Anne Preven

Anne Preven (born February 25, 1965) is an American songwriter, music publisher, and record producer. As a member of the

Preven was born in New York. Her father, David Preven, is a psychiatrist in New York City, and she was a mental health-worker at age 17, where she spent time with depressed adolescents. The experience provided the "psychotic and neurotic threads" in her songwriting lyrics, as well as her college major.[6]

Career

Preven graduated

After Ednaswap, Preven, Cutler and Coogan formed the short lived "Annetenna". The band signed with Columbia Records and produced an album. However, Columbia shelved the album after a company reorganization, and Annetenna subsequently disbanded.^[12] In 2001, the band eventually released all the songs for free through their website. Annetenna's song, "74 Willow," originally an Ednaswap song, was featured on HBO's Six Feet Under.^[13]

Preven's first big cut was "Sanctuary", which Madonna covered for her 1994 Bedtime Stories. Madonna was introduced to the song by a friend of Preven and Cutler, who heard an early version of it and thought "Madonna would love this song!" Madonna's version came out before Ednaswap had even received a record deal, and the song deviated from Preven's idea. Preven originally thought Madonna had ruined the song, going so far as to meeting with Madonna to plead for changes. However, upon hearing the song as part of the whole album, Preven says she "understood what [Madonna] was going for." Preven and Cutler's most famous cover was the song, "Torn".^[14] The two co-wrote the song in 1993 with producer Phil Thornalley before they had a band. Preven claims that the lyrics were written quickly. The first album recording of the song came from Danish singer Lis Sørensen in 1995, who was introduced to the song by Thornalley. A second version arrived in 1996 by Trine Rein, who was also introduced to the song by Thornalley. Ednaswap released their first version of "Torn" on their self-titled album.^[15]

A second version appeared on their 1996

After the dissolution of Ednaswap and Annetenna, Preven increasingly wrote and produced for other artists. She worked with Cutler on Sinéad O'Connor's 2000 Faith and Courage, and on Mandy Moore's 2001 self-titled album. They also wrote for Miley Cyrus, both as Hannah Montana on her Disney show, and on her first album, Breakout. Since then, she has worked with Katy Perry, Sinéad O'Connor, Demi Lovato, Jordin Sparks, Pixie Lott, Conway, Pnau, Adam Lambert, Lea Michele, Miranda Cosgrove, and Leona Lewis.^[20][21]

In 2007, she (along with co-writers Cutler and Henry Krieger) was nominated for an

For songwriting, Preven keeps a notebook with her and "always jots down poetry and prose entries." She then goes back through them in the studio to try and see if anything in the journal can be matched with a melody she is working on to become lyrics. She finds that hit songs are often those that sound similar to other songs, but she rejects trying to "genetically engineer" a song formally, holding that such songs "end up sounding like a ransom note."[28]

Pulse music group

In 2007, Preven and Cutler began their own music publishing company with record producer

Preven lives in Los Angeles. She has two children: Max and Violet.[8]

Discography

Selected songwriting discography

Selected production discography

Awards and nominations

• Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media ("Where The River Goes") (Nominee)^[23]

• Best Song ("
  Listen") (Winner)^[22]

• Best Song ("
  Listen") (Nominee)^[40]

• Best Song ("
  Listen") (Nominee)^[41]

Black Reel Awards

• Best Song ("
  Listen") (Nominee)^[42]

• Best Original Song ("
  Listen") (Nominee)^[43]