The TV Zone

Tunesmith puts words in pop tarts' mouths

BYLINE: By Allison Stewart, Special to the Tribune

SECTION: ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT ; ZONE C; Pg. 4

LENGTH: 850 words

"People do not know how hard it is to write a hit song," says songwriter Kara DioGuardi. "It's so friggin' hard. It's so hard." DioGuardi has been writing top 40 hits for almost a decade. In pop culture years, which are sort of like dog years, this is an impressive run. One of the most influential women in the record industry -- and a virtual unknown outside of it -- she has done as much to shape what mid-'00s pop radio sounds like as anyone else. Among the hits DioGuardi has co-written: Gwen Stefani's "Rich Girl," Christina Aguilera's "Ain't No Other Man," Ashlee Simpson's "Pieces of Me," Hilary Duff's "Come Clean" and recent tracks for Celine Dion, Hannah Montana, the Pussycat Dolls and Britney Spears.

With the music industry in disarray and artists facing shortened shelf lives, top producers such as Timbaland and top songwriters like DioGuardi are among the only reliable kingmakers left.

"The songwriters are the ones who endure," says DioGuardi's manager and business partner, Stephen Finfer. "Artists are going to have one or two albums, then they're gone. The artists change, but the producers and writers stay the same."

The daughter of a congressman, DioGuardi, 37, worked at Billboard magazine after graduating from Duke University. After an indie album she recorded found its way to Paula Abdul, the two collaborated on a track, "Spinning Around," that became an international hit for Kylie Minogue. A songwriting career was inadvertently born. "I tried to do an artist thing and it didn't work out, but I need to not be emotionally freaked out by things if they don't happen," says DioGuardi, who also briefly toiled in the duo Platinum Weird with former Eurythmics member Dave Stewart. "Would I like to be famous? Not if the paparazzi were following me around like Britney,

DioGuardi's most successful collaborations have been with teen pop tabloid fixtures like Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Ashlee and Jessica Simpson. A den mother, psychiatrist and best friend rolled into one, she spends hours (and often weeks, or months) plumbing the depths of her subjects' romantic misadventures, sibling rivalries and father issues in marathon songwriting-cum-therapy sessions. "I'm a collaborator. I pretty much bury my talent into someone else's talent," she says. "I'm almost a vehicle for them to work through [their issues]. That's how a lot of songs come to be."

' latest disc, "Blackout," features several tracks co-written and produced by DioGuardi. The sessions weren't exactly exemplars of female bonding, but "my experience with her was a good one. She's always been there and worked hard. She was very nice to her babies when I was there. What's happened in the last few months definitely happened [after me]."

It isn't only young women to whom DioGuardi gives voice. "Kara, in my opinion, is so successful because she is able to put herself in the artist's situation and write from their perspective. Because of this, the songs are always relevant to that artist," says Nick Lachey, who is collaborating with DioGuardi on his upcoming album. "Perhaps even more important than that, though, is her incredible ear for melodies. Even the best lyrics are lost on the audience without a great melody, and no one is better at that than Kara."

DioGuardi's songs are notable for their stylistic versatility, stick-in-your-head melodies and lyrical simplicity. "When I do nail a song, it's kind of honest and it strikes a chord with people. When I nail it. There are many times that I don't," DioGuardi says. "I'm not a poet. ... To me everything's about the emotional experience, because I'm not a wordsmith. I kind of live in my feelings."

DioGuardi recently took an A&R job at Warner Brothers records, and she and Finfer have formed ArtHouse Entertainment, a lucrative publishing and management firm. The songwriter, who owns the publishing rights to all of her own songs, has made millions of dollars. "I'd guess she's doing very, very, very well," says Fred Bronson, a columnist at Billboard magazine. "Every time [one of her songs] is played, she gets paid. I wish I'd been a songwriter."

And yet, she can't help but worry. Pop artists such as Spears aren't selling like they used to, but DioGuardi is finding it difficult to diversify. Her attempts to penetrate the lucrative -- and very insular -- country music market have met with mixed results. "Lost," a track written for Faith Hill's hits collection, was a modest success, and a song intended for Carrie Underwood's new disc got dropped from the album at the last minute. "When I turn on the radio and don't hear myself it's like, 'What's going on? How do I need to adapt to this market?' Because I've been having [chart] activity for 10 years and that's a long time for a songwriter," she says. "It's important for me to be keeping up with the times and the changing trends and the changing melodic things and lyrical ideas. I need to keep constantly in the mix. ... If I'm not inspired, I'm not gonna write anything great."

ctc-arts@tribune.com