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Knight was already planning to leave Spider, when Dreamland president, songwriter and [[record producer]] [[Mike Chapman]] urged her to move to [[Los Angeles]] to pursue her songwriting career. She signed a publishing deal with his company, eventually signing to [[EMI#EMI Music Publishing|EMI Publishing]]. Knight and Chapman worked together on the top 5 U.S. hit "[[Better Be Good to Me]]" (1984) by [[Tina Turner]] and "[[Love Is a Battlefield]]" (1983) by [[Pat Benatar]], each of which won a [[Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance]]. Knight was replaced on keyboards in Spider, later renamed Shanghai for its eponymous and final album, before her former band folded in 1984.
Knight was already planning to leave Spider, when Dreamland president, songwriter and [[record producer]] [[Mike Chapman]] urged her to move to [[Los Angeles]] to pursue her songwriting career. She signed a publishing deal with his company, eventually signing to [[EMI#EMI Music Publishing|EMI Publishing]]. Knight and Chapman worked together on the top 5 U.S. hit "[[Better Be Good to Me]]" (1984) by [[Tina Turner]] and "[[Love Is a Battlefield]]" (1983) by [[Pat Benatar]], each of which won a [[Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance]]. Knight was replaced on keyboards in Spider, later renamed Shanghai for its eponymous and final album, before her former band folded in 1984.


Knight has written hits for some of the most successful artists in music. For Pat Benatar, in addition to "Love Is a Battlefield", she wrote "[[Invincible (Pat Benatar song)|Invincible]]"; she co-wrote "[[The Best (song)|The Best]]", performed by [[Bonnie Tyler]] and later, a worldwide No. 1 single for [[Tina Turner]]. On her own and in collaboration with others, Knight wrote songs with [[Heart (band)|Heart]], [[Aerosmith]], [[Rod Stewart]], Bon Jovi, and many more. Tina Turner has recorded nine of her tunes, including "The Best", "Better Be Good to Me", and "[[In Your Wildest Dreams (song)|In Your Wildest Dreams]]" (1996). She was voted the Best Songwriter in ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine's 11th annual poll, along with [[Phil Collins]], [[Paul Simon]], [[Billy Joel]], and [[Bruce Springsteen]].
Knight has written hits for some of the most successful artists in music, both on her own and in collaboration with others. For Pat Benatar, in addition to "Love Is a Battlefield", she wrote "[[Invincible (Pat Benatar song)|Invincible]]"; and "[[The Best (song)|The Best]]", performed by [[Bonnie Tyler]] and later, became an international; No. 1 single for [[Tina Turner]]. Knight wrote songs with [[Heart (band)|Heart]], [[Aerosmith]], [[Rod Stewart]], Bon Jovi, and many more. Tina Turner has recorded nine of her tunes, including "The Best", "Better Be Good to Me", and "[[In Your Wildest Dreams (song)|In Your Wildest Dreams]]" (1996). She was voted the Best Songwriter in ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine's 11th annual poll, along with [[Phil Collins]], [[Paul Simon]], [[Billy Joel]], and [[Bruce Springsteen]].


Knight had a second band called [[Device (pop-rock band)|Device]] in the mid-1980s, who had a hit with "Hanging on a Heart Attack" from their lone album ''[[22B3]]'' (1986). Spider and Device both had [[Top 40]] hits, while Device was on [[MTV]]'s heavy-rotation playlist for four consecutive months. Knight also released a self-titled solo album in 1988. This album featured her own rendition of the song she co-wrote, "Love Is a Battlefield", as well as the single "Heart Don't Fail Me Now", which featured background vocals from [[Daryl Hall]].
Knight had a second band called [[Device (pop-rock band)|Device]] in the mid-1980s, who had a hit with "Hanging on a Heart Attack" from their one album ''[[22B3]]'' (1986). Spider and Device both had [[Top 40]] hits, while Device was on [[MTV]]'s heavy-rotation playlist for four consecutive months. Knight also released a self-titled solo album in 1988. This album featured her own rendition of the song she co-wrote, "Love Is a Battlefield", as well as the single "Heart Don't Fail Me Now", which featured background vocals from [[Daryl Hall]].


Her songs have featured on the soundtracks of numerous films, including ''Weird Science''(1985) ''[[Vision Quest (film)|Vision Quest]]'' (1985), ''[[Legend of Billie Jean]]'' (1985), ''Legal Eagles''(1986), ''[[Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome]]'' (1985), ''[[The Secret of My Success (1987 film)|The Secret of My Success]]'' (1987), ''[[Thelma & Louise]]'' (1991), ''[[Stuart Little II]]'' (2002), ''[[13 Going on 30]]'' (2004), ''[[What the Bleep Do We Know!?]]'' (2004), ''Hot Tub Time Machine''(2010), ''Anchorman 2''(2013),''Dallas Buyers Club''(2013)''The Other Woman''(2014), ''Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard(2021), Eighty For Brady''(2023), and ''Cocaine Bear''(2023); and hit television shows such as ''[[American Idol]]'', ''The Voice,'' ''[[Nip/Tuck]]'', ''[[The Singing Bee (U.S. game show)|The Singing Bee]]'', ''[[The Oprah Winfrey Show]]'', ''[[The Simpsons]]'', ''[[Family Guy]]'', ''[[30 Rock]]'', ''[[South Park]]'', ''[[Dallas Buyers Club]]'', ''[[Glee (TV series)|Glee]]'', ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon]]'', ''[[Necessary Roughness (TV series)|Necessary Roughness]]'', the 40th anniversary ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', and the finale episode of ''[[The Voice (U.S. TV series)|The Voice]]'' (2011), in which [[Cee Lo Green]] performed a [[duet]] of "Love Is a Battlefield" with one of the final contestants. Most recently her songs have been featured in the Netflix hit show, ''[[GLOW (TV series)|GLOW]]'' ("The Warrior"- theme song), ''[[Stranger Things]]'', ''[[Mixed-ish]]'', ''[[The Masked Singer (American TV series)|The Masked Singer]]'', and ''[[Schitt's Creek]]''.
Her songs have featured on the soundtracks of numerous films, including ''Weird Science''(1985) ''[[Vision Quest (film)|Vision Quest]]'' (1985), ''[[Legend of Billie Jean]]'' (1985), ''Legal Eagles''(1986), ''[[Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome]]'' (1985), ''[[The Secret of My Success (1987 film)|The Secret of My Success]]'' (1987), ''[[Thelma & Louise]]'' (1991), ''[[Stuart Little II]]'' (2002), ''[[13 Going on 30]]'' (2004), ''[[What the Bleep Do We Know!?]]'' (2004), ''Hot Tub Time Machine''(2010), ''Anchorman 2''(2013),''Dallas Buyers Club''(2013)''The Other Woman''(2014), ''Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard(2021), Eighty For Brady''(2023), and ''Cocaine Bear''(2023); and hit television shows such as ''[[American Idol]]'', ''The Voice,'' ''[[Nip/Tuck]]'', ''[[The Singing Bee (U.S. game show)|The Singing Bee]]'', ''[[The Oprah Winfrey Show]]'', ''[[The Simpsons]]'', ''[[Family Guy]]'', ''[[30 Rock]]'', ''[[South Park]]'', ''[[Dallas Buyers Club]]'', ''[[Glee (TV series)|Glee]]'', ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon]]'', ''[[Necessary Roughness (TV series)|Necessary Roughness]]'', the 40th anniversary ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', and the finale episode of ''[[The Voice (U.S. TV series)|The Voice]]'' (2011), in which [[Cee Lo Green]] performed a [[duet]] of "Love Is a Battlefield" with one of the final contestants. Most recently her songs have been featured in the Netflix hit show, ''[[GLOW (TV series)|GLOW]]'' ("The Warrior"- theme song), ''[[Stranger Things]]'', ''[[Mixed-ish]]'', ''[[The Masked Singer (American TV series)|The Masked Singer]]'', and ''[[Schitt's Creek]]''.

Revision as of 17:28, 6 April 2023

Holly Knight
Background information
BornTemplate:Birth date and age/1956/09/24
New York, New York, U.S.
GenresPop, rock
Occupation(s)Songwriter, singer, musician, producer
Instrument(s)Keyboards, piano, programming, keytar, guitar, bass, vocals
Years active1980–present
LabelsDreamland/RSO, Chrysalis, Columbia
Websitewww.hollyknight.com

Holly Knight (born September 21, 1956) is an American songwriter, musician, and singer. She was a member of the 1980s pop rock groups Spider and Device, and wrote or co-wrote several hit singles for other artists, such as "Rag Doll", "Obsession", "Love Is a Battlefield", "The Best", "Invincible", "Better Be Good to Me", "The Warrior", and "Change".

In 2013, she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. She has won thirteen ASCAP Awards, and has co-written hits for numerous successful musicians, including Tina Turner and Pat Benatar who each won Grammy Awards for their recordings of her songs.

Early life and education

Knight was born in New York City.[1] She started playing classical piano at the age of four, continuing her studies for ten years at the Mannes School of Music.[2]

Career

In 1980, her first big break came when she played keyboards (uncredited) on Kiss' Unmasked album.[3] In the early 1980s, she joined Spider (featuring Anton Fig of Late Show with David Letterman) and her band, managed by Bill Aucoin, manager of Kiss and Billy Idol, among others, got a recording contract with Dreamland Records, an RSO-distributed label, and released two albums: Spider (self-titled; 1980) and Between the Lines (1981).

Knight was already planning to leave Spider, when Dreamland president, songwriter and record producer Mike Chapman urged her to move to Los Angeles to pursue her songwriting career. She signed a publishing deal with his company, eventually signing to EMI Publishing. Knight and Chapman worked together on the top 5 U.S. hit "Better Be Good to Me" (1984) by Tina Turner and "Love Is a Battlefield" (1983) by Pat Benatar, each of which won a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. Knight was replaced on keyboards in Spider, later renamed Shanghai for its eponymous and final album, before her former band folded in 1984.

Knight has written hits for some of the most successful artists in music, both on her own and in collaboration with others. For Pat Benatar, in addition to "Love Is a Battlefield", she wrote "Invincible"; and "The Best", performed by Bonnie Tyler and later, became an international; No. 1 single for Tina Turner. Knight wrote songs with Heart, Aerosmith, Rod Stewart, Bon Jovi, and many more. Tina Turner has recorded nine of her tunes, including "The Best", "Better Be Good to Me", and "In Your Wildest Dreams" (1996). She was voted the Best Songwriter in Rolling Stone magazine's 11th annual poll, along with Phil Collins, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, and Bruce Springsteen.

Knight had a second band called Device in the mid-1980s, who had a hit with "Hanging on a Heart Attack" from their one album 22B3 (1986). Spider and Device both had Top 40 hits, while Device was on MTV's heavy-rotation playlist for four consecutive months. Knight also released a self-titled solo album in 1988. This album featured her own rendition of the song she co-wrote, "Love Is a Battlefield", as well as the single "Heart Don't Fail Me Now", which featured background vocals from Daryl Hall.

Her songs have featured on the soundtracks of numerous films, including Weird Science(1985) Vision Quest (1985), Legend of Billie Jean (1985), Legal Eagles(1986), Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), The Secret of My Success (1987), Thelma & Louise (1991), Stuart Little II (2002), 13 Going on 30 (2004), What the Bleep Do We Know!? (2004), Hot Tub Time Machine(2010), Anchorman 2(2013),Dallas Buyers Club(2013)The Other Woman(2014), Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard(2021), Eighty For Brady(2023), and Cocaine Bear(2023); and hit television shows such as American Idol, The Voice, Nip/Tuck, The Singing Bee, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Simpsons, Family Guy, 30 Rock, South Park, Dallas Buyers Club, Glee, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Necessary Roughness, the 40th anniversary Saturday Night Live, and the finale episode of The Voice (2011), in which Cee Lo Green performed a duet of "Love Is a Battlefield" with one of the final contestants. Most recently her songs have been featured in the Netflix hit show, GLOW ("The Warrior"- theme song), Stranger Things, Mixed-ish, The Masked Singer, and Schitt's Creek.

Knight wrote the theme song for the popular Joss Whedon television show Angel (1999–2004), performed by Darling Violetta. She also wrote and produced the title theme for the sitcom Still Standing (2002–2006), performed by Will Hoge, which received the ASCAP award for recognition as one of the top TV music themes of 2003, as well as the same award again in 2004.

In 1988, Knight was listed in the "Best Songwriter Category/Readers Poll" of Rolling Stone along with Bruce Springsteen, Phil Collins, Paul Simon, and Billy Joel.

In the 21st century, Knight has also been active as a record producer. In 2009, she produced a jazz EP called Natural for Antonia Bennett, daughter of Tony Bennett, and in 2012, an alternative pop record of original songs for her, titled Ordinary Girl. In 2014, she produced a second full-length jazz record for Antonia Bennett of songs from the Great American Songbook called Embrace Me, on Perseverance records. She has also produced tracks for Otep, Fefe Dobson, The Donnas, the Australian band Porcelain,[4] and 2014 Tony Award winner Lena Hall.

Knight has been mentioned in several autobiographical books, I Tina by Tina Turner (1986), Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Pat Benatar (2010), Kicking and Screaming by Ann and Nancy Wilson (of Heart; 2013), I'm with The Band by Pamela Des Barres (2005), My Love Story by Tina Turner (2018), and All I Ever Wanted by Kathy Valentine (2020),

In 2017, she contributed a chapter to the book Because I Was a Girl, published by Holt.

In December, 2022, Knight released a memoir on Permuted Press/Simon and Shuster entitled, "I Am The Warrior- My Crazy Life Writing The Hits and Rocking The TV Eighties." She released an audio book version on Audible, which she narrated. The audio book contains original demos of some of her hits, including, The Best, Love Is a Battlefield and The Warrior. The book was listed on both Amazon and Audible as the #1 Hot New Release in Popular Music.

Her song, "The Best" has appeared in three episodes of the Netflix Emmy award-winning show, Schitt's Creek season four, episode one - "The Olive Branch" where David lip-synched to the original Tina Turner recording; season four, episode six: "Open Mic", where actor Noah Reid performed an acoustic version of the song; The finale of the series, season six, episode 13, performed by an a cappella group, The Jazz Girls - where David and Patrick get married. This final episode caused "The Best" to become a popular wedding song with the LGBT community.

Three of Knight's songs, "The Best", "Better Be Good to Me", and "Be Tender with Me Baby" appear in the theater production of The Tina Turner Musical, which began previews at the Aldwych Theatre in The West End in London, on March 21, 2018, and officially opened on April 17. In November 2019, the musical made its Broadway debut at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York. Both premieres saw the attendance of Tina Turner. In March 2019, the show opened at the Stage Operettenhaus in Hamburg, and on February 9, 2020, the show opened at the Beatrix Theater in Utrecht, the Netherlands. In 2020, the musical received eleven Tony Award nominations.

"The Best" was featured at the end of Joe Biden's victory speech for his election to the presidency of the United States in 2021.[citation needed]

In 2023, during the Superbowl, The Best appeared in a Pringles commercial/

She also does fine art photography.

Personal life

Knight has two grown sons and lives in Los Angeles.

She has been married three times, and dated Anton Fig and Paul Stanley in the 1980s.[3]

Discography

Studio albums

  • Holly Knight (1989)

With Spider

  • Spider (1980)
  • Between the Lines (1981)

With Device

Soundtrack appearances

  • "One of the Living" with Tina Turner (from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome) (1985)
  • "Invincible" with Pat Benatar (from The Legend of Billie Jean) (1985)
  • "Love Is a Battlefield" with Pat Benatar (from Weird Science) (1985)
  • "Change" with John Waite (from Vision Quest) (1985)
  • "Love Touch" with Rod Stewart (from Legal Eagles) (1986)
  • "Sometimes the Good Guys Finish First" with Pat Benatar (from The Secret of My Success) (1987)
  • "I Burn for You" with Chris Max (from The Secret of My Success) (1987)
  • "I Can't Untie You from Me" with Grayson Hugh (from Thelma and Louise) (1991)
  • "Don't Look Back" with Grayson Hugh (from Thelma and Louise) (1991)
  • "Better Be Good to Me" with Tina Turner (from Miami Vice episode "Give a Little, Take a Little") (1991)
  • "Love Is a Battlefield" with Pat Benatar and Queen Latifah (from Small Soldiers) (1998)
  • "Hold On to the Good Things" with Shawn Colvin (from Stuart Little 2) (2002)
  • "Love Is a Battlefield" with Pat Benatar (from 13 Going on 30) (2002)
  • "Obsession" with Animotion (from What the Bleep Do We Know!?) (2004)
  • "Obsession" with Animotion (from Hot Tub Time Machine) (2010)
  • "Change" with John Waite (from Anchorman 2) (2013)
  • "Love Is a Battlefield" with Raining Jane (from The Other Woman) (2014)
  • "The Warrior" with Scandal (from Just Before I Go) (2014)

Songs in theater productions

  • The Tina Turner Musical; Moulin Rouge

Songs (credited as songwriter)

References

  1. ^ "Holly Knight". Discogs.com. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
  2. ^ "Biography". Hollyknight.com. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
  3. ^ a b Knight, Holly (2019). "Untitled". SiriusXM (Interview). Interviewed by Eddie Trunk.
  4. ^ "Porcelain Delivers Rock-Hard Performance". BMI. February 26, 2007. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
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