Exclusive Interview with David Foster and Katharine McPhee

Jon Hicks recently had the chance to sit down for an exclusive interview with David Foster and Katharine McPhee. Boasting several Grammy awards, chart-topping songs, and many roles on Broadway, TV, and film, hear what they have to say about touring together with their young son, what drives them, and more.

David
You were such a good audience.

Jon
Well, thank you. Thank you very much. You guys were enthralling. It was fabulous. I mean, the chemistry that you guys have is pretty remarkable.

David
It’s not weird. I mean, do you feel that?

Katharine
I mean, we’re just being ourselves, right?

David
Right. Yeah, we are truly just being ourselves.

Katharine
Yeah. I mean, sometimes we worry that because we kind of –

David
Banter.

Katharine
– rag on each other a little bit and we worry that people are uncomfortable think that we’re actually fighting. I mean, there has been a time where –

David
Well, and the thing about “try being married to him” – that did hit kind of hard.

Katharine
No, it didn’t, come on.

Jon
You know, I think it’s the human element actually, that everyone probably latches onto, right? You’d met my wife earlier, Tennille. She and I worked together in our office setting for six years. We both also have small children.

So, the youngest, eight-year-old Allie, she’s fabulous, but she is often seen in the office filing papers when she and I have to work late some of those nights. That was one of the questions I was going to ask. So, as you have a two-year-old and you’ve been on the road and so forth.

How is that dynamic for you guys? Do you enjoy it? Do you embrace it?

David
I think it’s the best part of our touring to have him with us. Right?

Katharine
Oh, it’s so fun. I mean, believe me, there’s moments that are challenging. It’s not the moments on stage that are challenging with him. Everything’s joyful when we’re on stage and backstage with him. It’s the, you know, in between hotels, long car drives. He’s truthfully been amazing. But every once in a while, it becomes overwhelming. But yeah, I feel like we would just be miserable without him. We’d be so sad without him.

David
And sooner or later, he’s going to be in school and we won’t be able to have him. And you know that drill, too, right?

Katharine
And then you have to really weigh like, okay, which shows are we doing because we don’t want to be away from him too much.

Jon
And yeah, the travel, soccer, or the drum lessons … I’m familiar with those things.

David
You know, early on, I sat Kat down and had her watch “Sonny and Cher” when we were first starting to tour together. I watched it, too, because they were the epitome of perfect as a couple, right? And so we’ve tried to, you know, maybe just at least be influenced by them. We’ll never get there because they were just flawless. She was flawless in her put-downs and he was flawless in his put-downs.

Katharine
But you can see there’s like a giddiness, too. There was a bubbling as they laughed a lot at themselves. And so, yeah, I think we bring a little bit of that.

Jon
They were truly, truly having fun.

David and Katharine
Yeah.

Jon
True passion and that was kind of my next question. So, you can see that you’re both passionate, in different phases of your careers, frankly, but both very passionate. Where does the drive come from? That would be my question, especially for you, David. I mean, you’ve done this for quite some time. As we were going through your catalog tonight of the hits, I realized that different formidable parts of my life, there was something that every single phase was hitting.

David
But I never got the chance to actually go and perform those songs and get that feeling that all the artists that I worked with got. They got to leave the studio. And go out and present those songs that we did together to an audience and get the feedback of what worked and what didn’t, and the exhilaration of an audience going crazy. And I’d just be in the studio, “Next.” And, you know, for years and years and years and years and years.

Katharine
I think drive comes from birth, honestly. I mean, when I think having the great fortune of being young and knowing what you want to do from a very young age. Like I knew what I wanted to do from a very young age. You did as well. It looks like our son sort of knows what he wants to do from a young age, but it’s been interesting to watch Rennie because we don’t know what’s going to happen. Maybe he’ll turn an interest in other things. But he’s so obsessed with what he is naturally good at, which is drumming. And he’s only two, and he’s really getting good at it. It’s kind of wild.

David
But I wonder if we hadn’t had him on the road and having him watch our drummer for all those months, starting when he was like 14 months old. I wonder if he’d still be drumming.

Katharine
Sure. But he was never not going to be around music. That was never not going to be a part of his life.

Jon
And so many things. I mean, coming from Canada, the immersion idea, the idea of Canadian hockey, if you listen to Malcolm Gladwell or the fact that they start so much earlier, his exposure is going to be pretty awesome for that going forward.

So, that kind of leads me to talking about legacy. You know, you’ve had an unbelievable career. We’re going to see the best from you for a long time. So, when you’re thinking about legacy, I know that you’ve had the David Foster Foundation and you’re helping people there, too. What are the legacies that you’re [leaving behind]? Do you all talk about that much as far as the legacies you’d really like to leave behind?

David
No, never. I mean, you know, some of these songs, mine are like 40-plus years old and they’re still, you know, getting some attention. So, I imagine that’ll carry on after I’m gone. But I always said that what I wanted on my tombstone was “He did his best.” That’s what I want, because I really think that I did my best and my foundation work with the families of children that need organ transplants is really important to me because obviously the feedback is incredible. I said earlier in an interview, we are the one bright light in a family’s worst day. And it’s not easy-going. It’s kind of tough work. It’s not just my name. We put in a lot of work but it’s very rewarding.

So maybe that’ll be the legacy. I don’t know.

Jon
It’s fabulous.

David
Yeah, yours’ll probably be “Smash.”

Katharine
No. Well, God, I hope not.

David
No, I’m kidding. People just go crazy.

Jon
We love that show. My wife and I, we love that show.

Katharine
Well, thank you. But that was a long time ago. So hopefully I have something else, like when I’m 50. Yeah, but no, I mean, I loved “Smash,” but I hope there’s something else that I do besides that.

But honestly, I do still fantasize about doing this for my career and that for my career. But truly, nothing will be a more special day than the day my son was born. It just, nothing will come close to how beautiful that day was for me.

David
I think if you could wave a magic wand for Kat over the next five years, I think it would be to originate a great role on Broadway and/or on television.

Jon
I think you’ll absolutely succeed in that. You’ll do something great. That’s incredible. David, thank you so much. Kat, thank you so much. It’s been a pleasure.

David
We’ve enjoyed all you people. Thanks.

Katharine
Thank you very much.