Diane Warren to Receive Founders Award at ASCAP Pop Awards

Photo: Emily Shur

ASCAP will honor songwriter Diane Warren with its prestigious Founders Award at its 34th annual Pop Music Awards on May 18 at an exclusive, invitation-only gala in Los Angeles. Warren’s work has been featured in more than 100 films, resulting in eight Academy Award nominations, and she has six ASCAP Songwriter of the Year Awards, three consecutive Billboard Music Awards for Songwriter of the Year, and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001.

Throughout her impressive 30-plus year career, Warren has penned hits for dozens of major artists including Beyoncé, Adele, Whitney Houston, Cher, Aerosmith, Elton John, Faith Hill, Aretha Franklin, Willie Nelson, Mary J. Blige, Eric Clapton, Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand, Andra Day and more.

Most recently Warren composed the original song “Prayers for this World,” performed by Cher for the documentary Cries From Syria. She also penned a new theme song for ABC’s The View called “World’s Gone Crazy,” and her evocative song “Til It Happens To You” was featured in the 2015 documentary on campus sexual assault, The Hunting Ground. Performed by Lady Gaga, it was the first song in history to be nominated for an Academy Award, Grammy and Emmy, winning the Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics in 2016. It was also nominated for a Critics’ Choice Award for Best Song and won the Hollywood Music in Media Award for Best Song – Documentary.

“Diane Warren is one of the most continuously prolific and successful contemporary songwriters of our time,” said ASCAP President Paul Williams. “Her music evokes universal emotions that connect us in a way few songwriters can. Diane’s ability to channel our common experience through her songs has captured audiences all over the world.”

“I am honored to be receiving the Founders Award and to be among the names of songwriters whom I admire and respect so much,” said Warren. “I am grateful for the success I have had with my songs but to be honest, I feel like my career is just beginning.”