Book Review No 5: Hitman

Title:        Hitman: Forty Years Making Music, Topping the Charts, and Winning Grammys
Author:    David Foster
Genre:     Autobiography

This guy has worked with most of the biggest names of the music industry, some he discovered and some he collaborated for that one big chart topping hit. He is the producer of one of the best selling movie tie-in album The Bodyguard and has produced hits through the decades.



I haven't heard his name till I saw him in Oprah. He was introduced as an award winning producer and her friend. It did not register to me till I checked his worked and was astonished that his music was a major part of my life growing up. I recognized most of his music that I know about him. I knew I need to read his book.
I was interested on how he started his way up in the music industry. It was a slow ascent as he started as a young musician that plays on parties to a band member to pianist for recording sessions to an award winning music producer. He talked about how his parents whom both encouraged him to pursue his music career, his life on the road as a musician to getting his first recording contract and moving to Los Angeles. There were also career ups and downs, not all recordings or albums he produced were all hits.

What I find it funny that he acknowledges his few quirks, one of them is his claustrophobia. He has fear of small spaces and refused to step in on an elevator so most of the time he has to climb up the stairs. It got even out of hand when he feels this panic feeling everytime he has to close the bathroom door. He even mentioned that he requested to schedule meetings on below the 10^th floor but the Sony executives obliged him and conducted the meeting on the lobby. Funny.

Love it or hated it?

Neither. It was an easy read. It has a lot of anecdotes from his experiences while working with the big names in the music industry. There is no bad blood here, only tid bits on Whitney Houston while working on the soundtrack for The Bodyguard, the first time on hearing Celine Dion, discovering Josh Groban and collaborating with Barbra Streisand.

If you are a fan of his music then this is worth you time.

By the way, I checked out his reality show on television and thought that most of them were scripted. It portrayed him in a different light as a cranky step dad that doesn't get respect from his step sons. It is sad. The books talks about this a little bit and mentioned that what was portrayed in the show sums up a lot of what is happening in real life. He filed for divorce shortly after the show has aired.

To check out his works, click to his website here.