The Hollywood Music in Media Awards will present acclaimed songwriter Diane Warren with the HMMA Career Achievement award on Thursday, November 16th at Avalon – Hollywood. The HMMA honors, composers, songwriters and music supervisors in all forms of visual media including film, TV, and videogames.
“Diane Warren is one of the greatest and most prolific songwriters of all time and we are thrilled to honor her,” explained HMMA executive producer Brent Harvey. “Her music has captured the hearts of several generations and continues to do so.”
Warren has written for iconic artists including Aerosmith, Adele, Beyoncé, Cher, Elton John, Whitney Houston, Faith Hill, Aretha Franklin, Willie Nelson, Mary J. Blige, Barbra Streisand, Jennifer Hudson, Eric Clapton, Celine Dion, LeAnn Rimes, and Mariah Carey. Warren’s collaborations continue with many of today’s top artists, including Snoop Dogg, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Justin Bieber, Jason Derulo and Demi Lovato.
Warren broke onto the scene with 1983’s “Solitaire.” Her timeless ballads such as “Unbreak My Heart” (Toni Braxton), “Because You Loved Me” (Celine Dion), “How Do I Live” (Trisha Yearwood, LeAnn Rimes), and “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” (Aerosmith) have earned her Grammy, Golden Globe awards and countless other award nominations. Warren’s work has been featured in more than a hundred motion pictures resulting in eight Academy Award nominations. Warren has six ASCAP Songwriter of the Year Awards, three consecutive Billboard Music Awards for Songwriter of the Year and she was inducted into the prestigious Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001.
Warren’s haunting and evocative “Til It Happens To You” (performed by Lady Gaga) is the first song in history to be nominated for an Academy Award, Grammy and Emmy, winning the Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics. It was also nominated for a Critics’ Choice Award for Best Song and won the 2015 Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Song – Documentary. This year, Cher performed Warren’s “Prayers for this World” for the documentary, Cries From Syria. Warren also co-wrote with Common the song, “Stand Up for Something” performed by Andra Day for the feature film Marshall.
Warren has written inspiring anthems whose sales benefit charities that support young women’s education globally, including former First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let Girls Learn” initiative. Michelle Obama and Missy Elliott performed Warren’s “This Is For My Girls” on the popular “Carpool Karaoke” segment on The Late Late Show with James Corden, which garnered over 52 million views.
The Hollywood Music in Media Awards’ Career Achievement Award recognizes an individual who has made a significant impact in music or the music community. Past honorees include Smokey Robinson, Glen Campbell, Dave Mason, Christopher Young and John Debney.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More