Celebrating her 50th Anniversary in show business this year, Dionne Warwick has won the hearts of legions of fans over the past 50 years. Just a sample of her well-known, chart-topping hits include "I'll Never Fall in Love Again," "Do You Know the Way to San Jose," " That's What Friends Are For," "I Say a Little Prayer for You" and That's What Friends Are For." In addition to earning five Grammy Awards, she has been recognized with a lifetime achievement award from the R&B Foundation, was named a "Hero in the Struggle" by the Black AIDS Institute and has been honored by NAMM for her tireless effort to promote music education in schools.Dionne Warwick was born into a gospel-music family. Her father was a gospel record promoter and her mother managed the gospel group the Drinkard Sisters, made up of her relatives. At age 6 she began singing at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey, and joined the choir shortly after. As a teenager, Warwick formed the Gospelairs with her sister Dee Dee and members of the choir. The singing group performed throughout New Jersey and Connecticut for more than a decade, recorded background vocals on sessions in New York and once won the Amateur Hour at the Apollo Theatre, thrilling the venue's famously hard-to-please audience.
While the Gospelaires were singing at a Drifters session, Burt Bacharach approached Warwick to demo songs he had written with lyricist Hal David. The demo earned Warwick a recording contract with independent label Scepter Records, which led to her first single, "Don't Make Me Over," in 1962. She reached the pop and R&B Top Ten and the Top Five of the easy listening charts with Anyone Who Had a Heart, which was also her first record to reach the charts in the U.K. Her popularity continued with “Walk on By”, which reached number one on the R&B charts.
By then, The Beatles had arrived on the American scene, and for awhile, pop artists like Warwick took a beating on the charts. Nevertheless the singer continued to place singles and LPs in the rankings and in the spring of 1966, she returned to the top of the charts with "Message to Michael." In 1967, she topped the R&B LP charts with her gold-selling “Here Where There Is Love” album. Shortly after, she had amassed enough chart singles to release “Dionne Warwick's Golden Hits, Pt. 1”, her first album to reach the pop Top Ten.
Shortly after, her record “Say a Little Prayer” and her LP “Valley of the Dolls” were also certified gold. Following her triumphant success, Warwick spotlighted her gospel heritage with “The Magic of Believing” in 1968. The album captured the singer in her prime, delivering impassioned gospel music.
Her next single "Do You Know the Way to San José" won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Pop Vocal Performance, Female. It was to be the first of many. Two years later, Warwick's "I'll Never Fall In Love Again," from the 1968 Broadway musical PROMISES, PROMISES brought her another Grammy Award.
In 1979, she signed with Arista Records and earned her third Grammy Award for "I'll Never Love This Way Again," produced by Barry Manilow. "Deja Vu," also from the same platinum-selling album Dionne, brought a fourth Grammy Award.
In 1985, Warwick organized a recording of Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager's song "That's What Friends Are For" to benefit AIDS, featuring herself, Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder. The album “Friends” in which it was included on went gold, and the song earned Warwick her fifth Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
After her 1995 album “Aquarela Do Brazil”, she parted ways with Arista Records. In 1998, she released “Dionne Sings Dionne”, an album consisting largely of her re-recorded hits.
Most recently, in celebration of her 50th Anniversary year, Warwick released a new album this summer, "Only Trust Your Heart," featuring lushly arranged original songs and standards by the great Sammy Cahn. She also stirred-up some controversy on the 2011 season of Donald Trump’s enormously successful NBC TV reality series CELEBRITY APPRENTICE.
Dionne Warwick will be at the Seminole Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida on Friday September 8, 2011.
