Diane Warren to be the 1998 Recipient of the University of Southern California's Prestigious Magnum Opus Award.

LOS ANGELES--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Oct. 1, 1998--Diane Warren will recieve the USC School of Music's 1998 Magnum Opus Award for artistic achievement.

Previous recipients have included Herb Alpert, Leonard Bernstein, Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Kamen and Quincy Jones. Warren will receive this honor at the annual Charles Dickens Dinner, Friday, Dec. 11, at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.

The Dinner Committee for the event will include Marilyn Bergman, David Foster, Michael Green and Thomas D. Mottola. The evening will feature special guest artists joining in a personal and musical tribute to Warren. Proceeds from the benefit event will launch the Diane Warren Music Scholarship at USC, to be awarded that evening to a talented young musician.

For close to two decades, Warren's songs have dominated the top of the charts like no other composer. Her No. 1 hits are an impressive sample of some of the most enduring vocal talents of the day. They include the Celine Dion ballad "Because You Loved Me" (from the film "Up Close and Personal") which received a Grammy Award, and Academy and Golden Globe nominations; "Unbreak My Heart" by Toni Braxton; and "How Do I Live" performed by LeAnn Rimes and Trisha Yearwood.

Currently, Aerosmith has a No. 1 hit with Warren's "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" from the motion picture "Armageddon." Her country smash "Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me" is a chart-topper for Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. Additionally, Boyz II Men will be performing "I Will Get There" for the DreamWorks motion picture "The Prince of Egypt" to be released in December.