Warner Music, Producer Foster Sign Deal

Warner Music Group signed an exclusive five-year, multimillion-dollar pact this week with Grammy-winning producer David Foster, whose work has spawned a string of hits for such pop stars as Whitney Houston, Celine Dion and Barbra Streisand.

Warner’s Atlantic division has agreed to commit an undisclosed amount of funding to strike a joint venture with Foster’s 143 Records label, which has been marketed and distributed by Atlantic since its launch in 1994.

Foster, whose productions have garnered 14 Grammys over the last two decades, will also become a senior vice president of Warner Music Group, the record arm of Time Warner.