Holly Knight

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Holly Knight is a songwriter, vocalist and musician, who has written some of the biggest hits in pop and rock music. She was voted Best Songwriter in the 11th annual Rolling Stone songwriters poll.

1 Biography
2 Family
3 Songs
4 References

[edit] Biography

She was born in New York and started playing classical piano as a young child. She soon became interested in rock music, and left home at about sixteen to pursue her dreams. Five years later, in the early 1980s, her band Spider got a recording contract with Dreamland Records, released Spider: Between the Lines and was managed by Bill Aucoin of KISS and Billy Idol fame. She had a second band called Device in the mid 1980s, who had a hit with "Hanging on a Heart Attack" off their 22B3 album.

The Dreamland president, songwriter and record producer Mike Chapman, urged her to leave the band and go to Los Angeles, California to pursue her songwriting career. She worked for his publishing company and then for EMI Publishing for many years.

Knight and Chapman worked together on Top 5 U.S. hit "Better Be Good To Me" by Tina Turner and "Love Is a Battlefield", each of which won a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. She also co wrote the highly successful song The Best also by Turner which was a #1 single around the world. On her own and in collaboration with others, Knight wrote songs for Heart, Aerosmith, Rod Stewart, and many more.

In recent years, Knight co-wrote (with Cami Elen and Jymm Thomas) the theme song for the popular Joss Whedon television show Angel (it is performed by Darling Violetta). She also wrote and produced the title theme for the sitcom Still Standing, and has been continuing to pursue a career as a record producer. Recently she was sampled by dance producers Scooter for a remix of her 1988 song "Howling at the Moon".

[edit] Family

She currently resides with her two sons in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California.

[edit] Songs

Aerosmith - "Rag Doll"
Angel (TV series) - Theme Music
Animotion - "Obsession" (with Michael Des Barres); "I Engineer"
Jimmy Barnes - "Between Two Fires"
Pat Benatar - "Love Is a Battlefield"; "Invincible"; "Sometimes the Good Guys Finish First"; "Girl"
Bon Jovi - "Stick To Your Guns"
Cheap Trick - "Space"
Shawn Colvin - "Hold On to the Good Things"
Device - "Hanging on a Heart Attack"; "Who Says"
Divinyls - "Pleasure and Pain"
The Donnas - "Wasted", "Here for the Party"
Eighth Wonder - "When the Phone Stops Ringing"
Elvira - "Here Comes the Bride (of Frankenstein)"; "Haunted House"
Agnetha Fältskog (ABBA) - "Wrap Your Arms Around Me"
Lita Ford - "Stiletto"
Lou Gramm - "Just Between You and Me"
Hall and Oates - "Soul Love"
Lisa Hartman - "New Romance (It's a Mystery)"
Heart - "Never", "All Eyes", "There's the Girl", "Tall, Dark, Handsome Stranger", "I Love You"
Grayson Hugh, Thelma and Louise soundtrack - "Can't Untie You From Me"; "Don't Look Back"; "Road To Freedom"
Chaka Khan - "Baby Me"
Kidd Video - "When the Phone Stops Ringing"
Kids Incorporated - "Change"
KISS - "Hide Your Heart"; "I Pledge Allegiance"; "Raise Your Glasses"
Holly Knight (featuring Daryl Hall) - "Heart Don't Fail Me Now"; "Howling at the Moon"; "Love Is a Battlefield"
Less Than Jake - "Overrated (Everything Is)"
Marilyn Martin - "Turn It On"
Chris Max - "I Burn for You"
Meat Loaf - "Monstro"; "Alive"
Leigh Nash - "Angel Tonight"
Aaron Neville - "Try a Little Harder"
Ozzy Osbourne - "Slow Burn"
Elaine Paige - "Well Almost"
Suzi Quatro - "Fear of the Unknown"
Riff - "My Heart Is Failing"
Scandal featuring Patty Smyth - "The Warrior"; "Hands Tied"
Charlie Sexton - "Space"
Spider - "New Romance (It's a Mystery)"; "Change"
Dusty Springfield - "Time Waits for No One"
Paul Stanley - "It's Not Me"
Rod Stewart - "Love Touch"
Still Standing (TV Series) - "Still Standing"
Rachel Sweet - "Little Darlin'"
Tina Turner - "Better Be Good to Me"; "One of the Living"; "The Best"; "You Can't Stop Me Loving You"; "Be Tender With Me Baby"; "Ask Me How I Feel"; "Love Thing"; "In Your Wildest Dreams"; "Do Something"
Bonnie Tyler - "Hide Your Heart"; "The Best"; "Where Were You"
John Waite - "Change"
Kim Wilde - "Turn It On"