DavesMusicDatabase.com is devoted to ranking, rating, and reviewing music of all genres and eras. The DMDB blog serves up album and song reviews, best-of lists, music history snapshots, and music-related essays.
Songwriter Diane Warren was born September 7, 1956, in Van Nuys, California. Her first hit was “Solitaire,” a #7 hit for Laura Branigan in 1983. In the late ‘80s, she became the first songwriter in history to have seven hits – all by different artists – on the Billboard Hot 100. She has had 33 top-10 hits on the chart; nine went to #1. She is a Grammy, Emmy, Ivor Novello, and Golden Globe winner. She was nominated 14 times for Academy awards without a win before receiving an honorary Oscar in 2022.
Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists, appearances on compilations and live albums by the featured act, and songs’ chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards.
6. Bad English “When I See You Smile” (1989)
7. Chicago “Look Away” (1988)
8. Ace of Base “Don’t Turn Around” (1994)
DMDB Top 10%:
9. Cher “If I Could Turn Back Time” (1989)
10. Brandy “Have You Ever?” (1998)
11. Milli Vanilli “Blame It on the Rain” (1989)
12. Faith Hill “There You’ll Be” (2001)
13. LeAnn Rimes “Can’t Fight the Moonlight” (2000)
14. DeBarge “Rhythm of the Night” (1985)
15. Taylor Dayne “Love Will Lead You Back” (1990)
16. Michael Bolton “How Can We Be Lovers” (1990)
17. Trisha Yearwood “How Do I Live” (1997)
18. Joe Cocker “When the Night Comes” (1989)
19. Christina Aguilera “I Turn to You” (1999)
20. Michael Bolton with Kenny G “Missing You Now” (1992)
DMDB Top 20%:
21. Aretha Franklin & Elton John “Through the Storm” (1989)
22. Laura Branigan “Solitaire” (1983)
23. Belinda Carlisle “I Get Weak” (1988)
24. Celine Dion “If You Asked Me To” (1992)
25. Taylor Dayne “I’ll Be Your Shelter” (1990)
26. Michael Bolton “Time, Love & Tenderness” (1991)
27. Meat Loaf “I’d Lie for You and That’s the Truth” (1995)
28. Chicago “I Don’t Wanna Live Without Your Love” (1988)
29. Cher “Just Like Jesse James” (1989)
30. Expose “I’ll Never Get Over You Getting Over Me” (1993)
31. Cher “Save Up All Your Tears” (1991)
32. Michael Bolton “When I’m Back on My Feet Again” (1990)
33. Whitney Houston & Enrique Iglesias “Could I Have This Kiss Forever” (2000)
34. Cher “Love and Understanding” (1991)
35. Heart “Who Will You Run To?” (1987)
36. Gloria Estefan “Live for Loving You” (1991)
37. Kenny G with Peabo Bryson “By the Time This Night Is Over” (1993)
38. Heart “I Didn’t Want to Need You” (1990)
39. N Sync & Gloria Estefan “Music of My Heart” (1999)
40. Monica “For You I Will” (1997)
41. Roberta Flack & Maxi Priest “Set the Night to Music” (1991)
42. Aretha Franklin & Whitney Houston “It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be” (1989)
43. Shanice “Saving Forever for You” (1992)
44. Mark Chesnutt “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” (1998)
45. Michael Bolton “Completely” (1993)
Beyond the DMDB Top 20%:
46. Cheap Trick “Ghost Town” (1988)
47. Air Supply “Lonely Is the Night” (1986)
48. Aaliyah “The One I Gave My Heart To” (1997)
49. Kiss “Let’s Put the X in Sex” (1988)
50. Celine Dion “Love Can Move Mountains” (1992)
Well, the Grammys are tonight. In past years, I’ve made my predictions for Album of the Year, but not much else. Of course, Adele is so widely expected to sweep tonight that it makes predictions somewhat, well, predictable. Even my “Steve Theory” (initially presented in a January 2010 blog post called And the Grammy Goes to…Steve?) supports her 21 as the winner. Okay, I haven’t actually asked Steve which album would win, but I know his tastes and this is the one he’d pick.
Since the only real story tonight will be if Adele doesn’t win Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year, there isn’t much else of note to report. With the death of Whitney Houston just yesterday, the most moving moment at the Grammys is likely to be a tribute on her behalf. We’ll see what happens.
Is anyone NOT picking Adele to go home with a lot more than two of these tonight?
Instead, this seems like a good time to vent. For those who regularly follow this blog, this entry won’t be too surprising. As some of you may know, Dave’s Music Database is a consolidation of all kinds of data such as sales figures, chart data, airplay, awards, and appearances on best-of lists to determine the best songs, albums, and acts of all time. This mix of looking at commercial success and critical acclaim for artists and their works over time produces pretty sturdy results, if I do say so myself.
The Grammys, however, don’t often prove to much of an indication of what will stand the test of time. As evidenced through several previous DMDB blog posts, the Grammys have a habit of bad picks for the big four: Best New Artist, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year (check those links here or under the “Related DMDB Blog Entries” heading below). While there are certainly deserving winners each year, there are so many worthy candidates who either don’t win or don’t even get nominated as to make the Grammys laughable.
The Grammys never saw fit to award Led Zeppelin with any of its prizes.
Oh, I’ll still watch. I’m eager to see Bruce Springsteen perform. The Beach Boys are supposed to play alongside some of today’s hip new acts. I hope someone offers a moving speech in tribute to Whitney Houston. There will hopefully be some surprises. I also think if the big four awards go the way they should, this might prove to be the rare year when the Grammys get it right. Still, it doesn’t make up for how many grievous errors music’s king of the hill has made. While Starland Vocal Band and Milli Vanilli can boast to having Grammy gold sitting atop their fireplace mantels (albeit the latter only held on to it briefly), a slew of notable acts can make no such claim. Just check out this post from Spinner.com from a year ago at Grammy time, in which they note the following acts who’ve never won a Grammy for ANYTHING, much less one of the big four awards: The Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, The Doors, The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Holly, Janis Joplin, The Kinks, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bob Marley, Queen, Diana Ross, Tupac Shakur, The Supremes, The Who, and Neil Young. Sigh.
The Grammys decided Milli Vanilli was more worthy of Grammy gold than any of those fly-by-night acts listed above.
German music producer Frank Farian was the creator of Milli Vanilli, a dance-pop outfit from the late ‘80s. They were presented as the duo of Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan and found success quickly. In October 1988, the single “Girl You Know It’s True” hit the UK, peaking at #3. It charted a couple months later in the U.S. and climbed all the way to the #2 spot.
They proved to have ample songs to go the distance. The next three singles, “Baby Don’t Forget My Number”, “Girl, I’m Gonna Miss You”, and “Blame It on the Rain” were all #1 hits in the U.S. A fifth single, “All or Nothing”, went to #4. All five songs appeared on the 1989 U.S. album Girl You Know It’s True, a reworked version of the previously released German album All or Nothing. Not surprisingly, the U.S. album logged eight weeks atop the Billboard 200 and sold six-million copies.
The duo’s commercial clout translated to Grammy clout as well when they took home the 1989 trophy for Best New Artist, beating out Tone Loc, Neneh Cherry, Soul II Soul, and the Indigo Girls. The only problem was that Rob and Fab didn’t sing. While the original German album only featured them on the cover, the U.S. version went a step further and actually credited the pair with the vocals. In actuality, the dancer-models were hired to serve as the public face for Brad Howell, Johnny Davis, and Charles Shaw – the session musicians who did the actual heavy lifting.
Shaw publicly admitted the ruse which supported suspicions that Rob and Fab were lip-synching live performances. The duo pressured Farian to let them sing on the next album. Rather than cave, he confessed the deception to the press. Soon the Grammy cops came knocking and demanded the return of the ill-gotten award. It is the only time the Grammys have revoked an award.
And here are Rob and Fab, uh, not singing at the Grammys.
