
At 71 you might reasonably expect to be putting your feet up in well-earned retirement – but music supremo David Foster will be rolling up his sleeves to change nappies for baby No 6 – 50 years after having his first child. Congratulations and well wishes poured in when David and his singer/actress wife Katharine McPhee (36) announced the arrival of his first son.
“Katharine McPhee and David Foster have welcomed a healthy baby boy," their rep announced. “Mom, Dad and son are all doing wonderfully.”
The Fosters married in London in 2019 and last year Katharine, who shot to fame on American Idol and went on to perform on Broadway, announced she was pregnant with the multi-millionaire record producer’s sixth child.
"She's the whole package you know?" David said of his wife. "Singing, acting, beauty, she's got it all!"
David is known in the music biz as the Hit Man for producing gems by Michael Bublé, Josh Groban, Barbra Streisand and Celine Dion. He also produced Whitney Houston’s 1992 single I Will Always Love You.But David, a grandfather of seven, is a family man through and through.In the 2019 Netflix documentary David Foster: Off the Record, the 16-time Grammy award winner talks all about his journey in the music industry, and lets viewers in on his personal life, describing himself as a “runner” who often thinks “the grass is greener on the other side”.
David was married four times before Katharine, to singer BJ Cook, Rebecca Dyer, Linda Thompson and Yolanda Hadid. He’s been a stepdad to Linda and Yolanda’s kids but here’s more about the music legend’s five daughters:
Alison (50) In 1970, 20-year-old David welcomed his first daughter into the world but placed her up for adoption. Father and daughter were reunited when she turned 30 and they’ve been close ever since. Alison fitted right into the family, reconnected with her younger stepsiblings and is the director and secretary on the board of her father's company, The David Foster Foundation. The identity of her mother remains a mystery.
Amy (47) Author and songwriter Amy is David’s second eldest daughter from his marriage to BJ Cook. After her parents’ divorce in 1981, Amy lived in Toronto with her mom, while David lived in Malibu. She described growing up away from her dad as sometimes challenging. “He understands that as a parent, it's a lot more than providing – he puts time in, he puts in energy, he puts in effort,” she said in the Netflix documentary.
"[Our relationship] has grown a lot, and I think my dad and I are a lot alike," she says. “The relationship I have with my dad is so great now.”The mom-of-three has been open in recent years about her battle with breast cancer and undergoing a mastectomy. "I have young kids, and I think you end up being strong for them," Amy says.
Sara (40), Erin (38) and Jordan (34) David had three daughters with Rebecca Dyer, with whom he went through a divorce in 1986. Sara, a model and actress, and Erin, a writer and actress, have gone on to land acting gigs in shows like Barely Famous and 90210. Their baby sis, Jordan, is a celebrity wardrobe stylist who’s worked with the likes of Ashley Graham, Lily Aldridge, Karlie Kloss and Candice Swanepoel.
“Our dad was always really clear with us that he’s rich and we’re not,” Erin told Vanity Fair. He told his girls, “If you want to be rich you should go do what I did, which is work really hard.”
"I missed a lot because I didn't raise them," David said. "The geography was really tough. That was my own doing and a regret that I have, but it was what it was and there was no changing it. So I did the best I could, which was quite imperfect at times. Plus I worked so much. I mean, I've made a pound of music in my life."
SOURCES: ETONLINE.COM; PEOPLE.COM; GRAZIADAILY.COM; USATODAY.COM; USMAGAZINE.COM