Biography of American Idol judge - Kara DioGuardi

Kara DioGuardi is a born and raised New Yorker, but she is of Albanian and Italian descent. DioGuardi attended Duke University and completed a degree in political science. However, she decided on a career path far away from her degree – she applied for a job on the marketing and publishing departments of Billboard Magazine. During her desk job at Billboard, Kara started writing her own songs. By 1995, DioGuardi successfully secured a record deal with MCA. However, Kara DioGuardi’s lyrical career only began when her friend Paula Abdul gave Kylie Minogue a copy of Kara’s album. Minogue used the song “Spinning Around” on her album and became a top-charting single worldwide. Since then, Kara DioGuardi’s lyrics are unstoppable.

DioGuardi is an outstanding songwriter – a fact proven by artists that made her songs reach the top of the charts repeatedly. Such artists include big American names like Faith Hill, Pink, Santana, Backstreet Boys, Pussycat Dolls, Jessica Simpson, Gwen Stefani, Avril Lavigne, Hilary Duff and Britney Spears, among others. Kara DioGuardi has also helped international artists like Kylie Minogue, Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, Belinda, Thalia, Anastacia and Diego. American Idol stars, including Katharine McPhee, Kelly Clarkson, Taylor Hicks, Carrie Underwood, Bo Bice, Clay Aiken and David Archuleta have also sought the help of Kara DioGuardi. From all the artists Kara has helped, her songs have sold over 100 million copies altogether.

From 1995 to 2008, Kara DioGuardi has successfully written over 40 international-charting singles, helping 45 albums
reach the Top 10 of the Billboard 200. In 2003, Kara won a BMI Cable Award for co-writing and performing the theme song “Somethin’ to Say” for “For The People” – a Lifetime TV series starring Cecilia Suarez, Debbi Morgan, Lea Thompson and A. Martinez. The Grammy-nominated songwriter has also won the 2007 SOCAN Award and the 2007 “BMI Pop Songwriter of the Year,” after having been given 10 BMI Pop Awards for the “most-performed song on the radio” for four consecutive years. One of Kara DioGuardi’s recent achievements is a nomination for the Latin Grammys for “Best Song” after co-writing Belinda’s single “Bella Tracion” with Ben Moody, Mitch Allan, Nacho Peregrin and Belinda.

Aside from songwriting, Kara DioGuardi also co-owns the Arthouse Entertainment, a publishing company that helps record companies, artists, songwriters and other music entities that need compositions, artists, productions and other music-related services. She also works with the non-profit substance abuse service organization, Phoenix House, which helps educate teens in operating recording studio equipments.