Dionne Warwick

Singer

The elegant Dionne Warwick was one of the first black recording artists to reach a mainstream pop audience that knew no racial or ethnic barriers. During the 1960s Warwick sold a phenomenal 12 million albums and placed numerous singles in the Top Ten as the result of her association with successful songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David. During those years, wrote Rich Wiseman of People, Warwick was "a red-hot singer of cold-hearted hits spanning pop, jazz and R&B." Indeed, Warwick's voice and manner were ideally suited to the sometimes coy, sometimes plaintive Bacharach-David tunes, and her work completed independently of that team has followed the same formula.

A Newsweek reporter described Warwick's style as "deliciously phrased, uncontrived and in a polished, flexible voice … a dazzling acrobatic display of vocal weightlessness, changing colors and dynamics with chilling impact." The reporter added, "Cushioning all her songs is an uncanny rhythmic sense…. Her body pulsates and twitches, and her voice seems somehow to swing to its own built-in rhythm section." In the Washington Post, William Rice observed that Warwick "can produce the impression of a 'soul singer's scream' without raising her voice and so practiced is her vocal control and her technical mastery that she glides from a gospel chant to a torchsinger's moan with disarming ease."

Warwick was born Marie Dionne Warrick in the comfortable middle-class community of Orange, New Jersey. She began her professional career as a gospel singer, working with the well-known Drinkard Singers and with her own group, the Gospelaires. Ironically, Warwick has claimed that she did not want to go into show business at all; instead, she wanted to teach music to schoolchildren. Her mother, Lee, managed the Drinkard Singers from a base at the New Hope Baptist Church in nearby Newark, and as a teenager Dionne was often called in as a substitute singer when a regular group member was missing. Warwick was also in her teens when she formed the Gospelaires with her sister Dee Dee and two cousins. Gospel, she told Newsweek, "is the Bible in the form of song. It's open prayer. Religion gives me comfort and complete freedom."

Discovered by Bacharach and David

Warwick attended Hartt College of Music on a scholarship, studying piano, voice, and music theory. Between terms she worked as a backup singer for Sam ("the Man") Taylor and the Drifters, among others. In 1959 Warwick was working on a Drifters recording when she caught the eye of Burt Bacharach, then a relatively unknown composer. "She was singing louder than everybody else," Bacharach told Ebony, "so I couldn't help noticing her. 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 partner, Hal David, invited Warwick to record some of their songs on demonstration records, and by 1961 the pretty young singer had signed a contract with Scepter Records. She had her first hit, "Don't Make Me Over," the following year. When the record company misspelled her name on a label, Marie Dionne Warrick became Dionne Warwick, and her fortunes began to rise.

Possessing a vocal style that alluded as much to Ella Fitzgerald as to classic soul, Warwick was as popular with listeners of adult contemporary as she was with dreamy-eyed teens. "I came along in an era when kids were tired of hearing songs that just said, 'Boo-boo-boo,'" Warwick told the New York Times. "I had a different kind of sound that was accepted by both the R&B audience and the pop audience." Young and old, white and black listeners alike, all responded to Warwick's gentle songs, and the passing decades have hardly dimmed the appeal of "Walk On By," "Alfie," "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" and "I'll Never Fall in Love Again." In four years during the 1960s the entertainer sold 12 million records and made the Top Forty charts 31 times. She also gave solo concerts in Europe and at New York's prestigious Philharmonic Hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. "Show business," Warwick told People, "became my life."

Revived Her Career at Arista

Warwick was at her commercial peak when she recorded the multi-genre smash "Then Came You" with the red hot funk and soul group the Spinners in 1974. However, pop careers are notoriously fragile, as Warwick discovered in 1975. First Bacharach and David dissolved their partnership, leaving Warwick with a five-record contract with Warner Brothers to fulfill. Then her marriage fell apart, and her husband sued for alimony. Warwick found herself immersed in legal battles with her former spouse and with Bacharach and David, whom she sued for breach of contract. She managed to release the contracted albums as planned, but as Wiseman noted, the efforts "bombed her into obscurity."

She was rescued from the slump by pop star/songwriter Barry Manilow, who produced her 1979 gold album Dionne for Clive Davis's Arista Records. The album contained two hit singles, the heartbreakingly wistful "I'll Never Love This Way Again" and the mysterious "Deja Vu."

For the Record …

Born Marie Dionne Warrick on December 12, 1941, in East Orange, NJ; daughter of Mancel (a butcher) and Lee (manager of a gospel group) Warrick; married William Elliott, 1967 (divorced, 1975); children: David, Damion. Education: Attended Hartt College of Music, Hartford, CT.

Gospel singer and organist with the Gospelaires and the Drinkard Singers, 1955–60; solo performer, 1960–; signed with Scepter Records, 1961; released first hit single, "Don't Make Me Over," 1962; had string of hit singles written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, including "Walk On By," "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" "What the World Needs Now (Is Love Sweet Love)"; signed with Arista Records, 1979, produced hits "I'll Never Love This Way Again," "Deja Vu," and "Heartbreaker"; with Stevie Wonder, recorded "That's What Friends Are For," 1986, to benefit AIDS research; had songs included in the soundtracks of such films as The Love Machine, The First Wives Club, and Isn't She Great, 1965–2000; made numerous television appearances, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Red Skelton Show, Solid Gold, American Idol, and her own syndicated show Dionne and Friends (1990); hosted TV infomercials for the Psychic Friends Network, early 1990s; recorded for River North Records, 1998; co-founded Dionne Warwick Design Group Inc., 2002; wrote book My Point of View, 2003.

Awards: Grammy Awards for Best Female Vocal Performance, 1969, 1970, and 1980; Image Award, Entertainer of the Year, 1988; American Society of Young Musicians, Luminary Award, 1997; National Association of Record Merchandisers, Chairman's Award for Sustained Creative Achievement, 1998; Grammy Hall of Fame Award for "Walk On By," 1964; National History Makers of Chicago, named a History Maker, 2001; R&B Foundation, Lifetime Achievement Award, 2003.

Addresses: Booking—Red Entertainment Group, Attn. Carlos Keyes, 16 Penn Plaza, Ste. 824, New York, NY 10001; phone: (212) 563-7575, fax: (212) 563-9393. Website—Dionne Warwick Official Website: http://www.dionnewarwick.info.

On the strength of that comeback, Warwick was invited to host a weekly syndicated television music show, "Solid Gold." She worked on the show for a year in 1980–81, eventually parting on bad terms with its producers. Answering charges that she had been "temperamental" during filming, Warwick told Ebony, "I'm a perfectionist. I won't stand for less than the best…. What's wrong with that?" She eventually returned during the show's 1985–86 season.

Warwick returned to recording, this time working with ex-Bee Gee Barry Gibb. Her 1983 release, Heartbreaker, was yet another million seller. In 1986 Warwick lent her voice to a project to benefit AIDS research, producing the hit single "That's What Friends Are For," which raised millions of dollars for the cause. She claimed that her career was salvaged by a 1979 move to Arista Records. "Now, once again, everything is being done absolutely for me," she told Rolling Stone. "There's no overshadowing. I'm sitting on top of everything, which is the way it should be." The mother of two sons, Warwick lived in Beverly Hills. She rarely socialized with the Hollywood "party crowd," preferring a degree of discretion in her personal life.

Also an Entrepreneur

Warwick's days as a hitmaker came to an end during the late 1980s, although she continued to record popular albums for Arista into the 1990s. Her personal favorite was the 1995 release Aquarela Do Brazil, which precipitated her move to Brazil, where she now spends much of her leisure time. The artist's last chart single was a remake of Jackie DeShannon's 1965 hit "What the World Needs Now is Love," recorded with Hip-Hop Nation in 1998.

Still a popular entertainer, Warwick also hosted television infomercials for the Psychic Friends Network, and although she had always been sincere about her interest in psychic phenomenon, her association with the commercials made her somewhat of a laughing stock among non-believers.

When not performing at high profile charity events or with symphony orchestras worldwide, Warwick has proven to be a successful entrepreneur. She helped create Carr/Todd/Warwick Production Inc, a television and film company. The singer has also teamed with partner Bruce Garrick to form the Dionne Warwick Design Group Inc., a company that re-designs private estates and world class hotels. If that weren't enough, she markets her own skin care regimen and personal fragrance.

Yet there is no question that Warwick is still best known as a one-of-a-kind vocalist, something she prophetically acknowledged to People in 1979. "Talent will prevail," she remarked. "Nobody, bar none, can do what Dionne Warwick does."

Selected discography

Singles

"Don't Make Me Over," Scepter, 1963.
"This Empty Place," Scepter, 1963.
"Anyone Who Had a Heart," Scepter, 1963.
"Make the Music Play," Scepter, 1963.
"Walk On By," Scepter, 1964.
"A House is Not a Home," Scepter, 1964.
"You'll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart)," Scepter, 1964.
"Reach Out For Me," Scepter, 1964.
"Who Can I Turn To," Scepter, 1965.
"You Can Have Him," Scepter, 1965.
"Here I Am," Scepter, 1965.
"Looking With My Eyes," Scepter 1965.
"Are You There (with Another Girl)," Scepter, 1966.
"Message to Michael," Scepter, 1966.
"Trains Boats and Planes," Scepter, 1966.
"Another Night," Scepter, 1966.
"I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself," Scepter, 1966.
"Alfie," Scepter, 1967.
"The Windows of the World," Scepter, 1967.
"I Say a Little Prayer," Scepter, 1967.
"(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls," Scepter, 1967.
"The April Fools," Scepter, 1968.
"Do You Know the Way to San Jose," Scepter, 1968.
"Always Something There to Remind Me," Scepter, 1968.
"Promises, Promises," Scepter, 1968.
"This Girl's in Love with You," Scepter, 1969.
"You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'," Scepter, 1969.
"I'll Never Fall in Love Again," Scepter, 1970.
"Make it Easy on Yourself," Scepter, 1970.
"Paper Mache," Scepter, 1970.
"Let Me Go to Him," Scepter, 1970.
"Who Gets the Guy," Scepter, 1971.
(With the Spinners) "Then Came You," Atlantic, 1974.
"Take it From Me," Warner Bros, 1975.
"Once You Hit the Road," Warner Bros., 1975.
"I'll Never Love This Way Again," Arista, 1978.
"Deja Vu," Arista, 1979.
"After You," Arista, 1980.
"No Night So Long,"Arista, 1980.
"Some Changes Are For Good," Arista, 1981.
(With Johnny Mathis) "Friends in Love," Arisat, 1982.
"Heartbreaker," Arista, 1982.
"All the Love in the World," Arista, 1983.
(With Luther Vandross) "How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye," Arista, 1983.
"Take the Short Way Home," Arista, 1984.
"Finder of Lost Loves," Arista, 1985.
"Run to Me," Arista, 1985.
(With Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder) "That's What Friends Are For," Arista, 1985.
(With Jeffrey Osborne) "Love Power," Arista, 1987.
(With Kashif) "Reservations for Two," Arista, 1987.
"Another Chance to Love," Arista, 1988.

Albums

Presenting Dionne Warwick, Scepter, 1964.
Anyone Who Had a Heart, Scepter, 1964.
Make Way for Dionne Warwick, Scepter, 1964.
The Sensitive Sound of Dionne Warwick, Scepter, 1965.

Here I Am, Scepter, 1965.
Dionne Warwick in Paris, Scepter, 1966.
Here Where There Is Love, Scepter, 1967.
On Stage and in the Movies, Scepter, 1967.
Windows of the World, Scepter, 1967.
The Magic of Believing, Scepter, 1967.
Valley of the Dolls and Others, Scepter, 1968.
Soulful, Scepter, 1969.
Greatest Motion Picture Hits, Scepter, 1969.
Dionne Warwick's Golden Hits, Volume 1, Scepter, 1969.
Dionne Warwick's Golden Hits, Volume 2, Scepter, 1970.
I'll Never Fall in Love Again, Scepter, 1970.
Very Dionne, Scepter, 1971.
Promises, Promises, Scepter, 1971.
From Within, Volume 1, Scepter, 1972.
Dionne, Warner Brothers, 1973.
Just Being Myself, Warner Brothers, 1973.
Then Came You, Warner Brothers, 1975.
Track of the Cat, Warner Brothers, 1975.
Love at First Sight, Warner Brothers, 1977.
Dionne, Arista, 1979.
No Night So Long, Arista, 1980.
Hot! Live and Otherwise, Arista, 1981.
Heartbreaker, Arista, 1983.
Finder of Lost Loves, Arista, 1985.
Dionne and Friends, Arista, 1986.
Anthology, 1962–1971, Rhino, 1986.
Then Came You, Arista, 1986.
Masterpieces, Arista, 1986.
Reservations for Two, Arista, 1987.
Sings Cole Porter, Arista, 1990.
Friends Can Be Lovers, Arista, 1993.
Celebration in Vienna [Live], Arista/Sony, 1994.
Aquarela Do Brazil, Arista, 1995.
Dionne Sings Dionne, River North, 1998.
The Definitive Collection, Arista, 1999.
Soulful Plus, Rhino Handmade, 2004.
Love Songs, Arista/Legacy, 2005.
My Favorite Time of the Year, DMI, 2004.
Say a Little Prayer, DCC, 2004.
Me & My Friends, Concord, 2006.

Sources

Books

Rees, Dafydd, and Luke Crampton, VH1 Music First: Rock Stars Encyclopedia, DK, 1999; new rev. edition, 1995.

Nathan, David, The Soulful Divas, Billboard Books, 1998.

Whitburn, Joel, The Billboard Book of Top 40 R&B and Hip-Hop Hits, Billboard, 2006.

Periodicals

Ebony, May 1968; May 1983.

Newsday, May 12, 1969.

Newsweek, October 10, 1966.

New York Times, May 12, 1968.

People, October 15, 1979.

Rolling Stone, November 15, 1979.

Washington Post, December 22, 1967.

Online

"Dionne Warwick," All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com (June 28, 2006).

"Dionne Warwick," Internet Movie Database, http://www.imdb.com (June 28, 2006).

Dionne Warwick

Singer

For the Record…

Selected discography

Sources

The elegant Dionne Warwick was one of the first black recording artists to reach a mainstream pop audience that knew no racial or ethnic barriers. In the late 1960s Warwick sold a phenomenal twelve million albums and placed numerous singles in the Top Ten as the result of her association with quirky songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David. During those years, writes People magazine correspondent Rich Wiseman, Warwick was “a red-hot singer of cold-hearted hits spanning pop, jazz and R…B.” Indeed, Warwick’s voice and manner were ideally suited to the sometimes coy, sometimes plaintive Bacharach-David tunes, and her work independent of that team has followed the same formula.

A Newsweek reporter describes Warwick’s style as “deliciously phrased, uncontrived and in a polished, flexible voice that [is] deep purple below and sky-blue above… a dazzling acrobatic display of vocal weightlessness, changing colors and dynamics with chilling impact.” The reporter adds, “Cushioning all her songs is an uncanny rhythmic sense…. Her body pulsates and twitches, and her voice seems somehow to swing to its own built-in rhythm section. Her songs become dramatic monologues, building tensions until the wild finish.” In the Washington Post, William makes a similar observation. According to Rice, Warwick “can produce the impression of a ’soul singer’s scream’ without raising her voice and so practiced is her vocal control and her technical mastery that she glides from a gospel chant to a torchsinger’s moan with disarming ease.”

It should come as no surprise that Warwick has perfected the gospel sound. She began her professional career as a gospel singer, working with the well-known Drinkard Singers and with her own group, the Gospelaires. Ironically, Warwick has claimed that she did not want to go into show business at all; instead, she wanted to teach music to schoolchildren. Warwick was born Marie Dionne Warrick in the comfortable middleclass community of Orange, New Jersey. Her mother, Lee, managed the Drinkard Singers from a base at the New Hope Baptist Church in nearby Newark, and as a teenager Dionne was often called in as a substitute singer when a regular group member was missing. Warwick was also in her teens when she formed the Gospelaires with her sister Dee Dee and two cousins. Gospel, she told Newsweek, “is the Bible in the form of song. It’s open prayer. Religion gives me comfort and complete freedom.”

Warwick attended Hartt College of Music on a scholarship, studying piano, voice, and music theory. Between terms she worked as a backup singer for Sam (” the Man”) Taylor and the Drifters, among others. In 1959

For the Record…

Name originally Marie Dionne Warrick; born December 12, 1941, in East Orange, N.J.; daughter of Mancel (a butcher) and Lee (manager of a gospel group) Warrick; married Bill Elliott, 1967 (divorced, 1975); children: David, Damion. Education: Attended Hartt College of Music, Hartford, Conn.

Gospel singer and organist with the Gospelaires and the Drinkard Singers, 1955–60; solo performer, 1960—. Signed with Scepter Records, 1961; released first hit single, “Don’t Make Me Over,” 1962. Had string of hit singles written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, including “Walk On By,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” “What the World Needs Now (Is Love Sweet Love),” “Message to Michael,” and “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again.” Signed with Arista Records, 1979, produced hits “I’ll Never Love This Way Again,” “Deja Vu,” and “Heartbreaker.” With Stevie Wonder, recorded “That’s What Friends Are For,” 1986, to benefit medical research on AIDS.

Has made numerous television and film appearances, including “The Ed Sullivan Show,” “The Red Skelton Show,” “Solid Gold” (host, 1981), and “A Gift of Music.” Star of “The Dionne Warwick Special.”

Awards: Recipient of Grammy Awards for best female vocal performance, 1969, 1970, and 1980.

Addresses: Office —c/o 6464 Sunset Blvd., #1030, Hollywood, CA 90028.

Warwick was working on a Drifters recording when she caught the eye of Burt Bacharach, then a relatively unknown composer. “She was singing louder than everybody else,” Bacharach told Ebony, “so I couldn’t help noticing her. 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 partner, Hal David, invited Warwick to record some of their songs on demonstration records, and by 1961 the pretty young singer had signed a contract with Scepter Records. She had her first hit, “Don’t Make Me Over,” the following year. When the record company misspelled her name on a label, Marie Dionne Warrick became Dionne Warwick, and her fortunes began to rise.

“I came along in an era when kids were tired of hearing songs that just said, ’Boo-boo-boo,’” Warwick told the New York Times. “I had a different kind of sound that was accepted by both the R…B audience and the pop audience.” Young and old, white and black listeners alike responded to Warwick’s gentle songs—and two decades have hardly dimmed the appeal of “Walk On By,” “Alfie,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” and “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again.” In four years the entertainer sold twelve million records and made the Top Forty charts thirty-one times. She also gave solo concerts in Europe and at New York’s prestigious Philharmonic Hall in the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. “Show Warwick told People, “became my life.”

Pop careers are notoriously fragile, as Warwick discovered in 1975. First, Bacharach and David dissolved their partnership, leaving Warwick with a five-record contract to fulfill. Then her marriage fell apart, and her husband sued for alimony. Warwick found herself immersed in legal battles with her former spouse and with Bacharach and David, whom she sued for breach of contract. She managed to release the contracted albums as planned, but as Wiseman notes, the efforts “bombed her into obscurity.” She was rescued from the slump by Barry Manilow, who produced gold album, Dionne. The album contained two hit singles, “I’ll Never Love This Way Again” and the mysterious “Deja Vu.”

On the strength of that comeback, Warwick was invited to host a weekly syndicated music show, “Solid Gold.” She worked on the show for a year, eventually parting on bad terms with its producers. Answering charges that she had been “temperamental” during filming, Warwick told Ebony, “I’m a perfectionist. I won’t stand for less than the best…. What’s wrong with that?” Warwick returned to recording, this time working with ex-Bee Gee Barry Gibb. Her 1983 release, Heartbreaker, was yet another million seller.

More recently, Warwick lent her voice to a project to benefit AIDS research, producing the hit single “That’s What Friends Are For.” She claims that her career was salvaged by a 1979 move to Arista Records. “Now, once again, everything is being done absolutely for me,” she old Rolling Stone. “There’s no overshadowing. I’m sitting on top of everything, which is the way it should be.” The mother of two sons, Warwick lives in a Beverly Hills mansion. She rarely socializes with the Hollywood “party crowd,” preferring a degree of discretion in her personal life. After more than two decades as a top performer, Warwick feels secure in her ability and confident about her future. “Talent will prevail,” she told People. “Nobody, bar none, can do what Dionne Warwick does.”

Selected discography

Presenting Dionne Warwick, Scepter, 1964.

Anyone Who Had a Heart, Scepter, 1964.

Make Way for Dionne Warwick, Scepter, 1964.

The Sensitive Sound of Dionne Warwick, Scepter, 1965.

Here I Am, Scepter, 1965.

Dionne Warwick in Paris, Scepter, 1966.

Here Where There Is Love, Scepter, 1967.

On Stage and in the Movies, Scepter, 1967.

Windows of the World, Scepter, 1967.

The Magic of Believing, Scepter, 1967.

Valley of the Dolls and Others, Scepter, 1968.

Soulful, Scepter, 1969.

Greatest Motion Picture Hits, Scepter, 1969.

Dionne Warwick’s Golden Hits, Volume 1, Scepter, 1969.

Dionne Warwick’s Golden Hits, Volume 2, Scepter, 1970.

I’ll Never Fall in Love Again, Scepter, 1970.

Very Dionne, Scepter, 1971.

Promises, Promises, Scepter, 1971.

From Within, Volume 1, Scepter, 1972.

Dionne, Warner Brothers, 1973.

Just Being Myself, Warner Brothers, 1973.

Then Came You, Warner Brothers, 1975.

Track of the Cat, Warner Brothers, 1975.

Love at First Sight, Warner Brothers, 1977.

Dionne, Arista, 1979.

No Night So Long, Arista, 1980.

Hot! Live and Otherwise, Arista, 1981.

Heartbreaker, Arista, 1983.

Finder of Lost Loves, Arista.

Dionne and Friends, Arista, 1986.

Anthology, 1962-1971, Rhino, 1986.

Then Came You, Arista, 1986.

Masterpieces, Arista, 1986.

Reservations for Two, Arista, 1987.

Sources

Ebony, May, 1968; May, 1983.

Newsday, May 12, 1969.

Newsweek, October 10, 1966.

New York Times, May 12, 1968.

People, October 15, 1979.

Rolling Stone, November 15, 1979.

Washington Post, December 22, 1967.

—Anne Janette Johnson