Diane Warren

Diane Warren
Diane Warren at 2009 Pop Conference, Experience Music Project, Seattle
Background information
Birth name	Diane Eve Warren
Born	(1956-09-07) September 7, 1956 (age 60) Van Nuys, California, United States
Genres	Pop, R&B, soul, pop rock
Occupation(s)	Songwriter
Years active	1983–present
Associated acts	Eric Clapton, Céline Dion, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Toni Braxton, Aerosmith, Gloria Estefan, Jessica Simpson, Nina Girado, Beyoncé, Faith Hill, Michael Bolton, Christina Aguilera, Westlife, LeAnn Rimes, All-4-One, Trisha Yearwood, Bon Jovi, Aaliyah, Kierra Sheard, Lady Gaga, Rita Ora, Monica

Diane Eve Warren (born September 7, 1956) is an American songwriter. She rose to prominence in 1983 and has since written songs for and with multiple music artists, as well as for several films. The widespread success and recognition of her songs throughout the decades prompted Peter Reichardt, former Chairman of EMI Music Publishing UK, to credit her as "the most important songwriter in the world".

Warren has had nine number-one songs and 32 Top 10 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Additionally, two of the top 13 hits in the Hot 100's 57-year history were written by her. She is 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 success in the US has been paralleled in the UK, where she has been rated the third most successful female artist.

Warren has won a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, three consecutive Billboard Music Awards for Songwriter of the Year and several other accolades. She has been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Warren owns a publishing company, Realsongs, which gives her control over her compositions.

Warren was born to David, an insurance salesman, and Flora Warren, as the youngest of three girls, in the Los Angeles community of Van Nuys, where she said she felt misunderstood and "alienated" as a Jewish child growing up. Her family's surname "Warren" was originally "Wolfberg", but her father changed the name because it sounded too Jewish. She says she was rebellious as a child 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, she loved listening to the radio and dreamed of performing on the radio herself. She was also influenced by music through her parents and her two older sisters who would play music. She began writing music when she was 11 but took a more serious approach at 14, commenting "music saved me." Warren has said that her mother asked her to give up her dream of a songwriting career 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. She wrote the song "Because You Loved Me" as a tribute to her father for his encouragement. She briefly attended college at Los Angeles Pierce College and California State University, Northridge but considered it a waste and spent more of her time writing songs while attending.