"It is round three of my life and I like it," David Foster says of his autobiography, Hit Man. (Stan Behal, Sun Media)

From a four-year-old kid with perfect pitch to a wildly successful producer to the stars, David Foster claims he is now on his third act in life.

The 59-year-old Victoria, B.C, native has just released an autobiography, Hit Man, an all-star career-spanning CD of the same name, and accompanying DVD, the latter which is showing up on PBS this month via Great Performances.

"It is round three of my life and I like it," said Foster while in Toronto on a recent promotional stop.

"I'm pretty good at retreating and attacking in another direction, which is something I learned from Ronnie Hawkins -- and I'd done it twice in my life already -- and I thought, 'Okay, well, maybe my round three should look a little different than my first two rounds.' "

Foster, who formed his first band by age 12, first struck it big in Canada as the keyboardist for the one-hit-wonder group, Skylark, whose song, Wildflower, was a 1972 hit.

A year later, he was a popular studio musician for hire in L.A. before becoming a producer to such A-listers as Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Boz Scaggs (his all-time favourite song is their collaboration Look What You've Done to Me), Madonna, Chicago, Barbra Streisand, Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban and Michael Buble -- to name just a few.

Along the way, Foster has won 15 Grammys, seven Junos, an Emmy, been up for three Oscars and raised multi-millions through his David Foster Foundation charity.

Hit Man portrays him as a workaholic who never indulged in drugs or booze but knocked heads in the studio with some artists due to his twisted sense of humour, hyper, almost manic, energy, and a brash personality.

Foster also talks about his incurable claustrophobia after getting stuck on an elevator twice in New York City two days in a row. Not even a recent trip to a therapist to get hypnotised has helped.

"There's a shrink friend of mine that said it was because I was in an incubator for six days when I was a baby, but I don't know about that," said Foster, who's a friendly, charming interview subject.

Out of the studio, the three-times-married Foster had his challenges with women, despite growing up the only brother of six sisters and fathering five daughters, including one out of wedlock who was given up for adoption. Father and daughter were reunited much later in life.

"I don't believe that two people are meant to be together forever," Foster said. "I think it's a ridiculous notion that worked when people lived to 35."

Foster is currently in a happy two-year relationship with Dutch girlfriend Yolanda Hadid (the ex-wife of his friend/real estate developer Mohammed Hadid), who lives about 170 km from his L.A. home. He also recently bought a place in Victoria.

"It's not an everyday thing and we have what I would describe as a perfect relationship," Foster said. "We see a lot of each other but we have space."

Foster -- who produced Seal's just-released record of '60s covers, Soul -- counts 16-year-old Filipino sensation Charice among his new clients, has January albums due with pianist-singer Peter Cincotti and jazz singer Renee Olstead, and is scheduled to work again with Groban and Buble. Plus, there's a Broadway musical he's writing called Betty Boop.

But Foster will have to slow down at some point given his heart condition, which requires aortic valve surgery sooner than later. He was diagnosed with the problem when he was 35 years old and there's a projected year-long recovery time -- although Foster said he could go back to work after only six weeks of rest.

"(The surgery is) inevitable," he said. "This brilliant doctor said, 'Before you're 60, you're going to have to have that thing replaced.' And I thought, 'By the time I'm 60, there's going to be a pill for that and here I am at 59.' I get tested every three months. I just want to get it done at this point."

Houston no problem to work with: Foster

Celine Dion stands out in David Foster's new book, Hit Man, as his favourite artist to work with, but there is one artist who was so difficult that Foster says he'll never do it again "for no amount of money."

However, Foster doesn't name names in the book or in person.

"I didn't write about it," Foster said. "That would be very cruel to say that."

And before you go thinking it was Whitney Houston -- who has made headlines more recently for drug use and fighting with her ex-husband Bobby Brown (who she divorced in 2007) than for making music -- you would be wrong.

"She and I have been trying to get back into the studio for the last year," Foster said. "And I have a song I produced that my friend Diane Warren wrote, and this song is spectacular. And actually I just got a call from Whitney's camp a couple of weeks ago saying she'd like to do the vocal. And I was in New York and I couldn't do it -- so our schedules are kind of off, but I think she's ready to sing again."

Foster says he never saw Houston and Brown fighting when they were in the studio with him, most famously when she was recording I Will Always Love You from The Bodyguard soundtrack.

"They loved the hell out of each other, it was amazing. They really loved each other and he was very supportive of her in the studio. I'm not just glossing this over, this is what I saw."