David Foster gabs about Michael Johns & Ruben Studdard for Oct. 28 Fox Theatre show, new Daughtry video for single ‘Life After You’
I spoke with the esteemed David Foster a little while ago about his upcoming Oct. 28 show at the Fox Theatre featuring artists who will sing his many many songs. A couple will sing songs they made famous, including Philip Bailey of Earth, Wind & Fire and Peter Cetera, formerly of Chicago. Others, such as Ruben Studdard and Michael Johns will take songs David Foster produced and/or wrote. He wonders if Ruben could be more successful with better songs. I’d agree with that.
His thoughts on former Buckhead resident Michael Johns: “I love being around Michael. He appreciates what I do. He’s a young, good looking rock singer. And he’s got such a great voice. He’s smart enough to know what came before him. And I’m just thrilled he’s with us. He’ll do one of his own songs and some of mine, some of my rockier stuff, like ‘She’s a Beauty’ by the Tubes and ‘Man in Motion’ by John Parr [better known as 'St. Elmo's Fire')."
His thoughts on Ruben Studdard: "The music business is about slots. The Luther [Vandross] slot is totally available. Who doesn’t miss Luther? I still think Ruben could have that spot. I haven’t spent any time with him yet but I want to talk to him. He has that incredible voice. Luther picked great songs that stand the test of time. I think Ruben may have missed the mark on that. I just want to have a conversation with him about song choices and what he’s doing with his career. I’d be a good guy to bounce ideas off of him. He could sing songs like my Al Jarreau’s ‘Morning.’ DeBarge’s ‘Who’s Holding Donna Now.’ There’s plenty to pick from.”
Tix are $57 to $127. Buy them here.
Daughtry releases a ballad ‘Life After You’ after his tepid first single from his latest album, “No Surprise,” which still managed to eek a spot into the top 10 (though it did hit the top of the Hot AC charts). I expect this one will do well on the Hot AC charts, where he’s had six top 3 hits, though it’s hazier how top 40 radio reacts.
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43 comments Add your comment
Jane
October 18th, 2009
4:03 pm
Awesome article! I can’t wait to go to the David Foster and Friends shows in NY and NJ. So am excited to see all the singers but in particular, Michael Johns..was thrilled that he was in the line-up of stars for this concert series!!
Tara Casucci
October 18th, 2009
4:09 pm
I’m so excited to see David Foster and Friends in NYC Wamu Theatre, and seeing Michael Johns on the big stage. It will be fun seeing all of them performing! It will be a great night!
JTesla
October 18th, 2009
6:49 pm
Interesting. Thanks Rodney.
Heather MacDonald
October 19th, 2009
6:25 am
Ia it just me, or do every single one of his songs sound the same? It’s becoming a bit too much like Nickelback for me. And B98.5 is going to run his music into the ground. Every time I turn on the radio, one of his songs is playing. Again. I like the guy, but I wish he’d branch out a little more.
Heather MacDonald
October 19th, 2009
6:25 am
Should say “Is it just me…” Sorry. New fingers from Sears.
Nana
October 19th, 2009
6:40 am
Good Morning Everybody. Hope you all have a great week-end and stayed warm.
Today’s Quote: ” October poplars are flaming torches lighting the way to winter.”
I picked this quote because of the fall colors that we are now beginning to see and knowing that winter is well on its way.
Not trying to pick on RoHo this morning, but in his paragraph on Ruben Studdard, about midways down he made a typo on this spelling of Ruben’s name. He spelled it “Buben”. Sorry RoHo, but I just had to call you on it. hahaha…. I love it when I can pull one over you.
Nana
October 19th, 2009
7:13 am
Heather, at least you don’t have your stupid fingers on like I do sometimes. You can take yours back to Sears and exchange them.
Harriett
October 19th, 2009
8:04 am
Good morning everyone! I couldn’t agree more about Ruben and his song choices. Maybe DF really can help him. I’d love to see him have some hits, and yes, the Luther spot is open, sadly.
Nana, how was your dad?
Nana
October 19th, 2009
8:38 am
Dad is holding his own and doing pretty well. They have changed his meds and put him on nitroglycerin patches instead of the pills and that seems to be helping. I thank God everyday that I have him. At 94, he still thinks he can do what he did at 74.
Rickster
October 19th, 2009
8:39 am
If the Luther Vandross slot is “totally available”… I nominate Lawrence Beaman! (Ladies, you may swoon now.)
Harriett
October 19th, 2009
8:53 am
Rickster, I admit to loving Beamon, but honestly, Ruben deserves a break, IMO.
Lara
October 19th, 2009
9:10 am
David Foster is such a talent, that man knows his stuff. But what is with the facial growth? Is that his attempt to look young?
I agree with him on the Ruben song choice – the boy could totally make a bigger name for himself than he has, with a little better direction and song choice and publicity!
I like this Daughtry song, one of my favs on this album.
Good morning blogsters, hard to type with the fingers this cold – someone forgot to tell my office that it is cold outside!
Harriett
October 19th, 2009
9:16 am
Lara, I thought the same thing. This looks nothing like the David Foster I have seen on tv in the past. To me, he looks like a young Pierce Brosnan here.
linny ,,,=^..^=,,,
October 19th, 2009
9:20 am
Lara, at least you can bundle up. At my office building it’s obvious someone came in over the weekend and cranked up the ol’ heating unit — i’m about to suffocate! And a gal can only take off SO much (at work anyway)…
Rickster
October 19th, 2009
9:39 am
Harriett, I agree that Reuben deserves a break.. but do you really see him as the romantic crooner type? He’s more of the lovable, harmless teddy bear type. He’s not the type to make women swoon.
Besides… how many years doe Reuben need to make his mark?
Now Beaman… he’s been the object of many (as Mike Wazowski said in “Monsters, Inc.) “romantical thoughts” by the female denizens of this blog.
linny ,,,=^..^=,,,
October 19th, 2009
9:43 am
Rickster
October 19th, 2009
10:06 am
It’s so nice to have Linny back!
Harriett
October 19th, 2009
10:13 am
linny, I hate a too-warm office, too!! I have to open my windows, and thank goodness I have two of them!
Lara, I was not thinking of romance where Ruben is concerned. I did not feel that way about Luther, either, though I bought his recordings. I always knew Luther was gay, and therefore not an object for romance, at least for those on my side of the fence.
I never found him physically attractive anyway. And, as I remember, he could have given Ruben a run for his money in the girth dept. from time to time. I vote for Ruben to have some good advice a la DF and see what happens. He really has not had anyone who could do that for him, so I say give him at least this one last chance. Just me.
Rickster
October 19th, 2009
12:05 pm
Luther Vandross was gay… and Justin Guarini wasn’t. Who’da thunk it?
JTesla
October 19th, 2009
2:04 pm
I don’t know anything about that, but I’m still trying to figure out who they used as a stand in for David Foster. Is that David Foster from 20 years ago?
kelly&carriefan
October 19th, 2009
2:07 pm
Hey y’all…amazing, Rickster, ain’t it?
You know, Season 1 was arguably one of, if not, the gayest season of Idol…which is why everyone acting all apalled at Ellen joining the show makes me laugh. Have they not been watching? But anyway.
On a totally unrelated note (well, except for me, ha), have y’all heard the snippets from Carrie’s new album?
PS, just exactly how *OLD* is that David Foster pic, Rodney? Did you go pulling out old AJC archives?
Lara
October 19th, 2009
2:30 pm
Ok, I wasn’t thinking romatic ABOUT Ruben…..nope….
Hey – has anyone seen the linked pictures from the photo spread of Adam Lambert in Details – all I have to say is OMG! Parental Guidance mandatory! I don’t want to get in trouble for posting the link, so I will just say…. “best week ever” and maybe you can find it.
I will say, you guys just might LOVE this “article” about Adam!
Rickster
October 19th, 2009
3:37 pm
In looking at the David Foster pic, he looks like he could be Michael Johns’ brother.
Rickster
October 19th, 2009
3:54 pm
Geez.. Luther was gay? Next thing you know.. you’ll be telling me Rob Halford of Judas Priest was gay. With all the leather outfits and studs and stuff…..
Rickster
October 19th, 2009
3:55 pm
Hey… wait a minute… that’s Adam Lambert’s wardrobe!!
Rickster
October 19th, 2009
4:09 pm
Holy smokes!
JTesla
October 19th, 2009
4:25 pm
Lara (and the photo shoot): what a waste… from both perspectives I’m sure. Thanks for the headsup.
Rickster
October 19th, 2009
4:59 pm
Night folks… stay warm.
Harriett
October 19th, 2009
5:22 pm
Good evening, everyone. I have a late meeting and won’t get home until 8 PM tonight. But, at least I have a job.
Highlander
October 19th, 2009
5:56 pm
We all saw David Foster as a mentor on AI (was it last season or the one before?). THAT is definitely a picture from the archives! (C’mon, Rodney, fess up!)
And I agree with Rickster. Ruben’s okay but how many times is he supposed to get a big break? He kinda wasted the one he had. IMO, Lawrence Beamon has a better chance of filling the Luther Vandross/Barry White niche.
JTesla
October 19th, 2009
6:07 pm
I’m not a fan of that type of music, so I’d rather that Luther Vandross fill the Luther Vandross niche. It’s keeps things from getting too complex.
everett
October 20th, 2009
12:48 am
Hey y’all. It’s been a long time…..
Want to say thanks to Nana for her thoughts and her quotes. Warms a heart on a cold fall day!
Nana
October 20th, 2009
6:29 am
Good Morning Everybody…
Today’s Quote: “To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone.”
Hi everett, good to see you back here and thanks for the compliment.
I also think the picture of DF was taken waaaaay back in time. he surely doesn’t look that good now.
Lara, I saw some of the photo shoot of Adam last night on Entertainment Tonight. My oh my, can we say “sexy”? They should sell alot of magazines.
Deirdre
October 20th, 2009
8:42 am
Morning!
My feet are killing me. I think we walked about 10 miles on Sunday. On rough, cobblestone streets. Rome is still fabulous…the gelato is still worth the trip! I have a ton of things to do today to catch up on what I should have been doing all weekend.
First let me say congrats to Tech on their amazing win over VT. And to the Falcons.
I think it is great that David Foster has taken some of the Idols under his wing. Along with Michael Johns and Ruben Studdard, DF has also spent a lot of time working with Kat McPhee. And of course, he’s Clay Aiken’s son’s uncle. But no, he doesn’t look like that anymore unless he’s had extensive plastic surgery plus a really good dye job.
Haven’t seen the Daughtry video yet. I’ll get back to y’all on that one later.
Josh Gracin is appearing at the Frederick Brown Amphitheater in Peachtree City on Nov. 21st. It is a charity event for the Hudson Family Foundation hosted by Atlanta Brave Tim Hudson.
Lara
October 20th, 2009
8:46 am
JT – I was thinking you might like those photos. I heard he was on ET last night with the photo shoot, but I wasn’t home to watch it. MEOW!
Got my tickets for the David Cook show in the mail yesterday – woohoo!! Excited about that one!
Deirdre
October 20th, 2009
8:50 am
Nuts! I left out that Blake Shelton will also be appearing with Josh Gracin.
Harriett
October 20th, 2009
9:02 am
Morning! Glad you had a good trip, D. And, thanks, Nana, as usual, for getting things started in the morning. I saw ET last night, and it was pretty tame. Adam looked amazing with his Elvis thing goin’ on.
Rickster
October 20th, 2009
9:33 am
After looking at the picture of David Foster… I think he looks like Michael Johns after a weekend bender!
Harriett
October 20th, 2009
10:39 am
LOL@Rickster!! He does, indeed. Actually, before looking closely, I thought it WAS MJ.
Rickster
October 20th, 2009
11:28 am
At the risk of sounding like a confused, middle aged white guy (which, I guess, I am) … what is it about a flamboyantly gay singer like Adam Lambert that gets women hot & bothered? Is it the lure of forbidden fruit? Or is it the thought “I could bring him back from the dark side.”
I just don’t get it.
Rodney Ho
October 20th, 2009
11:37 am
New blog entry folks! And of course, it’s about… Adam Lambert.
Twila
October 20th, 2009
11:06 pm
Beaman has a very nice baritone voice which I don’t hear as a fit for the smoothness of Luther. As far as how many chances Ruben gets, I don’t think there is a limit to opportunities one gets but a matter of getting the right opportunity. The fact that he keeps getting them means that somebody believes in his talent. He might not top the charts but his music gets played which is something that all artists can’t say. He has several songs that are played daily on the radio. He is not a mainstream artist therefore some of you may never hear him. I don’t hear Kelly or Carrie on my stations. If it were not for the internet, I wouldn’t know anything about them. He currently has a top 30 single on the Urban A/C charts and another on the Recurrent chart. I think he has achieved more than folks give him credit for.
MZ
October 27th, 2009
11:29 pm
Ruben can definitely fill that void left by Luther. As for DF pic, it was from the cover of his album “David Foster” released in 1986, that was 23 years ago so he definitely looks older now, LOL.