Dionne Warwick, The #16 Female Artist of the Rock Era

Editor's Note:  The females in this range (#11-16) are very close in our copyrighted formula, but no one behind them is anywhere close to them, and no one in front of them (#1-10) is within immediate range.  So, although there can be some flexibility between the artists, there can be no dispute that those in this range are definitely #11-16 for the foreseeable future...

Marie Dionne Warrick was born in East Orange, New Jersey.  Her mother, aunts and uncles were members of the Drinkard Singers, a renowned family gospel group and RCA recording artists.  Dionne began singing gospel as a child at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark.  She performed her first solo at age six and frequently sang with the Drinkard Singers.

Warrick, her sister Delia (known as Dee Dee), Carol Slade and Myrna Utley formed a group called the Gospelaires.  Their first performance was at the Apollo Theater, where they won a weekly amateur contest.  The group included several other singers from time to time, including her aunt (Cissy Houston) and Doris Troy, whose hit "Just One Look" in 1963 included backing vocals from the Gospelaires.  

The Gospelaires also sang backing vocals for several artists, including the Drifters, Ben E. King, Solomon Burke, Dinah Washington, and Chuck Jackson, among others.  

Warrick graduated from East Orange High School in 1959 and received a master's degree from the Hartt College of Music in Hartford, Connecticut. 

While Warrick was singing backing vocals for a Drifters song, her voice attracted the attention of songwriter Burt Bacharach.  Bacharach asked Warrick if she would record some demos of his songs to pitch to record labels.  One demo caught the attention of Florence Greenberg, president of Scepter Records.  

Warrick signed a contract with the famous songwriting team of Bacharach and Hal David, and a record contract with Scepter in 1962.    Dionne released her debut album, Presenting Dionne Warwick, in 1963, which yielded the single "Don't Make Me Over".  Warrick's name was misspelled, so she began using the new spelling (Warwick) from that point on.  The song was an underrated #21, but #5 on the R&B chart.  

After Dionne's manager told her of France's reaction to her, she went on a tour of the country, where critics crowned her "Paris' Black Pearl".  Jean Monteaux said "The play of this voice makes you think sometimes of an eel, of a storm, of a cradle, a knot of seaweed, a dagger.  It is not a voice as much as it is an organ.  You could write fugues for Warwick's voice."  

Three subsequent singles weren't successful, but "Anyone Who Had A Heart" gave Dionne her first big hit at #2 on the Easy Listening chart and #8 overall.

"Walk On By" in 1964, though, was the one that put Warwick on the map, a song that continues to be popular to this day.  It reached #1 on the R&B chart, #7 overall, and #9 in the U.K., and was nominated for Best Rhythm & Blues Recording at the Grammy Awards.

Warwick was named Bestselling Female Vocalist by Cash Box magazine in 1964.  "Message To Michael" in 1966 was Dionne's next big hit, reaching #5 on the R&B chart, #8 overall, and #6 in Canada.

Warwick went on her first extensive world tour in 1966.  The following year, Warwick scored with "Alfie", #5 R&B, an underrated #15 overall, and #10 in Canada, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance, Female.

Later that year, Warwick released the single "I Say A Little Prayer", another song just as popular today as it was then, when it reached #4 in both the United States and Canada, and became a million-seller.  Dionne was nominated for a Grammy Award for Female Contemporary Vocal Solo.

The "B" side to that great song was a song that Warwick almost didn't record.  While the movie version of Valley of the Dolls was being filmed, actress Barbara Parkins suggested Warwick sing the theme song, written by Andre and Dory Previn.  Warwick performed it, and when the movie was a hit in early 1968, disc jockeys flipped the single over and made it one of the biggest double-sided hits of the Rock Era and another Gold record.  "(Theme From) "Valley Of The Dolls"reached #2 in the United States and #4 in Canada.

With Bacharach and David writing and Warwick singing, it was an incredible team.  She scored hit over hit on both sides of the Atlantic, and remarkably weathered Beatlemania far greater than nearly every other artist at the time. 

In 1968, Warwick released the single "Do You Know The Way To San Jose", which has become a signature song for her.  The song peaked at #4 on the Easy Listening chart and #10 overall in the United States, and became an international million seller, #8 in both Canada and the U.K., and a Top 10 in several other countries, including Australia, South Africa, Japan and Mexico.  Dionne earned her first Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Female Pop Vocal Performance. 

Later that year, Dionne reached #7 on the Adult chart and an underrated #19 overall in the U.S. and #8 in Canada with "Promises, Promises".

The hits rolled on in 1969 with "This Girl's In Love With You", a #2 Adult hit, and #7 overall in both the U.S and Canada.  Warwick earned her sixth Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance, Female.

 

Later that year, Warwick scored one of her biggest career hits with "I'll Never Fall In Love Again", a #1 smash on the Adult chart and #6 overall in the U.S. and #3 in Canada.  She came home with her second career Grammy Award for Best Female Contemporary Vocal Performance.

In 1970, Warwick continued to be loved by adults, scoring five consecutive Top 10 Adult songs with "Let Me Go To Him" (#5), Paper Mache (#6), and "Make It Easy On Yourself (#7), "The Green Grass Starts To Grow" (#2) and "Who Gets The Guy" (#6).  

In 1969, Dionne starred in her own television special, The Dionne Warwick Chevy Special, with guests Creedence Clearwater Revival, Glen Campbell, and Burt Bacharach.

Warwick was named Top Female Vocalist by Cash Box again in 1969, 1970 and 1971.  She finished second to Petula Clark in 1967 and second only to Aretha Franklin in 1968.

Scepter Records released the compilation album Dionne Warwick's Golden Hits Part 1 in 1967 and The Dionne Warwick Story:  A Decade of Gold in 1971.  By that time, Warwick had sold more than 16 million singles in the U.S. and an estimated 35 million singles and albums worldwide in less than nine years.  

At that time, Warwick left Scepter for Warner Brothers for $5 million, the most lucrative recording contract ever for a female vocalist up to that time.

But Bacharach and David terminated their songwriting partnership in 1972, and Dionne had to fulfill her Warner Brothers contract without the team that had made her famous.  She teamed with a variety of producers during her tenure with the label.  Warwick didn't score a mainstream hit again until she combined with the Spinners for the #1 smash "Then Came You", also a #7 hit in Canada.

Dionne & the Spinners were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus, and Warwick won a People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Singer.  Warwick then went through a dry spell until 1979, when she signed with Clive Davis and Arista Records.  She scored a big comeback with the album Dionne, which in effect introduced her to a new audience, a comeback that made it possible for her to continue to thrive and wind up as The #16 Female Artist of the Rock Era*.  

Dionne went to #12 on the Album chart, and has now been certified Platinum.  As Davis said, "You may be ready to give the business up, but the business is not ready to give you up."  Barry Manilow did a superb job producing the album.  

Warwick released the single "I'll Never Love This Way Again", which went Gold, jumped to #5 on both the Adult Contemporary and Top 40 charts in the U.S. and #6 in Canada.  Warwick won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female.

The follow-up, "Deja Vu", co-written by Isaac Hayes, hit #1 on the AC chart and #15 overall, and captured another Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.  Coupled with her win in the Pop category for "I'll Never Love This Way Again", Warwick became the first female artist in music history to win both awards in the same year.

In 1980, Warwick released the album No Night So Long.  She released the single "After You", a #10 hit on the Adult Contemporary chart.

  

Warwick hosted a two-hour television special called Solid Gold '79.  The special was so popular it was adapted into the weekly show Solid Gold, which she hosted throughout 1980 and 1981 and again in 1985-86. 

In 1982, Warwick teamed with Johnny Mathis for the #5 AC song "Friends In Love".  

Her next single, "For You" reached #14 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

Warwick enlisted the help of the legendary Bee Gees for her next album, Heartbreaker.  With their one-of-a-kind songwriting, backing vocals, and production, Heartbreaker became another Gold album in the U.S. and sold over three million copies worldwide.  The title song was a smash the world over, a Top 10 hit throughout continental Europe, Australia, Japan, South Africa, North America and Asia.  It was another Adult Contemporary smash (#1) and #10 overall in the United States, and #2 in the U.K. and Australia.

The follow-up, "Take The Short Way Home", peaked at #5 on the AC chart.

Later in 1983, Warwick brought in Luther Vandross to produce her next album, How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye.  The title track, a duet with Vandross, reached #4 on the Adult Contemporary chart.  

The 1984 album Finder of Lost Loves reunited Warwick with both Manilow and Bacharach, who was writing with his wife, Carole Bayer Sager.  Manilow and Warwick released the single "Run To Me", a remake of the great Bee Gees song, and it reached #14 on the AC chart.

In 1985, Warwick joined other superstars for the multi-Grammy Award winning charity song, "We Are The World".

She then recorded the AIDS Research benefit single "That's What Friends Are For" with Elton John, Stevie Wonder, and Gladys Knight.  The song raised over $3 million for the cause, and achieved a rare triple #1--on the Adult Contemporary, R&B, and four weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100.  It was also #1 in Australia and Canada and sold two million singles in the U.S. alone.   

The smash won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, and also was nominated for the coveted Song of the Year Award for its songwriters, Bacharach and Bayer Sager.  "That's What Friends Are For" won a Billboard Music Award for #1 Single of the Year, and also earned American Music Award Special Recognition, and it finished the year as Billboard's #1 song of the year. 

In 1987, Warwick achieved her eighth career #1 Adult hit, a duet with Jeffrey Osborne called "Love Power".  It was featured on Warwick's album Reservations for Two, and written by Bacharach and Bayer Sager.  

The title song, with Kashif, was Warwick's final big hit, reaching #7 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

Warwick was appointed United States Ambassador of Health by President Ronald Reagan in 1987.  In 1998, Warwick won an ASCAP Award for Lifetime Achievement.  In 2001, Dionne won a Hitmaker Award from the National Academy of Popular Music/Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Warwick has released eight studio albums since then, including Now, which received a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Pop Album in 2012.  In 2002, Warwick was nominated Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and she went on a worldwide 40th Anniversary Tour.  Dionne also won a Heroes Award from ASCAP in 2002.  In 2005, Dionne was honored by Oprah Winfrey at her Legends Ball.

In 2010, Warwick received an honorary Doctor of Arts from Lincoln College in Illinois.

Warwick is second only to Aretha Franklin as the most-charted female artist of all-time with 56 singles making the Billboard Hot 100 between 1962 and 1998.  Eleven of Dionne's songs have made the Top 10, with three number one songs. 

Dionne has been a legend on the Adult chart, totaling 45 career hits, with an amazing 30 of those hitting the Top 10 and 6 number one songs.  Three of her hits, "Walk On By", Don't Make Me Over" and "Alfie" are included in the Grammy Hall of Fame.  "That's What Friends Are For" and "Walk On By" are included in RIAA's (Record Industry Association of America) Songs of the Century.

Warwick has won five Grammy Awards in her fabulous career amongst thirteen nominations.  She has sold 4.5 million albums in the United States.