Dionne Warwick





Soulful vocalist Dionne Warwick was born Marie Dionne Warrick (with no "w") in East Orange, New Jersey on December 12, 1940 and grew up in a family that loved gospel music. She first sang in Newark's New Hope Baptist Church choir. She played piano with the Drinkard Singers, a gospel group her mother managed, and studied at Connecticut's Hart School of Music. During the same period, she also formed 'the Gospelaires' with her sister, Dee Dee and aunt Cissy Houston. Increasingly employed as backing singers, the trio's voices soon appeared on records by the Drifters and Garnet Mimms.

In 1962, composer Burt Bacharach, who had written some songs for the Drifters, heard Warrick and invited her to cut a version of his song "Don't Make Me Over," co-written and produced with Hal David. It became a Top 40 hit, launching her career as Dionne Warwick, because her name was misspelled on her recording contract!

Bacharach's compositions were the perfect setting for Warwick's light, yet powerful voice and this first taste of success set the wheels in motion for a long string of collaborations during the 1960's. The pair's early success' included "Anyone Who Had A Heart", "Walk On By", "You'll Never Get To Heaven (If You Break My Heart)", "Message to Michael", "Alfie", "The Valley of the Dolls", and "This Girl's in Love with You".

Although many of her singles charted, few were Top 10 hits, and the soulful edge, prevalent for the first two years, was gradually worn away. As her songwriters moved ever closer to the mainstream, she also embraced a safer, albeit classier approach, with such hits as the uplifting "I Say A Little Prayer" (1967) and "Do You Know The Way To San Jose?" (1968).

In 1971, Warwick abandoned both her label and mentors and signed with Warner Brothers Records. The result was some disappointing releases and the relationship soon floundered. Her biggest hit came in a duet with the Spinners called "Then Came You", in 1974.

Dionne moved to Arista Records in 1979, where production work by Barry Manilow rekindled her commercial standing, with "I'll Never Love This Way Again" and "Deja Vu". Over the next two decades Warwick continued to score solo hits, including the Barry Gibb written, "Heartbreaker", all the while remaining in demand as a guest artist. She appeared on the hit singles "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" and "Friends In Love" with Johnny Mathis, on "Love Power" with Jeffrey Osborne, "How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye?" with Luther Vandross and on the Grammy-winning hit "That's What Friends Are For" with Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and Elton John.

Along the way, she racked up five Grammys and five gold albums, despite devoting increasing amounts of time to non-musical endeavours like the Dionne Warwick Design Group (an interior design firm), the nationally syndicated radio show "Love Notes From Around the World," the TV show "Solid Gold" (which she hosted for three years in the early '80s), a perfume company, the Psychic Friends Network (a 1-900 business), and, most importantly, major charity work for AIDS-related causes (she has raised millions of dollars through benefit concerts and fundraising efforts).

In the 90s, Dionne recorded two albums for Arista, 1993's "Friends Can Be Lovers", which features cameos by Sting and her cousin Whitney Houston, and 1995's Latin-themed "Aquarela Do Brazil". Both sold well and received positive reviews, indicating that after more than 30 years in the recording business, Warwick is as creative and popular as ever.