Profile of Dionne Warwick on Famous Like Me

Dionne Warwick (born December 12, 1940 as Marie Dionne Warrick) is an American singer best known for her work with Hal David and Burt Bacharach as songwriters. Her parents were Mansel Warrick and Lee Drinkard. She began singing gospel with her family, and started her professional solo career after graduating from the University of Hartford. Her first solo single was 1963's "Don't Make Me Over"; her name was misspelled on the credits, and she soon began using the new spelling ("Warwick"). The song was a moderate hit, but the follow-ups were unsuccessful until 1964's "Anyone Who Had a Heart". This was followed by "Walk on By", a major hit that launched her career into the stratosphere.

Warwick weathered the British Invasion better than most American artists, and she released only a few minor hits in the UK during the late 1960s, most notably 1966's "Message to Michael". A 1967 LP called Here Where There Is Love became a big hit, as did her single "I Say a Little Prayer," which is now very famous for being featured in the recent movie, My Best Friend's Wedding. Her next big hit was unusual in that was not written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David; "(Theme From) Valley of the Dolls" was a smash success, as was the follow-up, "Do You Know the Way to San José?". More hits and a few Grammies followed in the last two years of the 1960s. Her career slowed greatly in the 1970s, with no big hits until 1974's "Then Came You" with the Spinners. In the early 70's at the advice of a numerologist, both Dionne and her sister DeeDee added an 'e' to the end of Warwicke (later dropped). A five-year hiatus ensued, ending with "I'll Never Love This Way Again", produced by Barry Manilow. The accompanying album, Dionne, was her first to go platinum.

Warwick's next hit was her 1982 full-length collaboration with the Bee Gees, Heartbreaker. In 1986, Warwick led the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR) benefit single "That's What Friends Are For" with Gladys Knight, Elton John and Stevie Wonder; it was a number one hit, and garnered Warwick's fifth Grammy.

Her career took a major downturn in the 1990s, with only a few moderate-selling albums released and no major singles. 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 11 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.

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. One of Warwick's cousins is Whitney Houston. Dionne Warwick and Olivia Newton John were singer Karen Carpenter's best friends (The Carpenters)

Albums

• 1963 Presenting Dionne Warwick
• 1964 Anyone Who Had a Heart
• 1964 Make Way for Dionne Warwick
• 1965 The Sensitive Sound of Dionne Warwick
• 1966 Here I Am
• 1966 Dionne Warwick in Paris
• 1967 Here, Where There Is Love
• 1967 Dionne Warwick Onstage and in the Movies
• 1967 The Windows of the World
• 1968 Dionne in the Valley of the Dolls
• 1968 Magic of Believing
• 1968 Promises Promises
• 1969 Soulful
• 1969 Dionne Warwick's Greatest Motion Picture Hits
• 1970 I'll Never Fall in Love Again
• 1970 Very Dionne
• 1971 The Dionne Warwick Story: Live
• 1972 Dionne
• 1972 From Within
• 1973 Just Being Myself
• 1975 Then Came You
• 1975 Track of the Cat
• 1977 A Man and a Woman (w/ Isaac Hayes)
• 1977 Only Love Can Break a Heart
• 1977 Love at First Sight
• 1979 Dionne
• 1980 No Night So Long
• 1981 Hot! Live and Otherwise
• 1982 Friends in Love
• 1982 Heartbreaker
• 1985 Finder of Lost Loves
• 1985 Friends
• 1985 Without Your Love
• 1987 Reservations for Two
• 1989 Dionne Warwick Sings Cole Porter
• 1993 Friends Can Be Lovers
• 1995 Aquarela Do Brazil
• 1998 Dionne Sings Dionne
• 2000 Dionne Sings Dionne Vol. 2
• 2004 My Favorite Time of the Year

Filmography

• Slaves (1969)
• The Day the Music Died (1977)
• Rent-a-Cop (1988)
• My Best Friend's Wedding (1997) (famously features her hit "I Say a Little Prayer")
• The Making and Meaning of 'We Are Family' (2002) (documentary)

Reference

• 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, & Janet Jackson, Watson-Guptill Publications. ISBN 0823084256

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