In addition, she's notable for maintaining control over her own creations: since 1986, her songs have been published and promoted by her own RealSongs company. Blige.Īlthough Warren has had a few uptempo hits, she specialises in romantic ballads, and her songs have also appeared in more than 100 movies, among them Ghostbusters, Space Jam, Prince Of Egypt, Up Close And Personal, The Preacher's Wife, Armageddon and White Men Can't Jump. To date, Warren has had more than 100 songs in the US charts, performed by artists such as Aerosmith, Elton John, Tina Turner, Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Roy Orbison, Eric Clapton, Lenny Kravitz, Pet Shop Boys, Joss Stone, Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias, Jessica Simpson and Mary J. Following this, her rise to the absolute top was fast, and she's managed to remain there without any sign of let–up. Two years later, Debarge's 'Rhythm Of The Night' became the first Diane Warren song to climb high up the charts. It took until 1983, when she was hired as a staff writer by Laura Branigan's producer Jack White, for her efforts to get some recognition. From her 15th birthday onwards she tried, with her father's help, to gain a foothold in the Los Angeles music machine, to be met for more than a decade with rejection after rejection.
Her against–many–odds version of the American Dream began when the teenage Warren, after being given a guitar by her father, obsessively spent hours every day honing her craft in the garden shed. Photo: Mr BonzaiBorn in Los Angeles in 1956, to an insurance salesman father who supported his daughter's musical aspirations and a mother who opposed them, Diane Warren went on to become arguably the most successful American songwriter of the last 20 years. and no time wasted cleaning her writing room! But after the 2005 release of “Stone Hits: The Very Best of Angie Stone,” the singer says she and J executives mutually agreed to part company.From humble beginnings, Diane Warren has gone on to write hundreds of hit songs. The tracks Stone recalled those on her emotionally charged breakthrough in 1999, “Black Diamond.” That Arista set spawned the top 10 R&B hit “No More Rain (In This Cloud).” The former lead vocalist for Vertical Hold segued to J Records for two subsequent albums, “Mahogany Soul” (2001) and “Stone Love” (2004).
“This song is a true testament to who I am and where I am.” “When you get close to losing your life, you see it flash before you,” Stone says of her bout last year with congestive heart failure. She revisits her “Patrice Rushen days” on the funky “Play With It.” But the most eloquent track that drives home Stone’s renewed spirit is the timeless ballad “Happy Being Me.” She sang, danced and supplied her own brand of color commentary as producer/musician Jon Nettlesbey keyed up each song.įor instance, when she sat down to write the ballad “Sometimes,” her inspiration was the film soundtrack to the 1974 urban drama “Claudine.” She referred to another track, the uptempo “These Are the Reasons,” as her “drama queen comeback.” She duets with Chyno - the Charlotte, N.C., singer/songwriter who appeared on UPN’s “The Player” - on the torchy “Half a Chance.” Stone says with a laugh, “Men don’t beg no more, but I’ve got him begging on here.”
From the main studio downstairs, which, like its upstairs counterpart, houses some of Gaye’s original recording equipment.Īgainst that backdrop, a relaxed Stone previewed several songs from her new album, “The Art of Love and War,” due this summer. From a hidden hallway door as you traipse upstairs to Gaye’s personal sanctuary: a bedroom, bath and a smaller recording studio. From the walls, adorned with original portraits and photos of the artist, including one with his “I Want You” collaborator Leon Ware, also newly signed to Stax. Imposing, however, melts away to mellow once you step across the threshold. The late artist’s studio - incubator for the classic 1976 album “I Want You” - sits behind an imposing black gate on Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard. LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - It’s apropos that soulful songstress Angie Stone is recording her debut for Concord Music Group’s reactivated Stax Records imprint at the stomping grounds of another soul soldier: Marvin Gaye.
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