Dionne Warwick

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Dionne Warwick

Background information
Birth name Marie Dionne Warrick
Born December 12, 1940 (age 66)
Origin East Orange, New Jersey
Genre(s) R&B/pop/soul
Occupation(s) Singer, Actress
Instrument(s) Vocals
Years active 1962 - present
Label(s) Scepter, Warner Bros, Arista
Associated
acts		 Burt Bacharach, The Spinners, Isaac Hayes, Whitney Houston

Marie Dionne Warrick (born December 12, 1940 in East Orange, New Jersey), known professionally as Dionne Warwick, is an African-American singer best known for her work with Hal David and Burt Bacharach as songwriters and producers.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early years

Born to parents Mansel Warrick and Lee Drinkard, Dionne Warrick began singing gospel with her family, and started her professional career after graduating from the University of Hartford. In the earliest stage of her career, she sang backing vocals on records by Chuck Jackson, Dinah Washington and Solomon Burke, among others. Her first solo single was 1962's "Don't Make Me Over", the title (according to legend) supplied by Warrick herself when she snapped the phrase at producers Burt Bacharach and Hal David during an arduous recording session. [1] From the phrase, Bacharach and David created an elegant R&B recording, which became a top 40 pop hit in the US (and a top 5 US R&B hit.) Famously, Warrick's name was misspelled on the credits, and she soon began using the new spelling (i.e., "Warwick") both professionally and personally.[2]

The two immediate follow-ups to "Don't Make Me Over" were largely unsuccessful, but 1964's "Anyone Who Had a Heart" was Warwick's first top 10 pop hit. This was followed by "Walk on By," a major hit that launched her career into the stratosphere. For the rest of the 1960s, Warwick was a fixture on the US and Canadian charts, and virtually all of Warwick's singles from 1962-1972 were written and produced by the Bacharach/David team.

In fact, Warwick weathered the British Invasion better than most American artists, although she released only a few hits in the UK during the late 1960s, most notably "Walk On By" and "Do You Know The Way To San Jose". In the UK a number of Bacharach-David-Warwick songs were covered by UK singer Cilla Black, most notably "Anyone Who Had a Heart", which went to #1 in the UK. This upset Warwick and she has described feeling insulted when told that in the UK, record company executives wanted her songs recorded by someone else. Warwick even met Cilla Black whilst on tour in the UK. 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." [1]

"You're My World" was, in fact, not released as a single by Warwick. Black, however, went ahead with the single release of "You're My World" in 1964 and the track peaked at #1 UK, #26 US.

[edit] The late 1960s and early 1970s

A 1967 LP called Here Where There Is Love became a big hit for Warwick, as did her single "I Say a Little Prayer" (on her album The Windows of the World). Her next big hit was unusual in that it was not written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David; "(Theme From) Valley of the Dolls" was a smash success, as was the Bacharach/David-penned follow-up, "Do You Know the Way to San Jose". More hits followed in the last two years of the 1960s.

Warwick had become the priority act of Scepter Records with the release of "Anyone Who Had A Heart" in 1963. However, in the post-Woodstock era of the late 1960s, the decision was made that she would begin looking for a major label. Warwick's last recording for Scepter was in 1971. She debuted on the Warner Brothers label -- in a five-year contract that was the biggest contract for a female artist at that time. Although she initially teamed with Bacharach and David as writers/producers, this association dissolved after one LP on Warners. For the next few years, Warwick would team with a variety of producers, looking for an elusive hit.

[edit] Move to Arista

Her career slowed greatly in the 1970s, with no big hits until 1974's "Then Came You", recorded as a duet with the Spinners and produced by Thom Bell. It was her first US #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Nevertheless, other than this success, Warwick's five years on Warner Brothers -- despite the fact that she worked the entire time -- left her almost completely without hits, other than a few quality, but lesser known Disco hits such as "Track of the Cat" and "Once You Hit The Road" -- both of which were produced in 1974 and 1975, respectively, by Thom Bell.

This trend ended with the move to a new label and the release of "I'll Never Love This Way Again" in 1979. The song was produced by Barry Manilow. The accompanying album Dionne was her first to go platinum. This was her debut on Arista Records, to which she had been personally signed and guided by the label's founder Clive Davis.

Warwick's next hit was her 1982 full-length collaboration with Barry Gibb of The Bee Gees for "Heartbreaker". Her following hit was the duet "Friends In Love" recorded with Johnny Mathis, her good friend and fellow musical legend.

In 1986, Warwick led the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR) benefit single "That's What Friends Are For" with Friends (Gladys Knight, Elton John, and Stevie Wonder); it was a number one hit, and garnered Warwick's fifth Grammy Award. It also marked a reunion of Warwick and song co-writer Burt Bacharach (lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager).

In late 1987, Dionne scored another pop hit and Top 10 R&B chart hit with the song, "Love Power", a duet with Jeffrey Osborne. The album it came from, "Reservations For Two" was released in 1988.

[edit] Host of Solid Gold

In January 1980, while under contract to Arista Records, Dionne 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 again in 1985-86.

[edit] 1990s and Today

Her career took a major downturn in the 1990s, with only a few moderate-selling albums released and no major singles. The most well received album being, "Friends Can Be Lovers" which featured a moderate hit with the lead single, the sensual, "Where My Lips Have Been." The second single, "Love Will Find a Way" featuring Whitney Houston, would have been a major hit if given the chance. During this period, she was perhaps best known for hosting infomercials for the Psychic Friends Network, a 900 number psychic service.

In 2002, Warwick was arrested at Miami International Airport for possession of marijuana. Miami-Dade Police officers reported finding eleven marijuana cigarettes inside a lipstick container. Drug charges were dropped when she agreed to complete a drug treatment program, donate $250 to charity and make an anti-drug public service announcement directed at youth.[2].

In 2005, Dionne Warwick was honored by Oprah Winfrey at her "Legends Ball".

Warwick enjoyed one of her largest audiences ever when she appeared on the May 24, 2006 fifth-season finale of American Idol. 36 million U.S. viewers watched Warwick sing 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 released My Friends and Me, a duets album on which she sang with various female singing stars, on thirteen of her old hits. The album was produced by her son, Damon Elliot. Among her singing partners were Gloria Estefan, Olivia Newton John and Reba McEntire.

[edit] Famous relations

Warwick's sister Dee Dee Warwick also had a successful singing career, scoring a Top 20 R&B hit in the form of "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" in 1967. In 1971, at the advice of a numerologist, both Dionne and her sister Dee Dee added an "e" to the end of Warwick (thus making their professional last names "Warwicke"). The "e" was eventually dropped in mid-1975.

Warwick's mother, Lee Drinkard, along with many of Warwick's uncles and aunts, were members of The Drinkard Singers, a noted gospel music group which lasted from the 1940s through the 1990s.

One of Warwick's cousins is Whitney Houston.

[edit] Singles Discography

[edit] The Scepter Era (1962-1972)

Year Song U.S. Hot 100 U.S R&B U.S. Adult Contem- porary CAN singles UK singles
1962 "Don't Make Me Over" 21 5 - - -
1963 "This Empty Place" 84 26 - - -
1963 "Make the Music Play" 81 - - - -
1963 "Anyone Who Had a Heart" 8 - 2 - 42
1964 "Walk on By" 6 - 7 - 9
1964 "You'll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart)" (A-side) 34 - - 15 20
→ "A House Is Not a Home" (B-side) 71 - - 37 -
1964 "Reach Out for Me" 20 - - 12 23
1965 "Who Can I Turn To" 62 34 - 31 -
1965 "You Can Have Him" 75 - - - 37
1965 "Here I Am" 65 - 11 19 -
1965 "(Here I Go Again) Looking With My Eyes" 64 38 - - -
1965 "Are You There (With Another Girl)" 39 35 - 13 -
1966 "In Between the Heartaches" (UK release only) - - - - -
1966 "Message to Michael" 8 5 12 6 -
1966 "Trains and Boats and Planes" 22 49 37 18 -
1966 "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself" 26 20 - 36 -
1966 "Another Night" 49 47 - 30 -
1967 "Alfie" (A-side) 15 5 - 10 -
→ "The Beginning of Loneliness" (B-side) 79 44 - - -
1967 "The Windows of the World" 32 27 32 20 -
1967 "I Say a Little Prayer" (A-side) 4 8 - 4 -
→ "(Theme From) The Valley of the Dolls" (B-side) 2 13 2 4 28
1968 "Do You Know the Way to San Jose" (A-side) 10 23 4 8 8
→ "Let Me Be Lonely" (B-side) 71 - - - -
1968 "Who Is Gonna Love Me?" (A-side) 33 43 4 19 -
→ "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" (B-side) 65 - - - -
1968 "Promises, Promises" 19 47 7 8 -
1969 "This Girl's in Love with You" 7 7 2 7 -
1969 "The April Fools" 37 33 8 32 -
1969 "Odds and Ends" 43 - 7 40 -
1969 "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" 16 13 10 12 -
1969 "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" 6 17 1 3 -
1970 "Let Me Go to Him" 32 45 5 30 -
1970 "Paper Maché" 43 - 6 - -
1970 "Make It Easy on Yourself" 37 26 2 24 -
1970 "The Green Grass Starts to Grow" 43 - 2 35 -
1971 "Who Gets the Guy" 57 41 6 - -
1971 "Amanda" 83 - 15 - -
1971 "The Love of My Man" - - - - -
1972 "I'm Your Puppet" - - - - -

[edit] The Warner Era (1972-1977)

Year Song U.S. Hot 100 U.S R&B U.S. Adult Contem- porary CAN singles UK singles
1972 "If We Only Have Love" 84 - 37 - -
1973 "I Think You Need Love" - - - - -
1973 "I'm Just Being Myself" - 62 - - -
1974 "Then Came You" (with The Spinners) 1 2 3 7 29
1974 "Sure Thing" - 66 - - -
1975 "Take It From Me" - 30 - - -
1975 "Move Me No Mountain" - - - - -
1976 "Track of the Cat" - - - - -
1976 "Once You Hit the Road" 79 5 22 - -
1976 "His House and Me" - 75 - - -
1976 "I Didn't Mean to Love You" - 91 - - -
1977 "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" / "Say a Little Prayer" (medley)
(with Isaac Hayes)		 - 65 - - -
1977 "Only Love Can Break a Heart" - - 46 - -
1977 "Do You Believe in Love at First Sight" - - - - -
1978 "Keepin' My Head Above Water" - - - - -
1978 "Don't Ever Take Your Love Away" - - - - -

[edit] The Arista Era (1979-1995)

Year Song U.S. Hot 100 U.S R&B U.S. Adult Contem- porary CAN singles UK singles
1979 "I'll Never Love This Way Again" 5 18 5 6 62
1979 "Déjà Vu" 15 25 1 34 -
1980 "After You" 65 33 10 - -
1980 "No Night So Long" 23 19 1 - -
1980 "We Never Said Goodbye" (A-side) - 41 - - -
→ "Easy Love" (B-side) 62 - 12 - -
1981 "Some Changes Are For Good" 65 43 23 - -
1981 "Now We're Starting Over Again" - - - - -
1982 "Friends in Love" (with Johnny Mathis) 38 22 5 - -
1982 "Heartbreaker" 10 14 1 15 2
1982 "Yours" (A-side) - - - - 66
→ "Take the Short Way Home" (B-side) 41 43 5 - -
1982 "All the Love in the World" 101 - 16 - 10
1983 "More Than Facination" - - - - -
1983 "Got You Where I Want You" (with Johnny Mathis) - - - - -
1983 "How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye" (with Luther Vandross) 27 7 4 - 99
1984 "Got a Date" - 45 - - -
1984 "Without Your Love" - - - - -
1985 "Finder of Lost Loves" (with Glenn Jones) - 47 12 - -
1985 "Run to Me" (with Barry Manilow) - - 12 - 86
1985 "That's What Friends Are For"
(Dionne & Friends: Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder)		 1 1 1 1 16
1986 "Whisper in the Dark" 72 12 7 - -
1987 "Love Power" (with Jeffrey Osborne) 12 15 1 21 63
1987 "Reservations For Two" (with Kashif) 62 20 7 - -
1988 "Another Chance to Love" (with Howard Hewett) - 42 24 - -
1989 "Take Good Care of You and Me" (with Jeffrey Osborne) - 46 25 - 93
1990 "Walk Away" - - - - -
1990 "I Don't Need Another Love" (with The Spinners) - 84 - - -
1993 "Where My Lips Have Been" - 95 - - -

[edit] The Independent Era (1996-)

Year Song U.S. Hot 100 U.S R&B U.S. Adult Contem- porary CAN singles UK singles
1997 "What the World Needs Now Is Love"
(Dionne Warwick and the HipHopNationUnited)		 87 - - - -

[edit] Album Discography

[edit] Filmography

  • Slaves (1969)
  • The Day the Music Died (1977)
  • Rent-a-Cop (1988)
  • The Making and Meaning of 'We Are Family' (2002) (documentary)

[edit] External link

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Marsh, Dave: The Heart of Rock & Soul, p. 137, Signet, 1989.
  2. ^ Wallechinsky, David, Wallace, Amy, The New Book of Lists, p.5. Canongate, 2005. ISBN 1-84195-719-4.

[edit] References

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