Holly Knight is a Grammy Award-winning songwriter and musician, having written hits for artists such as Tina Turner, Pat Benatar, Heart, Cheap Trick and many others. She also played in the band Device (2) and is born in New York. Currently, she works as a music producer in Los Angeles.
Holly Knight is an accomplished songwriter and musician. She has written hits for some of the biggest artists in rock and roll. Her songs have won three Grammys for best vocal performance in the rock category. She was voted Best Songwriter in Rolling Stones' 11th annual poll, along with such luminaries as Phil Collins, Paul Simon, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen.
The New York native songwriter started studying classical piano at age four. By the time she reached her teens she was sneaking out of the house at night to see rock bands perform "I loved the outrageous lifestyle and rebelliousness of rock and roll, Holly says... 'My favorite songwriters have always been in bands, because they tend to be more artistically daring, more cutting edge. I guess that's why I've always enjoyed working with aggressive, rather eccentric rock singers. It's certainly kept my life interesting, and I've been lucky to work with some of the best."
Holly left home a few weeks shy of her 16th birthday, and by the age of 19 she had signed her first record deal. Her band Spider, was managed by Bill Aucoin (Kiss, Billy Idol), which helped get her first gig as a session player on keyboards for the'Kiss Unmasked'
Dreamland, her record company, was run by Mike Chapman, producer of such groups as The Knack, Blondie, and The Sweet and a hit songwriter in his own right. After two albums with Spider, she left the band, and moved out to L.A., at Mike's suggestion, to pursue her songwriting career. She signed with his publishing company, Chinnichap, and later Mike Chapman Publishing, then signed a six year co-publishing deal with EMI Publishing.
Mike and Holly wrote an incredible string of hits, starting with Better Be Good To Me (Tina Turner) and Love Is A Battlefield (Pat Benatar). Holly has also written songs for Heart (Never), Aerosmith (Ragdoll), Rod Stewart, (Love Touch), and the list goes on. She has also collaborated with many other songwriters, and recording artists over the years. Her bands Spider and Device, both had top forty hits: Device was on MTV's heavy-rotation playlist for four consecutive months. She has sung and performed on many albums, including backup vocals for Tina Turner, Rod Stewart and Heart. Her songs have been featured in box-office smashes such as Thelma and Louise, and Mad Max, Beyond The Thunderdome and Stewart Little II. (See Dicography)
Holly produced and co-wrote the title theme song for the wildly successful TV show called Angel. She also wrote and produced the title theme song for the CBS hit sitcom, Still Standing, which received not only the ASCAP award for recognition as one of the top TV series of 2003, but it also received the same award again in 2004.
Love Is A Battlefied and many other songs have been featured in Southpark, The Simpsons, and Family Guy, and most recently, Obsession was featured in this season's Nip/Tuck. Obsession was also in the movie What The Bleep.
In addition to writing, Holly is actively pursuing her producing career full time. She has a professional digital recording studio in her home.
Holly lives in L.A. with her two sons.