Those Who Paved the Way: Dionne Warwick
Early Life
Referred to as “The Artist Who Bridged The Gap”, Dionne Warwick is one of the world’s most celebrated artists. Born on December 12, 1940 and raised in East Orange, New Jersey, Dionne grew up in a musically inclined family. Many of her family members, including her mother, aunts and uncles, made up the gospel singing group called The Drinkard Singers. When Dionne was 14 years old, she formed her own singing group called The Gospelaires which was made up of Dionne, her sister and her cousin. Known for their performances throughout local establishments in East Orange, The Gospelaires to their talents to the Apollo Theater in New York City and eventually the amateur night contest.
Career
When Dionne was around 18 years old in 1959, she was attending the esteemed University of Hartford located in Connecticut. In order to make money to give way to her educational needs, Dionne periodically provided background vocals for several artists. While providing background vocals for The Drifters during one of her gigs, the prolific songwriter Burt Bacharach became mesmerized by Dionne’s distinctive voice and delivery. This ultimately sealed Dionne’s fate into signing her first recording contract with Scepter Records in 1962, which marked the start of her legendary career. Burt Bacharach along with his music partner Hal David would come up with Dionne’s first hit single, “Don’t Make Me Over”, which was released in late 1962. The winning combination of Warwick, Bacharach and David would continue to release hit song after hit song for the next 9 years.
Her music was able to break through racial barriers and bring people of all types of backgrounds together, which has even lasted to today’s generation. From her discography, Dionne has many songs that have stood the test of time which include “Anyone Who Had A Heart”, “Walk On By”, “Message To Michael”, “Alfie”, “I Say A Little Prayer For You”, “(Theme From) Valley Of The Dolls”, “Do You Know The Way To San Jose” and “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again”. Following the departure of Dionne from Burt Bacharach and Hal David in 1972, her main music contributors of 10 years, she would continue to dominate the radio waves and deliver chart-topping songs throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s which include “Then Came You”, I’ll Never Love This Way Again”, “Déjà Vu”, “Heartbreaker” and “That’s What Friends Are For”. Dionne’s enduring success throughout the years proves that her legacy is a testament to her once in a lifetime talent.
Although Dionne had tremendous success, she had to face some hardships along the way. During the Jim Crow Era of the 1960’s, Dionne was faced with heavy racism. For example, while touring the South, there were certain places that she was not allowed to go into because she was black. Many times, Dionne wasn’t allowed to stay at certain venues that she was performing at. She even couldn’t order food at certain restaurants because she was black as well. Even though racism was abundant during the 1960’s, it didn’t break Dionne and she prevailed by having increasing success year after year.
Achievements
During the course of her 60-plus year career, Dionne has won 5 Grammy Awards, sold over 100 million records worldwide, and had 20 songs reach the top-40 on the Billboard Hot 100 from 1962 to 1970. Dionne made history for being the first black female artist to sing for Queen Elizabeth II in 1968. She became the first woman in history to win in both the Pop and R&B fields in a single night at the 22nd Annual Grammy Awards in 1980. She won Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female for “I’ll Never Love This Way Again”, and won Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female for “Déjà Vu”. Dionne has the distinction for being the second most-charted female artist in history, having 56 of her songs to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 from 1962 to 1998. Because of Dionne’s barrier breaking moments, she made it possible for future black female artists to crossover and be accepted, and have success with black and white audiences around the world.