Kara DioGuardi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
 This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2009)
Kara DioGuardi

Kara DioGuardi
Background information
Birth name Kara Denise Elizabeth DioGuardi
Born December 9, 1970 (1970-12-09) (age 38)
Scarsdale, New York, U.S.
Origin New Rochelle, New York, U.S.
Genre(s) Pop-rock/R&B/Dance
Occupation(s) Songwriter, record producer, A&R, music publisher, singer, TV Personality, musical arranger
Years active 1999 – present
Associated acts Platinum Weird, MaD DoLL, Ashlee Simpson,Kelly Clarkson, Pink, Celine Dion, Paula Abdul, Kris Allen
Website KaraDioGuardi.com

Kara Denise Elizabeth DioGuardi (pronounced /ˈkɛərə diːoʊˈɡwɑrdi/[1]; born December 9, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, music publisher, A&R executive and TV personality. She writes music primarily in the light pop-rock, dance and R&B genres. DioGuardi has worked with Britney Spears, Celine Dion, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Demi Lovato, and Paula Abdul, among many others. She is also a judge on American Idol, having joined the show in its eighth season and is now working with its winner, Kris Allen. DioGuardi currently serves as Vice President of A&R for Warner Bros. Records where she was appointed to in 2008. She is a cousin of the veteran TV personality Regis Philbin.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] Early life

DioGuardi was born in Ossining, New York.[2] She is of Albanian (Arbëresh) [3][4][5] and Italian[6] descent. She is the daughter of Carol Asselta[7] and former Republican Congressman Joseph J. DioGuardi.[2] Her mother died in 1997 after a 7-year battle with ovarian cancer.[8]

Kara grew up in the Wilmot Woods section of suburban New Rochelle, New York[9] and attended kindergarten at the Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Scarsdale, New York, followed by The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, New York, before earning a degree in political science at Duke University.[2] After graduating from college, she worked for Billboard magazine selling advertising.[2]

[edit] Career

[edit] Professional songwriter

 This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this section if you can. (May 2009)

While her early solo and band efforts did not result in commercial success, she became a highly sought-after songwriter, writing or co-writing many international hit songs from 1999 to today.[citation needed] To date, she has had songs on 56 albums in the Top 10 on Billboard magazine's 200 album chart. Her songs on various hit albums have collectively sold over 100 million copies.[10] DioGuardi can be heard performing backup vocals on some of these recordings.[11]

In 2007 DioGuardi worked with many notable artists, one of which was Britney Spears. DioGuardi wrote 2 songs on Spears' album Blackout. The songs were Oh Oh Baby and Heaven on Earth which Spears said herself, were her favourite songs on the album.

Among DioGuardi's notable recent projects is the song "Not Meant To Be," which appears on Theory of a Deadman's 2008 album, Scars & Souvenirs.[citation needed] DioGuardi 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. This was her debut in the music video industry.[12]

In 2009, she co-wrote a song called Temporary with Nick Lachey and producer Mitch Allan for Lachey's upcoming CD, Coming Up for Air; the two recorded it as a duet.[13]

[edit] Music publishing

DioGuardi co-owns Arthouse Entertainment, a publishing company that 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 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", David Archuleta's single "Crush" (written and produced by Eman Kiriakou), Mika's "Grace Kelly" and also OneRepublic's "Apologize" and "Stop and Stare" (all produced by Greg Wells), Faith Hill's "Lost" (written and produced by Kara DioGuardi and Mitch Allan), Sober by P!nk, "Pieces of Me" by Ashlee Simpson, and Boom Boom Pow by the Black Eyed Peas.

[edit] Reality television

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.[14]

She joined the hit Fox television show American Idol as a fourth Judge for the show's eighth season (January 13, 2009).[15] In an interview, Simon Cowell stated that all 4 judges are coming back next season.[16] She has had Idol connections in the past: in 2000, DioGuardi and fellow Idol judge Paula Abdul co-wrote the UK number-one single "Spinning Around", performed by Kylie Minogue. She has written many songs sung by Idol winners and alumni such as Kelly Clarkson, David Archuleta, David Cook, Carrie Underwood, Diana DeGarmo, and Katharine McPhee. She co-wrote the American Idol season 8 single, No Boundaries, which was performed by both finalists during the competition. The song "No Boundaries" has since been dropped by the American Idol Tour due to its unpopularity. The 2009 winner Kris Allen was asked to replace the song just a few shows into the tour due to the fan's lack of interest in this widely unpopular song.[17]

[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" for 2006, as she had accumulated ten BMI awards in the previous four years for having written the "most performed songs on the radio."

In 2007, DioGuardi was nominated for a Latin Grammy in the category of Best Song for her writing on the Belinda single, "Bella Traición" along with co-writers Belinda, Ben Moody, Nacho Peregrin and producer Mitch Allan. In November 2007, Kara was awarded the TAXI A&R award for Humanitarian of the Year at their annual Road Rally Convention.[18]

[edit] Songwriting and production discography

Main article: Kara DioGuardi songwriting and production discography

[edit] Discography as vocalist

With MaD DoLL:

  • Mad Doll [19] (1999)

With Platinum Weird:

[edit] Personal life

She is married to teacher turned general contractor Mike McCuddy; they wed on July 5, 2009 in Maine. [20] The two met while he was working on a home adjacent to her property in Maine. [21]

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.[22]

She appeared in the American Idol Season Finale in a bikini to sing against the young woman known as "Bikini Girl".

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ See inogolo:pronunciation of Kara DioGuardi.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ Official DioGuardi family website
  4. ^ Youtube video
  5. ^ Kara DioGuardi: Biography
  6. ^ "Kara DioGuardi Honored by Columbus Citizens Foundation". YouTube. 31 July 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jrDkst4nSM. 
  7. ^ Nagourney, Adam (1 May 2000). "Giuliani Gets a New Rival on the Right". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980DE7DE1239F932A35756C0A9669C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all. 
  8. ^ Caramanica, Jon. "Idols, You’ll Have to Pass Through Her", The New York Times, January 9, 2009. Accessed February 11, 2009.
  9. ^ Carlson, Erin (29 August 2008). "Table for four: New Rochelle's Kara DioGuardi joins 'Idol' judges". Associated Press / lohud.com. http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080829/ENTERTAINMENT/808290303/1164/RSS07. 
  10. ^ "Kara DioGuardi Announced As Fourth Judge". americanidol.com. August 25 2008. http://www.americanidol.com/news/view/?pid=1393. 
  11. ^ "Kara DioGuardi Credits". AllMusic Guide. http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=KARA. 
  12. ^ "Behind the Scenes of "Not Meant to Be"". YouTube. 28 March 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSs5j11z1qM. 
  13. ^ Nick Lachey Records Duet With American Idol Judge US Magazine, February 7, 2009
  14. ^ 'One' Miserable Showing: 'Idol' Knockoff Sets a Record, John Maynard, The Washington Post, July 26, 2006
  15. ^ "`AmericanIdol' adds DioGuardi as fourth judge". Associated Press. 29 August 2008. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iwXD4BoO2HF6nbttn2FU7Cw_ZtowD92PCML81. 
  16. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWfrZsJLWLc
  17. ^ http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/americanidoltracker/2009/07/kris-allens-new-song-is-revealed.html
  18. ^ 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. http://www.taxi.com/transmitter/0802/headlineA0802.html. 
  19. ^ http://www.daz.com/releases/Mad%20Doll/mad%20doll.html
  20. ^ Idol Judge Kara DioGuardia Engaged! People.com, January 13, 2009
  21. ^ Idol Banter, Colin Sargent, Portland Magazine, May, 2009
  22. ^ 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. http://www.taxi.com/transmitter/0802/headlineA0802.html. 

[edit] References

[edit] External links

v • d • e
American Idol
Seasons
1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9
Hosts
Judges
Randy Jackson · Kara DioGuardi · Paula Abdul · Simon Cowell
Winners
Winners' singles
Runners-up
Other alumni
Spin-offs
Other
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_DioGuardi"
Personal tools