Shelly Meg Peiken is an American songwriter who is best known for co-writing the US No. 1 hits "What a Girl Wants" and "Come On Over Baby" by Christina Aguilera the US No. 2 hit "Bitch" by Meredith Brooks, "Almost Doesn't Count" by Brandy, and "Who You Are" by Jessie J. She has also written for or with artists and groups such as Britney Spears, The Pretenders, Natasha Bedingfield, Keith Urban, Celine Dion, Reba McEntire, Cher, Jessie J, Miley Cyrus, Ed Sheeran, Aaliyah, Lindsay Lohan, Ashley Tisdale, Selena Gomez, Idina Menzel and Demi Lovato and has had hundreds of songs licensed for TV and film.
Biography
Shelly Peiken grew up in Freeport, Long Island where she became interested in music at an early age. Later, she attended the University of Maryland where she studied fashion design, only to come to New York City afterwards where she spent many years developing her true passion as a singer-songwriter.
She signed her first publishing deal with boutique company, Hit & Run Music, and went on to write songs for Brandy, Natalie Cole, Celine Dion, The Pretenders, Britney Spears, Jessie J, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, INXS, Backstreet Boys, Keith Urban and many others.
In 1998, Peiken and Meredith Brooks earned a Best Rock Song Grammy nomination for "Bitch".
Further success followed with two No. 1's for Christina Aguilera, "What a Girl Wants" and "Come On Over Baby," "I Wanna Be With You" for Mandy Moore, "Hook Me Up" (a No. 1 in Australia, written with Greg Wells and The Veronicas), "Who You Are" (written with Toby Gad and Jessie J), "Human on the Inside" for the Pretenders (written with Mark McEntee), and "Almost Doesn't Count" for Brandy (written with Guy Roche).
She has blogged for sites such as Huffington Post, and Yamaha Music where she writes of her experiences as a songwriter, creativity, the challenges of the current music business, and the balancing of career and parenthood. She has a personal website and blog as well.
Peiken's first book, Confessions of a Serial Songwriter, was published by Backbeat Books, on March 1, 2016, and was nominated for Best Spoken Word Album at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.
She resides in Los Angeles with husband, film composer Adam Gorgoni and her daughter, Layla.
Artist recordings In 2020, Peiken began releasing singles from her debut album 2.0, etc…. Peiken called the album "a celebration of songwriting... I included songs from my career that either catapulted me in a commercial way but also songs I was very connected to and were never released commercially before. If I don't put them out there, nobody is ever going to hear them." The album includes previously unreleased songs "Just Wanna Be Your Girl," "George & John," and "Notebook," as well as her own recording of "What A Girl Wants" in celebration of its 20th anniversary as the first number 1 song of the century.
Discography Complete discography Year Title Artist Album1988"Love Takes Over"Tommy PageTommy Page "Ready for This Love"Samantha FoxI Wanna Have Some Fun "Carry Your Heart" Taylor DayneTell It to My Heart 1989 "Up All Night"Can't Fight Fate "I Can't Cry"Natalie ColeGood to Be Back1990 "He'll Never Know"Sweet SensationLove Child 1991 "Guess It Wasn't Mine" Curtis StigersCurtis Stigers "You're All That Matters To Me" 1992 "If I Were You"Celine DionCeline Dion "I Think I'm In Trouble"ExposéExposé1993 "Take A Piece of My Heart"Lulu I'm Back for More1994 "Take A Piece of My Heart"Jennifer BrownGiving You The Best1995 "Romeo's Twin"Niamh KavanaghFlying Bird 1996 "Have Mercy"Viktor LazloBack To Front "Human on the Inside"DivinylsUnderworld 1997 "Bitch" Meredith Brooks Blurring the Edges "Shatter" "I Need" "Birthday" "Wash my Hands" "Stuck On You"Victoria ShawVictoria Shaw "Peace and Love"Blessid Union of Souls Blessid Union of Souls 1998 "Almost Doesn't Count"Brandy Never Say Never "When I Remember When"Five Five "Hey Now Now"Swirl 360 Ask Anybody "Even If It Breaks My Heart" Cliff Richard Real as I Wanna Be "Woman and a Man" "Under My Tree" NSYNC Home for Christmas "Guess It's Christmas Time" "It's Not Goodbye"Laura Pausini La mia risposta 1999 "These Days"Brian Kennedy & Ronan Keating Now That I Know What I Want "What a Girl Wants" Christina Aguilera Christina Aguilera "Come On Over Baby" "Don't Make Me Love You" "Too Beautiful For Words" What a Girl Wants - B-side "Everytime You Cry"John Farnham & Human Nature Live at the Regent Theatre - 1st July 1999 "Turn The Page"Aaliyah Music of the Heart - Soundtrack "Bored with Myself"Meredith Brooks Deconstruction "Human"The Pretenders Viva el Amor "I'm Not Your Girl"Reba McEntire So Good Together 2000 "Last Night"Gloria Gaynor Last Night - Single "That's What Love Will Do" i5 i5 "First Kiss" "Rain Rain" Innosense So Together "So Together" "Don't Mess With My Love"M2M Shades of Purple "I Wanna Be With You"Mandy Moore Center Stage - Soundtrack "Almost Doesn't Count"Mark Wills Permanently 2001 "Better Love Next Time" Gladys Knight So Together "That's Why They Call It Love" "As Long As You're Loving Me"Vitamin C More "Rain Rain"Cher Living Proof "When I Get There"Dream It Was All a Dream "While You Were Gone"Jennifer Paige Positively Somewhere "17"Mandy Moore Mandy Moore "You Get Me"Michelle Branch The Spirit Room "Por Qué?" Myra Milagros "As If" Myra 2002 "Sleep Tonight"Jacob Young S-Curve "As If"Blaque Blaque Out "Super Love"Celine Dion A New Day Has Come "Stand In Your Way"Jennifer Love Hewitt BareNaked "It's Only Love" Joe Cocker Respect Yourself "Leave A Light on" "This Is Your Life" "Trouble With Goodbye"LeAnn Rimes Twisted Angel "Shine"Meredith Brooks Shine "Shut Up and Kiss Me or Just Shut Up"Michelle Wright Shut Up and Kiss Me "First Kiss" Nina Heaven "Jealous" "Whenever I Run"Keith Urban Golden Road 2003 "Forget Me Not"Celine Dion One Heart "Done" Lucy Woodward While You Can "Is This Hollywood" "The Trouble With Me" "Decadent Wish"Meat Loaf "Testify" single 2004 "Sweetest Pain"Haylie Duff Raising Helen - Soundtrack "Coulda Been"Kimberley Locke One Love "Something I Never Had"Lindsay Lohan Speak "Fools Like Me"Lisa Loeb The Way It Really Is "What's Real"Raven-Symoné This Is My Time 2005 "Better To Be Lonely"Tammin Whatever Will Be "Perfect Strangers"INXS Switch "Bad Habit" Sarah Hudson Naked Truth "Unlove You" "Lose It All"Backstreet Boys Never Gone 2006 "I'm Better"Ashley Parker Angel Soundtrack to Your Life "Dream in Color"Bianca Ryan Bianca Ryan 2007 "Map To My Heart"Celine Dion Taking Chances "Clear" Miley Cyrus Hannah Montana 2 / Meet Miley Cyrus "As I Am" "We'll Be Together" Ashley Tisdale Headstrong "Unlove You" "Positivity" "Love Me For Me" "Girl Like Me"Skye Sweetnam Sound Soldier "Hook Me Up"The Veronicas Hook Me Up 2008 "Aquí Estoy (You're Not Alone)"Kudai Nadha "Out From Under"Britney Spears Circus "One Love"Jordan Pruitt Permission to Fly "You Belong"Hercules and Love Affair Hercules and Love Affair 2009 "Masquerade"Ashley Tisdale Guilty Pleasure "The Way I Loved You"Selena Gomez and the Scene Kiss & Tell "Pieces" Allison Iraheta Just Like You "Trouble Is" 2010 "Freeze"Mêlée The Masquerade "Spotlight" Selena Gomez and the Scene A Year Without Rain "Ghost Of You" "Elevator" David Archuleta The Other Side of Down "Who I Am" "Good Place" 2011 "Pretending" Glee Cast Glee: The Music, Volume 6 "Extraordinary Merry Christmas" Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album Volume 2 "A Christmas Eve With You" "Who You Are"Jessie J Who You Are "Louder"Charice Louder/Lost The Best Thing "Mistake" Demi Lovato Unbroken "Aftershock" "Echo"Javier Colon Come Through For You 2012 "As A Blonde" Fefe Dobson Sunday Love "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" "Perfect Planet" Smash Mouth Magic "Out Of Love" "Better With Time" "Future X-Wife" "Justin Bieber" "The Game" "Take It Hard"J. Dash Tabloid Truth "Shake Santa Shake"Zendaya Disney Channel Holiday Playlist "Had Me @ Hello"Olivia Holt Make Your Mark Playlist "Had Me @ Hello"Luke Benward "Like Me Or Not"Ryan Beatty Because of You EP "Lemonade"Rachel Crow Rachel Crow 2013 "All or Nothing" Glee Cast All or Nothing (Glee Cast Version) "Outcast" Outcast (Glee Cast Version) "Who I Am"Ross Lynch Austin & Ally: Turn It Up 2014 "Dancin' By Myself"China McClain Disney Channel Play It Loud "Lifeline"Anastacia Resurrection 2015 "House On Fire"Ryan Cabrera Wake Up Beautiful "Rotten To The Core"Descendants Descendants "Evil"Dove Cameron Wicked World 2016 "If I Knew"Anouk Queen For A Day "Handwritten"Martina Stoessel Tini "Cake"Idina Menzel idina. 2017 "The Only High"The Veronicas The Only High - Single2018 "I'm A Mess"Bebe Rexha Expectations2019 "Watergirl"Cashmere Cat Princess Catgirl 2020 "Just Wanna Be Your Girl"Shelly Peiken 2.0 etc... "What A Girl Wants" "George & John" "Notebook"2021 "Stronger Than a Man"Bonnie Tyler The Best Is Yet to Come
References