joy of our Savior's birth. Take care of yourself, my friends,
(23:23):
and remember, especially during the holidays, slow down and love
someone
It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas. I'm playing
all your favorites on the air, and all my favorites,
and the kids at home in the car we bounce
around between holiday errands, shopping Christmas festivities. My tree is
up and decorated with gifts collecting beneath the bows. We've
been popping a lot of popcorns, sipping a lot of
(00:28):
hot chocolate, spicy cider, and of course my tea, all
absolutely necessary for the number of Christmas movies the kids
have been watching. And the year is absolutely tingling with
excitement and anticipation. Oh how I love this time of year.
Christmas time gives equal weight to the remembrance of years
(00:50):
past and the making of new memories. It can be
a bit of an emotional roller coaster in ways, but
oh so very good for the soul. It would be
difficult to invite a guest to love someone that's had
more to do with the soundtrack of our Christmas playlist,
or with what will be listening to in the present
(01:12):
in the future than the man joining us today. Having
produced albums that have sold over half a billion records globally,
David Foster is one of the most successful commercial producers
and composers of popular music of all time. He won
(01:33):
his first Grammy way back in for Earth Wind and
Fires After the Love Is Gone, and his collection of
winds has grown every year or two since then. Would
be here for hours if I tried to list them
all all week, if I were to read all forty
seven of his Grammy nominations. That said, I do want
(01:55):
to mention some of my favorites, like Chicago's Hard Habit
to Ache, Natalie and nat King, Cole's Unforgettable, Whitney's I
Will Always Love You, Seline Dion's album Falling Into You,
and the Irresistible Michael bou Bleat call me Irresistible and
Crazy Love. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
(02:18):
The legendary sixteen time Grammy winning producer has worked with
artists like Natalie Cole, Amy Grant, Michael Boubli, Seline Dion,
Josh Grobin, just to name a few, on their own
Christmas albums. This year, David partnered up with his beautiful wife,
the phenomenal singer songwriter Katherine McPhee, to release their own
(02:40):
rendition of all time Christmas tunes, simply titled Christmas Songs
is a passion project to bring a little more joy
and music to the holidays, and David is going to
tell us all about it just after I share a
little Christmas love with today's podcast sponsor my Ends. Family
(03:01):
and listeners know my love of tea, especially all things
that come from the Bigelow Blends. Did you know that
they have an incredible line of wellness teas called Bigelow
Benefits Benefit Tea. Blends helped to fuel our bodies with
quality ingredients that are both good for you and full
(03:21):
of aromatic flavor. Maintaining our health is important all the
year through, but the months spent indoors can be especially challenging.
With blends such as lemon and Echinasia to support our
immune system rows and meant for stress relief, camemel and
lavender for a good night's sleep, and others that helped
(03:44):
to create balance, focus, and even one to help calm tummies.
They've got me and my family covered. Cold weather is coming,
but you can rise to the challenge like the satisfying
steam from a hot mug of Bigelow Benefits Wellness tea.
Let's commit to keeping ourselves as healthy as we can
(04:05):
by sipping a cup together as I play all your
request and dedications over the air waves each night with me.
I love someone today is the amazing David Foster, who
you said you're feeling a little under the weather looking
at your schedule, I hope you're slamming the vitamin season
(04:26):
d s because my gosh, you're burning the candle at
both ends. My friend, we are for sure. And you know,
I'm afraid to take a COVID test because I haven't
had it yet and it sort of feels like that
might be what it is. But we'll get through this
interview first, and it's great to talk to you as usual.
So have you lost your sense of taste or smell? No?
I have not. You know, I lost my sense of humor.
(04:48):
Is that anything to do with COVID? Or you have
not lost your sense of humor. Last week we spent
time together. You were promoting your book and I was
dela I did when I read it to see that
your sense of humor was infused on every page. Oh good,
And that was probably a dozen years ago. Do you
(05:08):
remember when I came to your place? Do I remember
when you came to my place and we dined together. Yeah. Yeah,
who's now momm ng living her best life with two
baby girls. That's great. And I don't know how it is.
Everybody's getting older, but you and me, Uh well, we're
(05:29):
on the side of the dirt. Amen to that. Every
day I wake up on this side of the dirt.
I said, thank you God, that's right. And you're killing
and you're still killing it trying, you know, because I
have so many young people. I adopted a little boy
who's six now, and then I have a thirteen year
old and an eighteen year old still at home. I
have to kind of stay current. Otherwise they think that
(05:51):
I'm just like this ancient dinosaur. Yeah, and so that
helps me a little bit to try to stay relevant.
But when I told one of my older daughters, my
second oldest daughter, that I got to interview you this morning,
and I said, we're gonna be talking about the new
Christmas album he did with his wife. And she said,
who's his wife? And I said Katherine McPhee. She says,
(06:13):
oh my god, and she just fell out, like like
fell out. She says, I watched her every episode when
she was on the idol, and I've watched every movie
she's ever done, and oh my god, mom, she's so
beautiful and blah blah blah, can you get an autograph?
And I'm like, David's kind of a big, kind of
big deal to like um, but you know that's her
(06:36):
generation and Catherine is is speaking to her heart, so yeah, yeah,
I get it. It's it was pretty fun to see
her reaction. I never know how how my kids are
going to react. Like when I tell them, you know
that that I got a kiss on the cheek from
Lionel Richie, they think that's pretty cool, especially nowities like
Hall of Fame and us gonna ar. Yeah, so that
(07:01):
was cool. But you know, when I say that I
got to hang out with Celini Dian, They're like, who seriously,
I know, but what abs? Because you and I have
been in the same music industry for a minute, a
little minute or two. I knew a lot of the stories,
(07:22):
but I didn't know the story stories. And I loved
that you shared the back stories and the whole pictures,
painted the whole pictures. And after that, when I listened
to the music that you've been a part of, it
meant so much more to me. And now you and
your beautiful wife Katherine got this great Christmas album out
(07:42):
and I've listened to it twice already. But there's a
world winds schedule. You guys are everywhere. You're everywhere. You're
lighting Christmas trees, you're doing parades, you're good Morning America,
you're everywhere. Well, we made a near fatal mistake with
this Christmas and I'm saying that time in cheek because
you know what it takes to promote a record, you
know better than anyone. And we just thought we would
(08:04):
put this record out on Instagram and have some fun.
And you know me, when I once I decide I'm
gonna do something, I sort of go all in. And
then our manager, Mark Johnson, who's wonderful guy, he said,
let's go get a record deal, and so we thought, okay,
well that's okay, and then he went to my old
friend Tom Wally, who used to be chairman of Warner
Brothers with me and Um and Tom has Concorde Records
(08:24):
and Lotos Records, and before you knew it. Long story
short is, we were on a label, a great label,
and they're like, we got to promote this thing, and so, yes,
you're right, we're doing the Rocket Feller, NBC tree Lighting,
we did the CBS tree lighting. We're doing Kelly and Ryan.
We're doing all this stuff, and it's a real promo.
I had kind of forgotten what it takes um to
(08:44):
really get out there and do the record. Otherwise it
just gets he goes into the ethos and nothing happens
with it. Yeah. And so you have to be on
a plane every other day or every day, depending upon
your schedule. And you have to look good while you're
doing it, you know, which is no problem for Cat,
a little harder for me. Uh. And then you get
(09:05):
to set in the green room and you get to
wait and wait and wait and wait, and then you
have all these stories. Yet whenever I do this, I
have all these stories I want to share. You get out,
they ask you two questions and I'm like, okay, thanks
for being here. I'm like, wait, wait, I didn't even
get to my good stuff. But you know what, the
great thing about Christmas music is a lot and and
you probably know that I've done you know, Michael Buble
(09:27):
and Josh Groban, but Shelly and Selene and a lot
of really cool Christmas records. You get a free pass
at Christmas. So you can't be too corny, and you
can't pick a song that you know. As long as
you pick a song and everybody knows it's gonna be
okay and you get to you don't have to worry
about top fort you and having a hit and being
on the chart with Bruno Mars or Taylor Swift. You
just have to do good quality music and do songs
(09:49):
that everybody loves, and you get a free pass basically.
And that's what I love about it. You can be
in the studio without thinking about, you know, I gotta
make a hit. You know, I might like Christmas me
is it a little bit um? But I really love
the way my listeners respond to Christmas music. And when
(10:09):
n O eleven happened, we made the decision, my team
made the decision to start playing Christmas music a little
earlier because we really needed it, the nation really needed it.
And somehow that stuck and then we kind of backed
it up a little bit, backed it up a little bit,
got it closer to you know, just the month of December,
(10:30):
and then COVID hit and again that sadness and that grief.
Everybody's like, we need Christmas now, we need Christmas like
in July, and so we started, you know, we started
playing Christmas music a little earlier. And this album that
you and Catherine have done has just what you said.
(10:52):
It's got the songs we love, but it's got, um
like a fresh twist. I don't know if it's just
Catherine's sweet voice, are your arrangements are what? But I
listened to Blue Christmas yesterday, I think four times. I
couldn't get enough of it. Yeah, it's it's, it's it's.
Of course, she is a fresh Signy singer and I
love the way she sings. And I'll give myself a
(11:13):
little credit to for being inventive. I've done most of
these songs many, many times with many artists, but you
always find a way to put a little twist on it.
And you know you mentioned Blue Christmas. It's a strange
song because it's actually a sad song. It's a very
sad song, and I was listening to it because of
a very sad reason. But um my gosh, her her
(11:35):
voice and your arrangement on that it brought me to tears.
Oh that's nice. Well, well, it is a magical song
even though it is sad. But you can find some
some magic and happiness and beauty in it as well.
Um and and so next year, by the way, we're
gonna add five songs to this record and and and
have a fuller, full album if such a thing exists anymore.
(11:57):
And I'm really looking forward to uh that. So maybe
ask your listeners to send in, like what would they
like to hear? I can do that. I can do that.
And then if they say Grandma got run over by
a reindeer or the Christmas shoes, I'm not telling you that,
I'm just kidn't like, just delete, delete, delete. Yeah, you know,
it's an interesting thing that probably your listeners will would
agree with that people don't want to hear new Christmas songs.
(12:21):
They don't they want they want the old, the stuff
that they recognize, even if you put a new spin
on it. But I'm I just hate it when an
artist comes out and I'm I'm I'm really going to
be awful here. But when they come out and they
go the stockings are full and the chimneys on day
and the fire is lit and stand it, you know,
it's like, no, you can't do it. These songs have
been around for almost a hundred years and just leave
(12:42):
them alone. Yeah, what you said earlier about the Christmas
is a magical time in my world because is we
don't have the hype. We don't have we don't have
(13:04):
to deal with the stuff we have to deal with
the rest of the year. We just have pure love
and songs that have stood the test of time, and
lyrics that everybody can sing to. I mean, I have
the music playing in my car, my kids sing to it,
my grandkids sing to it. And there's something healing about
(13:24):
that intergenerational connection when we're all singing the Christmas Song
together or grown up Christmas list. I agree. And of
course your family, in particular you, You've you've done such
great things bringing your family together from a lot of
different places. You brought a lot of children together, a
lot of children together, a lot of different places, a
(13:47):
lot of different circumstances, but one thing in common is love.
That's right. Love good for you. And I just have
a quick question for you that I think your listeners
would probably be curious about. You probably talked about it
many times, But when you were a little girl or
when you were a teenager, did you imagine that your
(14:08):
life would be filled with so many children? Is that
what you always wanted. I did want a big family.
I envisioned four kids, two boys to girls. That's what
my family of origin was, and I would have been.
You know, I thought I would have a modest house,
a white picket fence, two boys, two girls, maybe three
and three. Um, but fifteen, No, that that never crossed
(14:34):
my mind. And my family, my mom had us fairly
close together. There's you know, like ten years between the
oldest and youngest, and we're all crammed in between. There's
like thirty six years, no, thirty eight years between my
oldest and youngest. Um, so you're not you're not gonna
(14:54):
miss heaven. On a technicality, I can tell you that.
Thank you, Thank you so David, you and Katherine. What
if you get to slow down after your your your
album tour, what is your favorite holiday tradition? Like, is
there something that no matter what, no matter what, where
you're doing, where you're going, what you're doing, you gotta do,
(15:14):
you gotta share, you gotta have this thing. Well, it's
it's a moving target, as you can imagine, but we
found something that we love and that is the desert
which is near Los Angeles where we live. Palm Springs
a Palm desert and we I mean, I'm going tonight
unless I have COVID, and then I won't be going.
I'll be staying here by myself. But uh, we get
(15:37):
there every chance we get, and this year will be
our first Christmas there and we're really excited. Nobody's there
at the club that we're at for Christmas because they're
all in exotic places, you know, skiing and doing whatever.
But we're happy just to be there. The weather is great,
the vibe is great, it's healing out there, and as
you said, we're going to need a little slow down.
(16:00):
So after we get back from our last concert is
December seventeen in Vegas, We're at the wind On Court
Theater in Vegas six and seventeen December, and then we
don't work from the seventeen until January nine something like that.
So nice little break and we'll be in the desert.
And can you just turn off the phones and relax
(16:22):
or is that not in your not in your capacity?
I've never seen you slow down. No, it is, It
is possible. I have a few things I have to
work on. I'm working on a Broadway musical called Betty Boop,
and I have two songs I have to finish before February.
So if, if you know, if I get moved, maybe
at the beginning of January, in between Christmas and New
(16:43):
Year's I might pick away at the piano. But yeah,
we can turn off. It's it's easy. I'm not that
guy that has to run to the piano every day
and and make a song, write a song, play a song.
Although sometimes because I have a built in beautiful singer
that I'm married to, sometimes we'll just sit at the
piano and make some music. It just for ourselves and
and just for fun. I was working with a couple
(17:04):
of producers last year Broadway folks, and they're like, oh
my god, we want to do the the Delilah story
with all the songs you've played, you know, on your
show during your career. And I'm like, David Foster needs
to do this. That's every song. I mean, you literally
have played every song every known to mankind. So God,
(17:26):
if you can write a story around every song that's available,
then you're no good. David. Thank you for your music
for decades. How many Grammy nominations like forty something crazy?
You know, I know, I don't want to be coy
and go let me think. No, it's it's seven Holy moly.
See that's how long it's been since we talked because
I didn't update my research. Forty seven Grammy nominations. Yeah,
(17:50):
and I've lost a lot, but I've won sixteen, so
I've lost whatever that math is one, I've lost thirty
one times, but that's okay. This podcasts is sponsored by
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(18:12):
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my videos are everywhere. Some are in old boxes and
old photo albums, others are on social media sites and
(18:35):
cloud storage accounts, and thousands are on my phone. But
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(18:56):
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(19:16):
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Love for percent off. So much crea activity and talent
(20:01):
in one man it almost doesn't seem fair, But then again,
we get to reap the rewards and all the music
he has helped to create. We're catching up with David Foster.
Everybody that I adore in our industry is connected to you.
When I met Josh Grobin, he was like eighteen years
(20:22):
old and I met him because of you. Yeah, he's
forty two now, by the way, I know, it's like
same uh same with Michael Boublay. I mean he was
a kid singing in bars with grandpa and what a career.
That what career, and what a life, What a life
(20:44):
he has built? Yeah, I agree. So thank you for
for all the connections and all the love and mostly
my music man, all the music. Thank you, Delia. It's
always great to talk to you. And next time I'm
near where you are, I promise I'll come out make
that drive to see you. And it's not short drive,
by the way, folks. I promise I'll cook for you
when you do. Alright, Happy holidays, God bless you. Give
(21:09):
my love and my daughter Tandy's love to Catherine. Yes, yes,
David Foster and his wife Catherine have already been super
busy this holiday season, appearing on Disney's Holiday Special, performing
at the Rodeo Drive Holiday Light Celebration and the Tree
Lighting Ceremony at Rockefeller Center, visiting the set of The
(21:30):
Today Show, and completing an eight city holiday tour, and
they show no signs of slowing down. Catch them on
CBS annual Home for the Holidays program on December eight
on Live with Kelly and Ryan. On the nineteen watch
the Disney Holiday Special that will re air on Christmas Day.
(21:53):
You might be able to catch them on December sixteen,
when they perform at when Las Vegas, heck, are everywhere,
take a look around, catch them wherever you can. They
are phenomenal together. Christmas Songs released digitally the day after
Thanksgiving on November. The CD became available on December two.
With the soaring vocal talents of Katherine McPhee and stellar
(22:17):
production of the legendary David Foster. You're gonna want to
add this to your Christmas music collection. You can find
them both on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, as well as links
to Christmas songs and so much more if you go
to David Foster dot com. Are there gifts piling up
under your tree? Have you planned your Christmas menu? Are
(22:38):
you stocking up on ingredients? Or are you more like
my Jenney, a last minute everything do er. I'm a
little both with my huge family. I've got to start
gift shopping early and then I pretty much let everything
else fall into place. It either does or it doesn't,
and I try not distress about it. Whatever camp you
(22:58):
fall into, I to wish you the merriest of Christmas
is and invite you to join me on the Airy tonight.
This is a crazy time of year, to be sure,
and I'll be playing a little bit of everything well
thanks to David Foster, another crazy talented artist, for every
holiday mood that's out there, the excitement that nostalgia, the
joy of our Savior's birth. Take care of yourself, my friends,
(23:23):
and remember, especially during the holidays, slow down and love
someone
Host
Delilah
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