'Betty Boop' Composer David Foster Makes the Big Move to The Big Apple

NY Daily News has reported that Grammy-Award winning composer David Foster has made the move to New York to get 'Betty Boop' to Broadway. Foster confirmed the move at the Prince Grace Awards, saying, "I bought a place in New York City. You cannot be that West Coast pop guy who rolls into New York and says, 'Hey, I am going to do a Broadway musical'... I want to be accepted and not be 'that guy from the West Coast.' "

The name and talent of David Foster as one of music's most acclaimed songwriters and producers is the stuff of legend. Having spent the last four decades creating hits for stars including Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston, Josh Groban, Earth, Wind + Fire, Chicago, Andrea Bocelli, Michael Buble' and scores of others, this 45-time Grammy nominee, three-time recipient of The Grammy® Producer of the Year and Academy Award nominee has achieved extraordinary levels of success.

The 67-year-old composer says the move was a long time in the making, and hopes to do a reading for 'Betty Boop' as early as December, with Jerry Mitchell overseeing the project. Foster also told NY Daily News, "At a certain point in your career you need to go where you belong. I love top 40 music, but it is not what I do anymore. But on Broadway, I can still write a good song that moves people."

Betty Boop is one of the most iconic animated creations of the 20th century. First introduced in the 1930s, Betty Boop was created by Max Fleischer for his "Talkartoons" series, the first "talkies" of animation, which Max's company, Fleischer Studios, produced for Paramount. Mae Questel provided Betty's distinctive voice. By 1932 Betty, considered to be the first and only female animated screen star, had taken the country by storm. Betty starred in more than 100 cartoons, 90 of which are included in the official "Betty Boop" series, which ended in 1939. Since then, Betty has appeared in dozens of hit movies, television specials and commercials. She was the first cartoon character to be profiled by A&E's "Biography" series.