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PHOTO: DIONNE WARWICK (b. December 12, 1940)
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Dionne Warwick
Being | 01/27/2014
Scintillating, soothing and sensual best describe the familiar and legendary voice of five-time Grammy Award winning music legend, DIONNE WARWICK, who has become a cornerstone of American pop music and culture. Warwick’s career, which currently celebrates 50 years, has established her as an international music icon and concert act. She has earned more than sixty charted hit songs and sold over 100 million records. She began singing professionally in 1961 after being discovered by a young songwriting team, Burt Bacharach and Hal David. She had her first hit in 1962 with “Don’t Make Me Over.” Less than a decade later, she had released more than 18 consecutive Top 100 singles, including her classic Bacharach/David recordings, “Walk on By,” “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” “Message to Michael,”"Promises Promises,” “A House is Not a Home,” “Alfie,” “Say a Little Prayer,” “This Girl’s in Love With You,” “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” “Reach Out For Me,” and the theme from “Valley of the Dolls.”
Warwick, and her songwriting team of Burt Bacharach & Hal David, racked up more than 30 hit singles, and close to 20 best-selling albums, during their first decade together.
Warwick received her first Grammy Award in 1968 for her mega-hit, “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” and a second Grammy in 1970 for the best-selling album, “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again.” She became the first African-American solo female artist of her generation to win the prestigious award for Best Contemporary Female Vocalist Performance. This award was only presented to one other legend, Miss Ella Fitzgerald.
Other African-American female recording artists certainly earned their share of crossover pop and R&B hits during the 1960′s, however, Warwick preceded the mainstream success of her musical peers by coming the first such artist to rack up a dozen consecutive Top 100 hit singles from 1963-1966.
Warwick’s performance at the Olympia Theater in Paris, during a 1963 concert starring the legendary Marlene Dietrich, skyrocketed her to international stardom. As Warwick established herself as a major force in American contemporary music, she gained popularity among European audiences as well. In 1968, she became the first African-American female artist to appear before the Queen of England at a Royal Command Performance. Since then, Warwick has performed before numerous kings, queens, presidents and heads of state.
Warwick’s recordings of songs such as “A House is not a Home,” “Alfie,” ”Valley of the Dolls,” and “The April Fools,” made her a pioneer as one of the first female artists to popularize classic movie themes.
Warwick began singing during her childhood years in East Orange, New Jersey, initially in church. Occasionally, she sang as a soloist and fill-in voice for the renowned Drinkard Singers, a group comprised of her mother Lee, along with her aunts and uncles. During her teens, Warwick and her sister Dee Dee started their own gospel group, The Gospelaires.
Warwick attended The Hartt College of Music in Hartford, Connecticut, and during that time, began making trips to New York to do regular session work. She sang behind many of the biggest recording stars of the 1960′s including Dinah Washington, Sam Taylor, Brook Benton, Chuck Jackson, and Solomon Burke, among many others. It was at this time that a young composer named Burt Bacharach heard her sing during a session for The Drifters and asked her to sing on demos of some new songs he was writing with his new lyricist Hal David. In 1962, one such demo was presented to Scepter Records, which launched a hit-filled 12 year association with the label.
Known as the artist who “bridged the gap,” Warwick’s soulful blend of pop, gospel and R&B music transcended race, culture, and musical boundaries. In 1970, Warwick received her second Grammy Award for the best-selling album, “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again,” and began her second decade of hits with Warner Bros. Records. She recorded half a dozen albums, with top producers such as Thom Bell, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Jerry Ragavoy, Steve Barri, and Michael Omartian. In 1974, she hit the top of the charts with “Then Came You,” a milliion-selling duet with The Spinners. She then teamed up with Isaac Hayes for a highly successful world tour, “A Man and a Woman.”
In 1976, Warwick signed with Arista Records, beginning a third decade of hit-making. Arista Records label-mate Barry Manilow produced her first Platinum-selling album, “Dionne,” which included back-to-back hits “I’ll Never Love This Way Again,” and “Déjà vu.” Both recordings earned Grammy Awards, making Warwick the first female artist to win the Best Female Pop and Best Female R&B Performance Awards.
Warwick’s 1982 album, “Heartbreaker,” co-produced by Barry Gibb and the Bee Gees, became an international chart-topper. In 1985, she reunited with composer Burt Bacharach and longtime friends Gladys Knight, Elton John and Stevie Wonder to record the landmark song “That’s What Friends Are For,” which became a number one hit record around the world and the first recording dedicated to raising awareness and major funds for the AIDS cause in support of AMFAR, which Warwick continues to support.
Throughout the 1980′s and 1990′s, Warwick collaborated with many of her musical peers, including Johnny Mathis, Smokey Robinson, Luther Vandross, Jeffrey Osbourne, Kashif and Stevie Wonder. Warwick was also host of the hit television music show, “Solid Gold.” In addition, she recorded several theme songs, including “Champagne Wishes & Caviar Dreams,” for the popular television series “Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous,” and “The Love Boat,” for the hit series from Aaron Spelling. More recently, Warwick recorded an album of duets, “My Friends & Me,” for Concord Records, a critically acclaimed Gospel album, “Why We Sing,” for Rhino/Warner Records, and a new jazz album, ”Only Trust Your Heart,” a collection of standards, celebrating the music of legendary composer Sammy Cahn for Sony Red/MPCA Records.
More recently, Warwick has added “author” to her list of credits with two best-selling children’s books, “Say A Little Prayer,” and “Little Man,” and her first best-selling autobiography, “My Life As I See It” for Simon & Schuster.
Always one to give back, Warwick has supported and campaigned for many causes and charities close to her heart, including AIDS, The Starlight Foundation, children’s hospitals, world hunger, disaster relief and music education for which she has been recognized and honored and has raised millions of dollars. She served as Global Ambassador for Health and Ambassador for the United Nations’ Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO). A New Jersey school was named in her honor, The Dionne Warwick Institute in recognition of her accomplishments and support of education. Warwick was also a key participating artist in the all-star charity single, “We Are the World,” and in 1984, performed at “Live Aid.”
Celebrating 50 years in entertainment, and the 25th Anniversary of “That’s What Friends Are For,” Warwick hosted and headlined an all-star benefit concert for World Hunger Day in London and will continue to do so annually, was honored by the Desert Aids Project with its prestigious 2011 Steve Chase Humanitarian Arts & Activism Award, was recognized by AMFAR in a special reunion performance, alongside Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder at its Anniversary Gala in New York City, and was honored by Clive Davis at his legendary Pre-Grammy Party Gala.
Most recently, Warwick was inducted into the GRAMMY MUSEUM in Los Angeles where a special 50th Anniversary exhibit was unveiled and an historic program and performance was held in the Clive Davis Theater, hosted by Clive Davis, Burt Bacharach and Grammy Museum Executive Director, Bob Santelli.
Currently, Warwick just completed recording a new studio album commemorating her 50th Anniversary. Set for release this Fall, the album is being produced by Phil Ramone, featuring special new material written by her longtime friend and legendary composer Burt Bacharach.
Warwick’s pride and joy are her two sons, singer recording artist David Elliott and award-winning music producer Damon Elliott and her family. Warwick has recently embarked on her 50th Anniversary World Concert Tour which will take her to all continents and countries that she has performed and visited throughout her illustrious and celebrated 50 year career.
(courtest: www.DionneWarwick.us)
Dionne Warwick 1940–
Vocalist
A popular recording artist and concert performer since the early 1960s, Dionne Warwick has so firmly established herself with the public that hit records now seem icing on the cake rather than an attention getting neccessity. By becoming a trend-defying musical fixture, Warwick has achieved one of her early goals. “Someday I want the kind of loyalty among audiences that Ella Fitzgerald has. So that if I want to stop for two years or ten years, I could come back and still be Miss Dionne Warwick,” Warwick told Newsweek in 1966. Though more than three decades have passed since her initial success, and several years have gone by since she has had a hit record, Warwick can still sell out concert halls and supper clubs. “In an age when the music industry is crammed to bursting with pretentious one-hit wonders, it was an education and a privilege to witness an artist with true class, style and talent,” wrote a reviewer for Ethnic Newswatch about Warwick’s appearance with the BBC Concert Orchestra at London’s Royal Festival Hall in 1995.
Dionne Warwick was born Marie Dionne Warwick in East Orange, New Jersey, a suburb of New York City, in 1940. Her father, Mancei, worked as a chef and butcher. Her mother, Lee, managed a well-known gospel group called the Drinkard Singers. The family included Warwick’s two younger siblings, Dee Dee, and Mancei, Jr. Warwick’s parents were devout Methodists who gave their children a highly moral and extremely supportive upbringing. “They have always been 100 percent for me. As long as I’m happy and can earn a decent living, they’re happy for me,” Warwick said of her parents to Mary Smith of Ebony in 1968.
As a teenager in the mid-1950s, Warwick, her sister Dee Dee, and two cousins formed a group called The Gospelaires. The group performed locally and sometimes worked as back up singers for other acts. Planning to become a public school music teacher, Warwick accepted a scholarship to study at the University of Hartford,’s Hartford, College of Music. In 1961, during a summer vacation from college, Warwick rejoined The Gospelaires to sing back up on The Drifters recording of “Mexican Divorce.” Conducting the session was the song’s composer Burt Bacharach. “She was singing louder than everybody else so I couldn’t help noticing
At a Glance…
Born Marie Dionne Warrick, December 12, 1940, in East Orange, NJ; daughter of Mancel (a chef), and Lee Warrick (business manager for a musical group); married Bill Elliott (actor and jazz drummer), c. 1967 (divorced 1975); children: David and Damon. Education: Attended Hartt College of Music, University of Hartford. Hartford, CT. c. 1959-62.
Career: Sang with the Gospelaires, a musical group, from 1955 to early 1960s. Recording session back up singer for The Drifters, and other musical groups in the early 1960s. Solo performer with numerous hit records, beginning with “Don’t Make Me Over” in 1962. Other hits include “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” “Walk On By,” “Trains and Boats and Planes,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?,” “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” “I say a Little Prayer for You,” “Heartbreaker,” “Deja Vu,” and “That’s What Friends Are For.” Host of television program Solid Gold, 1980-81. Spokesperson for the Psychic Friends Network 1992-97. Made film appearances in Slaves, 1969, and Rent-A-Cop, 1987,
Awards: Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Pop Vocal (Female) for “Do You Know the Way to San lose? in 1968, I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” in 1970, and “I’ll Never Love This Way Again” in 1979. Grammy Award for Best Rhythm and Blues Vocal (Female) for “Deja Vu” in 1979. Gold Records for “I Say a Little Prayer” In 1968, “l’ll Never Love This Way Again,” in 1979, “Then Came You” in 1974, and “That’s What Friends are For" in 1986, National Association of Colored People (NAACP) Entertainer of the Year Award, 1986; NAACP Key of Life Award, 1990; Jackie Robinson Foundattion Robie Award, 1992.
Addresses: Residence —Brazil; Business; —Arista Records, 6 W. 57th St, New York, NY, 10019.
her,” Bacharach recalled to Smith. “Not only was she clearly audible, but Dionne had something. Just the way she carries herself, the way she works, her flow and feeling for the music—it was there when I first met her. She had, and still has, a kind of elegance, a grace that very few other people have.”
Bacharach, and his lyricist partner Hal David, asked Warwick to sing on a demonstration record of one of their compositions. The record was heard by Florence Greenberg of Scepter Records, a small label specializing in rhythm and blues. Greenberg did not like the song but did like the singer and signed Warwick to a contract. Warwick’s first recording for Scepter, released in 1962, was more Bacharach-David material. Though Scepter was promoting the song “I Smiled Yesterday” as the potential hit, it was the record’s “B” side, the powerfully plaintive “Don’t Make Me Over,” that caught on and went to the number twenty-one position on the Billboard chart. A misspelling on the record—Warwick instead of Warrick—gave Warwick her stage name.
The trio of Warwick-Bacharach-David followed up with a long string of top ten hits over the next decade, including “Anyone Who Had a Heart” and “Walk on By,” both in 1964, “Message to Michael” in 1966, “I Say a Little Prayer for You” in 1969, “This Girl’s in Love with You” in 1969. Other hits include “Trains and Boats and Planes,” “Alfie,” “You’ll Never Get to Heaven,” and “Make It Easy on Yourself.” Warwick took two songs from Bacharach and David’s 1968 Broadway musical Promises, Promises —“I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” and the title song—to the pop charts. She won the Grammy Award for Contemporary Pop Vocal twice during this period—for “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” in 1968 and “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” in 1970.
Bacharach told Newseek that Warwick’s sound “has the delicacy and mystery of sailing ships in bottles. It’s tremendously inspiring. We cut songs for her like fine cloth, tailor-made.” Though numerous other performers made hits of Bacharach-David songs, including The Carpenters with “Close to You,” and B.J. Thomas with “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head,” it was their work with Warwick that best exemplfied their distinctive style. In The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, Phil Hardy and Dave Laing sum up the Warwick-Bacharach-David magic as follows—“Warwick provided the light, lithe voice, David the literate, witty lyrics and Bacharach the imaginative melodies, unusual arrangements and complex rhythms that few singers other than Warwick could have managed: on ’Anyone Who Had Heart,’ for example, she deftly weaves into and through 5/4 to 4/4 to 7/8.” Strangely enough, it was non-Bacharach-David song— “Theme from The Valley of the Dolls,” written by Andre and Dory Previn—that brought Warwick closest to the top of the chart in the 1960s. The song climbed to number two in early 1968.
Warwick’s appeal crossed racial barriers. She was to the 1960s what Nat King Cole had been to the 1950s—a mainstream performer who happened to be black. Nevertheless, Warwick occasionally faced race related problems such as bigoted hecklers in the audience and department store clerks who questioned her ability to pay for costly items (shopping is one of Warwick’s primary pastimes and for a time she rented an additional apartment just to store her clothes). Cool and confident, Warwick responded to anti-black sentiment with cutting remarks and, if neccessary, forceful letters to local authorities. Having grown up in a racially mixed, lower middle class community in the North, Warwick was never hesitant about appearing in the South. “To me, Mississippi is just a long word. They’ve got their problems, but they’re not going to make them my problems,” Warwick explained to Ebony in 1968.
In 1972, Bacharach and David brought their song writ-ing partnership to an acrimonious end. The split shocked Warwick and left her unable to fulfill her obligation to Warner Bros., the record company with which she had signed the previous year, to make a new album of Bacharch-David material. “I had heard the scuttlebutt but I thought if anybody would know, I would know. Famous last words. I found out in the paper like everybody else that they weren’t going to do the album, they weren’t writing together, they weren’t even talking to each other. What hurt me the most was that I thought I was their friend. But I was wrong. They did not care about Dionne Warwick. It was devastating,” Warwick told Stephen Holden of Rolling Stone Threatened with a breach of contract suit from Warner Bros., Warwick sued Bacharach and David and eventually won an out-of-court settlement.
Though her collaboration with The Spinners on the song “Then Came You,” went to the top of the Billboard chart in the autumn of 1974, Warwick’s career languished for much of the 1970s. Warwick’s personal life also reached a low point during this period. Her marriage to Bill Elliott, a musician and actor whom she had married in 1967, began to founder. On the advice of an astrologer and numerologist, Warwick added an e to the end of her last name in the hope improving her fortunes. The extra letter did not help. “Every place I worked that had the ‘e’ on the marquee, something went wrong,” Warwick told Rich Wiseman of People. Warwick and Eliot, who had two young sons together, were divorced in 1975. Two years later, Warwick’s father died suddenly and her mother suffered a stroke. To deal with her personal and professional troubles, Warwick turned to almost nonstop touring. “I felt I’d blow emotionally if I didn’t immerse myself in work. I pushed myself,” Warwick told Wiseman.
Warwick’s career got back on track when she signed with Arista records in 1979. Arista president Clive Davis, who has also been instrumental in the career of Warwick’s cousin, Whitney Houston, was excited and proud to have Warwick on his label. “I can see now that while I was at Warners, everything was wrong but me. Now, once again, everything is being done absolutely for me. There’s no overshadowing. I’m sitting on top of everything, which is the way it should be,” Warwick told Holden.
Davis arranged for Barry Manilow to produce Warwick’s first Arista album, Dionne. Warwick was at uneasy at first about working with Manilow, fearing their differing styles would clash. She was especially concerned that the album might have a “disco” sound. Warwick was deliberately ignoring the disco trend. “I’m too much of a snob to do faddish material,” she explained to Wiseman. Happily, the Warwick-Manilow collaboration was spectacularly successful, resulting in the hits “I’ll Never Love This Way Again” and “Deja Vu.” Each song earned a Grammy award for Warwick (in the pop Female Vocal and in Rhythm and Blues Female Vocal categories, respectively). Manilow told Wiseman that “Dionne is one of the all-time best. She doesn’t have to snort coke and wait for the lightning bolt to strike.”
Warwick further increased her visibility by hosting the television show Solid Gold, which featured a countdown of the week’s top hits and guest appearances by popular recording artists. Warwick began hosting the show in July 1980 and was fired in the Spring of 1981. The official reason for the firing was that the producers wanted a younger host to attract a younger audience but there were rumors that the real reason was that Warwick was temperamental and difficult to work with. Warwick denied being temperamental, only perfectionist, and said that sexism and racism had a great deal to do with her dismissal. She claimed that female performers who assert their opinions are unfairly labelled “difficult.” Also, one of her chief concerns as host was to insure that black performers had their share of attention and were presented in the best possible light. Warwick was critical of her replacement, singer Marilyn McCoo, formerly of The Fifth Dimension. “I’m angry at her, and it’s not sour grapes,” Warwick told Dennis Hunt of Ebony “She came in with an I’II-do-anything-you-want-me-to-do attitude … She came in at a subservient position, which is not right for a black woman. When I was with the show, I was always in a position of strength, I was the main person on the show, but she’s secondary… She’s a black woman, and she should not have settled for less. You have to fight for what you can get.”
The Solid Gold brouhaha had little effect on Warwick’s popularity. The title song from her 1982 album Heart-breaker took her yet again to the top ten on the Billboard chart. The song was written by Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees, who also produced the album. As with Manilow three years earlier, Warwick was reluctant to work with Gibb, an established performer/composer whose style was very different from her own. Also, she was concerned that their collaboration might be replica of Gibb’s recent work on Barbra Streisand’s Guilty album. “There’s some of the Bee Gees sound on my album,” Warwick explained to Hunt. “But that’s Barry’s style, and you can’t avoid it. But at least the Bee Gee thing isn’t overwhelming. The main thing is that the album did not turn out to be Guilty II It just had to be different from Streisand’s. I think we were successful in that. The songs on this album are in my style, not hers.”
Since the early 1980s, Warwick has devoted much of her time to charitable activities. In 1984, she was one of 45 top performers to sing on the hit single “We Are the World,” the proceeds of which went to USA for Africa’s hunger relief program. Warwick brought together Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, and Elton John to join her on the recording “That’s What Friends Are For.” The song, written by Burt Bacharach, with whom Warwick had patched up her differences, and lyricist Carole Bayer Sager, was a smash that went to number one on the Billboard chart in January 1986 and raised an estimated $2 million for AIDS research. Warwick, who has hosted countless fundraising benefits for AIDS research, has also been involved in raising awareness of other health issues, including Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Sickle Cell Anemia. In the mid-1980s she founded the group BRAVO (Blood Revolves Around Victorious Optimism) to raise awareness of blood diseases.
Bringing her social concerns to the music industry, Warwick served on the Entertainment Commmision of the National Political Congress of Black Women (NPCBW). In 1995, she co-chaired with Melba Moore, a special meeting of the commission during the NPCBW’s convention in Seattle. One of the commission’s major concerns was gangsta rap lyrics, which the NPCBW views as degrading and insulting to black women. “There are some songs that are just a little too much. I feel that our young people are creative enough musically to find positive sides of life and put them into songs. I know they can do it,” Warwick told Don Thomas of Ethnic Newswatch
A heavy schedule of charitable activities has not caused Warwick’s singing career to languish. She has continued to record and perform regularly. In 1987, her duet with Jeffery Osborne on the song “Love Power” went to number twelve on the Billboard chart. Among her notable albums is the 1992 release Friends Can Be Lovers, which featured the song “Sunny Weather Lover,” Warwick’s first Bacharach-David material in twenty years. Another song on the album, “Love Will Find a Way,” was written by Warwick’s son David Elliott and his songwriter partner, Terry Steele. The song was performed as a duet with cousin Whitney Houston. The album also features Warwick in a duet with close friend Luther Vandross on the song “Fragile,” written by pop star Sting. “The entire album feels the way that it actually happened, which is why I am so proud of it,” Warwick told Jet “It’s full of love. It’s full of friendship, it’s full of family and it’s full of people (producers) who wanted to give the very best that they could possibly give.”
Another notable album is Aquarela do Brasil (Watercolors of Brazil), a collection of Brazillian music released in 1994. Warwick first visited Brazil in the early 1960s and has become so entranced by the South American country that she has bought a home there and has studied Portuguese. “I love Brazil. I see there so much of what we’ve lost here in America. I see complete families, from grandmother to grandchild and in between at the malls on Saturdays together, on Sundays at the park together … I think the most important thing is that we all have problems obviously, but for whatever reasons it appears that through it all, people in Brazil still have the ability to smile, there is always tomorrow still. This attitude particularly captivated me,” Warwick told Cristina M. Eibscher of News from Brazil in 1995. Warwick has adopted a favela or shanty town in Rio de Janeiro. “The Brazillian people have been offering me so much that I felt that it was time for me to give something in return for their hospitality and friendship. That’s when I decided to adopt a favel and help people who are needy. It’s a great feeling to know that you can contribute for the happiness and well being of others, especially for the well being of Brazillian children,” Warwick explained to Eibscher.
Selected discography:
Presenting Dionne Warwick, 1964.
Anyone Who Had a Heart, 1964.
Make Way for Dionne Warwick, 1964.
The Sensitive Sound of Dionne Warwick, 1965.
Here I Am, 1965.
Dionne Warwick in Paris, 1965.
Here Where There is Love, 1967.
On Stage and in the Movies, 1967.
Windows of the World, 1967.
The Magic of Believing, 1967.
Valley of the Dolls and Others, 1968.
Soulful, 1969.
Greatest Motion Picture Hits, 1969.
Dionne Warwick’s Golden Hits, Volume 1, 1969.
Dionne Warwick’s Golden Hits, Volume 2, 1970.
I’ll Never Fall in Love Again, 1970.
Very Dionne, 1971.
Promises, Promises, 1971.
From Within, Volume 1, 1972.
Dionne, 1973.
Just Being Myself, 1973.
Then Came You, 1975.
Track of the Cat, 1975.
Love at First Sight, 1977.
Dionne, 1979.
No Night So Long, 1980.
Hot! Live and Otherwise, 1981.
Heartbreaker, 1983.
Finder of Lost Loves,
Dionne and Friends, 1986.
Anthology, 1962-1971, 1986.
Masterpieces, 1986.
Reservations for Two, 1987.
Dionne Warwick Sings Cole Porter, 1990.
Hidden Gems: The Best of Dionne Warwick, 1992.
Friends Can Be Lovers, 1993.
Aquarela do Brasil, 1994.
From the Vaults, 1995.
Sources
Books
Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia Brooklyn, NY: Carlson Publishing, 1993.
Elrod, Bruce C. Your Hit Parade Ann Arbor, MI: Popular Culture Ink, 1994
Hardy, Phil, and Dave Laing. The Faber Companion to 20th-century Popular Music London: Faber and Faber, 1992.
Notable Black American Women. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, Inc., 1992.
Periodicals
Billboard, October 1, 1994, p. 14.
California Voice, June 18, 1995, p. 3.
Cincinnati Call and Post, January 26, 1995, p. 1B.
Contemporary Musicians, Volume 2, 1990, p. 244-246.
Ebony, May 1968, p. 37-42; May 1983, p. 95-100; April 1995, p. 22.
Jet, March 29, 1993, p. 54-58; January 17, 1994, p. 56.
Los Angeles Times, October 4, 1992, p. K1, 10.
Miami Times, February 23, 1995, p. 1B.
Michigan Chronicle, February 13, 1996, p. 1D.
News from Brazil, October 31, 1995, p. 41.
Newsweek, October 10, 1966, p. 101-102.
New York Beacon, July 31, 1996, p.26.
New York Times, May 12, 1968, p. D17, 20; December 7, 1995, p. D8.
Oakland Post, December 10, 1995, p. 8B.
People, October 15, 1979, p. 85.
Rolling Stone, November 15, 1979, p. 16-17.
http://www.allmusic.com/.../the-dionne-warwick-collection...
AllMusic Review by Steve Huey
Rhino's The Dionne Warwick Collection: Her All-Time Greatest Hits is the best Warwick collection on the market, culling 24 tracks from her '60s prime. Although it doesn't cover her entire career, it does feature nearly all of her very best material, and it's all in the style that made her famous; top to bottom, it's a stronger, more consistent listen than anything else out there. This was the period when she established herself as the premier interpreter of Burt Bacharach's music, and pulled off the neat trick of appealing to both R&B and easy listening audiences. Warwick was soulful without necessarily singing soul music per se; her smooth, light delivery and polished technique meshed very well with the sophisticated pop of the Bacharach/Hal David team, who co-composed all but one of the songs included here. No other singer navigated Bacharach's deceptively tricky compositions with such effortless grace; the ease she projects on the rhythmically complex "I Say a Little Prayer" and "Promises, Promises" is startling. It's no wonder her versions of Bacharach's songs often became the definitive ones. This compilation doesn't cover Warwick's later hits, like the Spinners' duet "Then Came You," "That's What Friends Are For," or her late-'70s/early-'80s adult contemporary fare; for those, look to Arista's The Definitive Collection, which touches on every phase of her career, or the more specific Greatest Hits (1979-1990). But for a sparkling demonstration of everything that made Warwick great, there's no better buy than The Dionne Warwick Collection.
https://jazzamatazz.wordpress.com/.../rolling-stones.../
Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick (born Marie Dionne Warrick on December 12, 1940), is a five-time Grammy Award-winning singer… She is best known for her partnership with songwriters and producers Burt Bacharach and Hal David. According to Billboard magazine, Dionne Warwick is second only to Aretha Franklin as the female vocalist with the most Billboard Hot 100 chart hits during the rock era (1955-1999). Warwick charted a total of 56 hits in the Billboard Hot 100.[1]. The artist scored crossover hits on the Rhythm & Blues charts and the Adult Contemporary charts. Joel Whitburn’s tome on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts entitled “Top Pop Singles 1955-1999” ranked Dionne Warwick as the 20th most popular of the top 200 artists of the rock era based upon the Billboard Pop Singles Charts. (from Wikipedia)
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/news/interview-dionne-warwick/
http://www.jazzwax.com/2010/10/interview-dionne-warwick.html
Dionne Warwick is a big deal. How big? In the past 52 years, she has had more Hot 100 hits than any other female artist except Aretha Franklin. In 1968 alone she had six
Interestingly, Dionne has had two mammoth careers. The first
Here's part of my interview with Dionne, 69, minus the material in my Wall Street Journal profile:
Dionne Warwick: No. I now live in New Jersey. I sold my home in Bahia, Brazil, and returned to live in the U.S. five years ago, when my sister and mother became ill. I call Brazil my stress-free country. Everything is very laid back. I love the samba. Brazilian music is sublime. It’s such happy music, and there are always smiles on people’s faces down there.
JW: Are you planning to record a bossa nova album?
DW: I'd love to. You know, I recorded one Brazilian
JW: What did you learn about singing at your grandfather’s Methodist church in New Jersey and at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark?
DW: The meaning of words. Gospel is basically the Bible in song. The words are always so positive. Melody also is very important in gospel. I’ve been singing in church since age six and taking piano lessons since age nine.
JW: When Burt Bacharach discovered you, he asked you to record a demo, yes?
JW: Burt wrote It’s Love That Really Counts, intending it for
JW: What was Greenberg like?
DW: Florence [pictured] loved every person on her roster. She loved us all. And what a roster—the Shirelles, Chuck Jackson, the Isley
JW: How did you work with Burt on all of those songs?
DW: I was signed to Burt and Hal's production company,
JW: What don’t most people know about your Bacharach-David hits?
DW: That they were all difficult, musically. Burt’s complex melodies and shifting time signatures within the song were tough. You had to
JW: Which take did he often choose for the master?
DW: Usually the second or third [laughs].
JW: When you realized he was doing this, what did you say when he called for multiple takes?
DW: After the 10th take on a song, I’d say, “Burt, I think we got it the third time." Recording that way can be trying.
JW: Did singing so many takes of the same song take the edge off your attack?
DW: Not really. I’d just find another ambiance to put in
JW: Why were the female British pop singers so intent on copying your versions?
DW: Because the songs were hits, and they were hungry. But it wasn't just with my hits. Every American female artist was being
JW: Did you ever run into Cilla?
DW: Yes, once in London. It wasn’t pleasant. Lifting what I was doing was the way of the world over there. I guess they all hoped it would be their ticket to hitting it big in the States. Interpretations are one thing. Copying a version that closely, with my phrasing and delivery, is a challenge.
JW: Who asked you to participate in We Are the World in 1985?
DW: Quincy Jones. And I was paired with Willie Nelson [laughs]. That was the most unlikely pairing. But it worked.
JW: How did you wind up at Arista Records?
DW: Clive Davis, who started the label, and I were on a TV
JW: Who did Davis assign as your producer?
DW: Barry Manilow.
JW: What did you think?
DW: At first I didn’t think it would work. I thought Barry was incredible with his own albums but that he wouldn't get me.
JW: What changed your mind?
DW: When we met, Barry had really done his homework.
JW: What did you say to him when he produced I'll Never Love This Way Again and it became your first huge hit at the label in 1979?
DW: I said, "I think I was right to have chosen you as my producer" [laughs].
JW: Is your album of Sammy Cahn songs going to be released soon?
DW: I hope so.
JW: Was it a mistake to have become the spokesperson for
DW: Look, it was a job. Recordings weren’t happening, and I had to feed my family and keep a roof over my head.
JazzWax clips: Here's a clip of Dionne Warwick singing Anyone Who Had a Heart, with a great photomontage...
Here's take #10 of I Say a Little Prayer, which became the master...
Here's That's What Friends Are For (1985), with Dionne, Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder...
http://www.rhino.com/article/happy-50th-dionne-warwick-here-i-am
Happy 50th: Dionne Warwick, Here I Am
50 years ago today, Dionne Warwick released her fifth full-length studio release, an album which may not have delivered any smash hits but went on to be viewed one of the classic albums of her career nonetheless.
Produced by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, just like the four albums that preceded it, Here I Am seemingly had a pop chart advantage with its title track, which had been featured in the hit film What's New, Pussycat? (The movie's theme song, of course, was also a Bacharach / David composition.) Alas, “Here I Am” made it no further than #65 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the follow-up single, “Lookin' with My Eyes,” made it precisely one spot higher before beginning its descent. Indeed, the only top-40 hit to emerge from the album was “Are You There (With Another Girl),” which is the unlikeliest of the three of have become a hit, given its unique instrumentation.
Here I Am has often been cited as the Warwick album where Burt Bacharach started to hit his stride as a songwriter, expanding beyond the typical pop songs of the day and getting more creative with his compositions. Lest it be forgotten, however, Warwick also tackled songs by other composers, including “Once in a Lifetime,” written by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse, and “I Love You Porgy,” from Porgy & Bess, even serving up a little religion by covering “This Little Light.”
DIONNE WARWICK CELEBRATES 50 YEARS IN SHOW BUSINESS
October 3, 2012
Dionne Warwick- "Anyone Who Had A Heart" 1964 Original Top 10 Hit:
Writes Nick Tosches, the renowned writer, music journalist, novelist, biographer and poet in the January 7, 1972 issue of the rock magazine FUSION; ".getting into Dionne Warwick is like finding buried treasure. The Bacharach/David repertoire which milady chooses to sing is so fascinatingly cynical / fatalistic / stoical / emotional / happy, simultaneously! It's pure emotion. There is a whole lot more to emotion than some rock punk bursting his dexedrine-staved blood vessels by screaming "Baby I need you baby" into a microphone. Dionne Warwick is not a rock and roll singer. She's not a jazz singer either. Rhythm and blues? Nope. A pop singer? No way...
“Still It Keeps Haunting You”: Thom Bell Revisits the Dionne Warwick Sessions
Dionne Warwick is fluent in the parlance of soul, sophistication, and effortless cool. From the very beginning of her career, she mastered some of the most complex melodies ever composed. Musical innovators like Burt Bacharach, Thom Bell, Stevie Wonder, Barry Gibb, and Quincy Jones have all derived inspiration from Warwick’s voice. “You’ll know Dionne’s voice out of a thousand voices,” Bell exclaims. “That’s how I can tell when you really have something superb — I can close my eyes and know your voice anywhere. I love those kind of voices, man!”
However, Bell occupies a place all his own among the esteemed producers who’ve recorded the legendary vocalist over the years. During an interview at the Apollo Theater in October 2016, Warwick recalled the impact of “Then Came You” (1974), a song that Bell commissioned specifically for her and the Spinners. “Thom gave us a wonderful gift that also happened to be my very first number one recording — ever,” she declared.
Beyond crafting Warwick’s first chart-topping hit, Bell produced an entire album for the vocalist, Track of the Cat (1975). Rolling Stone proclaimed it “her best album in years”, considerable praise, given that Warwick had already released nearly two dozen albums between 1963 and 1975. Of course, the singer still had decades of albums and hit singles ahead of her, but Track of the Cat held a luster that’s only become more radiant with the passage of time. In this exclusive interview with PopMatters, Bell retraces Warwick’s “track” to the top and remembers his vision for a vocalist without peer.
New York’s pop music scene of the late ’50s and early ’60s was virtually defined by the constellation of songwriters, producers, and musicians that orbited the Brill Building. Warwick emerged from a cadre of session vocalists who sang background for hit producers like Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and cut demo records for songwriting teams who hustled their tunes to labels and publishing companies. Though based in Philadelphia, Bell was often called to New York for studio dates with Burt Bacharach, Luther Dixon, and King Curtis. “There were so many background singers,” he says. “Most of those background singers couldn’t sight-read. I said, ‘Put me up front, Jack! If you can write it, I can sing it!’ Dionne can also sing and read. She can do both.”
Produced by Bacharach and Hal David, Presenting Dionne Warwick (1963) marked the singer’s full-length debut for Scepter Records and established Warwick as a vocalist whose facility with pop, soul, and gospel sensibilities defied categorization. If anything, the music she recorded with Bacharach and David became a genre unto itself, often confounding musicians who backed Warwick on one-nighters across the country. “I worked with Dionne at the Uptown Theater in Philadelphia,” says Bell. “The unit that played for her also played for the Coasters, the Isley Brothers, Little Anthony & the Imperials, Jerry Butler … I worked with all of them.
“I was the house pianist. You cannot hear a piano with an 18-piece band. Ain’t gonna happen! I would be back there playing, banging my fingernails until they split, trying to get heard, but you couldn’t hear me. When I finally got tired, I said, ‘I’m done with this crap. I’m going to sit up there and write some songs while these guys are singing’ because I knew they couldn’t hear me!” [laughs]
At the time, Warwick’s debut single “Don’t Make Me Over” was climbing the charts. Her declaration at the song’s climax — “Accept me for what I am” — sparked a lightning bolt across AM radio. Warwick conveyed a refreshingly bold sentiment for young women in a climate when Little Peggy March vowed “I Will Follow Him” and the Chiffons gushed “He’s So Fine”. In fact, exactly 12 months after “Don’t Make Me Over” debuted on the Hot 100 in December 1962, Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me” charged the airwaves with another statement of female empowerment.
With astounding consistency, Warwick, Bacharach, and David created three-minute masterpieces that expanded the vernacular of pop music, drawing from styles that spanned classical and bossa nova. Make Way for Dionne Warwick (1964) furnished some of the trio’s finest moments, including the Grammy-nominated “Walk On By”, “A House Is Not a Home”, “Reach Out for Me”, and “You’ll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart)”. Bell relished the musicality of Warwick’s songs. “Dionne had great records,” he says. “‘Promises, Promises’ (1968) was a very well put-together, very well-written piece of music. You couldn’t go on that recording session just leaving ‘Piano 101’. If any one person made a mistake on that, then the whole band would have to stop.
“I gotta tell you, Bacharach and David are two of the greatest writers. They did classical things, and that’s what I always wanted to do. People told me, ‘Black people don’t dig that kind of music.’ I’d say, ‘What do you mean? I’m black and I dig it. There’s got to be more of me out there than just me.’ When it comes to music, the hue of skin has nothing to do with likes or dislikes. Music is not something you wear. Music is something you feel.”
Bell channeled that sensibility into his own productions for the Delfonics. In 1968, he scored his first Top Five pop hit as a producer with the group’s “La-La Means I Love You”. Interestingly, Warwick achieved a career benchmark of her own with a song she released that same year. Not only did her recording of “Do You Know the Way to San José” (1968) win the Grammy for “Best Contemporary Pop Vocal Performance, Female” in March 1969, she became the first artist to receive the Recording Academy’s newly minted award for the pop field, conquering fellow nominees like Aretha Franklin and Barbra Streisand.
Two years later, Warwick won her second Grammy Award with “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” (1970) while Bell began producing another Philadelphia-based vocal group, the Stylistics. Bell and his writing partner Linda Creed fashioned silky and sumptuous tunes on The Stylistics (1971), the group’s Avco debut that featured “Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)”, “People Make the World Go Round”, and the gold-selling singles “You Are Everything” and “Betcha By Golly Wow”.
Bell’s winning streak continued with the Spinners. The group’s career had all but stalled at Motown and their initial sides at Atlantic Records with producer Jimmy Roach lacked chemistry. In 1972, Bell brought the group to Philadelphia’s Sigma Sound Studios and outfitted them with material penned by his stable of writers. His touch spawned three consecutive number one R&B singles for the Spinners: “I’ll Be Around” (co-written by Bell with Phil Hurtt), “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love”, and “One of a Kind (Love Affair)”. Spinners (1973) crowned the top of the R&B chart for three weeks in May 1973 and was named “Soul Album of the Year” by Village Voice critic Robert Christgau. It would be the first of several full-length efforts Bell produced for the group throughout their tenure at Atlantic.
Around the same time the Spinners signed with Atlantic, Warwick found a new label home at Warner Bros. Dionne (1972), the singer’s first album for the company, was primed to begin a successful new chapter for the singer, but the reality told a different story. Warner granted minimal promotional support, further compounded by the fact that Bacharach & David, Warwick’s collaborators of ten years, dissolved their partnership after the album was released.
Produced by former Motown songwriting trio Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland, Just Being Myself (1973) met the same fate as the singer’s Warner debut, despite a wealth of solid material. Warwick continued working with an array of producers, including Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson, who’d also just signed with Warner Bros., but the recordings were ultimately shelved.
In the midst of his success with the Spinners and the Stylistics, plus his projects with Ronnie Dyson, vocal group New York City (“I’m Doin’ Fine Now”), and his first production for Johnny Mathis, I’m Coming Home (1973), Bell received an invitation to see Warwick at Caesar’s Palace. Even without a record on the charts, she remained one of the biggest attractions in Las Vegas. “They invited me out to sit with Dionne and listen to her,” he recalls. “They wanted me to do an album with her. I didn’t have the time — there’s only 24 hours in a day — and I didn’t want to give her any sloppy junk. If I can’t give you the best, I won’t bother you. I said, ‘Let me go back and see what I can come up with.’
“I came up with a duet. I thought, That should satisfy what Dionne needs and what the Spinners need. In those days, I had writers working specifically for certain artists. I got with two of my writers, Sherman Marshall and Phillip Pugh. I said, ‘I want you to write for Dionne and the Spinners. That’s your job, period. Don’t bring me nothing else.’ They came to me with ‘Then Came You’. It was a good song, but I just added a little icing on the cake. I don’t think I’ve ever produced a song that I didn’t re-write in some way.”
The Spinners toured with Warwick for seven weeks throughout the summer of 1973, culminating with another of the singer’s successful stands in Vegas. “At the last show, Thom came to see us,” Warwick recalled during her interview at the Apollo. “He came upstairs to the dressing room after the show was over. He said, ‘I have a wonderful surprise for you.’ We all said, ‘Great! What is it?’ He said, ‘It’s the end of the tour and you had a wonderful time together. I got a song that I think you guys should record. It would be the perfect way to say bye-bye to each other.’ It was a little song called ‘Then Came You’.” By year’s end, news of the star pairing reached industry trades, with Billboard announcing the duet in its 15 December 1973 issue.
The interplay between Warwick and the Spinners on “Then Came You” generated a contagious kind of excitement. From harmonizing with Bobby Smith in the verses to trading ad libs with Philippé Wynne in the closing vamp, Warwick delivered a customarily strong performance. “It was amazing,” she said. “We had the best time in the studio. Philippé was such an intricate part of that recording.”
Wynne’s soulful voice offered an appealing contrast to his duet partner. “Philippé could sing in any key, any time, day or night,” says Bell. “He could make things up so fast, it’d make your head spin. If he did it ten times, he’d give it to you ten different ways. I said, ‘Philippé, what I want you to do as you’re singing is just think of Dionne as a feather. Think of her as your daughter. She’s an angel. Don’t sing to bore out of the sky. Keep it moderate, man. I want you to sing so she floats around you and you float around her.’ I had them do a Marvin Gaye / Tammi Terrell thing. I had them looking at each other and singing to each other in the same booth.”
“Then Came You” bowed on the Hot 100 the week ending 27 July 1974 and was subsequently featured on the Spinners’ third Atlantic album New and Improved (1974). Three months later, it supplanted Billy Preston’s “Nothing from Nothing” from the top and became both Warwick and the Spinners’ first number one pop hit. Both artists were also rewarded with a gold single and would receive a Grammy nomination for “Best Pop Vocal by a Duo or Group” the following March. Bell himself made Grammy history when he won the Recording Academy’s inaugural award for “Producer of the Year” in 1975.
Bell’s production of “Just As Long As We Have Love” showcased Warwick and the Spinners in a more tranquil setting. Issued as the B-side to “Then Came You”, the song featured a rare lead vocal by group member Henry Fambrough, whose sensitive phrasing complemented the more delicate textures of Warwick’s voice. “Henry can really sing,” says Bell. “He’s got a gorgeous voice. One problem with Henry is he’s got stage fright. Dionne could coax him along, so I put those two together. She was singing just as nice as he was singing.” Written by Vinnie Barrett and Bruce Hawes, “Just As Long As We Have Love” would later appear on the Spinners’ Pick of the Litter (1975).
Eager to capitalize on Warwick’s latest smash, Warner titled the singer’s third album Then Came You (1975). However, aside from the hit title track, producer Jerry Ragovoy oversaw the album’s production. Fans and industry insiders had all expected a full set of duets between Warwick and the Spinners, but the project never materialized. Instead, Warwick’s work with Ragovoy featured stylish, soul-inflected pop that landed the singer a guest appearance on Soul Train in May 1975. While “Take It From Me” made the R&B Top 30, and “Move Me No Mountain” contained a verve and vivacity that seemed destined for the charts, the album stirred only a modest ripple in the marketplace.
Writing from the Heart
Later in 1975, Warner president Mo Ostin approached Bell once again about producing a solo Dionne Warwick album. Bell took time to ensure that whatever he recorded with the singer reflected the quality listeners expected of Warwick’s records, not to mention his own productions. Before recording sessions commenced, he sat with the singer at the piano and had the same conversation with her as he did with any artist. “I just want to hear me, you, and these 88’s in the room,” he says, recalling his approach. “Let me get down to the specifics of what makes you who you are without the song. I can tell if you have a naturally great voice or whether it’s something the engineer has done, the producer has done, or it’s the kind of mic that you’re using. When I work with you, I got to be able to hear you in my mind. I’m singing to myself and I can swear I sound just like you. And if I can sound like you, then I can write for you.”
“Track of the Cat” owed its inspiration to more than the sound of Warwick’s voice, however. “I always told Dionne that she reminded me of a cat,” says Bell. “I had a buddy of mine who worked at the Philadelphia Zoo. He wouldn’t let any civilians in there until a certain time but he would let me in there. I watched lions for the day. I watched tigers for the day. Then I watched panthers for the day. They don’t walk straight to you. They walk around the sides of walls. I thought, There’s Dionne right there! That’s the same way she is. She’s stealth-like. When you’re going to rehearse her, while you’re waiting for her, she’ll come through the back way and walk along the wall. You won’t even know she’s there until she’s next to you.”
When Bell recorded Johnny Mathis on “Life Is a Song Worth Singing”, he endeavored to create a prelude that evoked a gladiator entering the ring. He mapped a more realistic storyboard on “Track of the Cat”: an actual panther would herald Warwick’s entrance.
Bell continues, “I had to get a sound from these cats to see if I could use it on the record. I brought a portable four-track recorder down to the zoo. I got up early. It was 5:30 in the morning when they fed them. I walked around and I waited. A guy came around in a truck with big 40-pound pieces of horse meat. He threw them over these bars that were about three inches thick. I said, ‘Let me turn this tape on.’ That panther came out and … [roars loudly]. It was like he was saying, ‘If you mess with my food, man, I’ll fix you!’ He growled three times. Those three that he did were in the exact same key that the song was written in. I couldn’t believe it! I wish I could tell you that it was my intelligence or a sixth sense that did that. No, that was nothing but an accident.”
The producer captured the sound of midnight on “Track of the Cat”, with Warwick’s voice casting a warm, moonlit glow. “For wherever you go, my voice will follow you. You can try to resist / Still it keeps haunting you,” she sang. “That voice is haunting,” says Bell. “I don’t know if anybody else saw Dionne like that, but that song came out exactly as I had planned. Turn the lights out and play that song. It’s eerie, man!” At nearly seven minutes, the moody and mysterious “Track of the Cat” led listeners into a musical world that was zip codes away from “San José” and other Bacharachian dwellings.
Linda Creed wrote the lyrics to “Track of the Cat” and collaborated with Bell on more than half of the album. By 1975, the two writers had become one of the most successful writing teams in the industry, especially with the Stylistics’ hit recordings of songs like “I’m Stone In Love With You”, “Break Up to Make Up”, and “You Make Me Feel Brand New”. Bell chuckles in recalling their earliest writing sessions. “I got on her nerves and she got on my nerves,” he says. “I’d be working on one note for an hour or two hours. She’d say, ‘Bell, you take so long!’ It wasn’t too long to me. We made a vow after ‘I Wanna Be a Free Girl’ (1970) by Dusty Springfield: I won’t call you until I want you to write lyrics, you won’t call me unless you want me to write a melody. When I was finished with those melodies, I’d call Creed. Bang! The next day, the lyrics were done.”
After working with a master lyricist like Hal David for so many years, Warwick could appreciate the strength of Creed’s songwriting talent. “She was very reminiscent to me of Hal,” she commented at the Apollo when recalling Track of the Cat. “She’s very sensitive and wrote words that people could relate to.”
Indeed, Creed tailored her lyrics specifically to Warwick. “His House and Me”, in particular, mirrored the emotional discord in the singer’s personal life at the time. “She was going through her divorce,” says Bell. “I saved ‘His House and Me’ for last because I knew that was going to get her. I turned down the lights and she was in there all by herself.” The setting inspired a flawless performance, with Warwick’s nuanced vocal rendering the sort of intimacy that’s specific to loneliness.
“Ronnie Lee” brought an infectious buoyancy to Track of the Cat, though the story itself depicted a somewhat strained exchange between Warwick and a lover who shields his emotions. Bell explains the inspiration behind the name. “I was close to Creed. I was like a big brother,” he says. “I went to the doctor with her and found out that she couldn’t have children. I felt so sorry for the poor girl. She loved kids. She would come to my house on Christmas and bring a bunch of toys for the kids and decorate the tree. Well, she found out that she was pregnant. She could not believe it! She had this little girl and named her Ronnie Lee, though she wrote ‘Ronnie Lee’ as a love song.”
Bell closed the album’s original Side One with “World of My Dreams”, an invitation to a fantasy land of lollipop trees and lemonade streams. Bell’s orchestration embellished the fanciful images in Creed’s story, shrouding the scene with diaphanous strings. The overall effect paralleled the spirit of the duo’s own rapport as songwriters. “When we would write, we would be in the spheres of the air,” says Bell. “We would be way out there. Creed lived lyrics, just like I live melodies. I had a motto: when you hear one of my melodies, I don’t want it to bounce off of your ear, I want it to caress your ear.”
“Jealousy” was one of three tracks on the album that departed from the Bell-Creed songbook. The producer tapped Sherman Marshall, a co-writer on “Then Came You”, to collaborate with Ted Wortham and Vinnie Barrett. Warwick’s voice coasted above a lush arrangement that belied the darker tone of the lyrics: “Jealously / look what you’ve done to me. Turned my head around / destroyed the love that I found.” Warwick seemingly quelled the pain through each note of her subtle yet exquisite performance.
Written by Bell and Marshall, “This Is Love” spotlighted Warwick in a more sprightly musical mode. The producer explains how he worked with Warwick to capture one of the album’s most effervescent moments. “When it came time for Dionne to sing her songs, she’d been rehearsed,” he says. “I wrote lyrics on paper, but not notes. I told her, ‘I don’t want you to read because then you articulate differently. It’s not going to sound right because it’s too restrictive. I want you to be able to sing it like you hear it. I want your feel.'”
Linda Creed joined Bell for “Love Me One More Time”, a song that typified the excellence of their songwriting and distinguished them from Bell’s partners in Mighty Three Music, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. He recalls, “I had people say to me, ‘You’re producing Dionne Warwick. How come you and Kenny Gamble use the same musicians and make them sound so different?’ I said, ‘It’s very easy — Gamble and Huff are great writers of the soul. Creed and I are great writers of the heart.’ There’s a vast difference. It ain’t but about six inches apart, but it’s miles apart when it comes to feeling.”
Charles Simmons and Joseph Jefferson, whose collaborations with Bruce Hawes powered many of the Spinners’ biggest hits, penned the album’s closing song, “Once You Hit the Road”. In a sense, it was torn from the same chapter as “His House and Me”, with Warwick asking “What good is home if you can’t be true to one who’s been giving you love?” Bell cast “Once You Hit the Road” with an irresistible, uptempo arrangement, creating one of the set’s strongest cuts.
“Once You Hit the Road” was duly selected to lead Warner’s promo campaign for Track of the Cat. It debuted on the R&B singles chart the week ending 15 November 1975 and eventually climbed to #5 R&B. Track of the Cat peaked at #137 on the Billboard 200, the singer’s highest-charting pop album since her Warner debut. It fared even better on the R&B chart, where it reached #15, her best showing since one of her last Scepter albums, Very Dionne (1970).
However, “His House and Me” only reached #75 R&B when it was issued as a follow-up single in 1976. Bell remains philosophical about the relatively muted response to the project. “Track of the Cat itself is different,” he says. “When I go into the studio, I might not make a hit record, but I’ll always give you a good record. It might be a little too soon for people or a little too late for people, or maybe it’s not the right thing for people, but I will always invariably give you a good piece of product.”
Though more than 40 years have passed since he produced Track of the Cat, Bell can readily sing the melodies to a pair of songs that didn’t make the album. “One Last Memory”, which recalled the breezy elegance of Warwick’s early ’70s productions with Bacharach and David, and the tuneful “I Found Someone Else” were perfect contenders for the final cut. “The album was too long,” says Bell. “There were all of these great things I wanted to do, but there was a cost factor. The company didn’t want to pay.” Both songs were finally released on Real Gone Music’s We Need to Go Back: The Unissued Warner Bros. Masters (2013), a compilation of Warwick’s previously unreleased Warner Bros. material.
Following Warwick’s fifth and final Warner album Love at First Sight (1977), Clive Davis signed the singer to Arista Records where she’d experience one of the industry’s most celebrated career resurgences. Produced by Barry Manilow, Dionne (1979) spawned two Grammy-winning hits, “I’ll Never Love This Way Again” and “Dêja Vu”. The album ushered in a whole new era of critical acclaim, industry honors, and global success for the singer that continues to the present day.
Reflecting on her sessions with Thom Bell, who received the Recording Academy’s Trustees Award in 2017, Warwick feels an abiding sense of gratitude. “Thom is one of my dearest, dearest friends, and has been for a long time,” she said during her interview at the Apollo. “He was a delight to work with.” Indeed, Bell has produced and composed songs for several music icons, but his recordings with Dionne Warwick are of a special caliber. “No one sounded like Dionne,” he says. “I always wanted to give her the best that I could give her. In keeping with the name ‘Dionne Warwick’, I had to make sure the product was up to par.
“Whatever Dionne did, she did it excellently.”
Dionne Warwick
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marie Dionne Warwick (/diˈɒn.ˈwɔːrwɪk/;[1] born Marie Dionne Warrick; December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host.
Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on Billboard's Hot 100 pop singles chart. She is the second-most charted female vocalist during the rock era (1955–1999). She is also one of the most-charted vocalists of all time, with 56 of her singles making the Hot 100 between 1962 and 1998 (12 of them Top Ten), and 80 singles in total – either solo or collaboratively – making the Hot 100, R&B, or adult contemporary charts.[2][3] Warwick ranks number 74 on the Billboard Hot 100's "Greatest Artists of all time".
During her career, Warwick has sold more than 100 million records worldwide and she has won many awards, including six Grammy Awards. Warwick has been inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame, the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame, and the Apollo Theater Walk of Fame. In 2019, she won the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Three of her songs ("Walk On By", "Alfie", and "Don't Make Me Over") have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. She is a former Goodwill Ambassador for the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.
Early life
Marie Dionne Warrick, later Warwick, was born in East Orange, New Jersey, to Lee Drinkard and Mancel Warrick. Her mother was manager of the Drinkard Singers, and her father was a Pullman porter, chef, record promoter, and CPA. Dionne was named after her aunt on her mother's side.[4] She had a sister, Delia ("Dee Dee"), who died in 2008, and a brother, Mancel Jr., who was killed in an accident in 1968 at age 21. Her parents were both African American; and, she also has Native American and Dutch ancestry.[5]
Warwick was raised in East Orange, New Jersey, and was a Girl Scout for a time. She began singing gospel as a child at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey. After finishing East Orange High School in 1959, Warwick pursued her passion at the Hartt College of Music in West Hartford, Connecticut.[6][7] She landed some work with her group singing backing vocals for recording sessions in New York City. During one session, Warwick met Burt Bacharach, who hired her to record demos featuring songs written by him and lyricist Hal David. She later landed her own record deal.[8]
Career
Drinkard Singers
Many members of Warwick's family were members of the Drinkard Singers, a family gospel group[9] and RCA recording artists who frequently performed throughout the New York metropolitan area. The original group, known as the Drinkard Jubilairs, consisted of Cissy, Anne, Larry, and Nicky, and later included Warwick's grandparents, Nicholas and Delia Drinkard, and their children: William, Lee (Warwick's mother) and Hansom. When the Drinkard Singers performed on TV Gospel Time, Dionne Warwick had her television performance debut.
Marie instructed the group, and they were managed by Lee. As they became more successful, Lee and Marie began performing with the group, and they were augmented by pop/R&B singer Judy Clay, whom Lee had unofficially adopted. Elvis Presley eventually expressed an interest in having them join his touring entourage.[6]
The Gospelaires
Other singers joined the Gospelaires from time to time, including Judy Clay, Cissy Houston and Doris "Rikii" Troy, whose chart selection "Just One Look", when she recorded it in 1963, featured backing vocals from the Gospelaires. After personnel changes (Dionne and Doris left the group after achieving solo success), the Gospelaires became the recording group the Sweet Inspirations, who had some chart success, but were much sought-after as studio background singers. The Gospelaires and later the Sweet Inspirations performed on many records cut in New York City for artists such as Garnet Mimms, the Drifters, Jerry Butler, Solomon Burke and later Warwick's recordings, Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley. Warwick recalled, in 2002's Biography, that "a man came running frantically backstage at the Apollo and said he needed background singers for a session for Sam "the Man" Taylor and old big-mouth here spoke up and said 'We'll do it!' and we left and did the session. I wish I remembered the gentleman's name because he was responsible for the beginning of my professional career."[citation needed]
The backstage encounter led to the group being asked to sing background sessions at recording studios in New York. Soon, the group were in demand in New York music circles for their background work for such artists as the Drifters, Ben E. King, Chuck Jackson, Dinah Washington, Ronnie "the Hawk" Hawkins, and Solomon Burke, among many others. Warwick remembered, in Biography,[full citation needed] that after school, they would catch a bus from East Orange to the Port Authority Terminal, then take the subway to recording studios in Manhattan, perform their background gigs and be back at home in East Orange in time to do their school homework. Her background vocal work would continue while Warwick pursued her studies at Hartt.[citation needed]
Discovery
While she was performing background on the Drifters' recording of their 1962 release "Mexican Divorce", Warwick's voice and star presence were noticed by the song's composer, Burt Bacharach,[10] a Brill Building songwriter who was writing songs with many other songwriters, including lyricist Hal David.[11] According to a July 14, 1967, article on Warwick in Time, Bacharach stated, "She has a tremendous strong side and a delicacy when singing softly — like miniature ships in bottles." Musically, she was no "play-safe girl. What emotion I could get away with!" During the session, Bacharach asked Warwick if she would be interested in recording demonstration recordings of his compositions to pitch the tunes to record labels, paying her $12.50 per demo recording session (equivalent to $120 in 2022).[12][13] One such demo, "It's Love That Really Counts" – destined to be recorded by Scepter-signed act the Shirelles – caught the attention of the President of Scepter Records, Florence Greenberg, who, according to Current Biography (1969 Yearbook), told Bacharach, "Forget the song, get the girl!"[14]
Warwick was signed to Bacharach's and David's production company, according to Warwick, which in turn was signed to Scepter Records in 1962 by Greenberg. The partnership would provide Bacharach with the freedom to produce Warwick without the control of recording company executives and company A&R men. Warwick's musical ability and education would also allow Bacharach to compose more challenging tunes.[11] The demo version of "It's Love That Really Counts", along with her original demo of "Make It Easy on Yourself", would surface on Warwick's debut Scepter album, Presenting Dionne Warwick, which was released in early 1963.[14]
Early stardom
In November 1962, Scepter Records released her first solo single, "Don't Make Me Over", the title of which Warwick supplied herself when she snapped the phrase at producers Burt Bacharach and Hal David in anger.[citation needed] Warwick had found out that "Make It Easy on Yourself" — a song on which she had recorded the original demo and had wanted to be her first single release — had been given to another artist, Jerry Butler. From the phrase "don't make me over", Bacharach and David created their first top 40 pop hit (No. 21) and a top 5 U.S. R&B hit. Warrick's name was misspelled on the single's label, and she began using the new spelling, "Warwick", both professionally and personally.[15]
After "Don't Make Me Over" hit in 1962, she answered the call of her manager, left school and went on a tour of France, where critics crowned her "Paris' Black Pearl", having been introduced on stage at Paris Olympia that year by Marlene Dietrich.[16]
The two immediate follow-ups to "Don't Make Me Over" — "This Empty Place" (with "B" side "Wishin' and Hopin'" later recorded by Dusty Springfield) and "Make The Music Play" — charted briefly in the top 100. Her fourth single, "Anyone Who Had a Heart",[11] released in November 1963,[17] was Warwick's first top 10 pop hit (No. 8) in the U.S. and an international million seller. This was followed by "Walk On By" in April 1964, another major international hit and million seller that solidified her career. For the rest of the 1960s, Warwick was a fixture on the U.S. and Canadian charts, and much of her output from 1962 to 1971 was written and produced by the Bacharach/David team.
Warwick weathered the British Invasion better than most American artists. Her biggest UK hits were "Walk On By" and "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?"[11] In the UK, a number of Bacharach-David-Warwick songs were recorded by British singers Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw and Dusty Springfield, most notably Black's "Anyone Who Had a Heart" which went to No. 1 in the UK. This upset Warwick, who described feeling insulted when told that in the UK, record company executives wanted her songs recorded by someone else. Warwick met Cilla Black while on tour in Britain. She recalled what she said to her: "I told her that "You're My World" would be my next single in the States. I honestly believe that if I'd sneezed on my next record, then Cilla would have sneezed on hers too. There was no imagination in her recording."[18] Warwick later covered two of Cilla's songs – "You're My World" appeared on Dionne Warwick in Valley of the Dolls, released in 1968 and on the soundtrack to Alfie.
Warwick was named the Bestselling Female Vocalist in the Cash Box Magazine poll in 1964, with six chart hits in that year. Cash Box named her the Top Female Vocalist in 1969, 1970 and 1971. In the 1967 Cash Box poll, she was second to Petula Clark, and in 1968's poll second to Aretha Franklin. Playboy's influential Music Poll of 1970 named her the Top Female Vocalist. In 1969, Harvard's Hasty Pudding Society named her Woman of the Year.[19]
In the May 21, 1965 Time cover article entitled "The Sound of the Sixties", Warwick's sound was described as:
Swinging World. Scholarly articles probe the relationship between the Beatles and the nouvelle vague films of Jean-Luc Godard, discuss "the brio and elegance" of Dionne Warwick's singing style as a 'pleasurable but complex' event to be 'experienced without condescension.' In chic circles, anyone damning rock 'n' roll is labeled not only square but uncultured. For inspirational purposes, such hip artists as Robert Rauschenberg, Larry Rivers and Andy Warhol occasionally paint while listening to rock 'n' roll music. Explains Warhol: "It makes me mindless, and I paint better." After gallery openings in Manhattan, the black-tie gatherings often adjourn to a discothèque.[20]
In 1965, Eon Productions intended to use Warwick's song titled "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" as the theme song of the James Bond film Thunderball, until Albert R. Broccoli insisted that the theme song include the film's title. A new song was composed and recorded in the eleventh hour titled "Thunderball", performed by Tom Jones. The melody of "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" remains a major component of the film score. The Ultimate Edition DVD of Thunderball has the Warwick song playing over the titles on one of the commentary track extras, and the song was released on the 30th anniversary CD of Bond songs.
Mid-1960s to early 1970s
The mid-1960s to early 1970s were a more successful time period for Warwick, who saw a string of gold-selling albums and Top 20 and Top 10 hit singles. "Message to Michael", a Bacharach-David composition[11] that the duo was certain was a "man's song", became a top 10 hit for Warwick in May 1966. The January 1967 LP Here Where There Is Love was her first RIAA certified Gold album, and featured "Alfie" and two 1966 hits: "Trains and Boats and Planes" and "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself". "Alfie" had become a radio hit when disc jockeys across the nation began to play the album cut early in 1967. "Alfie" was released as the "B" side of a Bacharach/David ballad, "The Beginning of Loneliness", which charted in the Hot 100. Disc jockeys flipped the single and made it a double-sided hit. Bacharach had been contracted to produce "Alfie" for the Michael Caine film of the same name and wanted Warwick to sing the tune, but the British producers wanted a British subject to cut the tune. Cilla Black was selected to record the song, and her version peaked at No. 95 upon its release in the US. A cover version by Cher used in the American prints of the film peaked at No. 33. In the UK and Australia, Black's version was a Top 10 hit.[citation needed]
Her follow-up to "I Say a Little Prayer", "(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls", was unusual in several respects. It was not written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David; it was the "B" side of her "I Say a Little Prayer" single, and it was a song that she almost did not record. While the film version of Valley of the Dolls was being made, actress Barbara Parkins suggested that Warwick be considered to sing the film's theme song, written by songwriting team André and Dory Previn. The song was to be recorded by Judy Garland, who was subsequently fired from the film. Warwick performed the song, and when the film became a success in the early weeks of 1968, disc jockeys flipped the single and made the single one of the biggest double-sided hits of the rock era and another million seller. At the time, RIAA rules allowed only one side of a double-sided hit single to be certified as gold, but Scepter awarded Warwick an "in-house award" to recognize "(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls" as a million selling tune.[citation needed]
Warwick had re-recorded a Pat Williams-arranged version of the theme at A&R Studios in New York because contractual restrictions with her label would not allow the Warwick version from the film to be included on the 20th Century Fox soundtrack LP, and reverse legal restrictions would not allow the film version to be used anyplace else in a commercial LP. The LP Dionne Warwick in Valley of the Dolls, released in early 1968 and containing the re-recorded version of the movie theme (No. 2 for three weeks), "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" and several new Bacharach-David compositions, hit the No. 6 position on the Billboard album chart and would remain on the chart for over a year. The film soundtrack LP, without Warwick vocals, failed to impress the public, while Dionne Warwick in Valley of the Dolls earned an RIAA Gold certification.
The single "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" (an international million seller and a Top 10 hit in several countries, including the UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Japan and Mexico) was also a double-sided hit, with the "B" side "Let Me Be Lonely" charting at No. 79. More hits followed into 1971, including "Who Is Gonna Love Me" (#32, 1968) with "B" side, "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" becoming another double-sided hit; "Promises, Promises" (#19, 1968); "This Girl's in Love with You" (#7, 1969); "The April Fools" (#37, 1969); "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" (#15, 1969); "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" (#6 Pop, #1 AC, 1969); "Make It Easy on Yourself" (#37 Pop, #10 AC, 1970); "Let Me Go to Him" (#32 Pop, #4 AC, 1970); and "Paper Mache" (#43 Pop, #3 AC), 1970). Warwick's final Bacharach/David penned single on the Scepter label was March 1971's "Who Gets the Guy" (#52 Pop, #6 AC), 1971), and her final "official" Scepter single release was "He's Moving On" b/w "Amanda", (#83 Pop, #12 AC) both from the soundtrack of the motion picture adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's The Love Machine.[citation needed]
Warwick had become the priority act of Scepter Records with the release of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" in 1963.[citation needed] Other Scepter LPs certified RIAA Gold include Dionne Warwick's Golden Hits Part 1 released in 1967 and The Dionne Warwicke Story: A Decade of Gold released in 1971. By the end of 1971, Warwick had sold an estimated 35 million singles and albums internationally in less than nine years and more than 16 million singles in the U.S. alone. Exact figures of her sales are unknown and probably underestimated, due to Scepter Records' apparently lax accounting policies and the company policy of not submitting recordings for RIAA audit. Warwick became the first Scepter artist to request RIAA audits of her recordings in 1967 with the release of "I Say a Little Prayer".
On September 17, 1969, CBS Television aired Warwick's first television special, entitled The Dionne Warwick Chevy Special. Warwick's guests were Burt Bacharach, George Kirby, Glen Campbell, and Creedence Clearwater Revival.[citation needed] In 1970, Warwick formed her own label, Sonday Records, of which she was president. Sonday was distributed by Scepter.[21]
In 1970 she was a performer on the prestigious Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium, singing The Look of Love, What the World Needs Now and Come Together.[22]
In 1971, Warwick left the family atmosphere of Scepter Records for Warner Bros. Records, for a $5 million contract, the most lucrative recording contract given to a female vocalist up to that time, according to Variety. Warwick's last LP for Scepter was the soundtrack for the motion picture The Love Machine, in which she appeared in an uncredited cameo, released in July 1971. In 1975, Bacharach and David sued Scepter Records for an accurate accounting of royalties due the team from their recordings with Warwick and labelmate B.J. Thomas. They were awarded almost $600,000 and the rights to all Bacharach/David recordings on the Scepter label. The label, with the defection of Warwick to Warner Bros. Records, filed for bankruptcy in 1975 and was sold to Springboard International Records in 1976.
Following her signing with Warners, with Bacharach and David as writers and producers, Warwick returned to New York City's A&R Studios in late 1971 to begin recording her first album for the new label, the self-titled Dionne (not to be confused with her later Arista debut album) in January 1972. The album peaked at No. 57 on the Billboard Hot 100 Album Chart. In 1972, Burt Bacharach and Hal David scored and wrote the tunes for the motion picture Lost Horizon. However, the film was panned by the critics, and in the fallout, the songwriting duo decided to terminate their working relationship. The break-up left Warwick devoid of their services as her producers and songwriters. She was contractually obligated to fulfill her contract with Warners without Bacharach and David, and she would team with a variety of producers during her tenure with the label.
Faced with the prospect of being sued by Warner Bros. Records due to the breakup of Bacharach/David and their failure to honor their contract with Warwick, she filed a $5.5 million lawsuit against her former partners for breach of contract. The suit was settled out of court in 1979 for $5 million, including the rights to all Warwick recordings produced by Bacharach and David.
Also in 1971, Warwick had her name changed to "Warwicke" per the advice of Linda Goodman, an astrologer friend, who believed it would bring greater success. A few years later, she reverted to the old spelling after a string of disappointments and an absence from the Billboard top 40.[23]
Warner era (1972–1978)
Without the guidance and songwriting that Bacharach/David had provided, Warwick's career stalled in the early 1970s although she remained a top concert draw throughout the world. There were no big hits during the early and mid part of the decade, aside from 1974's "Then Came You", recorded as a duet with the Spinners and produced by Thom Bell. Bell later noted, "Dionne made a (strange) face when we finished [the song]. She didn't like it much, but I knew we had something. So we ripped a dollar in two, signed each half and exchanged them. I told her, 'If it doesn't go number one, I'll send you my half.' When it took off, Dionne sent hers back. There was an apology on it." It was her first U.S. No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Other than this success, Warwick's five years on Warner Bros. Records produced no other major hits, but "Then Came You" was issued by co-owned Atlantic Records, the Spinners' label.[24] Two notable songs recorded during this period were "His House and Me" and "Once You Hit The Road" (#79 pop, #5 R&B, #22 Adult Contemporary), both of which were produced in 1975 by Thom Bell.[citation needed]
Warwick recorded five albums with Warners: Dionne (1972), produced by Bacharach and David and a modest chart success; Just Being Myself (1973), produced by Holland-Dozier-Holland; Then Came You (1975), produced by Jerry Ragovoy; Track of the Cat (1975), produced by Thom Bell; and Love at First Sight (1977), produced by Steve Barri and Michael Omartian. Her five-year contract with Warners expired in 1977, and with that, she ended her stay at the label.[citation needed] Warwick's dry spell on the American charts ended with her signing to Arista Records in 1979, where she began a second highly successful run of hit records and albums well into the late 1980s.
Move to Arista, 1979
With the move to Arista Records and the release of her RIAA-certified million seller "I'll Never Love This Way Again" in 1979, Warwick was again enjoying top success on the charts. The song was produced by Barry Manilow. The accompanying album, Dionne, was certified Platinum in the United States for sales exceeding one million units. The album peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Album Chart and made the Top 10 of the Billboard R&B Albums Chart. Warwick had been personally signed and guided by the label's founder Clive Davis, who told her, "You may be ready to give the business up, but the business is not ready to give you up."[citation needed] Warwick's next single release was another major hit. "Deja Vu" was co-written by Isaac Hayes and hit No. 1 Adult Contemporary as well as No. 15 on Billboard's Hot 100. In 1980, Warwick won two Grammy Awards for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female for "I'll Never Love This Way Again" and Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female for "Déjà Vu". She became the first female artist in the history of the awards to win in both categories the same year.[25] Her second Arista album, 1980's No Night So Long sold 500,000 U.S. copies and featured the title track which became a major success — hitting #1 Adult Contemporary and #23 on Billboard's Hot 100[26] — and the album peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Albums Chart.[27]
In January 1980, while under contract to Arista Records, Warwick hosted a two-hour TV special called Solid Gold '79. This was adapted into the weekly one-hour show Solid Gold, which she hosted throughout 1980 and 1981 and again in 1985–86. Major highlights of each show were the duets she performed with her co-hosts, which often included some of Warwick's hits and her co-hosts' hits, intermingled and arranged by Solid Gold musical director Michael Miller. Another highlight in each show was Warwick's vocal rendition of the Solid Gold theme, composed by Miller (with lyrics by Dean Pitchford).[25]
After a brief appearance in the Top Forty in early 1982 with Johnny Mathis on "Friends in Love" — from the album of the same name — Warwick's next hit later that same year was her full-length collaboration with Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees for the album Heartbreaker. The song became one of Warwick's biggest international hits, returning her to the Top 10 of Billboard's Hot 100 as well as No. 1 Adult Contemporary and No. 2 in both the UK and Australia. The tune was also a Top 10 hit throughout continental Europe, Australia (No. 1), Japan, South Africa, Canada and Asia. The title track was taken from the album of the same name which sold over 3 million copies internationally and earned Warwick an RIAA Gold record award in the US. In Britain, the disc was certified Platinum. Warwick later stated to Wesley Hyatt in his Billboard Book of Number One Adult Contemporary Hits that she was not initially fond of "Heartbreaker" but recorded the tune because she trusted the Bee Gees' judgment that it would be a hit. The project came about when Clive Davis was attending his aunt's wedding in Orlando, Florida in early 1982 and spoke with Barry Gibb. Gibb mentioned that he had always been a fan of Warwick's, and Davis arranged for Warwick and the Bee Gees to discuss a project. Warwick and the Gibb brothers obviously hit it off as both the album and the title single were released in October 1982 to massive success.[25]
In 1983, Warwick released How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye, produced by Luther Vandross. The album's most successful single was the title track, "How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye", a Warwick/Vandross duet, which peaked at No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also became a Top 10 hit on the Adult Contemporary and R&B charts. The album peaked at No. 57 on the Billboard album chart. Of note was a reunion with the original Shirelles on Warwick's cover of "Will You (Still) Love Me Tomorrow?" The album Finder of Lost Loves followed in 1984 and reunited her with both Barry Manilow and Burt Bacharach, who was writing with his then current lyricist partner and wife, Carole Bayer Sager. In 1985, Warwick contributed her voice to the multi-Grammy Award winning charity song "We Are the World", along with vocalists like Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, and Ray Charles. The song spent four consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was the year's biggest hit — certified four times Platinum in the United States alone.[25]
In 1985, Warwick and Bacharach once again collaborated on the song "That's What Friends are For". This period was the first time they had worked together since the 1970s, when Warwick felt abandoned by Bacharach and Hal David dissolving their partnership. Warwick said of their reconciliation:[28]
We realized we were more than just friends. We were family. Time has a way of giving people the opportunity to grow and understand ... Working with Burt is not a bit different from how it used to be. He expects me to deliver and I can. He knows what I'm going to do before I do it, and the same with me. That's how intertwined we've been.[28]
Warwick recorded "That's What Friends are For" as a benefit single for the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR) alongside Gladys Knight, Elton John and Stevie Wonder in 1985. The single, credited to "Dionne and Friends", was released in October and eventually raised over three million dollars for that cause. The tune was a triple No. 1 — R&B, Adult Contemporary, and four weeks at the summit on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1986 — selling close to two million 45s in the United States alone. "Working against AIDS, especially after years of raising money for work on many blood-related diseases such as sickle-cell anemia, seemed the right thing to do. You have to be granite not to want to help people with AIDS, because the devastation that it causes is so painful to see. I was so hurt to see my friend die with such agony", Warwick told The Washington Post in 1988.[citation needed] "I am tired of hurting and it does hurt." The single won the performers the NARAS Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, as well as Song of the Year for its writers, Bacharach and Bayer Sager. It also was ranked by Billboard magazine as the most popular song of 1986. With this single Warwick also released her most successful album of the 1980s, titled Friends, which reached No. 12 on Billboard's album chart.[25] In 1987, Dionne Warwick won the Special Recognition Award at the American Music Awards for "That's What Friends Are For".
In 1987, Warwick scored another hit with "Love Power". Her eighth career No. 1 Adult Contemporary hit, it also reached No. 5 in R&B and No. 12 on Billboard's Hot 100. A duet with Jeffrey Osborne, it was also written by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager, and it was featured in Warwick's album Reservations for Two. The album's title song, a duet with Kashif, was also a chart hit. Other artists featured on the album included Smokey Robinson and June Pointer.[25]
2000s to 2010
On October 16, 2002, Warwick was nominated to be Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
In 2004, Warwick's first Christmas album was released. The CD, entitled My Favorite Time of the Year featured jazzy interpretations of many holiday classics. In 2007, Rhino Records re-released the CD with new cover art.
In 2005, Warwick was honored by Oprah Winfrey at her Legends Ball. She appeared on the May 24, 2006, fifth-season finale of American Idol. Warwick sang a medley of "Walk On By" and "That's What Friends Are For", with longtime collaborator Burt Bacharach accompanying her on the piano.
In 2006, Warwick signed with Concord Records after a fifteen-year tenure at Arista, which had ended in 1994. Her first and only release for the label was My Friends and Me, a duets album containing reworkings of her old hits, very similar to her 1998 CD Dionne Sings Dionne. Among her singing partners were Gloria Estefan, Olivia Newton-John, Wynonna Judd and Reba McEntire. The album peaked at No. 66 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The album was produced by her son, Damon Elliott. A follow-up album featuring Warwick's old hits as duets with male vocalists was planned, but the project was cancelled. The relationship with Concord concluded with the release of My Friends and Me. A compilation CD of her greatest hits and love songs, The Love Collection, entered the UK album chart at number 27 on February 16, 2008.
Warwick's second gospel album, Why We Sing, was released on February 26, 2008, in the United Kingdom and on April 1, 2008, in the United States. The album features guest spots by her sister Dee Dee Warwick and BeBe Winans.[citation needed]
On October 18, 2008, Warwick's sister Dee Dee died in a nursing home in Essex County, New Jersey. She had been in failing health for several months.
On November 24, 2008, Warwick was the star performer on "Divas II", a UK ITV1 special. The show also featured Rihanna, Leona Lewis, the Sugababes, Pink, Gabriella Climi and Anastacia.
In 2008, Warwick began recording an album of songs from the Sammy Cahn and Jack Wolf songbooks. The finished recording, entitled Only Trust Your Heart, was released in 2011.
On October 20, 2009, Starlight Children's Foundation and New Gold Music Ltd. released a song that Warwick had recorded about ten years prior called "Starlight". The lyrics were written by Dean Pitchford, prolific writer of Fame, screenwriter of — and sole or joint lyricist of every song in the soundtrack of — the original 1984 film Footloose, and lyricist of the Solid Gold theme. The music had been composed by Bill Goldstein, whose versatile career included the original music for NBC's Fame TV series. Warwick, Pitchford and Goldstein announced that they would be donating 100% of their royalties to Starlight Children's Foundation, to support Starlight's mission to help seriously ill children and their families cope with pain, fear and isolation through entertainment, education and family activities.
When Bill and Dean brought this song to me, I instantly felt connected to its message of shining a little light into the lives of people who need it most", said Warwick. "I admire the work of Starlight Children's Foundation and know that if the song brings hope to even just one sick child, we have succeeded.
2011 to 2019
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In 2011, the New Jazz style CD Only Trust Your Heart was released, featuring many Sammy Cahn songs. In March 2011, Warwick appeared on The Celebrity Apprentice 4. Her charity was the Hunger Project. She was dismissed from her "apprenticeship" to Donald Trump during the fourth task of the season. In February 2012, Warwick performed "Walk On By" on The Jonathan Ross Show. She also received the Goldene Kamera Musical Lifetime Achievement Award in Germany,[30] and performed "That's What Friends Are For" at the ceremony.
On May 28, 2012, Warwick headlined the World Hunger Day concert at London's Royal Albert Hall. She sang "One World One Song",[31] specially written for the Hunger Project by Tony Hatch and Tim Holder and was joined by Joe McElderry, the London Community Gospel Choir and a choir from Woodbridge School, Woodbridge, Suffolk.[32]
In 2012, the 50th anniversary CD entitled NOW was released; Warwick recorded 12 Bacharach/David tracks produced by Phil Ramone.
On September 19, 2013, she collaborated with country singer Billy Ray Cyrus for his song "Hope Is Just Ahead".
In 2014, the duets album Feels So Good was released. Funkytowngrooves re-issued the remastered Arista albums No Night So Long, How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye ("So Amazing"), and Finder of Lost Loves ("Without Your Love"), all expanded with bonus material.
In December 2015, Warwick's website released the Tropical Love EP with five tracks previously unreleased from the Aquarel Do Brasil Sessions in 1994 – To Say Goodbye (Pra Dizer Adeus) with Edu Lobo – Love Me – Lullaby – Bridges (Travessia) – Rainy Day Girl with Ivan Lins.[33]
A Heartbreaker two-disc expanded edition was planned for a 2016 release by Funkytowngrooves, which would include the original Heartbreaker album and up to 15 bonus tracks consisting of a mixture of unreleased songs, alternate takes, and instrumentals, with more remastered and expanded Arista albums to follow. In 2016, she was inducted into the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.[34]
In 2017, she performed a benefit in Chicago for the Center on Halsted, an organization that contributes to the LGBTQ community. This event was co-chaired by Rahm Emanuel and Barack Obama. Also that year, she made a cameo appearance in the Christian drama Let There Be Light directed by Kevin Sorbo.
In 2019 she was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
2020s to present
In 2020, she appeared as "Mouse" on season three of The Masked Singer. She was eliminated in the fifth round, but came back during the first part of the season three finale to sing "What the World Needs Now is Love" with the finalists Night Angel, Frog and Turtle as a tribute to the healthcare workers working on the front lines during the coronavirus pandemic. This performance was created after the season wrapped production in March.[35] Warwick made a guest appearance during Gladys Knight's and Patti Labelle's Verzuz battle. Together they performed Warwick's song, "That's What Friends Are For". They closed with their collaborative song "Superwoman".[36]
In My Life, as I See It: An Autobiography, Warwick lists her honorary doctorate from Hartt among those awarded by six other institutions: Hartt College, Bethune-Cookman University, Shaw University, Columbia College of Chicago, Lincoln College, Illinois [May 2010, Doctor of Arts (hon.)],[37] and University of Maryland Eastern Shore.[citation needed]
On February 10, 2021, Dionne was nominated for inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the first time.[38]
On December 3, 2021, Dionne was honored with a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars.[39]
Warwick appears in a documentary revolving around her life and career, Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2021.[40] Organizers of the Toronto Film Festival announced that she would be honored in the upcoming event as a music icon.[41] On November 26, 2021, Warwick released the single "Nothing's Impossible" a duet featuring Chance the Rapper. Two charities are being supported by the duet: SocialWorks, a Chicago-based nonprofit that Chance founded to empower the youth through the arts, education and civic engagement, and Hunger: Not Impossible, a text-based service connecting kids and their families in need with prepaid, nutritious, to-go meals from local restaurants.[42] On January 1, 2023, the documentary premiered on national television on CNN.[43][44]
Voice and artistry
Warwick is a contralto,[45][46][47][48] particularly known for her signature musicality and "husky" singing voice.[49][50][51][52] The New Yorker theatre critic Hilton Als reported that, early in her singing career, Warwick's wide vocal range "allowed her both to sing contralto low notes and to soar as a soprano".[46] According to Mike Joyce of The Washington Post, some performances on Warwick's album Dionne Warwick Sings Cole Porter (1990) capture her warmth "and emphasize her subtle phrasing".[47] In a separate review published in 1982, Joyce noted that Warwick's "magical" voice still manages to be "opaque, elusive, elegant" simultaneously, even when performing what he described as some of her most banal material in her discography.[53] Reviewing a concert in 1983, The New York Times music critic Stephen Holden observed that Warwick's voice had deepened "into a near-baritone at its bottom end", resulting in "an ever-more fascinating vocal personality".[51] Similarly, in 2006, Sarah Dempster of The Guardian observed that Warwick's voice "has deepened with age, lending a splendidly full-bodied finish to everything".[54]
Music critics have described Warwick as the muse of songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David's,[54][55][56][57] a term Bacharach himself has used to refer to the singer.[58] Bacharach confirmed that they considered Warwick their "main artist", to whom they allowed first priority on new songs.[58] MTV contributor Carol Cooper said Warwick's interpretation of their songs "established Warwick as the eloquent voice of wounded feminine pride", crediting her with making their material "even more unique and compelling".[59] According to Michael Musto of The Village Voice, the singer's voice proved to be "the perfect venue for Bacharach-David hits", writing, "Dionne could do sultry, pained, wispy, and regretful, all with sophisticated phrasings that made her a vocal emblem for the '60s heartbeat".[60] The singer claims she did not find their material difficult to sing because they had been written specifically for her voice.[61] Cooper identified their partnership as a precedent to the collaborations between R&B singer Toni Braxton, and songwriters Babyface and Diane Warren.[59]
Musically, The New York Times music critic Stephen Holden and The Guardian's Ian Gittins described Warwick as a pop soul singer.[51][56] However, AllMusic biographer William Ruhlmann found the singer particularly difficult to categorize as a vocalist, writing, "Although Warwick grew up singing in church, she is not a gospel singer. Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan are clear influences, but she is not a jazz singer. R&B is also part of her background, yet she is not really a soul singer, either, at least not in the sense that Aretha Franklin is".[62] Similar, AllMusic reviewer believes Warwick combines elements of jazz, R&B, and gospel, which ultimately result in a "pure pop singer".[63] The Washington Informer senior editor D. Kevin McNeir reported that Warwick's delivery and stage presence are often described as "scintillating, soothing, sensual and soulful".[64] A writer for the South Bend Tribune observed that Warwick is usually described as a "sophisticated" singer, while noting that this term "doesn't place her in a specific musical category".[65] A writer for The Guardian described Warwick as "one of the greatest pop singers of all time",[66] while Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times named her "that one-of-a-kind instrument that defined pop sophistication in the mid-1960s".[67]
In recent years, Warwick has become known for sharing candid, straightforward opinions about various topics on the social media platform Twitter,[68][69][70] being nicknamed the "Queen of Twitter" by several media publications.[71][72][66]
Discography
Tours
- Dionne Warwick Tour (1966)
- Dionne: 40 Anniversary Tour (2002)
- Soul Divas Tour (2004)
- An Evening with Dionne (2007)
- She's Back: One Last Time (2022)
Awards and honors
In addition to numerous awards and honors, the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce has declared May 25 to be Dionne Warwick Day and Lincoln Elementary School in East Orange, New Jersey, honored her by renaming it to the Dionne Warwick Institute of Economics and Entrepreneurship.[- Concerts
- 1966: Live from the Olympia in Paris-Sacha Distel and Dionne Warwick – Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française
- 1975: Dionne Warwick Live in Concert – nationally syndicated
- 1975: Dionne Warwick: In Performance at Wolftrap – PBS
- 1977: Dionne Warwick with the Edmonton Symphony – PBS
- 1978: Dionne Warwick: Live at The Forum
- 1980: Dionne Warwick: Live at the Park West – HBO
- 1982: Dionne Warwick: Live from Lake Tahoe – HBO
- 1983: Dionne Warwick: Live at the Rialto – PBS
- 1985: Dionne Warwick: Live at the Royal Albert Hall ITV
- 1986: Sisters in the Name of Love, with Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight – HBO
- 1987: Dionne Warwick: Live in Japan
- 1988: Dionne Warwick with the Boston Pops – PBS
- 1988: Dionne Warwick: That's What Friends Are For Benefit Concert – HBO
- 1988: Dionne Warwick Live in London – BBC
- 1989: Dionne Warwick: Live in Australia – ABC
- 1989: Dionne Warwick: That's What Friends Are For Benefit Concert – HBO
- 1990: Dionne Warwick and Friends: That's What Friends Are For Benefit Concert – HBO
- 1995: Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach – Live from the Rainbow Room – A & E Network
- 2005: Prime Concerts: In Concert with Edmonton Symphony PBS
- 2007: Dionne Warwick — Live
- 2008: Cabaret: Live in Cabaret July 18, 1975
- As an actress
- 1969: Slaves (film) – lead role – Cassy
- 1970: The Name of the Game-I Love You Billy Baker – Part I
- 1970: The Name of the Game-I Love You Billy Baker – Part II
- 1971: The Love Machine (movie) – cameo appearance and performer (main theme singer – "He's Movin' On" and "Amanda")
- 1976: Switch – Sherry (Season One)
- 1977: Rockford Files (TV series) – Theda Moran
- 1977: Switch – Sherry (Season 3)
- 1977: Switch – Sherry – Part II
- 1988: Rent-A-Cop (film) – Beth Connors
- 1991: Extralarge-Black and White (TV film)
- 1991: Extralarge-Miami Killer (TV film)
- 1991: Extralarge-Black Magic (TV film)
- 1992: Extralarge-Cannonball (TV film)
- 1992: Captain Planet and the Planeteers – Dr. Russell
- 1996: The Wayans Bros. – Mrs. Jackson
- 1997: The Drew Carey Show – Season 3, Episode 9 cameo appearance
- 1998: The Bold and the Beautiful (1 episode)
- 1998: The Wayans Bros. (1 episode)
- 1999: Johnny Bravo (Season 2, Episode 3, "Karma Krisis")
- 1999: Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child – Miss Kitty
- 1999: So Weird (Season 1, Episode 12 – "Lost")
- 2000: Walker, Texas Ranger (Season 9, Episode 10, "Faith")
- 2017: Let There Be Light – self
- 2020: The Masked Singer – the Mouse/herself
- 2021: Saturday Night Live[92] - self
- Documentary film appearances
- 1968: Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over – documentary by Gary Keys
- 1977: The Day the Music Died
- 2002: The Making and Meaning of We Are Family
- 2001: The Teens Who Stole Popular Music – A & E Films
- 2001: Don't Make Me Over: The Dionne Warwick Story – A & E Films
- 2011: Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon
- 2013: Voices of Love-Featuring Whitney Houston, Dionne Warwick, Cissy Houston & The Drinkard Singers – documentary by Gary Keys
- 2019: House of Cardin
- 2021: Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over
- Compilations, series, and specials
- 1963: American Bandstand – ABC: Performing Don't Make Me Over
- 1963: American Bandstand – ABC: Performing Anyone Who Had a Heart
- 1964: American Bandstand – ABC: Performing Walk On By
- 1964: American Bandstand – ABC: Performing Reach Out For Me
- 1965: The Danny Kaye Show – CBS
- 1965: The Tonight Show – NBC – Multiple appearances
- 1965: Hullaballoo – NBC – Multiple appearances
- 1966: Hullaballoo – NBC – Multiple appearances
- 1966: American Bandstand – ABC: Performing Message to Michael
- 1966: American Bandstand – ABC: Performing Trains, Boats and Planes
- 1966: The Red Skelton Show – CBS: Performing Walk on By, People
- 1966: The Tonight Show – NBC – Multiple appearances
- 1967: American Bandstand – ABC: Performing Another Night
- 1967: The Ed Sullivan Show – CBS: Performing Alfie, The Way You Look Tonight
- 1967: The 39th Annual Academy Awards – NBC: Performing Alfie
- 1967: The Red Skelton Show – CBS: Performing I Say A little Prayer
- 1967: Tin Pan Alley Today – NBC Television Network Special – Star
- 1970: The Dean Martin Show – NBC – Performing Paper Mache
- 1968: The Ed Sullivan Show – CBS: Performing I Say A little Prayer
- 1968: The Carol Burnett Show – CBS: Performing (Theme from) Valley of the Dolls; Children Go Where I Send Thee
- 1968: American Bandstand – ABC: Performing Do You Know the Way to San Jose
- 1968: The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show – NBC: Performing Promises, Promises and Do You Know the Way to San Jose
- 1968: The Ed Sullivan Show – CBS: Performing Battle Hymn of the Republic
- 1968: The Ed Sullivan Show – CBS: Performing Promises, Promises
- 1968: The Tonight Show – NBC – Multiple appearances
- 1967: The Dick Cavett Show – ABC – Multiple appearances
- 1969: The Merv Griffin Show – Guest Host
- 1969: The Jose Feliciano Special – NBC – Performing What the World Needs Now and Alfie with Burt Bacharach
- 1969: The Dick Cavett Show – ABC – Multiple performances
- 1969: The Tonight Show – NBC – Multiple appearances
- 1969: Dionne Warwick: Souled Out – CBS Television with Warwick's guests Burt Bacharach, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Glen Campbell
- 1970: The Dean Martin Show – NBC – Performing Paper Mache
- 1970: An Evening with Burt Bacharach: Special Guest Dionne Warwick – NBC
- 1970: The Carol Burnett Show – CBS: Performing (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me and What the World Needs Now
- 1970: The Tonight Show – NBC – Multiple appearances
- 1971: The Tonight Show – NBC – Multiple appearances
- 1973: The Midnight Special: Host – Dionne Warwick – NBC
- 1974: The Dionne Warwick Special – nationally syndicated
- 1975: Music Country USA-Host Dionne Warwick – NBC
- 1975: The Dionne Warwick Show – nationally syndicated
- 1976: The Original Rompin' Stompin', Hot & Heavy, Cool & Groovy All-Star Jazz Show – Host Dionne Warwick with Count Basie
- 1978: Dionne Warwick -Live from DC- Dick Clark – ABC
- 1979: Solid Gold Countdown 1979 – Hosts Dionne Warwick and Glen Campbell
- 1980–1981 and 1985–1986: Solid Gold – Series Host
- 1982: To Basie with Love - Host
- 1982 I Love Liberty - performer
- 1990–1991: Dionne!-(Talk Show) – Host – Nationally Syndicated
- 2002: A Tribute to Burt Bacharach & Hal David
- 2005: The 5th Dimension Travelling Sunshine Show
- 2005: Straight from the Heart Live, Vol. 1
- 2006: Flashbacks: Soul Sensations
- 2006: Flashbacks: Pop Parade
- 2008: Lost Concerts Series: Uptown Divas
- 2011: The Celebrity Apprentice 4 – Contestant
- 2018: The Four: Battle For Stardom – Cameo/Appearance, Warwick's Granddaughter "Cheyenne Elliot" performed for the Judges on the show.[93]
References
- Harvey, Stephen: What's It All About Dionne? Interview – Dionne Warwick Archived September 24, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, The Independent on Sunday, February 23, 2003
- Ayres, Sabra: Dionne Warwick's Charges Dropped in Plea Bargain, Associated Press, June 5, 2002.
- Nathan, David (1999). The Soulful Divas: Personal Portraits of over a dozen divine divas from Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, & Diana Ross, to Patti LaBelle, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, & Janet Jackson. Watson-Guptill Publications. ISBN 0-8230-8425-6.
- Current Biography. H. W. Wilson, Company. Current Biography Yearbook 1969. Subject: Dionne Warwick. 1969. H.W. Wilson Company, Chicago, Ill.
- Current Biography. H. W. Wilson, Company. Current Biography Yearbook 1971. Subject: Burt Bacharach. 1971. H.W. Wilson Company, Chicago, Ill.
- Hitmakers: The Teens Who Stole Popular Music: Dionne Warwick – Don't Make Me Over. Performers – Dionne Warwick main subject, Burt Bacharach, Dee Dee Warwick, Dick Clark, et al. A&E Entertainment Video. 2002.
- Hitmakers: Burt Bacharach. Performers-Burt Bacharach main subject, Dionne Warwick, Angie Dickinson, Steve Lawrence, et al. A&E Entertainment Video. 2002.
- Lifetime Television's Intimate Portrait: Dionne Warwick. Performers: Dionne Warwick, Lee Warrick, David Elliott, Damon Elliott, Cissy Houston, et al. Lifetime Entertainment Video. 2004.
- "Dionne Warwick Profile". People. October 15, 1979. Time-Warner, Inc.
- "Dionne Warwick". Rolling Stone, November 15, 1979. Rolling Stone Press.
- "Dionne the Universal Warwick". Ebony, May 1968. Johnson Publications.
- "The Sound of the Sixties". Time. May 21, 1965. Time, Inc.
- "Spreading the Faith". Time. July 14, 1967. Time, Inc.
- "Dionne Warwick Married". Time. September 8, 1967. Time, Inc.
External links
Dionne Warwick "Walk On By" 1964
"Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" 1968
"Message To Michael" 1966
Dionne Warwick "I Say A Little Prayer" 1967:
Dionne Warwick "I Say A Little Prayer" on The Ed Sullivan Show, January 7, 1968:
"Alfie" (1966):
CHECK OUT THE FOLLOWING AMAZING STORY!
Dionne Warwick "Alfie" 1967
Grammy Hall of Fame 2008
Dionne Warwick - "Don't Make Me Over" - Live 1963
Dionne Warwick - "Promises Promises" 1968:
Promises, Promises is the title of a 1968 album by Dionne Warwick, and her eleventh studio album. Like many of her previous albums, it was produced by the songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. The album includes three songs from the musical Promises, Promises, for which Bacharach and David wrote the music and lyrics, and which would premiere a month after the album was released: the title song, "Whoever You Are (I Love You)" and "Wanting Things". The album also includes two other Bacharach/David compositions, "This Girl's in Love with You" (which had originally been recorded by Herb Alpert as "This Guy's in Love with You" earlier that year) and "Who Is Gonna Love Me?".
