In 1980, Knight's first big break came when she played keyboards (uncredited) on Kiss' Unmasked album. [3] In the early 1980s, she helped form Spider (featuring Anton Fig of Late Show with David Letterman). Managed by Bill Aucoin ( Kiss and Billy Idol), they signed a recording contract with Dreamland Records, an RSO-distributed label. They released two albums: Spider (self-titled; 1980) and Between the Lines (1981). A lot of times, I sort of had to earn their trust,” she said. “So I would sneak into a corner and start to play Beethoven or something. People would listen and go, ‘Huh ... well, she can play.’” This is the story of a young girl with a dream and the story of the music scene of an iconic decade. Holly dedicates the book “to anyone who ever had a dream and was told ‘No’.”

Holly Knight (hardcover) : Target I Am The Warrior - By Holly Knight (hardcover) : Target

Holly joined a list of other trailblazing women by contributing her story to the 2017 book Because I Was a Girl: True Stories for Girls of All Ages, published by Henry Holt and Company. The Best" was featured at the end of Joe Biden's victory speech following his election to the presidency of the United States in 2021. [ citation needed]Pat Benatar - " Love Is a Battlefield"; " Invincible"; "Sometimes the Good Guys Finish First"; "Girl" Writing songs for Turner “always came from a place of strength and being fierce and just true to oneself." Tina Turner - " The Best"; " Better Be Good to Me"; " One of the Living"; "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" She wrote “Love Is a Battlefield” for Pat Benatar, “The Warrior” for Scandal featuring Patty Smyth and several Tina Turner classics, from "Better Be Good to Me" to "The Best." It was inside of us, but we didn’t talk about it,” Knight said. “What we did focus on was positivity and, without saying it, empowerment. The home life I had made me stronger. And I think what she went through made her stronger. So we had that.”

I Am the Warrior | Book by Holly Knight | Official Publisher

Holly Knight - "Heart Don't Fail Me Now"; "Howling at the Moon"; " Love Is a Battlefield"; "Sexy Boy"; "Nature of the Beast" "Palace of Pleasure"; "Howling At The Moon"; "It's Only Me"; "Why Don't You Love Me Like You Used To" The one thing I'll disagree with her about is in regard to her solo CD. I was astounded to read how much she hated it, how much she couldn't see herself as a lead singer and how she wishes she could buy up every copy and destroy them. I loved the album. It was a gem of a find in my trip to Canada. "Baby Me," "Howling at the Moon," even "Sexy Boy" were fantastic pop songs. And I, for one, am glad she didn't give "Heart Don't Fail Me Now" to Darryl Hall. Defiant, purposeful, and ultimately triumphant, her work with Tina Turner, Pat Benatar, and Heart, among others, also helped pave the way for the next generation of defining female musical masters including Amy Winehouse, Adele, and Lady Gaga. It was the music and words she wrote. But it was also the visual representations on MTV that helped define Holly's work for the masses. She was inducted in the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2013, standing side by side with the likes of Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, and Foreigner.

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Knight has written hits for some of the most successful artists in music, both on her own and in collaboration with others. For Pat Benatar, in addition to "Love Is a Battlefield", she wrote " Invincible". " The Best"—first recorded by Bonnie Tyler—became an international No. 1 single for Tina Turner. Knight wrote songs with Heart, Aerosmith, Rod Stewart, Bon Jovi, and many more. Tina Turner has recorded nine of her tunes, including "The Best", "Better Be Good to Me", and " In Your Wildest Dreams" (1996). Holly Knight was voted the Best Songwriter in Rolling Stone magazine's 11th annual poll, along with Phil Collins, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, and Bruce Springsteen. I wanted to be a songwriter," Knight said. "And here I am on the road with Tina Turner and she's teasing my hair because I told her I liked her hair.” Asked by an interviewer once why so many of her songs are about fighting or going into battle, Holly, realizing he was right, reflected: “…my songs were more about fighting for something, rather than with someone.” This memoir from one of the top songwriters of the 1980s details Holly Knight’s early life in New York, her connection with Blondie producer Mike Chapman, her brief membership in the group Spider, where she wrote “Better Be Good To Me,” and her reputation as a hitmaker. There are fond remembrances of her collaboration with Mike Chapman, meetings with Heart, Jon Bon Jovi, Rod Stewart, Steve Tyler of Aerosmith, and Paul Young, but she waxes the fondest of Kathy Valentine, Go-Gos bassist, and Tina Turner, who covered “Better Be Good To Me” and “The Best”—Bonnie Tyler sung it before her. The process of songwriting and the reactions to the finalized versions of the songs are of interest here. She's hoping people come away from "I Am the Warrior" understanding that “you don't get through this world without your own self-belief.”

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As to why, of all her famous songs, Holly chose I Am the Warrior as the title of her book, she says that when she first wrote this song, she didn’t know that it would be a big hit, nor did she know that it would “serve as a kind of theme song for the rest of my life. It didn’t feel autobiographical when I wrote it, but as I’ve learned, sometimes we don’t write songs – the songs write us.”

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Find sources: "Holly Knight"– news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( August 2017) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Knight was “floored” by Turner’s words, she recalls in advance of a July 13 book event at Changing Hands in Tempe.

I Am the Warrior: My Crazy Life Writing the Hits and Ro…

So I thought I would give it a shot," she said. "And as it turns out, it came very naturally to me, like it was oozing out of every pore.” But I love that she realizes that 22B3 was a masterpiece. It is. End to end. Still to this day, it holds up. And she's right, fans appreciate Paul's vocals much more than she gives credit. I can't speak for his personality or stage presence, but aside from the sheer 80s aspect of the album, Paul's voice helped complete just how good 22B3 is.

I mean, the '80s was great for everybody,” she said. "But some of the things that I experienced were like, 'How did I get here?'" She has been married three times, and dated Anton Fig and Paul Stanley in the 1980s. [3] Discography [ edit ] Studio albums [ edit ] Holly’s story is inspiring. She went from a 14-year-old girl working at a Sam Ash Music Store to one of songwriting’s elite – in a time when being a woman in the industry was a true anomaly. She has written some of the most recognizable hit songs and has worked with well-known artists, such as Pat Benatar, Heart, Rod Stewart, KISS, Bon Jovi, Steven Tyler and Tina Turner, just to name a few. In her story, you get a behind-the-scenes look at the music scene of the 1980s and some of the world’s biggest stars. She's had as amazing of a life as I'd imagined. Her willingness to be so honest about her experiences, exploits and journey to legendary status was consumed in just a couple of days. I couldn't put it down.