Diane Warren is set to receive the 2024 Johnny Mercer Award at the Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Gala on Thursday, June 13 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.
The Mercer Award, SHOF's highest honor, is given to a songwriter or group of songwriters who have already joined SHOF and whose body of work upholds the high standards set by Mercer, who wrote dozens of hits since the 1930s to the 1960s. Learn more about Mercer here.
Warren will be the fourth woman to receive the award on her own, following Carole King (2002), Dolly Parton (2007) and Carole Bayer Sager (2019). In addition, three songwriting teams with a female partner have won the honor – Betty Comden & Adolph Green (1991), Alan & Marilyn Bergman (1997) and Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil (2011).
The recipient of the second honorary award, the Hal David Starlight Award, will be announced at a later date.
Warren, 67, has won a Grammy, a Primetime Emmy and two Golden Globes. In November 2022, she became the first female songwriter to receive a Governors Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
Most notably, Warren is one of six people in Academy Award history to receive 15 or more Best Original Song nominations. The other members of this elite club are Sammy Cahn (26 nominations), Mercer (18), Paul Francis Webster (16), and Marilyn and Alan Bergman (15).
Warren has been nominated for Best Original Song for the past seven years in a row. This is the longest consecutive streak of nominations in that category since Cahn ran for eight years – from 1954-61. Warren's current nomination is for “The Fire Inside,” performed by Becky G for the film Flamin' Hot. Although he appears to have little chance of winning the favorite, “What Was I Made For?” from Barbieit's practically a foregone conclusion that Warren will be back in the game again.
“The songwriting community is filled with many special people who have delivered incomparable songs that have taken the world by storm,” said SHOF President Nile Rodgers. “Among this special group of people, Diane Warren is unique. she's a force of nature who, despite her massive success…shows up to write songs every morning at 8am!”
Rodgers' statement hints at what may be the secret to Warren's success – a work ethic that is second to none.
In a statement, Warren said: “I am very honored to receive the Johnny Mercer Award, especially looking at the names of other songwriters who have received this great honor. When I was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, my mom was there and she finally understood that I could live and make a living being who I was born to be and wake up every day loving being… a songwriter. Now, both she and my dad will be looking down on me with big smiles on their faces. Thank you, Songwriters Hall of Fame.”
A personal note: Back in the 1980s, when I wrote the Chart Beat column Advertising signWarren's father called me out of the blue to tout his daughter's chart successes, a great display of parental pride and support.
Warren has written or co-written 33 top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, spanning more than 40 years. Her first top 10 hit was Laura Branigan's “Solitaire” in May 1983. The most recent was Taylor Swift's “Say Don't Go (Taylor's Version) [From the Vault]» in November 2023. Swift and Warren co-wrote the song in 2013 for 1989 but it was shelved until its release 1989 (Taylor's Version).
Among Warren's 33 top 10 hits, she has written nine No. 1s, from 1987's Starship's “Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now” (also her first Oscar nomination for best original song) through Brandy's “Have You Ever?” in 1999.
Warren is the sole owner of Realsongs, her publishing company, which is the most successful woman-owned and operated business in the music industry.
Warren was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001, along with two other Mercer Award songwriters – Parton and Paul Williams. (The other members of this particularly powerful class were Willie Nelson and Eric Clapton.)
Three “non-performing” songwriters – Hillary Lindsey, Timothy Mosley (Timbaland) and Dean Pitchford – and members of two bands – Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe (REM) and Donald Fagen and Walter Becker (Steely Dan ) – are this year's SHOF inductees.
A songwriter with a substantial catalog of songs qualifies for induction 20 years after a song's first commercial release.
Tickets for the Songwriters Hall of Fame event start at $2,000 each and are available through Buckley Hall Events, 914-579-1000 and SHOF@buckleyhallevents.com. Net proceeds from the event will benefit the Songwriters Hall of Fame programs.
