In the early eighties, David Foster’s career exploded with top chart hits written and/or produced for Chicago, Kenny Rogers, The Tubes, Kenny Loggins, Al Jarreau, Chaka Khan, Boz Scaggs and several others. Those platinum, award-winning singles and albums put the Canadian-born music-maker on the red-hot list of producers and the rest, as they say, is history. Although of the same top-notch quality of the aforementioned records, those same years witnessed some Foster work that didn’t become as popular and, in some cases, remain a well-kept secret to this day. Dara Sedaka’s “I’m Your Girlfriend” is one of these hidden gems.

Recorded in 1982 for the Japanese market, “I’m Your Girlfriend” is a delightful collection of pop songs perfectly crafted by Foster for Sedaka’s pretty voice. The album included material written by people like Dara’s father Neil Sedaka, Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance, Dan Hartman, Andrew Kastner and Foster himself. “I’m Your Girlfriend” is total ear-candy and has special significance for Foster’s fantastic work behind the glass. The album included light rockers, pop ditties and gorgeous ballads that the young Dara handles with confidence and style.

This time around we picked “Someday,” a beautiful ballad co-written by pro songwriters Bob Halligan, John Keller and Jim Bacon. “Someday” received the “million bucks” treatment by Foster. We see all the elements of hits like “Hard To Say I’m Sorry” and “We’ve Got Tonight” with Foster’s keyboard driven arrangement, typical instrumental progression and a catchy refrain. Strong points on the song are Foster’s acoustic piano that accompanies Dara’s sweet performance as well as the warm saxophone solo by Gary Herbig. A beautiful addition to the song is the gorgeous instrumental coda that features the Jerry Hey horns smoothly punctuating and adding even more sophistication to the atmosphere.

“I’m Your Girlfriend” didn’t sell millions, but it’s a must-listen for Fozfans. We suggest you look up the i-Tunes edition of “I’m Your Girlfriend” to enjoy its timeless, quality pop.

Listen

Lead Vocals: Dara Sedaka
Keyboards: David Foster
Guitar: Michael Landau & Steve Lukather
Bass: Dennis Belfield
Drums: Carlos Vega
Saxophone Solo: Gary Herbig
Synthesizer Programming: Steve Porcaro
Horns: Jerry Hey & Gary Grant
Backing Vocals: Richard Page & Steve George

Produced & Arranged by David Foster

Lyrics

No Lyrics

Northern European audiences have traditionally shown deep affection for David Foster’s music and productions. Through the years, many of Foster’s songs have been covered there by a variety of performers including Egil Eldoen of the group Lava and Elisabeth Andreasson from Norway, Anita Meyer from the Netherlands, plus Lena Ericsson and Pernilla Wahlgren from Sweden. Wahlgren is a talented singer and actress who comes from a family of famous Swedish actors. She has appeared on many important TV and films productions and also released a series of good pop albums. On her 1986 album “Attractive,” she did a nice remake of “Huggin’,” a delicious pop ditty written by Foster and Dara Sadaka for Sedaka’s 1982 album “I’m Your Girlfriend.” Wahlgren’s album presented typical pop stuff of the era that relied heavily on keyboards and programmed percussions. Her cover of “Huggin'” was quite faithful to Sedaka’s original and to Foster’s delicious upbeat arrangement. Wahlgren sang her part very nicely with support from effective, Michael McDonald-inspired backing vocals.

Listen

[audio:https://www.fozfan.com/archives/clips/huggin.mp3|titles=Huggin|artists=Pernilla Wahlgren]

Lead Vocals: Pernilla Wahlgren
Produced by Chister Sandelin, Emilio Ingrosso & Tommy Ekman
Co-Produced by Pernilla Wahlgren

Lyrics

NO LYRICS

In 1975, a talented new keyboard player from Canada named David Foster was building up a solid reputation as red hot session guy on the Los Angeles music scene. That year he played on a long string of albums for big names like George Harrison, Johnny Cash and Bobby Womack, rock stars like Keith Moon and Tommy Bolin plus southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd. He also appeared on a successful album by Neil Sedaka, “The Hungry Years,” that gave him one of his first big hits as a session man with the #1 song “Bad Blood.”
Sedaka must have been impressed by the multifaceted talent of this young player. A few years later, when he was planning the debut single for his daughter Dara, he called Foster to co-produce it. Released in 1978, “My Guy” is a sunny, laid back cover of the Mary Wells R&B hit written by Smokey Robinson. Foster’s arrangement gives the song a flavored pop appeal that suits Dara Sedaka’s teenager voice. The impeccable backing track was performed by the cream of the L.A. players including the original Toto rhythm section of Jeff Porcaro and David Hungate, Jay Graydon and Ray Parker on guitars plus the unique touch of Foster on keys and the strings and horns arrangements. Dara Sedaka did a good job with her lead vocal supported by the soulful backing voice of Bill Champlin.
The b-side of the single, “Beautiful You,” was co-written by Neil Sedaka with frequent collaborator Philip Cody. The famous singer already recorded it for his 1972 album “Solitaire.” “Beautiful You” was also produced by Foster with Sedaka. It has the vintage sound that made songs like “Oh Carol” worldwide classics.
The musical relationship between Foster and the Sedaka family had another chapter in 1982 when Foster produced Dara Sedaka’s debut album entitled “I’m Your Girlfriend.” We have previously mentioned that record on these pages as an example of quality pop that remained a well-kept secret for too many years. We highly recommend it to all Foster fans. It can easily be found on the net. Check it out!

Listen

[audio:https://www.fozfan.com/archives/clips/my_guy.mp3|titles=My guy|artists=Dara Sedaka]

Lead Vocals: Dara Sedaka
Keyboards: David Foster
Guitars: Jay Graydon & Ray Parker, jr.
Drums: Jeff Porcaro
Bass: David Hungate
Backing Vocals: Bill Champlin
Produced by David Foster & Neil Sedaka

Lyrics

Nothing you could say
Could tear me away from my guy
Nothing you could do
‘Cause I’m stuck like glue to my guy

I’m sticking to my guy like a stamp to a letter
Like birds of a feather, we stick together
I’m tellin’ you from the start
I can’t be torn apart from my guy

Nothing you could do
Could make me untrue to my guy (my guy)
Nothing you could buy
Could make me tell a lie to my guy (my guy, my guy, my guy)

I gave my guy my word of honor
To be faithful and I’m gonna
You best be believing
I won’t be deceiving my guy

As a matter of opinion, I think he’s tops
My opinion is he’s the cream of the crop
As a matter of taste to be exact,
He’s my ideal as a matter of fact

No muscle bound man
Could take my hand from my guy (my guy)
No handsome face
Could ever take the place of my guy (my guy, my guy, my guy)

He may not be a movie star
But when it comes to bein’ happy, we are
There’s not a man today
Who could take me away from my guy

(Break)

No muscle bound man
Could take my hand from my guy (my guy)
No handsome face
Could ever take the place of my guy (my guy, my guy, my guy)

He may not be a movie star
But when it comes to bein’ happy, we are
There’s not a man today
Who could take me away from my guy

(What you say?)
There’s not a man today
Who could take me away from my guy
(Tell me more)
There’s not a man today
Who could take me away from my guy
(What’s that?)
(fade out)

In 1978 David Foster produced the debut solo single of Dara Sedaka entitled “My Guy”, and in 1980 she also had a top 20 hit single singing with her father Neil the tune “Should’ve Never Let You Go”. In 1982 David Foster and Dara went back in the studio together as he produced her debut album for Japanese label Sound Design (the same label that released his first solo CD as well as Marc Jordan’s “Hole In The Wall) and the result is extremely pleasant.

Dara has a cute voice, not powerful but good enough to handle some nice pop songs that Foster arranged and produced with his typical style. There are some interesting pop numbers like the opening “Huggin’” cowritten by Foster with Dara, the title track and the Bryan Adams/Jim Vallance original “Try To See It My Way”, but the high moments of this album are the ballads like the haunting “Someday”, the Neil & Dara cowritten number “Goodbye” and especially our song of the week: “Just Say I Love You”.

On these three songs you can really hear Foster all over the place, the playing, his piano always leads the dance, also the strings and horns arrangements are enchanting with the incredible Jerry Hey horns adding their flavor to the mix. Another winning point on “Just Say I Love You” are the Pages on the backing vocals and Gary Herbig playing the sweet sax solo. “I’m Your Girlfriend” wasn’t a hit, it really remained a well kept secret, especially compared to Foster’s hits of those years, but sure there’s some good music in it, songs that Foster’s fans really can love and enjoy, so even though this is a very hard to find release, check it out!

Dara also has recently released a CD of standards entitled “What’s New”.

Listen

Lead Vocals: Dara Sedaka
Drums: Mike Baird
Keyboards: David Foster
Guitar: Michael Landau & Steve Lukather
Bass: Dennis Belfield
Percussion: Paul Lani
Synthesizer programming: Steve Porcaro
Sax Solo: Gary Herbig
Back Vocals: Richard Page & Steve George
Horns: Jerry Hey, Gary Grant, Gary Herbig
Arranged & Produced by David Foster

Lyrics

One step forward two steps back
You start to say you love him then you take it back
That’s not the girl I knew
Now what’s come over you

You say you’re only waiting till the moment’s right
But he’s crazy in love, it’s in his eyes
It’s such a simple thing
Here’s all you have to do

Just say I love you
Take him in your arms and
Tell him you need him
Tell him he’s the one
Don’t waste a minute
The sooner the better
Before he’s gone

You’re only gonna lose him on
Someday you’ll reach for him and he’ll be gone
He’ll slip right through your fingers
Oh yeah

You’re looking so hard for that perfect love
You can’t see he’s the one that you’re dreaming of
Such a simple thing
Here’s all you have to do

Just say I love you
Take him in your arms and
Tell him you need him
Tell him he’s the one
Don’t waste a minute
The sooner the better
Before he’s gone

What does your heart say
Over and over
When you look into his eyes
Long as you love him
Nothing matters
There’s no reason
To keep it all inside

Just say I love you
Take him in your arms and
Tell him you need him
Tell him he’s the one
Don’t waste a minute
The sooner the better
Before he’s gone…