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Kara DioGuardi

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Kara DioGuardi
DioGuardi in 2007
DioGuardi in 2007
Background information
Birth nameKara Elizabeth DioGuardi
Born (1970-12-09) December 9, 1970 (age 53)
Ossining, New York, U.S.[1]
Genres
Occupations
  • Record executive
  • songwriter
  • record producer
  • music publisher
  • singer
  • television personality
Years active1990–present
Labels
Member ofPlatinum Weird
Spouse
Mike McCuddy
​
(m. 2009)​
Websitekaradioguardi.com

Kara Elizabeth DioGuardi (/ˈkærə diːoʊˈɡwɑːrdi/; born December 9, 1970) is an American songwriter, record producer, music publisher, A&R executive, and singer. She primarily writes music in the pop rock genre.[2] She has worked with many popular artists;[3] sales of albums on which her songs appear exceed 160 million worldwide.[4] DioGuardi is a 2011 NAMM Music for Life Award winner, 2009 NMPA Songwriter Icon Award winner, 2007 BMI Pop Songwriter of the Year, and has received 20 BMI Awards for co-writing songs.

DioGuardi was a judge on American Idol for its eighth and ninth seasons. In 2008, she was appointed to the position of executive vice president of talent development at Warner Bros. Records; she has signed acts such as Jason Derulo and Iyaz. In 2011, she was a head judge on the Bravo singer-songwriter competition series Platinum Hit.

Early life

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DioGuardi was born in Ossining, New York.[1] Her father is former Republican Congressman and 2010 US Senate candidate Joe DioGuardi; her grandfather was Albanian.[1][5][6] Her mother Carol died in 1997 after a seven-year battle with ovarian cancer.[7]

DioGuardi grew up in the Wilmot Woods section of suburban New Rochelle, New York[8] and attended elementary school at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic School in Scarsdale, New York. She graduated from The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, New York and earned a degree in political science at Duke University.[1] After graduating from college, she worked for Billboard magazine as an assistant to Timothy White and Howard Lander; later she was an advertising sales representative there.

Career

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DioGuardi in 2010

Professional songwriting

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DioGuardi has a songwriting catalog of several hundred songs; over 300 have been released on major labels worldwide and over 150 have appeared on platinum selling albums. She has had 50 international charting singles over the course of her career, and her songs have helped propel more than 66 albums into the Top Ten of the Billboard 200. Her songs have been featured in major motion pictures, television shows, film soundtracks, and radio spots, as well as in national and international commercial campaigns.

She wrote with Ashlee Simpson for Simpson's first and second albums, in 2003 and 2004. She collaborated with Thalía in 2003 for her self-titled album Thalía. In 2004, DioGuardi co-wrote one-sixth of the tracks off Kelly Clarkson's sophomore album Breakaway including Clarkson's hit "Walk Away". DioGuardi then worked with Australian singer, Ricki-Lee Coulter on her 2005 single, Sunshine from her debut studio album, Ricki-Lee, which was released in October of the same year.

She also worked with Christina Aguilera on her album Back to Basics in 2006, co-writing twelve of the thirteen tracks on disc one of the album, among them being "Ain't No Other Man" and "Back in the Day". In the same year, she collaborated with Jesse McCartney on his album Right Where You Want Me, co-writing four songs called "Anybody", "Invincible", "Running Away", and "Feels Like Sunday".

In 2007, DioGuardi worked with many notable artists, one of whom was Britney Spears. DioGuardi wrote and produced "Ooh Ooh Baby" and co-produced "Heaven on Earth" on Spears' album Blackout. DioGuardi also contributed a majority of the songs on Hilary Duff's fourth studio album, Dignity. Since American Idol Season 8, DioGuardi returned to songwriting and producing, and has worked with number of artists, including Pink's "Sober," Kelly Clarkson's "I Do Not Hook Up," Cobra Starship's "Good Girls Go Bad," Katharine McPhee's "Had It All", Carrie Underwood's "Undo It", and Theory of a Deadman's "Not Meant to Be" among other releases.

Among DioGuardi's projects is the song "Not Meant to Be", which appears on Theory of a Deadman's 2008 album, Scars & Souvenirs.[9] She co-wrote the song with lead singer Tyler Connolly, and is also featured as the love interest in the music video which was released on March 10, 2009. The song was her debut in the music video industry.[10]

In 2007, Dioguardi and Eurythmics member Dave Stewart wrote "Taking Chances" for Celine Dion. It was released as the first single from the album Taking Chances in September 2007. The song was a success around the world reaching the top ten in Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy and Switzerland. It also peaked at number 40 on the UK Singles Chart, while reaching number 54 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[11]

In 2009, DioGuardi wrote "If I Can't Have You" for Meat Loaf's 2010 album, Hang Cool Teddy Bear and recorded the vocal as a duet with him. She is also one of the writers for "Ghost", which was released as a single from Fefe Dobson's album Joy (2010). She wrote songs for Aussie singer Natalie Imbruglia's third studio album Counting Down the Days. After taking a break from writing DioGuardi was one of the songwriters of Kelly Clarkson's "Heartbeat Song" which was the first single from Clarkson's seventh studio album Piece by Piece (2015). DioGuardi wrote "Rebel Hearts" for Hilary Duff's Breathe In Breathe Out album in 2015.

Songs for film and television

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DioGuardi has also written for films and television series. She wrote "Halo" for One Tree Hill, "Brand New Day" for Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam, "We Rock" and "Play My Music" for Camp Rock, "He Could Be the One" for Hannah Montana, "Set This Party Off" for Jonas, and "Someone Watching over Me" for Raise Your Voice. She has written songs which have been used as themes including "Taking Chances" on Glee, "Come Clean" on Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County, "Autobiography" on The Ashlee Simpson Show, and "Ain't No Other Man" on Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.

Music publishing

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DioGuardi co-owns Arthouse Entertainment, a publishing company which is a resource business for record companies and other music entities seeking compositions, productions, artists, and related music services. Arthouse has been a part of many chart-topping hits including B.O.B's "Nothin' On You"; Bruno Mars' "Just The Way You Are" and "Grenade"; Cee-Lo Green's "Forget You", Flo Rida's "Club Can't Handle Me", Demi Lovato's "Heart Attack"; Jason DeRulo's "Want to Want Me" and "Trumpets"; Eminem's "Monster", Zedd's "Beautiful Now", Jon Bellion's "All Time Low", Maroon 5's "Memories", Illenium's "Good Things Fall Apart", Halsey's "Graveyard", Florida Georgia Line's "Simple", and Ingrid Andress' "More Hearts Than Mine."

Reality television

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In July 2006, DioGuardi was a judge in an Idol-like TV show called The One: Making a Music Star. The show debuted on ABC with the second-lowest rating ever for a premiere on a major American network and was abruptly canceled after just two weeks.[12]

In 2009, she joined the hit Fox television show American Idol as a fourth judge for the show's eighth season alongside judges Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, and Paula Abdul.[13] DioGuardi returned to Idol for its ninth season alongside Cowell, Jackson, and new judge Ellen DeGeneres who replaced Paula Abdul after she quit the show in contract disagreements.[14] However, DioGuardi decided to leave the show on September 3, 2010 and did not return for the tenth season of Idol.[15] It has since been said that DioGuardi helped Steven Tyler become a judge on American Idol, after they worked together at DioGuardi's house in Los Angeles. She has had Idol connections in the past: in 2000, DioGuardi and former Idol judge Paula Abdul co-wrote the UK number-one single "Spinning Around", performed by Kylie Minogue. DioGuardi has written many songs sung by Idol winners and alumni such as Kelly Clarkson, Allison Iraheta, David Archuleta, Carrie Underwood, Diana DeGarmo, Katharine McPhee, Kris Allen, Danny Gokey, and Adam Lambert. DioGuardi co-wrote the American Idol season eight coronation single, "No Boundaries", which was performed by both finalists during the competition. DioGuardi struggled to find her place among the judges. In Richard Rushfield's book, "American Idol: The Untold Story," he reveals that often the other judges would leave the studio during commercial breaks, leaving DioGuardi behind to awkwardly sit by herself.[16]

DioGuardi also co-wrote with Jason Reeves a song called "Terrified" for Katharine McPhee's album Unbroken,[17] which was covered by Didi Benami, an American Idol contestant from Season 9, during Hollywood week. DioGuardi recorded a video of herself singing "Terrified" with Jason Reeves on YouTube, which has over 1,800,000 views. She appeared on Hannah Montana as herself in the episode "Judge Me Tender".

After leaving American Idol, she was a head judge on the Bravo singer-songwriter competition series Platinum Hit.[18]

Other projects

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DioGuardi guest starred as herself on The Simpsons and Sesame Street. From September 5 – October 30, 2011, she made her Broadway debut as Roxie Hart in Chicago.[19][20] She released an autobiography after her departure from American Idol named A Helluva High Note; Surviving Life, Love and American Idol.

Since 2012, she has taught a semester course called "Hitmaking with Kara DioGuardi" at Berklee College of Music in Boston. The course was developed specifically for the fall 2012 curriculum; it has paired 27 student songwriters and producers to mirror today's music industry practices.[21] One of her students was Charlie Puth.

In late 2017, DioGuardi helped launch the first effort in Maine of a national program working to prevent child sexual abuse, the Enough Abuse Campaign (EAC).[22][23]

Awards and nominations

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In 2003, DioGuardi won a BMI Cable Award for co-writing and performing "Somethin' To Say", the theme to the Lifetime Television series For the People, which starred Lea Thompson, Debbi Morgan, A. Martinez, and Cecilia Suárez. DioGuardi has been awarded 15 BMI Awards for having co-written the most performed songs on the radio. One of the industry's most highly sought after songwriters and producers, her songs have appeared on records which have sold more than 150 million copies combined. In 2007, she was nominated for a Latin Grammy in the category of Song of the Year for writing the Belinda single, "Bella Traición" along with co-writers Belinda, Ben Moody, Nacho Peregrin and producer Mitch Allan. In November 2007, DioGuardi was awarded the TAXI A&R award for Humanitarian of the Year at the annual Road Rally Convention.[24]

Discography

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Main article: Kara DioGuardi discography
Further information: Category:Songs written by Kara DioGuardi

As a vocalist

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With MaD DoLL:

With Platinum Weird:

As a featured artist:

Music videos

  • "Not Meant to Be" – Theory of a Deadman (2009)

Personal life

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DioGuardi splits her time between Los Angeles and York Harbor, Maine.[26] She began dating teacher-turned-general contractor Mike McCuddy in 2007[27] after the two met while he was working on a home adjacent to her property in Maine.[28] After a year and a half of dating, DioGuardi and McCuddy got engaged in December 2008[29] and married on July 5, 2009, in Prospect Harbor, Maine.[30] McCuddy has a teenage daughter from a previous relationship.[31] Together, DioGuardi and McCuddy have one son, born via gestational carrier on January 31, 2013.[32] The couple made the decision to use a surrogate after years of infertility and unsuccessful in vitro fertilization attempts.[33]

DioGuardi works with the Phoenix House, a non-profit substance abuse service organization; she contributes to recording studios in the facilities and helps teach the teens how to operate the equipment.[24] In February 2010, she joined former American Idol contestant Elliott Yamin in a charity trip sponsored by ExxonMobil to Angola where they visited malaria prevention and treatment projects as part of Idol Gives Back.

In May 2010, she posed nude for the annual "Naked Truth" issue of Allure magazine.[34]

Filmography

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Television

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Year Title Role Notes
2006 Rock Legends: Platinum Weird Herself Television film
2006 The One: Making a Music Star Herself
2009–2010 American Idol Herself / Judge
2009 Hannah Montana Herself Episode: "Judge Me Tender"
2010 The Simpsons Herself (voice) Episode: "Judge Me Tender"
2011 Platinum Hit Herself

Awards

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Latin Grammy Awards

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Year Title of Work Category Result
2007 "Bella Traición" Song of the Year Nominated

Published works

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  • DioGuardi, Kara (2011). A Helluva High Note: Surviving Life, Love, and American Idol. It Books. ISBN 978-0-06-205989-5.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Kinon, Christina. "'American Idol' judge Kara DioGuardi stole show – at 12", Daily News (New York), August 27, 2008. Accessed February 11, 2009.
  2. ^ a b "Kara DioGuardi All Music". All Music.com. Retrieved July 31, 2009.
  3. ^ "Kara DioGuardi – Related Artists". Archived from the original on July 26, 2011. Retrieved December 29, 2009.
  4. ^ HarperCollins Author Bio Archived February 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "The DioGuardi Family Story". Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  6. ^ "Kara DioGuardi". TV.com. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on May 5, 2009. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  7. ^ Caramanica, Jon. "Idols, You'll Have to Pass Through Her", The New York Times, January 9, 2009. Accessed February 11, 2009.
  8. ^ Carlson, Erin (August 29, 2008). "Table for four: New Rochelle's Kara DioGuardi joins 'Idol' judges". Associated Press / lohud.com.
  9. ^ "Theory Of A Deadman Video Stars kara DioGuardi". Road Runner Records. February 2, 2009.
  10. ^ "Behind the Scenes of "Not Meant to Be"". YouTube. March 28, 2009. Archived from the original on December 12, 2021.
  11. ^ "Taking Chances by Céline Dion - Track Info". AllMusic.
  12. ^ Maynard, John (July 26, 2006). "'One' Miserable Showing: 'Idol' Knockoff Sets a Record". The Washington Post.
  13. ^ "'AmericanIdol' adds DioGuardi as fourth judge". Associated Press. August 29, 2008. Archived from the original on August 28, 2008.
  14. ^ "Kara DioGuardi Returning to American Idol". People. July 30, 2009. Archived from the original on August 4, 2009.
  15. ^ "Kara DioGuardi not returning to 'American Idol': It's (finally) official". Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  16. ^ "Reading the new 'American Idol: The Untold Story' | American Idol". Archived from the original on January 25, 2011. Retrieved June 27, 2011.
  17. ^ "Kara DioGuardi". Archived from the original on March 1, 2010. Retrieved February 10, 2010.
  18. ^ "Ex-Idol Judge Gets New TV Show, Toronto Star". The Star. October 26, 2010.
  19. ^ BWW News Desk. "Kara DioGuardi to Make Broadway Debut as 'Roxie' in CHICAGO in Sept". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  20. ^ "Former "American Idol" Judge Kara DioGuardi Will Make Broadway Debut in Chicago". Playbill. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  21. ^ Michele Amabile Angermiller (November 8, 2012). "Former 'American Idol' Judge Kara DioGuardi Teaching College Course". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  22. ^ McDermott, Deborah. "Christmas Angels: 'Inspiring others' to stop child sexual abuse". seacoastonline.com. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  23. ^ "Former 'American Idol' judge partners with Maine doctor, cop to fight child sex abuse". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
  24. ^ a b Laskow, Michael (February 2008). "A&R Insuder: Kara DioGuardi, Keynote Interview, Part 2, Live on Stage at TAXI's Road Rally 2007". TAXI Transmitter / taxi.com.
  25. ^ Sarah Liss (January 14, 2009). "Idol hands – Why would a hit songwriter join the peanut gallery on American Idol?". CBC News. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
  26. ^ Jon Caramanica (January 9, 2009). "Idols, You'll Have to Pass Through Her". New York Times. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
  27. ^ Eunice Oh (2009). "Idol Judge Kara DioGuardi Got Engaged in Her Pajamas". People. Retrieved January 17, 2013.
  28. ^ Colin Sargent (2009). "Idol Banter". Portland Magazine. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
  29. ^ Eunice Oh (2009). "Idol Judge Kara DioGuardi Got Engaged in Her Pajamas". People. Retrieved January 7, 2013.
  30. ^ Cynthia Wang (2009). "American Idol Judge Kara DioGuardi Weds in Maine". People. Retrieved August 5, 2010.
  31. ^ Idol Judge Kara DioGuardi Engaged! People.com, January 13, 2009
  32. ^ "Kara DioGuardi Welcomes Son Greyson James". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved September 7, 2020.
  33. ^ Marisa Laudadio (January 16, 2013). "Baby Boy on the Way for Kara DioGuardi". People. Retrieved January 17, 2013.
  34. ^ The Naked Truth: 5 celebrities bare it all for Allure Allure. Archived on April 15, 2010.

Sources

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