New American Idol Judge Kara DioGuardi

Songwriter Kara DioGuardi will be the fourth judge in Amercian Idol's 8th season. Finally they are planning to spice things up a little in the reality show that's providing songwriters like her with plenty of work. Way to have an in and maybe a favored first dibs on working and writing for the winners. Not that she needs it but in any case.

You might not know her yet, but I guarantee you've heard some of the songs and music this 38 year old songwriter has composed or had a part in composing within the last few years. Here's just a sample of the artists she's writen music for:

- Celine Dion
- Kelly Clarkson
- Pink
- Christina Aguilera
- Enrique Iglesias
- Marc Anthony
- Taylor Hicks
- Carrie Underwood
- Hillary Duff
- Paris Hilton
- Bo Bice
- Diana DeGarno

What else. She worked for Billboard, was a judge on 'The One' (short lived reality series similar to Idol, canned after 4 episodes but what can you do), and currently senior vice president of A&R at Warner Brother's Records which she will still be doing during Idol. You figure someone who makes a living finding new music, new bands and artists to sign to Warner must have a strong opinion about music and performance.

Fun fact, she and Paula Abdul previously lived and wrote together for a few weeks. One of the co-written songs was 'Spinning Around' which became a #1 hit in Britain for artist Kylie Minogue.

I'm looking forward to seeing how things go this season of Idol with Kara DioGuardi added to the mix. Should be very interesting and at the least, distracting from the mostly predictable comments of the others.