Walter Afanasieff (born Vladimir Nikitich Afanasyev; February 10, 1958), formerly nicknamed Baby Love in the 1980s, is an American record producer and songwriter of Russian-Chinese descent. He was a collaborator with

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the ...

on her first six studio albums. He won the 1999 Grammy Award in the Record of the Year category for producing " My Heart Will Go On" by

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

, and the

2000 Grammy Award The 42nd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 23, 2000, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1999. Nominations were announced on January 4, 2000. Santana was the main r ...

for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical.

Personal life

Afanasieff was born in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

, Brazil. He is of Russian-Chinese descent; his maternal family is from China.

Career

Starting out as a working jazz musician in 1980, Afanasieff initially played keyboards with the jazz/fusion violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. Later, he formed The Warriors with another former Ponty sideman, guitarist Joaquin Lievano, and with 1980s music producer/songwriter and drummer Narada Michael Walden, and these experiences gave him the background and confidence to take an active role as a producer. Walden hired Afanasieff as a staff producer/arranger and began using him as a keyboardist on Whitney Houston's self-titled debut album released in 1985, which went on to become the artist's best-selling studio album to date. It was also during this time that Afanasieff and Walden began writing pop songs together. Together with his mentor Narada, Afanasieff's first major production was the title track of the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 19 ...

movie '' Licence to Kill'', sung by Gladys Knight and co-written by Afanasieff and Walden. One of Afanasieff's biggest hits as a producer was " My Heart Will Go On", the theme tune to the 1997 film ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unite ...

'', sung by Celine Dion. The song became the world's best-selling single of 1998.Songs from the year 1998 at Tsort.info
Afanasieff produced and arranged other motion picture soundtracks, including Disney's ''

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' (''The Young American and Marine T ...

'' (the Celine Dion/ Peabo Bryson title-track duet), ''

Aladdin Aladdin ( ; ar, علاء الدين, ', , ATU 561, ‘Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with ''The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'' (''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part o ...

'' (" A Whole New World") and '' The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' ("Someday"). Afanasieff was also the producer and arranger for " Go the Distance", the Oscar-nominated Michael Bolton song from the animated film ''

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted th ...

''. Afanasieff performs on most of his recordings (mainly keyboards, synthesizers and drum programming). Afanasieff created music with

from 1990 to 1998. He had a role in some of Carey's most successful songs, including "

Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''hero ...

", which he co-produced, co-wrote, and on which he played all of the music tracks. "Hero" was released as the second single from Carey's album ''

Music Box A music box (American English) or musical box (British English) is an automatic musical instrument in a box that produces musical notes by using a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder or disc to pluck the tuned teeth (or ''lamellae ...

'', and reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart on December 25, 1993. It remained at the top of the chart for four weeks. "Hero" has become one of Carey's signature songs, and Carey closes many of her concerts with it. Carey and Afanasieff also wrote " One Sweet Day", a duet between Carey and

Boyz II Men Boyz II Men (pronounced ''boys to men''), also known as B2M, is an American vocal harmony group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. They are currently a trio composed of baritone Natha ...

, which held the record for the longest run at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (16 weeks) for 23 years; the record was matched in 2017 by " Despacito", and broken by "

Old Town Road "Old Town Road" is the debut single of American rapper Lil Nas X, first released independently in December 2018. After gaining popularity, the single was re-released by Columbia Records in March 2019. Lil Nas X also recorded a remix with America ...

" in 2019. The song was nominated for the 1996 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, and received the ASCAP Song of the Year Award for 1996. In 1994, Carey released the Christmas song " All I Want for Christmas Is You", composed by Afanasieff and herself. As of December 2018, the song has earned cumulative worldwide sales of over 14 million copies. In 2009, Afanasieff started working with Russian singer Yulia Nachalova. Their album ''Wild Butterfly'' was released in 2012 on iTunes. They later produced a video "Zhdi menya" ("Wait for Me") in Russian, released on iTunes in 2015. In 2014, Afanasieff became head of the composers/producers department at Isina, a worldwide talent search and development mentorship for those seeking to pursue a career in music. In 2015, he became one of the mentors of the Russian TV project ''

Glavnaya Stsena ''Glavnaya Stsena'' ( Russian: Главная сцена; meaning "Main Stage"), is the third Russian version of the international vocal talent show '' X Factor''. All participants pass through the public auditions. The top prize is a personal to ...

'' ("Main Stage"), the Russian version of '' The X Factor''.

Awards

* 1999

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

in the Record of the Year category for producing " My Heart Will Go On" by

* 2000

in the Producer of the Year, Non-Classical category

Discography

References

External links