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	Diane Warren
	Interviews with Successful Songwriters DIANE WARREN THOM BELL			(This interview was conducted by John Braheny for the Los Angeles Songwriters Showcase Musepaper in April, 1987. For a current update on the continued success of Diane Warren, go to her website at http://www.realsongs.com At the time of this interview, Diane Warren is reveling in the fact that her Starship hit single, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" is #1 in Billboard for the second week in a row. She had written the song with Albert Hammond for the film, "Mannequin." Though it isn't her first hit, it is her first #1. Her first was Laura Branigan's "Solitaire." Her next was the DeBarge hit, "Rhythm Of The Night," for which she wrote both words and music. She has also written songs for such diverse artists as Barbra Streisand, Tina Turner, Air Supply, the Commodores, Deniece Williams, Joe Cocker, Jeffrey Osborne and is looking forward to many upcoming major releases. She has her own small writing studio in a downtown Hollywood office building. In it she fits an acoustic piano, a DX7 and assorted other synths, a drum machine and a mini sound system. She never stops working. JB: We first met you when you were 15. I think it was in '71 or '72. DW: Right. JB: How long had you been writing before that? DW: Probably a year or so...all great songs of course... JB: Of course... DW: Just kidding... JB: Your father had brought you in the first time. I remember his attitude was that you had this talent and were doing stuff that was really special. He had no idea what to do with it but he wanted to be sure it got developed in the right direction. I think he knew there was no stopping you. DW: Yeah, that's how it started. JB: You were playing 12-string guitar then. Why did you start with that, it's so much harder. Did you just like the sound of it? DW: Yeah, I couldn't play it any better than I could a six string. JB: But for 15-year-old fingers, it must have been hard for you. DW: I still have indentations in my fingers from that. JB: One of the things that impressed us about you was that you'd come in once a month with about 15 new songs. DW: About 50 songs! I wrote a lot of songs then. JB: Were you writing one a day? DW: Yeah, probably, and sometimes two or three. JB: What motivated you at that time to do that? DW: I wanted to be songwriter even before I was one. I just love music. It's a way of expression for me. It wasn't really easy growing up. I didn't have a hard life or anything like that, but had trouble communicating with people and stayed in my own little world. It was a form of getting something out of me...a form of expression before it became a craft. JB: We started critiquing your songs at that point. DW: And as you recall, I really loved that a lot, right? (kidding) JB: Yeah, let's say you were less than thrilled with critiques. Were we the first ones to critique you? DW: Yeah, I'd play songs that people in my neighborhood would like and then I'd play for you and it's like..."Well, you have to rewrite this...there's no hook here," and I 'd think, "What's a hook?" You thought I had potential, I guess. JB: Actually, we did. We were super impressed with you because we had never met anybody that young who was that prolific and who obviously wanted to do it that bad. It's very unusual. I mean, there are dilettantes born every day who give something a shot for a minute but fold after the first rejection. DW: Oh, I really love this a lot. I have a need to write. I really love it. I have to get it out of me for some reason. JB: But the critiques were a plateau in your development. DW: A lot of fun...they really helped, actually. JB: I think the carrot, too, was the showcase. DW: Yeah, you probably turned me down about twenty times before you let me on there. I'd be so mad when I'd leave, remember? JB: Yeah, you would. And then your dad would say, "Now you listen to these guys..." We had to ask your dad not to be in the same room, 'cause we just wanted to talk to you ourselves and it was kind of inflammatory to you to have him there. DW: Only two people abusing me at one time was enough. JB: I remember the first time you played your songs at the showcase. We waited till you had two songs that were really very good. You didn't have any perspective about the level you had to be at to be competitive. At that time, of course, the showcase was completely made up of live performances. We were auditioning literally hundreds of writers and showcasing about five percent. You were still at the stage where you thought everything you wrote was great. DW: I still think that... just kidding. I was young and didn't know what was going on. I thought everything that I did and expressed was perfect. JB: Well, it was, in a way, because it was a real expression of your feelings and fantasies, but when you're confronted with critics who also judge it from a commercial standpoint, its a whole other thing. DW: And that's great too. It's the next plateau. JB: We showcased you several times after that. DW: Yeah, I'd get up there and forget my songs. I was so nervous I'd forget where my hands should go. JB: What other people did you hang out with after that who were giving you feedback on your songs? DW: Well, Alan O'Day was really helpful. He used to abuse me also. I'd play him my latest so called great song and he'd perceive it differently and tear it up, but it was a good learning experience. He was really helpful to me. JB: You were a learner. DW: I was always a sponge. 1, 2, 3, 4 \| next page >