BMG has signed Diane Warren.
The music company will represent Warren for publishing and recording, and will release a collection of the legendary songwriter’s new works, performed and recorded by a starry lineup of guests, Billboard can confirm.
Under the new arrangements, announced this morning, BMG will administer Warren’s entire songwriting publishing catalog (excluding the U.S. and Canada) under her Realsongs umbrella and release the album of new material, at a date yet to be announced.
Several other projects are in the planning phase, a rep tells Billboard.
“I’m thrilled with my new deal at BMG. I love the BMG team. They have hit the ground running,” Warren says in a statement. “There is so much already happening that I know this year is going to be amazing. To say I’ve never felt so much enthusiasm and excitement is an understatement. It’s great to have a team behind me like this. This is just the beginning of a fantastic journey filled with hits.”
Warren is among the elite songwriters of her generation. Over the course of her career, she has bagged nine No. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100, 32 top 10 songs on the chart, and has perfected the art of writing power ballads.
Few critical awards and honors are not already in her possession. Warren’s trophy cabinet includes Grammys, Emmys and Golden Globe Awards, a prestigious Ivor Novello Award, she’s been named ASCAP’s Pop Songwriter of the Year on five occasions and she’s a four-time Billboard songwriter of the year.
In 2001, Warren was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and she earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
On the new deal, Thomas Scherer, BMG executive vp, repertoire & marketing, Los Angeles, described Warren as “one in a million” and “exactly what a global publisher like BMG wants and needs” with a catalog “full of evergreen titles written 100% by herself, a catalog of beautiful and unreleased treasures, to pitch to artists around the world for sync at film, TV, and commercials.”
The forthcoming album release will be “historic,” notes John Loeffler, BMG executive vp, repertoire & marketing, New York. Warren has “never actually placed her own name on the cover of an album before,” he explains. A “Who’s Who” of top-shelf artists will collaborate on and perform her new songs on the album, the “breakthrough record she so richly deserves,” he continues.
Warren is the first female non-performing songwriter to be named a Laureate of the Polar Music Prize in its 29-year history, and will be presented with the honor in 2021.
