Dionne Warwick: 50 Years of Music Magic
To mark 50 years in the music business, legendary singer Dionne Warwick will be performing across the UK this summer, kicking off with a Royal Albert Hall show on the 28th May to support World Hunger Day. Find out just why Dionne's an icon of the music business...
Rex FeaturesDionne started out in The Gospelaires in 1958, a group formed with Myrna Utley, Carol Slade and her sister Dee Dee Warwick. The group won an amateur contest at the Apollo Theatre, and went on to appear on records for artists such as the Drifters, Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley.
Rex FeaturesDionne got her first top 10 hit in 1963 with Anyone Who Had A Heart, and the next year released Walk On By, which was the international song that solidified her career as a hit-maker.
Getty ImagesLong-time producer Burt Bacharach was contracted to produce the song [/i]Alfie[/i] for the Michael Caine film, and while he wanted Warwick to perform the track, the film producers wanted a Brit to sing it. Several versions of the song followed, but it wasn’t until Dionne recorded her version that the song was a chart success. Dionne went on to perform the hit at 1967 Academy Awards.
Rex FeaturesHer career hasn’t been short of awards... To this date Warwick’s won a whole host of gongs, including Favourite Female Singer at the 1975 People’s Choice Awards, alongside multiple Grammys wins.
Getty ImagesAmong her many Grammys triumphs, 1980 was a world first. Dionne scooped the NARAS Grammy Awards for Best Pop Vocal Female Performance and Best R&B Vocal Female Performance: becoming the first woman in history to do so in the same year.
Getty ImagesOne of Dionne’s most notable collaborations was on a full-length record with Barry Gibb of The Bee Gees. The pair hooked up to record the album Heartbreaker, which peaked at number 25 on the Billboard Album Chart, and number three in the UK.
Getty Images1983 saw Dionne collaborate with Luther Vandross on the album How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye. The title track, a duet with Vandross, was the biggest success of the record.
Getty ImagesFamily connections: Dionne’s cousin was the late Whitney Houston, and her aunt is Gospel-trained vocalist Cissy Houston, Whitney's mother. Talent obviously runs in the family.
PA PhotosDionne played a part in the recording of the biggest hit of 1985: the multi-Grammy Award winning charity single We Are The World. Dionne’s vocals starred alongside the likes of Michael Jackson, Ray Charles and Diana Ross on the track that spent four consecutive weeks at number one in the US.
PA PhotosLater that year Dionne was in the studio for another charity hit, this time the AmFAR benefit single That’s What Friends Are For, which, credited to ‘Dionne and Friends’ also featured Gladys Knight, Elton John and Stevie Wonder. Selling two million copies in the United States, the single raised over three million dollars for the cause.
Getty ImagesIn 2002, Dionne was nominated to the post of Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. Since her appointment, Dionne has committed time to the FAO’s campaign against hunger, travelling around to world to concerts and events.
