Diane Warren facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Diane Warren
Warren in 2022
Background information
Born	(1956-09-07) September 7, 1956 (age 68) Van Nuys, California, U.S.
Genres	Pop R&B soul pop rock middle-of-the-road
Occupation(s)	Songwriter publisher
Years active	1983–present

Diane Eve Warren (born September 7, 1956) is a famous American songwriter. She has written many hit songs for popular artists around the world. Diane Warren has won many important awards, including an Academy Honorary Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. She was also named Billboard Music Award's Songwriter of the Year three times in a row from 1997 to 1999.

Diane Warren first became well-known for writing "Rhythm of the Night" for the group DeBarge in 1985. She later joined the record label EMI. She made history at Billboard magazine by having seven hit songs on the charts at the same time, all sung by different artists! This led EMI's UK Chairman Peter Reichhardt to call her "the most important songwriter in the world."

She has written nine songs that reached number one and 33 songs that made it into the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Some of her most famous songs include "If I Could Turn Back Time" (sung by Cher), "Because You Loved Me" (sung by Celine Dion), "How Do I Live" (sung by LeAnn Rimes), and "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" (sung by Aerosmith). Two of the top 13 biggest hits in the Hot 100's history were written by her.

Diane Warren is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She has been nominated for 16 competitive Academy Awards, and in November 2022, she received a special honorary Oscar. She also started her own company, Realsongs, which owns the rights to her music. In 2021, she released her first studio album.

Early Life and Music Dreams

Diane Warren was born in Van Nuys, California. She is the youngest of three daughters. Her father, David, was an insurance salesman, and her mother was Flora Warren.

As a child, Diane loved listening to music and dreamed of being on the radio. Her parents and sisters also played a lot of music, which influenced her. She started writing songs when she was 11 years old. By age 14, she became very serious about it, saying that "music saved me."

Diane's mother wanted her to give up her dream and get a secretarial job. But her father believed in her and encouraged her. He even bought her a 12-string guitar and a special shed for her to practice. He also took her to music auditions. She wrote Celine Dion's 1996 hit song "Because You Loved Me" as a way to thank her father for all his support.

She went to Los Angeles Pierce College and then California State University, Northridge. She graduated in 1978, but she felt that most of her time was spent on songwriting, not on her studies.

A Career Full of Hits

Diane Warren's first big hit was "Solitaire" for Laura Branigan in 1983. It reached number 7 on the US pop charts.

Her music publishing company is called Realsongs. In 1998, Realsongs and EMI Music Publishing released a special six-CD box set of her music. This set was mainly given to people in the film and TV industry to use in movies and shows. As of 2011, Diane Warren's songs have been in over sixty films. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2001.

Diane Warren also helps young musicians. Her foundation, along with the ASCAP Foundation and the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, started "Music in the Schools" in 2000. This program gives sheet music and books to schools that have already received musical instruments.

In 2004, she released a collection of her love songs called Diane Warren Presents Love Songs.

Diane Warren continues to write hit songs for many different artists. Some of the famous singers she has worked with include Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé, Cher, Tina Turner, Aerosmith, Mariah Carey, LeAnn Rimes, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift.

In 2009, Diane Warren helped write the song "It's My Time" for the United Kingdom's entry in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. The song was sung by Jade Ewen and came in 5th place, which was the best result for the UK since 2002.

In 2010, she was a judge for Avon Products' global online singing contest, Avon Voices. She wrote a special song for the finalists to record.

Diane Warren has been named ASCAP Songwriter of the Year six times and Billboard's Songwriter of the Year four times. She is the first songwriter in Billboard magazine's history to have seven hits by different artists on the singles chart at the same time. She has had nine number-one hits in the US and 33 songs in the top ten. On the US Adult Contemporary charts, 16 of her songs have reached number one.

Her first studio album, Diane Warren: The Cave Sessions Vol. 1, came out on August 27, 2021. It featured songs with artists like Darius Rucker, G-Eazy, Carlos Santana, Rita Ora, and Sofía Reyes.

In October 2023, a song she wrote with Taylor Swift in 2013, "Say Don't Go," was released on Swift's album 1989 (Taylor's Version). This song reached the top ten of the US Hot 100, which was the first time a song written by Warren had done so in 22 years.

She also wrote "Gonna Be You" for the movie 80 for Brady, released in January 2023. This song was performed by famous singers like Dolly Parton, Belinda Carlisle, Cyndi Lauper, Debbie Harry, and Gloria Estefan.

Personal Life and Work Habits

Diane Warren has never married. She prefers to write songs by herself rather than with other people. She feels that when she writes with others, she has to compromise, which she finds difficult. She likes to listen to her own ideas.

She has shared that she never gave up on music, even when things were tough. In 1994, her house was damaged by an earthquake, and she had to live in hotels and rental homes for a while. She works very long hours, sometimes 12 to 16 hours a day. She always takes her keyboard with her when she travels.

Diane Warren is very particular about her Hollywood Hills office, which she calls her "secret world." She doesn't usually let anyone in because she is superstitious and doesn't want anything to be moved or cleaned. She records melodies there with a tape recorder to choose her favorite songs.

Diane Warren is autistic. She believes that being neurodivergent, which means her brain works differently, has helped her become an even better songwriter.

Legacy and Impact

Diane Warren has written nine number-one songs and 33 top-10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart over her 40-year career. A musical about her life, called Obsessed, The Story of Diane Warren...so far, is being created.

Awards and Nominations

Discography (as artist)

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Singles

US Top-Ten Hits Written by Diane Warren

(Date of top-ten entry – Song – Artist) Bold means the song reached number one.

• May 14, 1983 – "Solitaire" – Laura Branigan
• Apr 06, 1985 – "Rhythm of the Night" – DeBarge
• Mar 14, 1987 – "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" – Starship
• Oct 03, 1987 – "Who Will You Run To" – Heart
• Feb 27, 1988 – "I Get Weak" – Belinda Carlisle
• Aug 06, 1988 – "I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love" – Chicago
• Nov 19, 1988 – "Look Away" – Chicago
• Sep 09, 1989 – "If I Could Turn Back Time" – Cher
• Oct 28, 1989 – "When I See You Smile" – Bad English
• Nov 11, 1989 – "Blame It on the Rain" – Milli Vanilli
• Dec 16, 1989 – "Just Like Jesse James" – Cher
• Mar 10, 1990 – "Love Will Lead You Back" – Taylor Dayne
• Apr 21, 1990 – "How Can We Be Lovers" – Michael Bolton
• Jun 23, 1990 – "I'll Be Your Shelter" – Taylor Dayne
• Jul 21, 1990 – "When I'm Back on My Feet Again" – Michael Bolton
• Sep 07, 1991 – "Time, Love and Tenderness" – Michael Bolton
• Nov 09, 1991 – "Set the Night to Music" – Roberta Flack with Maxi Priest
• Jun 06, 1992 – "If You Asked Me To" – Celine Dion
• Dec 26, 1992 – "Saving Forever for You (from Beverly Hills, 90210)" – Shanice
• Jul 03, 1993 – "I'll Never Get Over You (Getting Over Me)" – Exposé
• Jun 04, 1994 – "Don't Turn Around" – Ace of Base
• Mar 16, 1996 – "Because You Loved Me (from Up Close & Personal)" – Celine Dion
• Nov 02, 1996 – "Un-Break My Heart" – Toni Braxton
• Mar 15, 1997 – "For You I Will (from Space Jam)" – Monica
• Aug 09, 1997 – "How Do I Live" – LeAnn Rimes
• Nov 08, 1997 – "The One I Gave My Heart To" – Aaliyah
• May 16, 1998 – "The Arms of the One Who Loves You" – Xscape
• Sep 05, 1998 – "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" – Aerosmith
• Dec 12, 1998 – "Have You Ever?" – Brandy
• Oct 16, 1999 – "Music of My Heart" – Gloria Estefan and NSYNC
• Jul 01, 2000 – "I Turn to You" – Christina Aguilera
• Jun 30, 2001 – "There You'll Be" – Faith Hill
• Nov 11, 2023 – "Say Don't Go (Taylor's Version) [From the Vault]" – Taylor Swift

See also

• List of songs written by Diane Warren
• Because You Loved Me: The Songs of Diane Warren
• Nina Sings the Hits of Diane Warren
• When a Woman Loves

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