Walter Afanasieff (born February 10, 1958) is a multiple Grammy-award-winning
record producer and songwriter. He is best known for his long association with
Mariah Carey, for whom he was producer and co-writer for several years,
beginning in 1990. He won the 1999 Grammy Award in the Record of the Year
category for producing “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion, and the 2000 Grammy
Award for Non-Classical Producer of the Year.
Afanasieff has written and produced music for many other leading artists,
including Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Luther Vandross, Destiny's Child,
Kenny G, Michael Bolton, Darren Hayes (Savage Garden), Andrea Bocelli, Johnny
Mathis, Kenny Loggins, Barbra Streisand, Christina Aguilera, Ricky Martin, Marc
Anthony, Mika, Babyface, Josh Groban, Jordin Sparks, Tina Arena, Lara Fabian
and Leona Lewis.
Afanasieff was born Vladimir Nikitich Afanasieff (Russian: Владимир
Никитич Афанасьев) in São Paulo, SP, Brazil to Russian parents Nikita and
Tatiana. His father is from Leningrad in the Soviet Union and his mother
is from Harbin, China. His parents met in Brazil in the early 1950s.
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
leading 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 a large number of recording projects, including 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 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 the smash hit "My Heart Will
Go On," the theme tune to the 1997 film Titanic, sung by Celine Dion. The
song became the world’s best-selling single of 1998. Afanasieff produced
and arranged other successful motion picture soundtracks, including Disney's
Beauty and the Beast (the Celine Dion/Peabo Bryson title-track duet), Aladdin
(“A Whole New World”) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (“Some Day”). Afanasieff
was also the producer and arranger for “Go the Distance,” the Oscar-nominated
Michael Bolton song from the animated film Hercules.
Afanasieff performs on most of his recordings (mainly keyboards, synthesizers
and drum programming).
Afanasieff spent a significant part of his career creating music with Mariah
Carey, and had a role in many of Carey’s most successful songs, including
“Hero,” which he 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,
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,
which holds the record for the longest run at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100
(16 weeks total). 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.
