“When the Beatles burst on the scene, that is what did it,” Warren tells EW.
“I’m pinching myself,” she says.
“It doesn’t get better than that.”
Cher and Diane Warren.Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Once Warren’s love of music was ignited, there was no turning back.
By the age of 10 she’d start writing songs, and she hasn’t stopped since.
“Really there was no middle ground because I’m utterly useless at literally everything else.
Diane Warren.Josh Komitzky & Malachi Barnes
There’s not anything else I could do,” she says.
No one and nothing."
She’s been nominated for 12 Academy Awards and inducted into the Songwriter Hall of Fame.
And now, she’s about to release her debut album,Diane Warren: The Cave Sessions Vol.
1, featuring artists like Celine Dion, John Legend, Maren Morris, and others singing her songs.
“I kept seeing these feature records.
And I go, ‘Why can’t I do that, as a songwriter?'”
I came up with that chorus on Saturday, “You were my strength when I was weak.”
So it was a song about her, to him.
But then I thought of my dad because my dad always believed in me.
And so I tapped into that when I was writing that song.
And then Celine did it and it became her biggest hit at that time.
Usually I just go and don’t expect anything.
But that year I really did think I was going to win.
I took Clive Davis as my date and then I remember being really bummed out after.
And we went to Jerry’s Deli and I ate two orders of French fries.
“Un-Break My Heart” Toni Braxton
That started with the title.
I remember just sitting at the piano and starting that chorus.
I went and played it for Clive Davis.
You have to demo that right now."
She didn’t really want to do that song.
She didn’t really like it.
But then she did and she won the Grammy.
She probably likes it now.
It turned into one she has to sing the rest of her life, so I hope she does.
But it’s beautiful.
Her performance was amazing on it and it’s just a classic.
I guess Jerry wanted some changes and her dad didn’t want to change anything.
And they wouldn’t do it.
So Jerry goes, “Is it okay if Trisha Yearwood does it for the movie?”
And I go, “Yeah, if I don’t have to pull it from LeAnn.”
And everybody was mad at me until it came out and it became a hit for both artists.
But that’s why there’s two versions.
Everybody was mad at me and then everybody loved me.
[Laughs]
“If I Could Turn Back Time” Cher
She hated it.
She goes, “I hate it.
I hate this song.
I’m not doing it.”
I’m like, “You have to try it.”
She goes, “I’m not going to try it.
I hate it.”
And I go, “Look, I’ll pay for it.
I’ll pay for it.
If you don’t like it, you have nothing to lose.”
She goes, “Okay.”
Then he didn’t, and I gave it to another artist.
And then he said, “No, I want it back.”
And I thought, “You know what, I’m going to get this song heard.
The song is going to be on my record.”
This album all started with John Legend and “Where Is Your Heart.”
