TORONTO, ON – (February 6, 2014) – For three decades, her songs have topped the charts earning her place as one of the most successful contemporary songwriters of our time. From “How Do I Live” (LeAnn Rimes, Trisha Yearwood) to “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” (Aerosmith), she has penned some of the best-selling songs in pop music history. On Saturday, May 10th, in a conversation with leading music industry journalist Larry LeBlanc, legendary songwriter Diane Warren will entertain Canadian Music Week 2014 attendees with tales of her songs, her craft, and working with some of the famed voices behind them.
Diane Warren has written for artists as many and varied as Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Elton John, Faith Hill, Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton, *NSYNC, Mariah Carey, Barbra Streisand and most recently Cher, Justin Bieber, Snoop Dogg and Paloma Faith. She also wrote the song “I Was Here” for Beyonce, which hit #1 on the Billboard charts. The video for the song was used to launch World Humanitarian Day and has reached over 1 billion people. A skilled and prolific songwriter, her songs have transcended genre, from Adult Contemporary to Country, Rock and R&B. Eight different artists – from Tina Turner to Ace of Base – have recorded her song, “Don’t Turn Around.” “How Do I Live,” recorded by both Trisha Yearwood and LeAnn Rimes carries the distinction of being the longest-running song in the history of Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart and Billboard’s Country Singles Sales Chart. When Billboard Magazine published their list of the Top 100 songs of all time to celebrate the 55th Anniversary of the Hot 100 chart, Diane was the only writer to have two songs in the top 12 with “How Do I Live” ranked at #4 and “Unbreak My Heart ranked at #12. To date, she has had over 100 songs on the charts and simultaneous hits in virtually every market.
In the past two years Diane Warren has garnered three Grammy nominations and penned original songs for such films as Silver Linings Playbook, Unfinished Song and Winnie Mandela. She most recently won the Golden Globe Award for the powerful ballad “You Haven’t Seen The Last of Me” performed by Cher for Burlesque. She also received a Critics’ Choice Movie Awards nomination on behalf of the song.
Her #1 Pop Hit, “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” performed by Aerosmith for the movie Armageddon, not only received an Oscar nomination, but simultaneously hit #1 on the Country Charts with a version sung by Mark Chesnutt. Diane also had a #1 International Hit with “Can’t Fight the Moonlight,” performed by LeAnn Rimes and featured in the film Coyote Ugly. Warren received an Oscar nomination for “How Do I Live” in 1997.
With an uncanny ability to create the perfect song for any scene, whether love ballad, rock anthem, or up-tempo groove, Diane continues to receive accolades. To date, her songs have been nominated for 6 Academy Awards, 5 Golden Globes and 9 GRAMMYs (winning for the song “Because You Loved Me”) and have been featured in more than 100 motion pictures.
Diane is the recipient of The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard’s inaugural Film & TV Music Career Achievement Award that was presented in November 2008. She has been named ASCAP’s Songwriter of the Year six times (five times for Pop and once for Country) and Billboard’s Songwriter of the Year four times (once as Hot Country Songwriter and the #1 Songwriter for Pop and R&B, and twice as Hot Singles Songwriter.) Diane also received a coveted star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and has been inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame, once again marking her place among the greatest songwriters of our time.
Taking charge of her own creative career, Diane owns her publishing company, Realsongs, fittingly the most successful female-owned and operated business in the music industry.
This celebrity interview is open to all CMW delegates and registered showcasing artists. A limited number of tickets to this individual session are also available for purchase. To attend this exclusive one-on-one with Diane Warren, visit the Canadian Music Week website – www.cmw.net – to register for your delegate pass or to purchase your ticket.
ABOUT CANADIAN MUSIC WEEK:
Canadian Music Week is Canada’s leading annual entertainment event dedicated to the expression and growth of the country’s music, media and entertainment industries. Combining three information-intensive conferences; a trade exposition; a film festival; a comedy festival; four awards shows and the nation’s largest new music festival, CMW spans a five-day period from May 6 to May 10, 2014 at the Toronto Marriott Downtown Eaton Centre Hotel and over 60 downtown Toronto venues, attracting participants from across the globe. For more information, visit www.cmw.net.
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