Kara DioGuardi

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Kara DioGuardi
Kara DioGuardi (right) & Dave Stewart (left)
Kara DioGuardi (right) & Dave Stewart (left)
Background information
Birth name Kara Elizabeth DioGuardi
Born December 9, 1970 (1970-12-09) (age 37)
Origin New England
Genre(s) Pop-rock
Occupation(s) Songwriter, record producer and singer
Website KaraDioGuardi.com

Kara Elizabeth DioGuardi (born December 9, 1970) is an Albanian American songwriter, record producer, and singer who has contributed to a long list of internationally successful popular songs. She writes music that is in a light pop-rock genre.

Contents

[edit] Early life

DioGuardi grew up in Westchester, New York and after completing a political science degree at Duke University, worked in the publishing and marketing departments of Billboard Magazine. Her father Joseph DioGuardi is Albanian.

[edit] Professional songwriter

While her early solo and band efforts did not result in commercial successes, she became a much sought after songwriter, writing or co-writing many international hit songs from 1999 to today (see discography below).

The majority of her songs have been recorded by American females including Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani, Kelly Clarkson, Diana DeGarmo, Avril Lavigne, Anastacia, Ashlee Simpson, Ashley Tisdale, Britney Spears, Hilary Duff, Jessica Simpson, Pussycat Dolls, Rihanna, Katharine McPhee, Pink, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Raven-Symoné and others. In addition, her songs have been recorded by Australian females (Kylie Minogue, Natalie Imbruglia, Delta Goodrem, The Veronicas and others). DioGuardi has also had much success with major Latin music artists including RBD, Laura Pausini, Enrique Iglesias, Marc Anthony, Thalía, Ricky Martin and Carlos Santana. DioGuardi can also be heard performing backup vocals on some of these recordings.

DioGuardi's 2007 releases have included cuts with Celine Dion, Faith Hill, Backstreet Boys, Hannah Montana, Menudo, Theory of a Dead Man, Nicole Scherzinger, Britney Spears, Daniel Powter, Cheetah Girls, Rihanna, Ashlee Simpson, and Frankie J., Notable writing collaborators include Greg Wells, John Shanks, Timbaland, Will.i.am, Scott Storch, Chad Hugo, Puddle of Mudd, Chad Kroeger, Bryan Michael Cox, Jermaine Dupri, Wyclef Jean, Dr. Luke, Swizz Beatz, Ron Fair, Chad Hugo, Danja, Sean Garrett, Brian Howes, Fernando Garibay, Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Polow Da Don, Jeffrey Steele, Craig Wiseman, Troy Verges, David Foster, Mitch Allan, Dave Hodges, Ben Moody, and Marti Frederiksen.

She is currently working with recording artists Shanna Crooks, Tom Jones, Amie Miriello, Esmee Denters, Street Drum Corps, Jordyn Taylor, Pixie, Halestorm, Kate Earl, Tyler Hilton, Cass Dillon, Nikka Costa, Brandy, Kesha, Raemonn, Clique, Jon McLaughlin, Jeremy Lister, Jesse Lee, and J. Davey. She is also collaborating with writer/producers Justin Timberlake,Tricky, JR Rotem, Rodney Jerkins, Syience, Martin & Ash, Matt Scannell of Vertical Horizon, David Hodges, Dan & Leah, John Fields, HitBoy, Chris Tompkins, Craig Wiseman, Swizz Beatz, The Underdogs, Jermaine Dupri, FutureCut, Jason Reeves, Richard Marx, Matt Serletic, Jeff Spence, Madd Scientist, John Fields, Marti Frederiksen, Jess Cates, Ashley Gorley, Luke Laird, Steve McMorran, Steve McEwan, Jeffrey Steele and Diego Gonzalez.

DioGuardi's forthcoming releases include cuts from artists Martina McBride, Montgomery Gentry, Diego, Theory of a Deadman, Puddle of Mudd, Amie Miriello, Vanessa Hudgens, The Pussycat Dolls, Nick Lachey, Daniel Powter, Miley Cyrus, Anastacia and Clique. She also has songs featured in the upcoming Camp Rock movie, The Cheetah Girls 3 and the Hannah Montana movie.

[edit] Awards and nominations

In 2003, DioGuardi won a BMI Cable Award for cowriting and performing, Somethin' To Say, the theme to the now-cancelled Lifetime Television series For the People, which starred Lea Thompson, Debbi Morgan, A. Martinez and Cecilia Suarez. In 2007 she was named BMI's "Pop Songwriter of the Year" as she had accumulated nine BMI awards in the previous four years for having written the "most performed songs on the radio". To date, She has had over 39 abums in the Top 10 on Billboard magazine's 200 album chart. Her songs are on over 100 million records. Also, in 2008, her hit "Aint No Other Man" performed by Christina Aguilera won a BMI Pop award marking Kara's 10th BMI award to date.

DioGuardi was recently nominated for a Latin Grammy in the category of Best Song for her writing on the Belinda single, "Bella Tracion" along with co-writer's Belinda, Mitch Allan, Ben Moody and Nacho Peregrin.

[edit] Platinum Weird

In July 2006, a one-hour VH1 movie for Platinum Weird, a controversial collaboration between DioGuardi and Dave Stewart,[1][2] was aired, accompanied by a three-song EP. The identity of the group was an elaborate hoax. The album was further promoted by a series of bogus World Wide Web fan sites, some of which registered by the New Media Department of Interscope Records and hosted on the same server as interscope.com,[3][4][5] and related false documents for the "lost" group.

[edit] Other activities

Kara co-owns Arthouse Entertainment, a unique and diverse publishing company that seeks to be the top resource company for record companies and other music entities seeking outstanding compositions, productions, artists and related music services. Arthouse has been a part of many chart topping hits including Cassie's "Me & U " written and produced by Ryan Leslie, Jim Jones' "We Fly High" written and produced by Zukhan Bey, Nick Lachey's "What's Left of Me" written and produced by Eman Kiriakou, Mika's "Grace Kelly" produced by Greg Wells, and Faith Hill's "Lost" written and produced by Kara DioGuardi and Mitch Allan.

Kara continues to work with the Phoenix House, which is the nation's largest non-profit substance abuse service organization. They treat some 6,000 men, women and teens each day in more than 100 drug and alcohol treatment programs at close to 60 locations in nine states. Kara contributes to building recording studios in the facilities and helps teach the teens how to operate the equipment to exentuate their creative ability and production outlets. (www.phoenixhouse.org)

In July 2006, she appeared as one of the judges on the ABC/CBC television show The One: Making a Music Star.[6] The show was cancelled after two weeks. Dioguardi described the series as "quite a disaster", citing poor sound in the broadcasts and confusing promotion. Even her own impression before being hired was that "The One" was to be a dance show rather than a music competition.[7]

[edit] Selective discography

[edit] As singer and songwriter

[edit] As songwriter

[edit] As producer/co-producer

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Platinum Weirdo Dave Stewart Is Having Acid Flashbacks. psychoPEDIA Daily News (2006-07-05). Retrieved on 2006-07-10.
  2. ^ Lee, Chris. "Fact or fiction? It can get a bit Weird", Los Angeles Times, 2006-06-05, p. E1. Retrieved on 2006-06-05. 
  3. ^ weirdos.info WHOIS record. Hosted on 216.193.195.52 (iscopelvw.fullerene.com), the same server as interscope.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-06
  4. ^ weirdshit.biz WHOIS record. Hosted on 216.193.195.52 (iscopelvw.fullerene.com), the same server as interscope.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-06
  5. ^ platinumweirdos.com WHOIS record. Hosted on 216.193.195.52 (iscopelvw.fullerene.com) the same server as interscope.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-06
  6. ^ "The One: Making of a Music Star. ABC. Retrieved on 2006-07-18.
  7. ^ Silnicki, Graham. "ABC Cancels 'The One;' Judge Kara DioGuardi Speaks Out", andPOP, 2006-07-28. Retrieved on 2006-07-29. 

[edit] References

[edit] Interviews

[edit] External links