"Wherever you go in the world,
if you sit down at a piano and it's a Yamaha,
it's going to sound good."

"When I produce records," says multi-platinum producer David Foster, "I try to imagine the moment where people would break into applause if they were hearing the song live. What would move them, what would make them squirm in their seats? I try to have that arc to all my records."

Clearly, this approach works. Foster, a 14-time GRAMMY® winner, has also received seven Juno Awards and an Emmy, and is a three-time Oscar nominee. He's produced such artists as Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Josh Groban, Natalie Cole, Chicago, Madonna and *NSYNC. He's a songwriter as well, with hits like Earth, Wind & Fire's "After the Love Has Gone" and Chicago's "Hard to Say I'm Sorry."

But production is actually Foster's second—or perhaps third—music career. He started out playing piano in Chuck Berry's band at age 16. A few years later, in 1972, David and his band Skylark scored a top-ten hit with their song "Wildflower."

When Skylark folded, Foster started playing piano on other artists' records. He quickly became a first-call LA session musician, working with John Lennon, Diana Ross, George Harrison, Rod Stewart, Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand and many others. "It was so great," he remembers. "I'd just fill up my datebook: Jingles from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m., then daytime sessions with the 5th Dimension or Dionne Warwick or Barry Manilow. Then at night, it was rock 'n' roll, like George Harrison or Rod Stewart. Sometimes I was working from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m.! But it didn't seem like work. It was a great foundation."

But David kept an eye to the future. "In the studio, I'd think, 'Wow, this is great. But I can't imagine doing this in 20 years.' I'd look at the other side of the glass and be envious as hell of the producers. Sometimes they knew what they were doing, sometimes they didn't—but I learned just as much from those who didn't. If the producer was weak or didn't know how to make a decision, I always found myself jumping in. And after three or four years of session playing, I realized that I might be a good record producer."

Foster's third career didn't happen overnight. "I made no money on the first three albums I produced," he notes. "They were not good and they didn't sell. I started to think, 'Maybe I'm not cut out for this.' But then came Alice Cooper's From the Inside, and then Earth, Wind & Fire and Chicago and Hall & Oates."

Foster is a longtime fan of Yamaha pianos. "I just can't stress enough how much I love these pianos," he says. "Wherever you go in the world, if you sit down at a Yamaha piano, it's going to sound good. I've never owned anything but Yamahas. Every single piano in my studio for the last 20 years has been a Yamaha. I have a 9' grand, which sounds amazing. I also have a 7'6" Disklavier, and a 6'1" grand. And there's an upright spinet that I bought when I was 17 years old! I bought it on time, for $50 a month, back when I couldn't afford anything."

Of all Foster's many accomplishments, a few stand out for him: "I think Chicago 17 is probably my proudest album. And I'm proud of all the work I've done with Celine, and The Bodyguard soundtrack—I think I got Whitney at the height of her greatness. Finding Josh Groban and Michael Bublé has been exciting for me. And writing 'After the Love Has Gone' for Earth, Wind & Fire—it was my first GRAMMY®. Although I'll say that my 14th GRAMMY® was just as exciting as my first, and I hope to win more, God willing! I've got some great projects coming up, too, including more work with Josh Groban. And I have this new artist called Renee Olstead— she's an amazing singer, like a little Billie Holiday or Ella Fitzgerald, and she's only 16 years old. I'm also finishing Andrea Bocelli's new album of Spanish and Italian love songs. I think people are going to love it."

Over the past four decades, Foster has repeatedly found ways to reinvent himself, increasing his success at every turn. "You can't hit the Top 40 head-on when you're 56 years old, like I am," he explains. "It's impossible. But I've figured out a way around that a couple of times in my career. I think the people who complain that the music business has changed too much are the ones that aren't working. Basically nothing's changed. People my age just have to work harder—but I'm a hard worker."