Fred Foster

Fred Foster helped launch the remarkable careers of Roy Orbison, Dolly Parton, Kris Kristofferson, Billy Joe Shaver, Billy Grammer, Jeannie Seely, Boots Randolph, Tony Joe White, Henson Cargill, Arthur Alexander, Larry Gatlin and The Gatlin Brothers and Robert Mitchum.  In addition to the above-named artists, Foster also produced Ray Price, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Ray Stevens, Al Hirt, Billy Walker, Grandpa Jones, Joe Simon, Arthur Smith, Fran Jeffries, Ivory Joe Hunter and The Velvets.  For someone whose life began on a farm in rural North Carolina, a music career was not the likeliest career path for Fred when he left home at 17.  “All I knew was that I didn’t want to spend my life on that farm,” Fred states.

He's been a regular part of the Nashville music scene since 1960, when he shifted Monument headquarters here after two years in D.C.  Now 85, Fred’s career has spanned decades, introduced the world to some incredible entertainers, and earned him numerous honors along the way.  In 1967, the Foster-produced Jeannie Seely hit, "Don't Touch Me," won the Grammy award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.  Fred received a Grammy® for 2008’s LAST OF THE BREED (a collaboration with Ray Price and Willie Nelson) and received a Grammy® nomination for Nelson’s, YOU DON'T KNOW ME: THE SONGS OF CINDY WALKER.  The Musicians Hall of Fame welcomed Foster through its doors in 2009, while Fred (along with his friends Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson), received the prestigious Dale Franklin Cornelius Award from Leadership Music in 2010.  Two years later, his home state inducted Foster into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame.  This year, he was honored to receive a Trustees Award from NARAS.  His Kris Kristofferson co-write, “Me and Bobby McGee,” remains one of the most recognizable songs of the last four decades.  He will be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame this year.

Fred Foster ( Photo Courtesy: CMHF )