Walter "Wally" Afanasieff (born February 10, 1958) is a Grammy-award-winning record producer and songwriter who started out as Whitney Houston's arranger, but rose to success co-writing and co-producing music with Mariah Carey.

He has also written and produced music for many famous singers such Mariah Carey, Lionel Richie, Luther Vandross, Céline Dion, Savage Garden, Destiny's Child, Kenny G, Michael Bolton, Kenny Loggins, Barbra Streisand, Christina Aguilera, Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony, Babyface, Lara Fabian, Michael Jackson, Josh Groban, Clay Aiken, Leona Lewis and many more.

Life and work

Afanasieff was born in São Paulo, SP, Brazil. His family is from Russia and moved to Brazil in the late 1940s. Together with his musical mentor (production-wise), 80s top-producer Narada Michael Walden, his first big production was the title track of the James Bond movie Licence to Kill sung by Gladys Knight. One of his biggest hits as a producer was the Titanic smash hit My Heart Will Go On.

Afanasieff is a multi-instrumentalist; he plays drums, guitar, bass, and piano. He performs on most of his recordings (mainly keyboards, organ, piano, bass and drum-programming). In the large-scale arrangement he is known for producing, Afanasieff has worked with many well-known musicians and mixing engineers like Michael Landau (guitars), Nathan East (bass), Dann Huff (guitars), Mick Guzauski (mixing engineer), Greg Phillinganes (piano), and Bill Ross (string/orchestra arranger and conductor). The main productions took place at Afanasieff's own recording studios (Wally World) in San Rafael, California where he recorded mainly in digital.

Afanasieff spent the vast majority of his career creating music with Mariah Carey. He traveled and toured with her, playing piano live. He appeared in Carey's home videos talking about their creative process. During 1997's Butterfly album, Afanasieff and Carey reportedly had creative differences and were falling out. They have not worked together since, although on 2001's Glitter, Carey released one of the songs the pair had co-written during the Butterfly sessions, Lead the Way. After Carey's breakdown, E! Entertainment interviewed Afanasieff, who spoke highly of Carey, noting her hard work ethic and musical talent.

Beneath the senior portrait in his high school yearbook, Afanasieff wrote that his goal was to "write and play better than Keith Emerson" of Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

Walter Afanasieff currently resides in the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles, California with his girlfriend Katie Cazorla. He has three children: Christina, Isabella, and Andrei.

Awards

• 1999 Grammy Award in the Record of the Year category for producing "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion
• 2000 Grammy Award in the Producer of the Year, Non-Classical category

Notable discographies

Mariah Carey discography

Mariah Carey

• Love Takes Time (co-produced)

Emotions

• And You Don't Remember (co-written and co-produced)
• Can't Let Go (co-written and co-produced)
• If It's Over (co-produced)
• So Blessed (co-produced)
• Till the End of Time (co-written and co-produced)
• The Wind (co-produced)

MTV Unplugged

• I'll Be There (co-produced)

Music Box

• Dreamlover (co-produced)
• Hero (co-written and co-produced)
• Anytime You Need a Friend (co-written and co-produced)
• Music Box (co-written and co-produced)
• Without You (co-produced)
• Just to Hold You Once Again (co-written and co-produced)
• All I've Ever Wanted (co-written and co-produced)
• Everything Fades Away (co-written and co-produced)

Merry Christmas

• Silent Night (co-produced)
• All I Want for Christmas Is You (co-written and co-produced)
• O Holy Night (co-produced)
• Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) (co-produced)
• Miss You Most (at Christmas Time) (co-written and co-produced)
• Joy to the World (co-produced)
• Jesus Born on This Day (co-written and co-produced)
• Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (co-produced)
• Hark! the Herald Angels Sing/Gloria (in Excelsis Deo) (co-produced)
• Jesus What a Wonderful Child (co-written and co-produced)

Daydream

• Underneath the Stars (co-written and co-produced)
• One Sweet Day (co-written and co-produced)
• Open Arms (co-produced)
• I Am Free (co-written and co-produced)
• When I Saw You (co-written and co-produced)
• Forever (co-written and co-produced)
• Looking In (co-written and co-produced)

Butterfly

• Butterfly (co-written and co-produced)
• My All (co-written and co-produced)
• Fourth of July (co-written and co-produced)
• Close My Eyes (co-written and co-produced)
• Whenever You Call (co-written and co-produced)
• Outside (co-written and co-produced)

Glitter

• Lead the Way (co-written and co-produced)

Miscellaneous songs

• Never Too Far/Hero Medley (co-written and co-produced)
• Do You Think of Me (co-written and co-produced)

Céline Dion discography

Celine Dion (album)

• Beauty And The Beast (produced)
• Show Some Emotion (produced)
• Halfway To Heaven (produced)
• With This Tear (produced)
• Nothing Broken but My Heart (produced)

The Colour Of My Love

• Love Doesn't Ask Why (produced)

Let's Talk About Love

• My Heart Will Go On (co-produced)
• Tell Him (co-written and co-produced)
• Immortality (co-produced)

A New Day Has Come

• A New Day Has Come (co-produced)
• Prayer (co-produced)

Ricky Martin discography

• She Bangs (co-written and co-produced)
• Nobody Wants To Be Lonely (co-produced)

Josh Groban discography

Josh Groban (co-produced with David Foster)

• Gira con me questa notte (produced and arranged)
• Un Amore per Sempre (wrote music)

Closer

• Per Te (co-written with Josh Groban, produced)
• You're the Only Place (bonus track on internet edition only, co-written with Billy Mann)
• Broken Vow (co-written and originally performed by Lara Fabian)

With You

• With You (co-written with Josh Groban, produced)

Jessica Simpson discography

Irresistible

• When You Told Me You Loved Me
• To Fall in Love Again

Lara Fabian discography

Lara Fabian

• You are my heart (co-written)
• You're not from here (co-written)
• Broken Vow (co-written)

A Wonderful Life

• Walk Away (co-written with Kara DioGuardi)

Katharine McPhee discography

Katharine McPhee [Self-titled]

• Ordinary World (co-wrote and produced)

Other recordings

• O Come All Ye Faithful (produced)

Clay Aiken discography

Merry Christmas With Love

• O Holy Night (produced and arranged)
• Hark the Herald Angels Sing/O Come All Ye Faithful (produced and arranged)
• Merry Christmas With Love (produced and arranged)
• Mary Did You Know (produced and arranged)
• Don't Save It All For Christmas Day (produced and arranged)

All Is Well

• Christmas Waltz (produced and arranged)

References

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