Diane Warren
Diane Eve Warren (born September 7, 1956)[1][2] is an American songwriter. She has won an Academy Honorary Award, Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards and three consecutive Billboard Music Awards for Songwriter of the Year from 1997 to 1999. She first gained recognition for her work on DeBarge's 1985 single "Rhythm of the Night". By the late 1980s, she joined the record label EMI, where she became the first songwriter in the history of Billboard magazine to have written seven hit songs, all of which by different artists, prompting EMI's UK Chairman Peter Reichardt to call her "the most important songwriter in the world".
This article is about the American songwriter. For the Canadian author, see Dianne Warren. For the American politician born Diane Lynn Warren, see Diane Black.
Diane Warren
Diane Eve Warren[1]
September 7, 1956[2]
Van Nuys, California, U.S.
- Songwriter
- publisher
1983–present
Warren has written nine number-one songs and 33 top-10 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 including "If I Could Turn Back Time" (Cher, 1989), "Because You Loved Me" (Celine Dion, 1996), "How Do I Live" (LeAnn Rimes, 1997) and "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" (Aerosmith, 1998). Two of the top 13 hits in the Hot 100's 57-year history were composed by Warren. She has been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She has been rated the third most successful female artist in the UK, leading her to win the Ivor Novello Award and Special International Award in 2008. Warren has received 15 competitive Academy Award nominations without a win; she received an honorary Oscar at the Governors Awards in November 2022.[3]
She founded the publishing company Realsongs, through which she holds the masters of her work. Her debut studio album was released on August 27, 2021.[4]
Early life[edit]
Warren, the youngest of three daughters, was born to David, an insurance salesman, and Flora Warren,[5] in the Los Angeles community of Van Nuys,[6] where she said she felt misunderstood and "alienated" as a child growing up.[7] Her family's surname "Warren" was originally "Wolfberg", but her father changed the name because he wanted it to sound less Jewish.[8] Warren says she was rebellious as a child[7] and told NPR's Scott Simon that she got into trouble and ran away as a teen but returned because she missed her cat.
As a child, Warren loved listening to and dreamed of performing on the radio herself.[8] She was also influenced by music her parents and her sisters would play.[9] She began writing music when she was 11 but took a more serious approach at 14, commenting "music saved me."[8][10] Warren has said that her mother asked her to give up her dream of a songwriting career[11] and take a secretarial job. However, her father continued to believe in her and encouraged her. In addition, he bought her a 12-string guitar and a metal shed for her to practice and took her to music auditions.[1] She wrote Celine Dion's 1996 song "Because You Loved Me" as a tribute to her father for his encouragement.[12]
She attended Los Angeles Pierce College and graduated from California State University, Northridge in 1978, but largely considered her education a waste as she focused most of her time on improving her songwriting skills instead of on her education.[8][13][14]
On the February 12, 2016, edition of All Things Considered, Warren said that she had been molested at age 12 and had later experienced sexual harassment and assault by a sound engineer during her working career.[15]
Personal life[edit]
Warren has never married,[40] and does not think of herself as a person of commitment. In interviews, she has said that she believes that her lack of a romantic life makes her more peculiar as a songwriter.[8] She was in a relationship with songwriter and record producer Guy Roche[41] that ended in 1992[8] and claims she has not had another relationship since, commenting "I've never been in love like in my songs. I'm not like normal people. I'm no good at relationships. I draw drama to me—it's the Jew in me".[42] Warren considers herself to be cynical regarding romance, but she does not let this affect her songwriting[8] and prefers to write alone rather than co-writing, commenting "When I write with other people, the experience is different. You have to compromise, which I have problems with. I'd rather listen to my own mind".[14]
In a 2000 interview, Warren explained that she never let go of music despite experiencing rejections, depression and poverty.[8] In 1994, Warren's house was damaged by the Northridge earthquake, causing her to be miserable and homeless, drifting from hotels to rental houses. She has said that therapy helped her with songwriting.[8] She has also revealed that she works 12–16 hours a day, always takes her keyboard whenever she travels[16] and is "...more crazy and intense than I was at 20..."[5]
Warren does not usually allow anyone into her Hollywood Hills office,[8] which she describes as a "cluttered, airless room". In 2012, Warren said that nothing in her office had been cleaned or moved for 17 years because she is superstitious; she prefers to think of that room as her "secret world".[5] In that room, Warren records melodies with a tape recorder on which she plays them again and chooses the songs she likes the most.[5] Warren did allow part of a 2016 interview with CBS News Sunday Morning correspondent Ben Tracy to be taped in the office.[43]
Warren is autistic and believes her condition made her a better songwriter.[44]
Legacy[edit]
A jukebox musical is planned to be written by Joe DiPietro and directed by Kathleen Marshall, titled Obsessed, The Story of Diane Warren...so far. Warren has composed nine No. 1 and 33 top-10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in a career spanning 40 years.[45][29]