Dionne Warwick

Marie Dionne Warwick ( ; née Warrick; born December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. Born in East Orange, New Jersey, Warwick started her career as a teenager in the vocal group the Gospelaires before starting her solo career in 1962, with composers Burt Bacharach and Hal David on a series of hit singles under the Scepter Records label, including "Don't Make Me Over", "Anyone Who Had a Heart", "Walk on By", "Alfie", "I Say a Little Prayer" and the Grammy-winning "Do You Know the Way to San Jose".

After a fallout with Bacharach and David and a period slump with Warner Bros Records, Warwick revived her career under the mentorship of Clive Davis at Arista Records with a series of hit singles such as "I'll Never Love This Way Again", "Heartbreaker" and "That's What Friends Are For". In the 1990s, Warwick gained notoriety for hosting the infomercial Psychic Friends Network.

Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on Billboards Hot 100 pop singles chart. She is the second-most charted female vocalist during the rock era (1955–1999), as well as one of the most-charted vocalists of all time, with 56 of her singles making the Hot 100 between 1962 and 1998, including 12 top ten singles and two number one singles. Warwick ranks number 74 on the Billboard Hot 100 "Greatest Artists of All Time".

During her decades-long career, Warwick has won many accolades, including six competitive Grammy Awards. Warwick has been inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame, the National Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame and the Apollo Theater Walk of Fame. In 2019, Warwick won the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2024, Warwick was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Musical Excellence category.

Early life and career Marie Dionne Warrick was born in East Orange, New Jersey on December 12, 1940, the eldest of three children to Arthur Lee "Nana" (née Drinkard) and Mancel Leland Warrick. Her mother was manager of the Drinkard Singers, a family gospel group. Her father was a gospel record promoter and also worked as a Pullman porter, chef, record promoter, and CPA.

Warwick was named after her maternal aunt Marie "Reebie" Drinkard Epps; Warwick preferred to be called by her middle name. Warwick had two younger siblings, sister Delia Juanita "Dee Dee" (1942-2008) and brother Mancel "Pookie" Jr. (1947-1968).

Her parents were both Foundational Black American, and Warwick also has a smaller amount of Irish and English ancestry on the maternal side of her family. Warwick began singing gospel as a child at her grandfather Rev. Elzae Warrick's AME church in Newark, New Jersey, where he was pastor where at six, she sang her first church solo, "Jesus Loves Me". As a teenager, she began singing at Newark's New Hope Baptist Church after her grandfather began pastoring there.

Raised in what was a mixed-race suburban neighborhood of East Orange, Warwick was a girl scout during her adolescent years. After attending Lincoln School, she graduated from East Orange High School in 1959 and attended Hartt College of Music in West Hartford, Connecticut on a music scholarship.

During her adolescence and teenage years, Warwick and her sister were being vocally mentored by their aunt Cissy Drinkard, who at one point lived at the Warricks' East Orange home in the early 1950s.

At fourteen, Warwick and her sister Dee Dee began singing together as part of the gospel vocal group the Gospelaires, a splinter group of the Drinkard Singers, her mother and aunt's group. The original members of the Gloryaires were the Warrick sisters and their friends Doris Troy and Sylvia Shemwell.

In 1959, Warwick's aunt Cissy's then-boyfriend John Houston offered to manage the group after Lee Warrick refused Houston's offer to manage the Drinkard Singers. While opening for the Drinkards at the Apollo Theater, a record scout for Atlantic Records came backstage asking for several female singers to back an R&B saxophonist named Sam "the Man" Taylor for a recording session.

According to Warwick, she volunteered for her group. As she could recall, "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." After the session, the Gloryaires soon became an in-demand vocal group singing for R&B and soul artists such as the Drifters, Dinah Washington, Solomon Burke and Chuck Jackson.

In 2002, Warwick recalled that, on weekdays after school, the girls would catch a bus from East Orange to the Port Authority Terminal, then take the subway to the recording studios in Manhattan, perform their background vocal work, and still be back at home in East Orange with time to do their school homework. Warwick's music work would continue while she pursued her studies at Hartt.

During a recording session with the Drifters for the song "Mexican Divorce", Warwick met Burt Bacharach, who hired her to record demos featuring songs written by him and lyricist Hal David. When Warwick was unable to make another session in September 1961 for Canadian rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins, Warwick's aunt Cissy took her place.

It would be while recording background for the Drifters' "Mexican Divorce" that Warwick's voice and star presence were noticed by the song's composer, Burt Bacharach, a Brill Building songwriter who was writing songs with many other songwriters, including lyricist Hal David.

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 .

One such demo, "It's Love That Really Counts"destined to be recorded by Scepter-signed act the Shirellescaught 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!"

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. 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 the song, to which Warwick recorded the following day. The song became Warwick's first top 40 pop and R&B hit, peaking at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 5 on the Hot R&B Singles chart. Warrick's name was misspelled on the single's label, and she began using the new spelling, "Warwick", both professionally and personally. After "Don't Make Me Over" hit in 1962, the 22-year-old singer 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.

After her two immediate follow-ups, "This Empty Place" and "Make The Music Play", barely cracked the Hot 100, her fourth release, "Anyone Who Had a Heart", was Warwick's first top 10 pop hit, peaking at number eight on the Hot 100 and was her first international million-seller. In April 1964, Warwick released "Walk On By", which peaked at number six on the Hot 100 and also hit the top ten in the UK and other countries. During this period, Warwick found herself competing with many acts from the British Invasion and managed to hold her own better than most American artists. 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. Throughout 1964 alone, Warwick charted six hits on the Cash Box Top 100 Singles chart, resulting in Warwick being named the Bestselling Female Vocalist of 1964 in its year-end poll.

In Times cover article of May 21, 1965, titled "Rock 'n' Roll: 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.

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 titled "Thunderball" was composed and recorded at the eleventh hour, 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.

Chart success (1966–1971)

The mid-1960s to early 1970s were a more successful time period for Warwick, who saw a string of gold-selling albums and hit singles. "Message to Michael", a Bacharach-David composition

Initially released as a b-side, Warwick's recording of "I Say a Little Prayer" became another huge hit, peaking at number four respectively in the US and Canada. The tune was also the first RIAA certified USA million selling single for Bacharach and David.

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 "I Say a Little Prayer", 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.

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?" became another international hit, reaching the top ten in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Japan and Mexico among other countries. The song resulted in Warwick winning her first Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1969, becoming just the second black female artist to win in the category after Ella Fitzgerald while Warwick became the first female contemporary pop artist to win in the category after it switched its focus from vocal music to contemporary pop music. Other notable hits included "Promises, Promises", "This Girl's in Love with You" and "I'll Never Fall in Love Again".

Other Scepter LPs certified RIAA gold included Dionne Warwick's Golden Hits Part 1 released in 1967 and The Dionne Warwicke Story: A Decade of Gold released in 1971. Cash Box named Warwick the Top Female Vocalist in 1969, 1970 and 1971. In the 1967 Cash Box poll, she was second to Petula Clark, and in the 1968 poll, second to Aretha Franklin. Playboys influential Music Poll of 1970 named her the Top Female Vocalist. In 1969, Harvard's Hasty Pudding Society named her Woman of the Year.

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, titled The Dionne Warwick Chevy Special. Warwick's guests were Burt Bacharach, George Kirby, Glen Campbell, and Creedence Clearwater Revival. In 1970, Warwick formed her own label, Sonday Records, of which she was president. Sonday was distributed by Scepter.

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.

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 to 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 Warner, 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 200. 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 Warner 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.

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 hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 26, 1974, becoming the first number one hit for both Warwick, aged 33, and the Spinners. Since "Then Came You" was issued on the Spinners' label Atlantic , none of Warwick's releases on Warner made the top 40.

During her Warner tenure, Warwick released five albums, all of which failed to replicate her success on Scepter. Warwick left Warner in 1977. Less than a year later, she eventually agreed to sign with Clive Davis's Arista Records after Davis promised to revive her flagging career after the singer told him she was seeking retirement from show business.

Renewed success with Arista (1979–1989) Produced by Barry Manilow, Warwick released the album, Dionne in May 1979. The album was a success spawning the hit singles "I'll Never Love This Way Again" and "Deja Vu", both of which topped the Adult Contemporary chart and reached the top twenty of the Billboard Hot 100, with the former song peaking at number five on the latter chart, her first top ten pop hit in nearly a decade and went gold. The Dionne album as a result became her first platinum-certified recording.

At the 22nd Annual Grammy Awards in February 1980, Warwick made history when she became the first female solo artist to win the Grammy Awards for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "I'll Never Love This Way Again" and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Deja Vu" in the same year.

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).

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.

Psychic Friends and decline (1990-2000) In 1990, Warwick recorded the song "It's All Over" with former member of Modern Talking Dieter Bohlen (Blue System). The single peaked at No. 60 (No. 33 airplay) on the German pop chart and it was covered on Blue System's album Déjà Vu.

Starting in 1991, Warwick hosted infomercials for the Psychic Friends Network, which featured self-described psychic Linda Georgian. The 900 number psychic service was active from 1991 to 1998. According to press statements throughout the 1990s, the program was the most successful infomercial for several years and Warwick earned in excess of three million dollars per year as spokesperson for the network. In 1998, Inphomation, the corporation owning the network, filed for bankruptcy and Warwick ended her association with the organization.

Warwick's most publicized album during this period was 1993's Friends Can Be Lovers, which was produced in part by Ian Devaney and Lisa Stansfield. Featured on the album was "Sunny Weather Lover", which was the first song that Burt Bacharach and Hal David had written together for Warwick since 1972. It was Warwick's lead single in the United States, and was heavily promoted by Arista, but failed to chart. A follow-up "Where My Lips Have Been" peaked at No. 95 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks. The 1994 Aquarela Do Brasil album marked the end of Warwick's contract with Arista Records after a 16-year association.

In 1993, Forrest Sawyer, host of the ABC news/entertainment program Day One, alleged financial improprieties by the Warwick Foundation, founded in 1989 to benefit AIDS patients, and particularly Warwick's charity concert performances organized to benefit the organization as "America's Ambassador of Health". The network news magazine story, "That's What Friends Are For", reported that the Warwick Foundation was operating at more than 90% administrative cost, donating only about 3% of the money it raised to AIDS groups. Several AIDS groups and nonprofit experts criticized her foundation, including an AIDS group in the Virgin Islands that claimed she nearly bankrupted them after extravagant expenses left nothing for local charities. ABC reported that Warwick flew first class and was accommodated at first-class hotels for charity concerts and events in which she participated for the Warwick Foundation, managed by her close confidante, Guy Draper, a former chief of protocol for former Washington DC Mayor Marion Barry, and who had a history of bankruptcies. Warwick alleged that the ABC report was racially motivated and threatened to sue ABC News for defamation, although a suit was never filed. The Internal Revenue Service began an investigation of the Warwick Foundation after other complaints were filed, and the Warwick Foundation was later dissolved. ABC's story was nominated for a national Emmy award in 1994 and won a prestigious Investigative Reporters and Editors national television award in 1993.

My Favorite Time of the Year and move to Concord Records (2000–2010)

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. Entitled My Favorite Time of the Year, the CD 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, her first mainstream label since leaving Arista 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 CD Dionne Sings Dionne (1998). 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. It would be Warwick's last collaboration with her sister Dee Dee, who died later on October 18 of that year at 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 show that also featured Rihanna, Leona Lewis, the Sugababes, Pink, Gabriella Climi and Anastacia. Around this period, 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 movie Footloose (1984), 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.

Only Trust Your Heart and Grammy Award (2010–2019)

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, 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", 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.

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.

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.

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.

Documentary and The Masked Singer (2020–present)

In 2020, she appeared as "Mouse" on the third season 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. 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".

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.)], and University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

On February 10, 2021, Dionne was nominated for inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the first time.

On December 3, 2021, Dionne was honored with a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars.

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. Organizers of the Toronto Film Festival announced that she would be honored in the upcoming event as a music icon. 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. On January 1, 2023, the documentary premiered on national television on CNN.

In December 2023, Warwick participated in the fifth series of The Masked Singer UK as "Weather". She was eliminated and unmasked on the first episode.

On April 26, 2024, Warwick along with the vocal group the Chi-Lites, were inducted into The Atlantic City Walk of Fame. Producer, writer and director Dave Wooley was the presenter for Warwick. The induction ceremony was held at Brighton Park in Atlantic City, NJ.

In 2024, Warwick was selected for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the musical excellence category. She also competed on episode of Celebrity Wheel of Fortune.

Voice and artistry

Warwick is a contralto, particularly known for her signature musicality and "husky" singing voice. 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". 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".

Music critics have described Warwick as the muse of songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David's, a term Bacharach himself has used to refer to the singer. Bacharach confirmed that they considered Warwick their "main artist", to whom they allowed first priority on new songs. 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". The singer claims she did not find their material difficult to sing because they had been written specifically for her voice. Cooper identified their partnership as a precedent to the collaborations between R&B singer Toni Braxton, and songwriters Babyface and Diane Warren. Similarly, another AllMusic reviewer, Steve Leggett, believes Warwick combines elements of jazz, soul, R&B and gospel, which ultimately results in her being a "pure pop singer". 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". 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". A writer for The Guardian described Warwick as "one of the greatest pop singers of all time", while Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times named her "that one-of-a-kind instrument that defined pop sophistication in the mid-1960s".

In recent years, Warwick has become known for sharing candid, straightforward opinions about various topics on the social media platform Twitter, being nicknamed the "Queen of Twitter" by several media publications.

In addition, Warwick was acknowledged for "bridging the worlds of pop, R&B and jazz" in her most popular recordings.

Personal life In 1966, Warwick married actor and drummer William Elliott; they divorced in May 1967. They reconciled and were remarried in Milan, Italy, in August 1967. On January 18, 1969, while living in East Orange, New Jersey, she gave birth to her first son, David Elliott. In 1973, her second son, Damon Elliott, was born. On May 30, 1975, the couple separated, and Warwick was granted a divorce in December 1975 in Los Angeles. The court denied Elliott's request for $2,000 a month in support pending a community property trial, and his request for $5,000 a month after he insisted that his monthly income was just $500, compared to Warwick's $100,000 . Warwick stated, "I was the breadwinner. The male ego is a fragile thing. It's hard when the woman is the breadwinner. All my life, the only man who ever took care of me financially was my father. I have always taken care of myself."

In 2002, Warwick was arrested at Miami International Airport for possession of marijuana. It was discovered that she had 11 suspected marijuana cigarettes inside her carry-on luggage, hidden in a lipstick container. She was charged with possessing marijuana totaling less than five grams. In 2009, Warwick had a $2.2 million federal tax lien filed against her. The IRS eventually discovered that a large portion of the lien was due to an accounting error and revoked $1.2 million in 2012.

In 1993, her older son, David, a former Los Angeles police officer, co-wrote with Terry Steele the Warwick–Whitney Houston duet "Love Will Find a Way", featured on Warwick's album Friends Can Be Lovers. Since 2002, he has periodically toured with and performed duets with his mother (along with being the drummer of her touring band), and had his acting debut in the film Ali as the singer Sam Cooke. David became a singer-songwriter, with Luther Vandross's "Here and Now" among other credits.

Warwick's second son, Damon, is a music producer who has worked with Mýa, Pink, Christina Aguilera and Keyshia Cole. He arranged and produced his mother's 2006 Concord release My Friends and Me. Warwick received a 2014 Grammy Award nomination in the Traditional Pop Category for her 2013 album release, Now.

On January 24, 2015, Warwick was hospitalized after a fall in the shower at her home. After ankle surgery, she was discharged from the hospital.

Bankruptcy Warwick declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy in New Jersey on March 21, 2013. Due to the reported mismanagement of her business affairs, she listed liabilities that included nearly $7 million owed to the Internal Revenue Service for the years 1991 through 1999 and more than $3 million in business taxes owed to the state of California. Unable to work out an agreement with tax officials, she and her attorney decided that declaring bankruptcy would be the best course of action.

Relations Warwick's sister, Dee Dee Warwick, also had a successful singing career, scoring several notable R&B hits in the US, including the original version of "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me". Dee Dee recorded the original version of the song "You're No Good", which later became a 1963 No. 5 R&B hit for Betty Everett, a 1964 No. 3 UK hit for the Swinging Blue Jeans and a 1975 No. 1 pop hit for Linda Ronstadt. In 1966, the Swinging Blue Jeans had a No. 31 UK hit with a cover of Dionne's "Don't Make Me Over", thus appearing in the UK Singles Chart with covers of songs from both Warwick sisters.

Warwick's maternal aunt is gospel-trained vocalist Cissy Houston, mother of Warwick's cousin, the late singer Whitney Houston.

In her 2011 autobiography, My Life, as I See It, Warwick notes that opera diva Leontyne Price is a maternal cousin.

Discography

Studio albums

Presenting Dionne Warwick (1963) Anyone Who Had a Heart (1964) Make Way for Dionne Warwick (1964) The Sensitive Sound of Dionne Warwick (1965) Here I Am (1965) Here Where There Is Love (1966) On Stage and in the Movies (1967) The Windows of the World (1967) Dionne Warwick in Valley of the Dolls (1968) The Magic of Believing (1968) Promises, Promises (1968) Soulful (1969) I'll Never Fall in Love Again (1970) Very Dionne (1970) Dionne (1972) 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) Friends in Love (1982) Heartbreaker (1982) How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye (1983) Finder of Lost Loves (1985) Friends (1985) Reservations for Two (1987) Dionne Warwick Sings Cole Porter (1990) Friends Can Be Lovers (1993) Aquarela do Brasil (1994) Dionne Sings Dionne (1998) Dionne Sings Dionne, Vol. 2 (2000) My Favorite Time of the Year (2004) My Friends & Me (2006) Why We Sing (2008) Only Trust Your Heart (2011) Now (2012) Feels So Good (2014) She's Back (2019) Dionne Warwick & the Voices of Christmas (2019)

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, honoring her by renaming it to the Dionne Warwick Institute of Economics and Entrepreneurship.

On Friday, October 11, 2024, Warwick was honored by the City of East Orange, NJ with a street renaming ceremony. North Arlington Avenue at City Hall Plaza was given the name "Dionne Warwick Way". The ceremony included a tribute concert by hundreds of children. The ceremony was also attended by her two sons and Clive Davis, the notable music producer. Reported by CBS News.

Awards

Year Nominated work Association Category Result 1965 "Walk On By" Grammy Award Best Rhythm & Blues Recording 1968 "Alfie" Grammy Award Best Vocal Performance, Female "I Say a Little Prayer" Grammy Award Best Contemporary Female Solo Vocal Performance 1969 "Do You Know the Way to San Jose" Grammy Award Best Contemporary Pop Vocal Performance, Female Slaves Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or 1970 "This Girl's in Love with You" Grammy Award Best Contemporary Vocal Performance, Female 1975 "Then Came You" Grammy Award Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus 1980 "I'll Never Love This Way Again" Grammy Award Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female 1986 Dionne Warwick NAACP Image Award Entertainer of the Year 1987 "That's What Friends Are For" Grammy Award Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal 1992 "Superwoman" Grammy Award Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal 2013 Dionne Warwick Soul Train Music Awards Soul train Legend Award 2014 Now Grammy Award Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album

Honors

Year Category Award 1964 Songs of the Century: "Walk on By" RIAA 1968 Mayors Award and key to the city San Jose, California 1985 Songs of the Century: "That's What Friends Are For" RIAA Inductee Hollywood Walk of Fame 1987 United States Ambassador of Health Appointed by Ronald Reagan 1998 "Walk On By" Grammy Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award ASCAP Awards 2000 "Don't Make Me Over" Grammy Hall of Fame 2001 Hitmaker Award National Academy of Popular Music/Songwriters Hall of Fame 2002 Heroes Award ASCAP Awards Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) United Nations 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award Rhythm and Blues Foundation 2006 Lifetime Career Achievement Award Temecula Valley International Film Festival 2008 "Alfie" Grammy Hall of Fame 2012 Ride of Fame Gray Line New York Living Legend Award Black Girls Rock! 2013 Inductee New Jersey Hall of Fame 2016 Inductee National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame 2017 Inductee Apollo Theater Walk of Fame 2021 Inductee Palm Springs Walk of Stars 2023 Inductee Kennedy Center Honors 2024 Inductee The Atlantic City Walk of Fame

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1968 Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over Self Documentary by Gary Keys 1969 Slaves Cassy 1971 The Love Machine Cameo Performed main theme 1977 The Day the Music Died Self 1988 Rent-a-Cop Beth Connors 2002 The Making and Meaning of We Are Family Self 2011 Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon Self 2013 Voices of Love-Featuring Whitney Houston, Dionne Warwick, Cissy Houston & The Drinkard Singers Self Documentary by Gary Keys 2017 Let There Be Light Self 2018 Armed Shirley 2021 Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over Self

Television Year Title Role Notes 1969 The Merv Griffin Show Guest Host 1970 The Name of the Game-I Love You Billy Baker (Part I and Part II) 1973 The Midnight Special: Host – Dionne Warwick Host NBC 1975 Music Country USA-Host Dionne Warwick Host NBC The Dionne Warwick Show Nationally syndicated 1976 The Original Rompin' Stompin', Hot & Heavy, Cool & Groovy All-Star Jazz Show Host with Count Basie 1976–1977 Switch Sherry 1977 Rockford Files Theda Moran 1979 Solid Gold Countdown 1979 Co-Host with Glen Campbell 1980–1981 1985–1986 Solid Gold Host 1982 To Basie with Love Host 1990–1991 Dionne!-(Talk Show) Host Nationally Syndicated 1991 Extralarge-Black and WhiteMama Limbo TV film Extralarge-Miami Killer TV film Extralarge-Black Magic TV film 1992 Extralarge-Cannonball TV film Captain Planet and the Planeteers Dr. Russell 1996–1998 The Wayans Bros. Mrs. Jackson 2 episodes 1997 The Drew Carey Show Cameo Season 3, Episode 9 1998 The Bold and the BeautifulSelf 1 Episode 1999 Johnny BravoSelf (Voice) Season 2, Episode 3, "Karma Krisis" Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child Miss Kitty So WeirdEffy Season 1, Episode 12 – "Lost" 2000 Walker, Texas RangerDionne Berry Season 9, Episode 10, "Faith" 2001 The Teens Who Stole Popular Music Self A & E Films Don't Make Me Over: The Dionne Warwick Story Self A & E Films 2011 The Celebrity Apprentice 4 Contestant/Self 2020 The Masked Singer The Mouse/Self 2021 Saturday Night Live Self

Live performances Year Title Notes 1963–1968 American Bandstand 8 performances 1965 The Danny Kaye Show 1 performance 1966 Live from the Olympia in Paris-Sacha Distel and Dionne Warwick Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française 1966–1967 The Red Skelton Show 2 performances 1967 The 39th Annual Academy Awards – NBC: Performing Alfie Tin Pan Alley Today NBC Television Network Special – Star 1967–1968 The Ed Sullivan Show 4 performances 1968 The Carol Burnett Show CBS: Performing (Theme from) Valley of the Dolls; Children Go Where I Send Thee The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show NBC: Performing Promises, Promises and Do You Know the Way to San Jose 1969 The Jose Feliciano Special NBC – Performing What the World Needs Now and Alfie with Burt Bacharach The Dick Cavett Show ABC – Multiple performances 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 An Evening with Burt Bacharach: Special Guest Dionne Warwick NBC The Carol Burnett Show CBS: Performing (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me and What the World Needs Now 1974 The Dionne Warwick Special Nationally syndicated 1975 Dionne Warwick Live in Concert Dionne Warwick: In Performance at Wolftrap PBS 1977 Dionne Warwick with the Edmonton Symphony PBS 1978 Dionne Warwick: Live at The Forum Dionne Warwick -Live from DC- Dick Clark ABC 1980 Dionne Warwick: Live at the Park West HBO 1982 Dionne Warwick: Live from Lake Tahoe HBO I Love Liberty performer 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 Dionne Warwick: That's What Friends Are For Benefit Concert HBO Dionne Warwick Live in London BBC 1989 Dionne Warwick: Live in Australia ABC 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 2002 A Tribute to Burt Bacharach & Hal David 2005 Prime Concerts: In Concert with Edmonton Symphony PBS The 5th Dimension Travelling Sunshine Show Straight from the Heart Live, Vol. 1 2006 Flashbacks: Soul Sensations Flashbacks: Pop Parade 2007 Dionne Warwick – Live 2008 Cabaret: Live in Cabaret July 18, 1975 Lost Concerts Series: Uptown Divas