Unlike the other songwriters we've mentioned thus far in our "Great American Songwriters" series, Diane Warren is not a performer. You will not likely see her gracing a concert stage or the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine anytime soon. However, while you may not recognize her face, you have undoubtedly heard (and probably even sung along to) many of her chart-topping tunes. Ms. Warren is one of the most prolific and successful American songwriters of all time, and we would be remiss if we did not include her in our HillTop Records series on "Great American Songwriters."
Warren herself was inspired by the Top 40 music she heard growing up, music by the likes of Buddy Holly and the Beatles. However, she was always more interested in the songwriters than the singers. Carole King, Leiber and Stoller, and Burt Bacharach were among her idols. As a native of the Los Angeles area, Diane Warren was exposed to aspects of the entertainment industry at an early age. She began writing music at 11 and by age 14, she was churning out three songs a day; she knew right away that it was what she was meant to do with her life. Her parents, however, were not so sure. In fact, her mother supposedly suggested that Warren give up her dream of becoming a professional songwriter to take a more practical job. Her father continued to support and believe in her unconditionally, and their relationship was later immortalized by Warren in one of her greatest hits--"Because You Loved Me," sung by Celine Dion.
Despite the divided viewpoint her parents had on her career, Warren persevered and eventually landed a job as a staff writer for Jack White (a music producer who worked with singer Laura Branigan) when she was in her late twenties. One day, White asked Warren to prepare English lyrics for a French song. The next day, the budding songwriter turned in "Solitare," which became a Top 10 hit for Branigan and Warren's first major musical success. This led to more projects and three years latter, Warren wrote "Rhythm of the Night" for DeBarge. That song climbed to the Number 3 spot on the pop charts, and even reached Number 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. But Diane Warren's now legendary songwriting career had only just begun.
Several things have distinguished Warren from her songwriting peers. One is her ability to transcend genre; her songs are often recorded by multiple artists, and in drastically different styles. "If You Asked Me To" was recorded by both Celine Dion and Patti LaBelle, and "Don't Turn Around" has been recorded by eight different artists--from Tina Turner to Ace of Base. Another pop hit, "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing," was performed by Aerosmith for the film Armageddon. At the same time that it received an Oscar nomination, the song hit Number 1 on the country charts with a version by Mark Chestnutt. Diane Warren is certainly no stranger to the American country charts. Her song, "How Do I Live," was recorded by both Trisha Yearwood and LeAnn Rimes. Yearwood's version landed her a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance, and the song itself was the longest running song in the history of Billboard's Hot 100 chart.
Diane Warren's list of awards and accolades is truly spectacular. In total, her songs have received six Academy Award nominations, five Golden Globe nominations and eight Grammy Award nominations. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001; that same year, she also received a coveted star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Warren has been named the ASCAP Songwriter of the Year an astounding six times, and is the only songwriter to have earned the distinction in both Pop and Country categories. She was declared Billboard's Songwriter of the Year four times. She was also the first songwriter in the history of Billboard to have seven hits (all by different artists) on the singles chart at the same time! Her music been featured in more than 70 films and TV shows, and she has collaborated with many of the world's greatest artists. Elton John, Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Roy Orbison--these are only a few of the world-famous performers for whom Diane Warren has written songs. And today's celebrities (including Joss Stone, Jennifer Hudson and Christina Aguilera) are still clamoring to work with her.
Diane Warren said in a 1998 interview with the Toronto Star that "It seems that a lot of people these days are hyphens: the writer-producer, the writer-artist. It seems in this day and age you have a lot more of that. Unfortunately, you don't have the pure songwriter, although the pure songwriter still is important." While Warren is definitely a "pure songwriter," she is also a hugely successful music publisher. Her company, Realsongs, has been named one of the Top 5 Music Publishing Corporations, and it is the most successful female-owned and operated business in the music industry. The company ensures that Warren always has complete creative control over her music, and she uses it as a vehicle to showcase her latest works. Among her most recent projects are "It's My Time," the song she co-wrote with Andrew Lloyd Webber for the international Eurovision song contest in 2009, and Due Voci, the romantic singing duo she developed and introduced at the Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta, Indonesia. Warner Brothers recently released a compilation of Diane Warren's greatest hits, called "Love Songs." A commonly mentioned anecdote is that despite the fact that most of Warren's songs are about romantic love, she herself has never been married. However, not much is known about the songwriter's personal life--and she'd like to keep it that way.
Despite Warren's staggering success, the songwriter has managed to keep an extremely low profile. In fact, she is ironically famous for shunning the public eye and choosing to live a very private life. "I'm not really comfortable in front of people," she has has been quoted as saying, "I don't like being in front of people on stage, which is why I write songs and stay in the background... I've kept my nose to the grindstone. I'm very driven. I don't have much of a social life, but it doesn't bother me. I'm happy doing what I'm doing... I would never rest on my laurels. I'd rather look ahead than look back at all times. I'm proud of what I've achieved, but it's always the next thing that's the most interesting to me."
Warren is certainly not the only one proud of her work. Music mogul Clive Davis said of the songwriter: "Diane is able to combine tremendous feel for melody with lyrics that deal with genuine emotions, and she is able to do it time after time." Record producer David Foster called her "the hardest-working songwriter [he's] ever known." He went on to say: "She's truly an island, and somehow she taps into the masses. The fact that she can do it by herself is extra special. She doesn't seem to need to rely on anybody else."
Whether that last bit is true or not, there is no questioning Diane Warren's tremendous talent and work ethic. We know her songs have inspired countless other musicians, including many of our own HillTop Records songwriters. She is frequently asked to describe her songwriting process, and her response is usually the same. In 2008, she told Sound On Sound: "I don't know what the process is, but the process is that I show up. This is what I always say: I show up. If you don't show up, nothing is going to happen. You have to get there. And I am excited to get [to the studio] every day and can't wait to get to work. As long as I feel like that, things are cool."
