Early career Foster left his family's farm in North Carolina at the age of 18 and moved near his sister's family in
Washington, D.C., where he got a job working for the
Hot Shoppes restaurant chain. While at work, he met popular area country music entertainer Billy Strickland, who invited Foster to one of his shows and sparked Foster's interest in songwriting. Foster began working for J&F Distributing Co. in Baltimore, where he launched the company's pop division. He started recording local acts, and supervised
Jimmy Dean's debut hit, "
Bumming Around". In 1953 he started to work for
Mercury Records, but clashed with the company's executives over his endorsement of
rockabilly acts. In late 1955, he unsuccessfully tried to convince Fred Talmadge, Mercury's Marketing Director, to sign the 20 year old
Elvis Presley, then still at
Sun Records but with competing offers from both Atlantic and
RCA Records. Foster then briefly joined
ABC-Paramount, where he acquired the rights to
George Hamilton IV's recording, "
A Rose and a Baby Ruth", which became the company's first million-seller, Founded in Washington, D.C., the label's name was inspired by the
Washington Monument. For the label's first release, Foster took
Billy Grammer to
RCA's Nashville studio to record "
Gotta Travel On" with
Chet Atkins. Having spent all but $80 of Monument's initial $1,200 of funding to record the song, Foster negotiated for Monument to be the first label distributed by
London Records. It also spawned a nationwide
dance craze called "
The Shag", and Foster and
Dick Flood co-wrote "The Shag (Is Totally Cool)" by Billy Graves which reached number 53 on
Billboard's Hot 100. Later that year, Monument co-founder "Buddy" Dean sold his 30% share of the company back to Foster. In early 1959
Roy Orbison's manager and
Acuff-Rose president
Wesley Rose approached Foster about signing the singer to Monument Records, and Foster said yes. As Orbison began recording for the label, his signature sound was realized, leading to a string of 18 hit singles and five best-selling LPs, beginning with the 1960 release "
Only the Lonely." Foster is credited for his part in the development of
Roy Orbison's career and for producing Orbison's early hits, including "
Only the Lonely" – his breakthrough hit – "
Oh, Pretty Woman", "
Running Scared", "
In Dreams", "
Crying", "
It's Over", "
Mean Woman Blues", "
Pretty Paper", and "
Blue Bayou". Writer
Richie Unterberger has compared Foster to more widely known producers such as
Phil Spector and
Leiber and Stoller, for the way in which he expanded the range of instrumentation used on
pop and
rock'n'roll records, using
orchestration and
choirs of vocalists, as well as making extensive use of
Nashville A-Team session musicians such as
Charlie McCoy and
Jerry Kennedy. Projects recorded at this studio include
Roy Orbison's 1964 hit "
It's Over",
Charlie Rich's 1965 hit "Mohair Sam",
Ronnie Dove's ''
One Kiss For Old Times' Sake'', and
Sandy Posey 1966 hit "
Single Girl". In late 1967 the studio's rental agreement was terminated when the Seventh Avenue building was sold (it would later be demolished) and Foster utilized Music City Records while securing a new location for his studio. Foster found the ideal location for his company's new recording studios and offices. The building, on 16th Avenue at the end of
Music Row, was originally built in 1903 as a Presbyterian church. Completed in 1969,
Monument Recording Studios featured a 33 x 39 foot recording space with 23 foot high ceilings, a 19 x 27 foot control room, acoustic echo chambers, business office, and recreation room. The studio was operated by Monument until 1975, when it was purchased by Tommy Strong and Mort Thomasson, who operated it as Studio One for the next two years, when producer
Chip Young bought it and operated it as a Nashville location of his Young 'Un Sound recording studio until 1989. The studios' history continued as Masterlink (1990-2010) and Southern Ground (2012-present).
Later activities Foster sold the Monument label to
Sony in the early 1980s. However, he remained active with his own Sunstone production company. He produced
Willie Nelson's 2006
Grammy Award–nominated ''
You Don't Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker'' and Nelson's collaboration with
Merle Haggard and
Ray Price,
Last of the Breed (2007). The latter was the winner of the 2008
Grammy for Best Country Collaboration, for the track "
Lost Highway". Foster’s final production was
Dawn Landes’s
Meet Me at the River (2018). ==Personal life and death==