ShareThisShe was supposed to be a lawyer. This lanky, toothy New York girl, a poli-sci grad out of Duke with a rich mind but shaky self-esteem, was "going to take the more accepted path." She would give in to her innate shyness, her paralyzing self-doubt.
Never mind all those hot melodies swirling in her head. Like most of us who squat in front of the radio and TV instead of thrive inside them, Kara Elizabeth DioGuardi would simply decline to shine.
But as it turns out, those melodies, those hooks -- all unlocked circa 2000, when Aussie sprite Kylie Minogue recorded one of her songs -- beat the stuffing out of her insecurities. She wasn't going to be a lawyer after all. After selling ads at Billboard magazine for a few years, she decided to go full-tilt into songwriting, becoming a hot pen coveted by Christina Aguilera ("Ain't No Other Man"), Pink ("Sober"), Kelly Clarkson ("I Do Not Hook Up"), Gwen Stefani ("Rich Girl"). That spawned other titles: publisher, producer, pinup.
Despite the terror of standing in front of crowds, she became a judge on "American Idol." She's the Italian chick from New Rochelle who talks with her neck, saying things like "You're believable, you come from the heart" as if she's laying bets at a dog track. Couple that gig with 32 writing credits on 21 major albums in 2009 alone, and it's safe to say DioGuardi is one of the most dominant tastemakers around -- even more so than fellow "Idol" judge Simon Cowell.
And for the first time in her life: "I would kind of agree with you on that," DioGuardi says.
"Hair and makeup is the bane of my existence," she sighs. Her "quadruple life," as she calls it, hinges on the precision of filling every minute of every day. Even when the show is rolling five months out of the year, "I try to schedule two songwriting sessions a week. 'Good Girls Go Bad' (a club hit she penned for glam-rockers Cobra Starship) was written right before a live show."
She has a bold new title with Warner Bros. Records: executive vice president of talent development. Her most recent signing is Jason Derulo, a 20-year-old Miami native who rewarded her with a big fat No. 1 hit, "Whatcha Say."
"Kara is the perfect record executive," Derulo said. "Not only does she understand the business aspect of the music biz, she is fully in tune with the creative-artistic side."
DioGuardi has a gift for working with young stars, from "Idol" grads (Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta) to Disney stars (Miley Cyrus, Ashley Tisdale).
"Ultimately, I'm still a child inside," says DioGuardi, who turns 40 in December. "I'm inspired by going back to being a child. It's easy for me to channel -- almost scarily so. I'm in touch with the pureness of it.
"Songwriting is where I go to download," says DioGuardi. "'Idol' is where I go to push myself."
When this season of "Idol" ends in May, DioGuardi will find time -- somewhere, somehow -- to get away to her vacation home in Prospect Harbor, Maine.
"I go there and feel like I'm in another world," she says, as if every word is punctuated with a stretch. "I can spend a whole day shopping for dinner. I can make a whole afternoon out of picking blueberries. I nap when I go to Maine. I eat lobster. We can get it for, like, four bucks a pound there. I don't write songs in Maine. I don't do anything having to do with music. Instead, I get in touch with my life. I get back to who I am."
(sdaly(at)sptimes.com.)
Must credit St. Petersburg Times
