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	Diane Warren
	Interviews with Successful Songwriters DIANE WARREN THOM BELL			< last page \| 1, 2, 3, 4 \| next page > JB: Yeah, as vehemently as you would oppose those criticisms, you would come back with better songs. DW: Oh, yeah, I'll learn from anything. There's always another level to get to. You can learn a lot from listening to people, although at the time I was mad about it. But then, the next day, I'd scratch my head and wonder if there wasn't something there in the criticisms. JB: I think the fact that you were writing so much allowed you to put into practice all the things that you learned right away. DW: I got all my bad songs out of my system, so I'll never write another bad song again, right? Wrong... JB: So Alan helped you... DW: Yeah, Alan, and other writers and I'd listen to the radio and study what was out there and why it was successful. JB: How did you go about doing that? DW: I'd just listen a lot and study other writers. I'd buy albums of all the songwriters I liked. I meet people now and tell them everything they've ever written and freak them out. I'd buy these albums in bargain bins for 25 cents. I tried to really be a sponge and learn whatever I could from everybody. I was a big Jimmy Webb fan. I listened to everything he ever did. I went through writing everything that sounded like him for a while. I listened to the Beatles and other people I respected. JB: I think that's probably the fundamental way that most people who get to be really good do it. First they emulate people they admire. DW: Then you have to get to the next step and create your own thing from that, but there's so much to learn from with great people. JB: When did you start collaborating? DW: I don't know...sometime after that, I guess. I was writing by myself and I still write by myself now. It's something that I enjoy doing the most. Those tend to be my favorite songs. I was lucky enough to write "Rhythm of The Night" on my own. I guess I started collaborating in my twenties. I haven't written with that many people. JB: Who have your collaborators been? DW: Albert Hammond, who wrote the Starship single with me. We have a really good writing relationship. We tend to write very good songs together, I think. Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager and I wrote "Heartbreak Of Love" this year for the new Dionne Warwick album, which I'm really excited about. I was just sent off to Boston and wrote with Aerosmith. That was kind of a fun experience. I wrote something with Bryan Adams last year. Desmond Child and I did some things. JB: Tell me about you and Albert Hammond. Didn't you write another chart song with him before "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now?" DW: Yeah, the lower end of the chart. "Lonely is the Night" with Air Supply. I guess radio didn't seem to want to play Air Supply at the time or they didn't like the song or the record...in other words...it didn't happen. JB: How are you lining up co-writing situations? DW: They're lining up for me a little bit, actually. All of them are different. People call me. I'm trying to think of others. Robbie Buchanan, Robbie Nevil and I wrote something ...I know I'm leaving people out. JB: You write both lyrics and music, so how do your collaborations go? DW: I usually write with someone who does both, too. JB: Why? DW: I like that. I like two people being strong in both things. You get a stronger song. I never like to write just lyrics. I usually don't like to just write music, 'cause I get ideas for both. Writing with Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager, I worked with both of them on both. Carole and I worked on lyrics and Burt and I worked on the music. JB: Tell how you came about writing "Rhythm of the Night." DW: There was a movie that Motown produced called "Last Dragon" and they needed a song for Debarge. Linda Blum, who I'd worked with when she was at Arista Publishing, told me about it and I wrote "Rhythm of the Night." It was handed in to them and they loved it. JB: Was that something that you started with a rhythm machine? DW: Drum machine, synthesizers...I think I'd just gotten into something then...I was writing a lot of ballads at the time and that was one of the first up-tempo songs that I'd written. I seemed to stick with a lot of mid tempo and ballads. JB: On an up-tempo song, do you start with a groove? DW: It depends. It starts different ways. It's good to get a drum pattern, and play along with it, getting a feel going. You wouldn't do that for a ballad. JB: Has that been an inspiration? The drum machines and synthesizers...do they get you going? DW: Sometimes, yeah, sound can inspire you. They're just tools to work with. I know just enough about them to keep them from getting in the way. JB: Did you have any formal musical training? You were teaching yourself guitar at first. I think we suggested you go to a teacher and learn a few more chords. DW: I did. I went to theory classes, too. But I'd usually be ditching them and writing songs, so I missed a lot of stuff I should've learned. Then again, I learned some stuff, some basic stuff about different keys and things I can utilize now. I get mad at myself for not staying in class. It's a combination of being semi-stupid and semi-learned. JB: Do you mostly write on keyboards? DW: Yeah, I don't even remember how to play guitar anymore. I was the worst guitar player in the world. JB: So did you teach yourself to play keyboards? DW: I did. I taught myself how to play bad piano, which I've developed into an art. Some of the theory stuff I can utilize now. JB: And how did "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" happen? DW: This was another movie situation. JB: That was "Mannequin?" DW: Yeah, the song was needed for the end and we wrote it. JB: Did you see the movie first? DW: We looked at the script. JB: You just took it from the mood of the script? DW: Yeah, it was kind of fun to write one of these "United We Stand" type songs. JB: An anthem. DW: Yeah, I love anthems. Those are my favorite kind of songs to write. JB: Who have been the people who've been the most important in the development of your career? DW: Recently, I give a lot of thanks to Teri Muench of RCA who's responsible for getting the Starship to record "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" and who's been really helpful to me in a lot of ways. She's a great a&r person, and I also enjoy working with Don Grierson at Epic. As far as publishers are concerned, Linda Blum, who got me my first real break I guess, with getting "Rhythm of the Night" cut. There's a lot of them. A lot of people have been helpful along the way. < last page \| 1, 2, 3, 4 \| next page >