Dionne Warwick

Biography

Marie Dionne Warwick ( dee-ON WOR-wik; née Warrick; born December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. Born in East Orange, New Jersey, Warwick started her career as a teenager in the vocal group the Gospelaires before starting her solo career in 1962, with composers Burt Bacharach and Hal David on a series of hit singles under the Scepter Records label, including "Don't Make Me Over", "Anyone Who Had a Heart×Anyone Who Had a Heart1964 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Anyone Who Had a Heart3:122Shall I Tell Her2:293Don’t Make Me Over3:254I Cry Alone2:345Gettin’ Ready for the Heartbreak2:346Oh Lord, What Are You Doing to Me3:147Any Old Time of Day3:188Mr. Heartbreak2:329Put Yourself in My Place2:1210I Could Make You Mine2:2111This Empty Place2:5412Please Make Him Love Me2:21", "Walk on By×Walk On By6 April 1964 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAWalk On By2:58BAny Old Time of Day2:25", "Alfie×Alfie1973 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracksA1Alfie2:44A2Trains and Boats and Planes2:48A3(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me2:58A4Wishin’ & Hopin’2:56A5Don’t Make Me Over2:45B1Message to Michael3:07B2Wives & Lovers3:02B3Unchained Melody4:10B4People3:24", "I Say a Little Prayer×I Say A Little PrayerSingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1I Say A Little Prayer (Live On The Ed Sullivan Show, January 7, 1968)2:51" and the Grammy-winning "Do You Know the Way to San Jose×Do You Know the Way to San JoseApril 1968 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksADo You Know the Way to San José2:50BLet Me Be Lonely3:35".
After a fallout with Bacharach and David and a period slump with Warner Bros Records, Warwick revived her career under the mentorship of Clive Davis at Arista Records with a series of hit singles such as "I'll Never Love This Way Again×I'll Never Love This Way Again1979 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksA1I'll Never Love This Way Again3:33B1In Your Eyes3:43", "Heartbreaker×Heartbreaker28 September 1982 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1Heartbreaker4:17A2It Makes No Difference4:25A3Yours5:04A4Take the Short Way Home3:52A5Misunderstood4:07B1All the Love in the World3:28B2I Can’t See Anything (but You)3:28B3Just One More Night3:51B4You Are My Love3:43B5Our Day Will Come3:46" and "That's What Friends Are For". In the 1990s, Warwick gained notoriety for hosting the infomercial Psychic Friends Network.
Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on Billboard's Hot 100 pop singles chart. She is the second-most charted female vocalist during the rock era (1955–1999), as well as one of the most-charted vocalists of all time, with 56 of her singles making the Hot 100 between 1962 and 1998, including 12 top ten singles and two number one singles. Warwick ranks number 74 on the Billboard Hot 100 "Greatest Artists of All Time".
During her decades-long career, Warwick has won many accolades, including six competitive Grammy Awards. Warwick has been inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame, the National Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame and the Apollo Theater Walk of Fame. In 2019, Warwick won the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2024, Warwick was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Musical Excellence category.

Early life and career

Marie Dionne Warrick was born in East Orange, New Jersey on December 12, 1940, the eldest of three children to Arthur Lee "Nana" (née Drinkard) and Mancel Leland Warrick. Her mother was manager of the Drinkard Singers, a family gospel group. Her father was a gospel record promoter and also worked as a Pullman porter, chef, record promoter, and CPA.
Warwick was named after her maternal aunt Marie "Reebie" Drinkard Epps; Warwick preferred to be called by her middle name. Warwick had two younger siblings, sister Delia Juanita "Dee Dee" (1942-2008) and brother Mancel "Pookie" Jr. (1947-1968).
Her parents were both Foundational Black American, and Warwick also has a smaller amount of Irish and English ancestry on the maternal side of her family. Warwick began singing gospel as a child at her grandfather Rev. Elzae Warrick's AME church in Newark, New Jersey, where he was pastor where at six, she sang her first church solo, "Jesus Loves Me". As a teenager, she began singing at Newark's New Hope Baptist Church after her grandfather began pastoring there.
Raised in what was a mixed-race suburban neighborhood of East Orange, Warwick was a girl scout during her adolescent years. After attending Lincoln School, she graduated from East Orange High School in 1959 and attended Hartt College of Music in West Hartford, Connecticut on a music scholarship.
During her adolescence and teenage years, Warwick and her sister were being vocally mentored by their aunt Cissy Drinkard, who at one point lived at the Warricks' East Orange home in the early 1950s.
At fourteen, Warwick and her sister Dee Dee began singing together as part of the gospel vocal group the Gospelaires, a splinter group of the Drinkard Singers, her mother and aunt's group. The original members of the Gloryaires were the Warrick sisters and their friends Doris Troy and Sylvia Shemwell.
In 1959, Warwick's aunt Cissy's then-boyfriend John Houston offered to manage the group after Lee Warrick refused Houston's offer to manage the Drinkard Singers. While opening for the Drinkards at the Apollo Theater, a record scout for Atlantic Records came backstage asking for several female singers to back an R&B saxophonist named Sam "the Man" Taylor for a recording session.
According to Warwick, she volunteered for her group. As she could recall, "a man came running frantically backstage at the Apollo and said he needed background singers for a session for Sam 'The Man' Taylor, and old big-mouth here spoke up and said 'We'll do it!' and we left and did the session. I wish I remembered the gentleman's name because he was responsible for the beginning of my professional career." After the session, the Gloryaires soon became an in-demand vocal group singing for R&B and soul artists such as the Drifters, Dinah Washington, Solomon Burke and Chuck Jackson.
In 2002, Warwick recalled that, on weekdays after school, the girls would catch a bus from East Orange to the Port Authority Terminal, then take the subway to the recording studios in Manhattan, perform their background vocal work, and still be back at home in East Orange with time to do their school homework. Warwick's music work would continue while she pursued her studies at Hartt.
During a recording session with the Drifters for the song "Mexican Divorce", Warwick met Burt Bacharach, who hired her to record demos featuring songs written by him and lyricist Hal David. When Warwick was unable to make another session in September 1961 for Canadian rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins, Warwick's aunt Cissy took her place.
It would be while recording background for the Drifters' "Mexican Divorce" that Warwick's voice and star presence were noticed by the song's composer, Burt Bacharach, a Brill Building songwriter who was writing songs with many other songwriters, including lyricist Hal David.
According to a July 14, 1967, article on Warwick in Time, Bacharach stated, "She has a tremendous strong side and a delicacy when singing softly – like miniature ships in bottles." Musically, she was no "play-safe girl. What emotion I could get away with!" During the session, Bacharach asked Warwick if she would be interested in recording demonstration recordings of his compositions to pitch the tunes to record labels, paying her $12.50 per demo recording session (equivalent to $130 in 2025).
One such demo, "It's Love That Really Counts" – destined to be recorded by Scepter-signed act the Shirelles – caught the attention of the president of Scepter Records, Florence Greenberg, who, according to Current Biography (1969 Yearbook), told Bacharach, "Forget the song, get the girl!"
Warwick was signed to Bacharach's and David's production company, according to Warwick, which in turn was signed to Scepter Records in 1962 by Greenberg. The partnership would provide Bacharach with the freedom to produce Warwick without the control of recording company executives and company A&R men. Warwick's musical ability and education would also allow Bacharach to compose more challenging tunes. The demo version of "It's Love That Really Counts", along with her original demo of "Make It Easy on Yourself×Make It Easy on Yourself1970 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAMake It Easy on Yourself3:32BKnowing When to Leave2:41", would surface on Warwick's debut Scepter album, Presenting Dionne Warwick×Presenting Dionne Warwick1963 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1This Empty Place2:542Wishin’ & Hopin’2:583I Cry Alone2:344Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah2:415Make the Music Play2:256If You See Bill3:017Don’t Make Me Over3:258It’s Love That Really Counts (in the Long Run)2:189Unlucky2:2510I Smiled Yesterday2:4211Make It Easy on Yourself2:4212The Love of a Boy2:00, which was released in early 1963.
Her albums in 1971-74 spelled her named "Warwicke" but she dropped the trailing "e" in 1975.

Early stardom (1962–1965)

In November 1962, Scepter Records released Warwick's first solo single, "Don't Make Me Over", the title of which Warwick supplied herself when she snapped the phrase at producers Burt Bacharach and Hal David in anger. Warwick had found out that "Make It Easy on Yourself×Make It Easy on Yourself1970 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAMake It Easy on Yourself3:32BKnowing When to Leave2:41" – a song on which she had recorded the original demo and had wanted to be her first single release – had been given to another artist, Jerry Butler. From the phrase "don't make me over", Bacharach and David created the song, to which Warwick recorded the following day. The song became Warwick's first top 40 pop and R&B hit, peaking at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 5 on the Hot R&B Singles chart. Warrick's name was misspelled on the single's label, and she began using the new spelling, "Warwick", both professionally and personally. After "Don't Make Me Over" hit in 1962, the 22-year-old singer answered the call of her manager, left school and went on a tour of France, where critics crowned her "Paris' Black Pearl", having been introduced on stage at Paris Olympia that year by Marlene Dietrich.
After her two immediate follow-ups, "This Empty Place" and "Make The Music Play", barely cracked the Hot 100, her fourth release, "Anyone Who Had a Heart×Anyone Who Had a Heart1964 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Anyone Who Had a Heart3:122Shall I Tell Her2:293Don’t Make Me Over3:254I Cry Alone2:345Gettin’ Ready for the Heartbreak2:346Oh Lord, What Are You Doing to Me3:147Any Old Time of Day3:188Mr. Heartbreak2:329Put Yourself in My Place2:1210I Could Make You Mine2:2111This Empty Place2:5412Please Make Him Love Me2:21", released in November 1963, was Warwick's first top 10 pop hit, peaking at number eight on the Hot 100 and was her first international million-seller. In April 1964, Warwick released "Walk On By×Walk On By6 April 1964 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAWalk On By2:58BAny Old Time of Day2:25", which peaked at number six on the Hot 100 and also hit the top ten in the UK and other countries. During this period, Warwick found herself competing with many acts from the British Invasion and managed to hold her own better than most American artists.
Warwick's success in the United Kingdom was modest as most of her songs were covered by British singers Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw and Dusty Springfield. The most notable cover of Warwick's that became a hit cover was Black's "Anyone Who Had a Heart", which went to No. 1 in the UK. This upset Warwick, who described feeling insulted when told that in the UK, record company executives wanted her songs recorded by someone else. Warwick met Cilla Black while on tour in Britain. She recalled what she said to Black: "I told her that 'You're My World' would be my next single in the States. I honestly believe that if I'd sneezed on my next record, then Cilla would have sneezed on hers too. There was no imagination in her recording." Warwick later covered two of Cilla's songs – "You're My World" appeared on Dionne Warwick in Valley of the Dolls, released in 1968 and on the soundtrack to Alfie×Alfie1973 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracksA1Alfie2:44A2Trains and Boats and Planes2:48A3(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me2:58A4Wishin’ & Hopin’2:56A5Don’t Make Me Over2:45B1Message to Michael3:07B2Wives & Lovers3:02B3Unchained Melody4:10B4People3:24. Throughout 1964 alone, Warwick charted six hits on the Cash Box Top 100 Singles chart, resulting in Warwick being named the Bestselling Female Vocalist of 1964 in its year-end poll.
In Time's cover article of May 21, 1965, titled "Rock 'n' Roll: The Sound of the Sixties", Warwick's sound was described as:

Swinging World. Scholarly articles probe the relationship between the Beatles and the nouvelle vague films of Jean-Luc Godard, discuss "the brio and elegance" of Dionne Warwick's singing style as a 'pleasurable but complex' event to be 'experienced without condescension.' In chic circles, anyone damning rock 'n' roll is labeled not only square but uncultured. For inspirational purposes, such hip artists as Robert Rauschenberg, Larry Rivers and Andy Warhol occasionally paint while listening to rock 'n' roll music. Explains Warhol: "It makes me mindless, and I paint better." After gallery openings in Manhattan, the black-tie gatherings often adjourn to a discothèque.
In 1965, Eon Productions intended to use Warwick's song titled "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" as the theme song of the James Bond film Thunderball, until Albert R. Broccoli insisted that the theme song include the film's title. A new song titled "Thunderball" was composed and recorded at the eleventh hour, performed by Tom Jones. The melody of "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" remains a major component of the film score. The Ultimate Edition DVD of Thunderball has the Warwick song playing over the titles on one of the commentary track extras, and the song was released on the 30th-anniversary CD of Bond songs.

Chart success (1966–1971)

The mid-1960s to early 1970s were a more successful time period for Warwick, who saw a string of gold-selling albums and hit singles. "Message to Michael×Message to Michael1966 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAMessage to Michael3:08BHere Where There Is Love2:30", a Bacharach-David composition that the duo was certain was a "man's song", became a top 10 hit for Warwick in May 1966.
In January 1967, Warwick released the album Here Where There Is Love×Here Where There Is Love1967 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Go With Love2:472What the World Needs Now3:143I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself3:504Here Where There Is Love2:305Trains and Boats and Planes2:466Alfie2:437As Long as He Needs Me2:508I Wish You Love2:499(I Never Knew) What You Were Up To2:4010Blowin’ in the Wind2:19, which became her first RIAA certified gold album and produced three hit singles, "Trains and Boats and Planes", "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" and "Alfie×Alfie1973 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracksA1Alfie2:44A2Trains and Boats and Planes2:48A3(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me2:58A4Wishin’ & Hopin’2:56A5Don’t Make Me Over2:45B1Message to Michael3:07B2Wives & Lovers3:02B3Unchained Melody4:10B4People3:24". Initially a b-side to another single, "Alfie" became a radio hit when disc jockeys across the nation began to play the album cut early in 1967.
Initially released as a b-side, Warwick's recording of "I Say a Little Prayer×I Say A Little PrayerSingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1I Say A Little Prayer (Live On The Ed Sullivan Show, January 7, 1968)2:51" became another huge hit, peaking at number four respectively in the US and Canada. The tune was also the first RIAA certified USA million selling single for Bacharach and David.
Her follow-up to "I Say a Little Prayer", "(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls", was unusual in several respects. It was not written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, it was the b-side of "I Say a Little Prayer", and it was a song that she almost did not record. While the film version of Valley of the Dolls was being made, actress Barbara Parkins suggested that Warwick be considered to sing the film's theme song, written by songwriting team André and Dory Previn. The song was to be recorded by Judy Garland, who was subsequently fired from the film.
Warwick performed the song, and when the film became a success in the early weeks of 1968, disc jockeys flipped the single and made the single one of the biggest double-sided hits of the rock era and another million seller. At the time, RIAA rules allowed only one side of a double-sided hit single to be certified as gold, but Scepter awarded Warwick an "in-house award" to recognize "(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls" as a million selling tune.
Warwick had re-recorded a Pat Williams-arranged version of the theme at A&R Studios in New York because contractual restrictions with her label would not allow the Warwick version from the film to be included on the 20th Century Fox soundtrack LP, and reverse legal restrictions would not allow the film version to be used anyplace else in a commercial LP. The LP Dionne Warwick in Valley of the Dolls×Dionne Warwick in Valley of the Dolls1968 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1As Long as There's an Apple Tree2:05A2Up, Up and Away2:38A3You're My World3:05A4(Theme From) Valley of the Dolls3:35A5Silent Voices3:07B1Do You Know the Way to San Jose2:50B2For the Rest of My Life3:07B3Let Me Be Lonely3:35B4Where Would I Go2:40B5Walking Backwards Down the Road2:54, released in early 1968 and containing the re-recorded version of the movie theme (No. 2 for three weeks), "Do You Know the Way to San Jose×Do You Know the Way to San JoseApril 1968 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksADo You Know the Way to San José2:50BLet Me Be Lonely3:35?" and several new Bacharach-David compositions, hit the No. 6 position on the Billboard album chart and would remain on the chart for over a year. The film soundtrack LP, without Warwick vocals, failed to impress the public, while Dionne×Dionne1972 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1I Just Have to Breathe3:52A2The Balance of Nature3:28A3If You Never Say Goodbye3:12A4Close to You2:51A5My First Night Alone Without You2:55B1Be Aware4:32B2Love Song3:03B3One Less Bell to Answer4:37B4If We Only Have Love4:16B5Hasbrook Heights3:26 Warwick in Valley of the Dolls earned an RIAA gold certification.
The single "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" became another international hit, reaching the top ten in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Japan and Mexico among other countries. The song resulted in Warwick winning her first Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1969, becoming just the second black female artist to win in the category after Ella Fitzgerald while Warwick became the first female contemporary pop artist to win in the category after it switched its focus from vocal music to contemporary pop music. Other notable hits included "Promises, Promises×Promises, Promises1968 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1Promises, Promises2:57A2This Girl Is in Love With You4:13A3Little Green Apples3:55A4Where Is Love2:48A5Who Is Gonna Love Me3:11B1Whoever You Are, I Love You3:18B2Where Am I Going2:05B3Wanting Things2:22B4Lonely in My Heart2:56B5Yesterday I Heard the Rain2:43", "This Girl's in Love with You" and "I'll Never Fall in Love Again".
Other Scepter LPs certified RIAA gold included Dionne Warwick's Golden Hits Part 1 released in 1967 and The Dionne Warwicke Story: A Decade of Gold released in 1971. Cash Box named Warwick the Top Female Vocalist in 1969, 1970 and 1971. In the 1967 Cash Box poll, she was second to Petula Clark, and in the 1968 poll, second to Aretha Franklin. Playboy's influential Music Poll of 1970 named her the Top Female Vocalist. In 1969, Harvard's Hasty Pudding Society named her Woman of the Year.
By the end of 1971, Warwick had sold an estimated 35 million singles and albums internationally in less than nine years and more than 16 million singles in the U.S. alone. Exact figures of her sales are unknown and probably underestimated, due to Scepter Records' apparently lax accounting policies and the company policy of not submitting recordings for RIAA audit. Warwick became the first Scepter artist to request RIAA audits of her recordings in 1967 with the release of "I Say a Little Prayer".
On September 17, 1969, CBS Television aired Warwick's first television special, titled The Dionne Warwick Chevy Special. Warwick's guests were Burt Bacharach, George Kirby, Glen Campbell, and Creedence Clearwater Revival. In 1970, Warwick formed her own label, Sonday Records, of which she was president. Sonday was distributed by Scepter.
In 1970, she was a performer on the prestigious Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium, singing The Look of Love, What the World Needs Now and Come Together.

In 1971, Warwick left the family atmosphere of Scepter Records for Warner Bros. Records, for a $5 million contract, the most lucrative recording contract given to a female vocalist up to that time, according to Variety. Warwick's last LP for Scepter was the soundtrack for the motion picture The Love Machine×The Love MachineAlbum · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1He’s Moving On2:542The White Fox3:143New Threads on Parade1:534Amanda and Robin in Love2:155House Party (part 1)1:296Backstage1:347Amanda3:138Love Clown Love1:569House Party (part 2)2:1610Amanda2:0411Farewell Amanda2:3912The White Fox Returns1:4513He’s Moving On2:45, in which she appeared in an uncredited cameo, released in July 1971. In 1975, Bacharach and David sued Scepter Records for an accurate accounting of royalties due to the team from their recordings with Warwick and labelmate B.J. Thomas. They were awarded almost $600,000 and the rights to all Bacharach/David recordings on the Scepter label. The label, with the defection of Warwick to Warner Bros. Records, filed for bankruptcy in 1975 and was sold to Springboard International Records in 1976.
Following her signing with Warner, with Bacharach and David as writers and producers, Warwick returned to New York City's A&R Studios in late 1971 to begin recording her first album for the new label, the self-titled Dionne (not to be confused with her later Arista debut album) in January 1972. The album peaked at No. 57 on the Billboard 200. In 1972, Burt Bacharach and Hal David scored and wrote the tunes for the motion picture Lost Horizon. However, the film was panned by the critics, and in the fallout, the songwriting duo decided to terminate their working relationship. The break-up left Warwick devoid of their services as her producers and songwriters. She was contractually obligated to fulfill her contract with Warner without Bacharach and David, and she would team with a variety of producers during her tenure with the label.
Faced with the prospect of being sued by Warner Bros. Records due to the breakup of Bacharach/David and their failure to honor their contract with Warwick, she filed a $5.5 million lawsuit against her former partners for breach of contract. The suit was settled out of court in 1979 for $5 million, including the rights to all Warwick recordings produced by Bacharach and David.
Also in 1971, Warwick had her name changed to "Warwicke" per the advice of Linda Goodman, an astrologer friend, who believed it would bring greater success. A few years later, she reverted to the old spelling after a string of disappointments and an absence from the Billboard top 40.

Warner era (1972–1978)

Without the guidance and songwriting that Bacharach/David had provided, Warwick's career stalled in the early 1970s although she remained a top concert draw throughout the world. There were no big hits during the early and mid part of the decade, aside from 1974's "Then Came You×Then Came You1975 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1Take It From Me3:46A2We’ll Burn Our Bridges Behind Us3:33A3Sure Thing3:11A4Then Came You4:00A5How Can I Tell Him5:25B1Move Me No Mountain5:03B2I Can’t Wait to See My Baby’s Face3:29B3It’s Magic3:21B4Who Knows3:20B5Getting in My Way3:16", recorded as a duet with the Spinners and produced by Thom Bell.
Bell later noted, "Dionne made a (strange) face when we finished [the song]. She didn't like it much, but I knew we had something. So we ripped a dollar in two, signed each half and exchanged them. I told her, 'If it doesn't go number one, I'll send you my half.' When it took off, Dionne sent hers back. There was an apology on it."
It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 26, 1974, becoming the first number one hit for both Warwick, aged 33, and the Spinners. Since "Then Came You" was issued on the Spinners' label Atlantic, none of Warwick's releases on Warner made the top 40.
During her Warner tenure, Warwick released five albums, all of which failed to replicate her success on Scepter. Warwick left Warner in 1977. Less than a year later, she eventually agreed to sign with Clive Davis's Arista Records after Davis promised to revive her flagging career after the singer told him she was seeking retirement from show business.

Renewed success with Arista (1979–1989)

Produced by Barry Manilow, Warwick released the album, Dionne×Dionne1972 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1I Just Have to Breathe3:52A2The Balance of Nature3:28A3If You Never Say Goodbye3:12A4Close to You2:51A5My First Night Alone Without You2:55B1Be Aware4:32B2Love Song3:03B3One Less Bell to Answer4:37B4If We Only Have Love4:16B5Hasbrook Heights3:26 in May 1979. The album was a success spawning the hit singles "I'll Never Love This Way Again×I'll Never Love This Way Again1979 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksA1I'll Never Love This Way Again3:33B1In Your Eyes3:43" and "Deja Vu", both of which topped the Adult Contemporary chart and reached the top twenty of the Billboard Hot 100, with the former song peaking at number five on the latter chart, her first top ten pop hit in nearly a decade and went gold. The Dionne album as a result became her first platinum-certified recording.
At the 22nd Annual Grammy Awards in February 1980, Warwick made history when she became the first female solo artist to win the Grammy Awards for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "I'll Never Love This Way Again" and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Deja Vu" in the same year. Her 1980 release, No Night So Long, had a hit with the number one AC hit title track and went gold upon its release.

In January 1980, while under contract to Arista Records, Warwick hosted a two-hour TV special called Solid Gold '79. This was adapted into the weekly one-hour show Solid Gold, which she hosted throughout 1980 and 1981 and again in 1985–86. Major highlights of each show were the duets she performed with her co-hosts, which often included some of Warwick's hits and her co-hosts' hits, intermingled and arranged by Solid Gold musical director Michael Miller. Another highlight in each show was Warwick's vocal rendition of the Solid Gold theme, composed by Miller (with lyrics by Dean Pitchford).
After a brief appearance in the top forty in early 1982 with Johnny Mathis on "Friends in Love×Friends in Love14 April 1982 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1For You4:55A2Friends in Love4:02A3Never Gonna Let You Go4:50A4Can’t Hide Love4:50A5Betcha by Golly Wow3:28B1More Than Fascination4:02B2Got You Where I Want You3:38B3With a Touch4:40B4What Is This3:58B5A Love So Right3:55" from the album of the same name, Warwick's next hit later that same year was her full-length collaboration with Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees for the album Heartbreaker×Heartbreaker28 September 1982 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1Heartbreaker4:17A2It Makes No Difference4:25A3Yours5:04A4Take the Short Way Home3:52A5Misunderstood4:07B1All the Love in the World3:28B2I Can’t See Anything (but You)3:28B3Just One More Night3:51B4You Are My Love3:43B5Our Day Will Come3:46. The project came about when Clive Davis was attending his aunt's wedding in Orlando, Florida in early 1982 and spoke with Barry Gibb. Gibb mentioned that he had always been a fan of Warwick's, and Davis arranged for them to meet and discuss a project. Gibb had just had tremendous success writing and co-producing a smash hit album for Barbra Streisand (1980's Guilty), which prompted Davis to suggest they do something similar for Warwick. Both the album and the title single were released in October 1982 to massive success. Warwick later stated to Wesley Hyatt in his Billboard Book of Number One Adult Contemporary Hits that she was not initially fond of "Heartbreaker" but recorded the song because she trusted Barry's judgment that it would be a hit. The song did indeed become one of Warwick's biggest international hits, returning her to the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 as well as No. 1 Adult Contemporary and No. 2 in both the UK and Australia. The song was also a top-10 hit throughout continental Europe, Japan, South Africa, Canada and Asia. The album ended up selling three million copies internationally and earned Warwick a gold record in the US. In the UK, Heartbreaker became Warwick's most successful album, peaking at No. 3 and was certified platinum, while both the hit title track and follow-up single "All the Love in the World×All the Love in the World1982 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAAll the Love in the World3:25BIt Makes No Difference4:26" (another UK top ten hit) would both be certified silver, becoming her biggest selling singles there.
In 1983, Warwick released How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye, produced by Luther Vandross. The album's most successful single was the title track, "How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye×How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye29 September 1983 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracks1Got a Date5:202So Amazing3:463I Do It ’cause I Like It5:004How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye3:295What Can a Miracle Do4:446Two Ships Passing in the Night5:197I Can Let Go Now2:578Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow5:27", a Warwick/Vandross duet, which peaked at No. 27 on the 'Hot 100. It also became a top ten hit on the AC and R&B charts. The album Finder of Lost Loves×Finder of Lost Loves24 January 1985 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1No One in the World3:332Without Your Love4:423Run to Me4:354Finder of Lost Loves4:405Love Doesn’t Live Here Anymore4:596It’s You4:547It’s Love3:388Bedroom Eyes4:459Weakness4:1410You Made Me Want to Love Again4:33 followed in 1984 and reunited her with both Barry Manilow and Burt Bacharach, who was writing with his then current lyricist partner and wife, Carole Bayer Sager. In 1985, Warwick contributed her voice to the multi-Grammy Award winning charity song "We Are the World", along with vocalists like Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, and Ray Charles. The song spent four consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the year's biggest hit, certified four times platinum in the United States alone.
In 1985, Warwick and Bacharach once again collaborated on the song "That's What Friends Are For". This period was the first time they had worked together since the 1970s, when Warwick felt abandoned by Bacharach and Hal David dissolving their partnership. Warwick said of their reconciliation:

We realized we were more than just friends. We were family. Time has a way of giving people the opportunity to grow and understand ... Working with Burt is not a bit different from how it used to be. He expects me to deliver and I can. He knows what I'm going to do before I do it, and the same with me. That's how intertwined we've been.

Warwick recorded "That's What Friends Are For" as a benefit single for the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR) alongside Gladys Knight, Elton John and Stevie Wonder in 1985. The single, credited to "Dionne and Friends", was released in October and eventually raised more than three million dollars for that cause. The tune was a triple crown number one single, topping the R&B, AC and Hot 100, staying atop the lattermost chart at four weeks in early 1986, selling close to two million copies in the US alone.
"Working against AIDS, especially after years of raising money for work on many blood-related diseases such as sickle-cell anemia, seemed the right thing to do. You have to be granite not to want to help people with AIDS, because the devastation that it causes is so painful to see. I was so hurt to see my friend die with such agony", Warwick told The Washington Post in 1988. "I am tired of hurting and it does hurt." The single won the performers the NARAS Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, as well as Song of the Year for its writers, Bacharach and Bayer Sager. It also was ranked by Billboard magazine as the most popular song of 1986. With this single, Warwick also released her most successful album of the 1980s, titled Friends×Friends25 November 1985 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1That’s What Friends Are For4:182Whisper in the Dark4:363Remember Your Heart3:444Love at Second Sight4:415Moments Aren’t Moments4:366Stronger Than Before3:237Stay Devoted3:378No One There (to Sing Me a Love Song)4:289How Long?4:1210Extravagant Gestures4:59, which reached No. 12 on the Billboard albums chart.
In 1987, Dionne Warwick won the Special Recognition Award at the American Music Awards for "That's What Friends Are For".
In 1987, Warwick scored another hit with "Love Power". Her eighth career No. 1 Adult Contemporary hit, it also reached No. 5 on the R&B chart and No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. A duet with Jeffrey Osborne, it was also written by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager, and it was featured on Warwick's album Reservations for Two×Reservations for Two3 August 1987 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Love Power4:362Close Enough4:123You’re My Hero4:434In a World Such as This4:185Another Chance to Love4:106Reservations for Two4:267Cry on Me4:108Heartbreak of Love3:549For Everything You Are3:5210No One in the World3:33. The album's title song, a duet with Kashif, was also a chart hit. Other artists featured on the album included Smokey Robinson and June Pointer.

Psychic Friends and decline (1990-2000)

In 1990, Warwick recorded the song "It's All Over" with former member of Modern Talking Dieter Bohlen (Blue System). The single peaked at No. 60 (No. 33 airplay) on the German pop chart and it was covered on Blue System's album Déjà Vu×Déjà vuOctober 1979 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksADéjà vu3:40BAll the Time4:06.
Starting in 1991, Warwick hosted infomercials for the Psychic Friends Network, which featured self-described psychic Linda Georgian. The 900 number psychic service was active from 1991 to 1998. According to press statements throughout the 1990s, the program was the most successful infomercial for several years and Warwick earned in excess of three million dollars per year as spokesperson for the network. In 1998, Inphomation, the corporation owning the network, filed for bankruptcy and Warwick ended her association with the organization.
Warwick's most publicized album during this period was 1993's Friends Can Be Lovers×Friends Can Be Lovers1993 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Sunny Weather Lover4:112Age of Miracles4:433Where My Lips Have Been4:384Friends Can Be Lovers5:285Love Will Find a Way4:576Much Too Much4:317Til the End of Time5:128The Woman That I Am4:379Fragile4:1110I Sing at Dawn4:28, which was produced in part by Ian Devaney and Lisa Stansfield. Featured on the album was "Sunny Weather Lover", which was the first song that Burt Bacharach and Hal David had written together for Warwick since 1972. It was Warwick's lead single in the United States, and was heavily promoted by Arista, but failed to chart. A follow-up "Where My Lips Have Been" peaked at No. 95 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks. The 1994 Aquarela Do Brasil album marked the end of Warwick's contract with Arista Records after a 16-year association.
In 1993, Forrest Sawyer, host of the ABC news/entertainment program Day One, alleged financial improprieties by the Warwick Foundation, founded in 1989 to benefit AIDS patients, and particularly Warwick's charity concert performances organized to benefit the organization as "America's Ambassador of Health". The network news magazine story, "That's What Friends Are For", reported that the Warwick Foundation was operating at more than 90% administrative cost, donating only about 3% of the money it raised to AIDS groups. Several AIDS groups and nonprofit experts criticized her foundation, including an AIDS group in the Virgin Islands that claimed she nearly bankrupted them after extravagant expenses left nothing for local charities. ABC reported that Warwick flew first class and was accommodated at first-class hotels for charity concerts and events in which she participated for the Warwick Foundation, managed by her close confidante, Guy Draper, a former chief of protocol for former Washington DC Mayor Marion Barry, and who had a history of bankruptcies. Warwick alleged that the ABC report was racially motivated and threatened to sue ABC News for defamation, although a suit was never filed. The Internal Revenue Service began an investigation of the Warwick Foundation after other complaints were filed, and the Warwick Foundation was later dissolved. ABC's story was nominated for a national Emmy award in 1994 and won a prestigious Investigative Reporters and Editors national television award in 1993.

My Favorite Time of the Year and move to Concord Records (2000–2010)

On October 16, 2002, Warwick was nominated to be Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
In 2004, Warwick's first Christmas album was released. Entitled My Favorite Time of the Year, the CD featured jazzy interpretations of many holiday classics. In 2007, Rhino Records re-released the CD with new cover art.
In 2005, Warwick was honored by Oprah Winfrey at her Legends Ball. She appeared on the May 24, 2006, fifth-season finale of American Idol. Warwick sang a medley of "Walk On By×Walk On By6 April 1964 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAWalk On By2:58BAny Old Time of Day2:25" and "That's What Friends Are For", with longtime collaborator Burt Bacharach accompanying her on the piano.
In 2006, Warwick signed with Concord Records, her first mainstream label since leaving Arista in 1994. Her first and only release for the label was My Friends and Me, a duets album containing reworkings of her old hits, very similar to her CD Dionne Sings Dionne×Dionne Sings Dionne1998 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Walk On By3:472Love Begins With You4:083Reach Out for Me4:154High Upon This Love4:255I Say a Little Prayer for You4:266Always Something There to Remind Me4:487If I Want To4:348Aquarela do Brazil3:549I Promise You5:1010Be My Neighbor3:1611All Kinds of People3:4012What the World Needs Now Is Love4:2113Do You Know the Way to San Jose5:3714Humbly I Pray4:46 (1998). Among her singing partners were Gloria Estefan, Olivia Newton-John, Wynonna Judd and Reba McEntire. The album peaked at No. 66 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The album was produced by her son Damon Elliott. A follow-up album featuring Warwick's old hits as duets with male vocalists was planned, but the project was cancelled. The relationship with Concord concluded with the release of My Friends and Me. A compilation CD of her greatest hits×Her Greatest Hits1989 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Walk On By2:552Anyone Who Had a Heart3:023Message to Michael3:084Don’t Make Me Over2:485You’ll Never Get to Heaven3:096This Girl’s in Love With You4:177I Say a Little Prayer3:088I’ll Never Fall in Love Again2:569Do You Know the Way to San Jose2:5910Alfie2:4711You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling4:1712Who Can I Turn To3:10 and love songs×love songs1992 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1don't make me over3:232walk on by2:573do right woman, do right man3:024what the world needs now is love3:105make it easy on yourself2:446promises, promises2:587reach out for me2:528people3:259anyone who had a heart3:1010i say a little prayer3:0711i'll never fall in love again3:0412the look of love2:50, The Love Collection×The Love Collection4 February 2008 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 20 tracks1Heartbreaker4:182Walk on By2:553I Say a Little Prayer3:054Do You Know the Way to San Jose2:565All the Love in the World3:286That’s What Friends Are For4:137Déjà Vu3:518So Amazing3:439It’s You4:5810The Look of Love2:4911How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye3:3012Anyone Who Had a Heart3:0713Friends in Love4:0014I Don’t Need Another Love4:1315I’ll Never Fall in Love Again2:5816Reach Out for Me2:5217Love Power4:3618(They Long to Be) Close to You2:2319I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself2:4620What the World Needs Now3:10, entered the UK album chart at number 27 on February 16, 2008.
Warwick's second gospel album, Why We Sing×Why We Sing20 February 2008 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Battle Hymn of the Republic2:482I’m Going Up3:353With All My Heart5:024Old Landmark4:155The World Needs Jesus4:536I Lift My Heart5:257Jesus Loves Me4:038Show Me the Way4:209Why We Sing5:2210Rise, Shine and Give God the Glory4:3711The Lord Is My Shepherd4:3912Seven4:24, was released on February 26, 2008, in the United Kingdom and on April 1, 2008, in the United States. The album features guest spots by her sister Dee Dee Warwick and BeBe Winans. It would be Warwick's last collaboration with her sister Dee Dee, who died later on October 18 of that year at a nursing home in Essex County, New Jersey. She had been in failing health for several months.
On November 24, 2008, Warwick was the star performer on Divas II, a UK ITV1 special show that also featured Rihanna, Leona Lewis, the Sugababes, Pink, Gabriella Climi and Anastacia. Around this period, Warwick began recording an album of songs from the Sammy Cahn and Jack Wolf songbooks. The finished recording, entitled Only Trust Your Heart, was released in 2011.
On October 20, 2009, Starlight Children's Foundation and New Gold Music Ltd. released a song that Warwick had recorded about ten years prior called "Starlight×Starlight20 October 2009 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Starlight4:18". The lyrics were written by Dean Pitchford, prolific writer of Fame, screenwriter of – and sole or joint lyricist of every song in the soundtrack of – the original movie Footloose (1984), and lyricist of the Solid Gold theme. The music had been composed by Bill Goldstein, whose versatile career included the original music for NBC's Fame TV series. Warwick, Pitchford and Goldstein announced that they would be donating 100% of their royalties to Starlight Children's Foundation, to support Starlight's mission to help seriously ill children and their families cope with pain, fear and isolation through entertainment, education and family activities.

When Bill and Dean brought this song to me, I instantly felt connected to its message of shining a little light into the lives of people who need it most", said Warwick. "I admire the work of Starlight Children's Foundation and know that if the song brings hope to even just one sick child, we have succeeded.

Only Trust Your Heart and Grammy Award (2010–2019)

In 2011, the New Jazz style CD Only Trust Your Heart was released, featuring many Sammy Cahn songs. In March 2011, Warwick appeared on The Celebrity Apprentice 4. Her charity was the Hunger Project. She was dismissed from her "apprenticeship" to Donald Trump during the fourth task of the season. In February 2012, Warwick performed "Walk On By×Walk On By6 April 1964 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAWalk On By2:58BAny Old Time of Day2:25" on The Jonathan Ross Show. She also received the Goldene Kamera Musical Lifetime Achievement Award in Germany, and performed "That's What Friends Are For" at the ceremony.
On May 28, 2012, Warwick headlined the World Hunger Day concert at London's Royal Albert Hall. She sang "One World One Song×One World One Song27 May 2013 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1One World One Song (duet)4:182One World One Song (instrumental with choir)4:02", specially written for the Hunger Project by Tony Hatch and Tim Holder and was joined by Joe McElderry, the London Community Gospel Choir and a choir from Woodbridge School, Woodbridge, Suffolk.
In 2012, the 50th anniversary CD entitled NOW was released; Warwick recorded 12 Bacharach/David tracks produced by Phil Ramone.
On September 19, 2013, she collaborated with country singer Billy Ray Cyrus for his song "Hope Is Just Ahead×Hope Is Just Ahead3 February 2014 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Hope Is Just Ahead4:41".
In 2014, the duets album Feels So Good×Feels So Good27 October 2014 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Close to You4:002A House Is Not a Home4:233Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head2:234Message to Michael2:595Every Once in a While3:336Déjà vu5:077Feels So Good3:058I Know I’ll Never Love This Way Again4:199This Guy/This Girl’s in Love With You3:3410You’ll Never Get to Heaven If You Break My Heart2:5811Let There Be Love4:4312Hope Is Just Ahead4:4013Windows of the World4:1014A House Is Not a Home (extended version)6:40 was released. Funkytowngrooves re-issued the remastered Arista albums No Night So Long×No Night So Long1980 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracksA1Easy Love3:15A2No Night So Long3:26A3It’s the Falling in Love3:23A4When the World Runs Out of Love3:44A5We Never Said Goodbye3:41B1How You Once Loved Me3:33B2Reaching for the Sky4:28B3Sweetie Pie2:30B4Somebody’s Angel3:44B5We Had This Time3:44, How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye×How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye29 September 1983 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracks1Got a Date5:202So Amazing3:463I Do It ’cause I Like It5:004How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye3:295What Can a Miracle Do4:446Two Ships Passing in the Night5:197I Can Let Go Now2:578Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow5:27 ("So Amazing"), and Finder of Lost Loves ("Without Your Love"), all expanded with bonus material.
In December 2015, Warwick's website released the Tropical Love EP with five tracks previously unreleased from the Aquarel Do Brasil Sessions in 1994 – To Say Goodbye (Pra Dizer Adeus) with Edu Lobo – Love Me – Lullaby – Bridges (Travessia) – Rainy Day Girl with Ivan Lins.
A Heartbreaker two-disc expanded edition was planned for a 2016 release by Funkytowngrooves, which would include the original Heartbreaker album and up to 15 bonus tracks consisting of a mixture of unreleased songs, alternate takes, and instrumentals, with more remastered and expanded Arista albums to follow. In 2016, she was inducted into the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.
In 2017, she performed a benefit in Chicago for the Center on Halsted, an organization that contributes to the LGBTQ community. This event was co-chaired by Rahm Emanuel and Barack Obama. Also that year, she made a cameo appearance in the Christian drama Let There Be Light directed by Kevin Sorbo.
In 2019 she was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Documentary and The Masked Singer (2020–present)

In 2020, she appeared as "Mouse" on the third season of The Masked Singer. She was eliminated in the fifth round, but came back during the first part of the season three finale to sing "What the World Needs Now Is Love×What the World Needs Now Is Love1998 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 5 tracks1What the World Needs Now Is Love (radio edit)4:202What the World Needs Now Is Love (Underground mix)4:233What the World Needs Now Is Love (Underground instrumental)4:234What the World Needs Now Is Love (club mix)4:025What the World Needs Now Is Love (club instrumental)4:02" with the finalists Night Angel, Frog and Turtle as a tribute to the healthcare workers working on the front lines during the coronavirus pandemic. This performance was created after the season wrapped production in March. Warwick made a guest appearance during Gladys Knight's and Patti Labelle's Verzuz battle. Together they performed Warwick's song, "That's What Friends Are For". They closed with their collaborative song "Superwoman×Superwoman1991 · EPSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1Superwoman (Radio Edit)5:372License To Kill5:133Superwoman (Single Version)4:29".
In My Life, as I See It: An Autobiography, Warwick lists her honorary doctorate from Hartt among those awarded by six other institutions: Hartt College, Bethune-Cookman University, Shaw University, Columbia College of Chicago, Lincoln College, Illinois [May 2010, Doctor of Arts (hon.)], and University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
On February 10, 2021, Dionne was nominated for inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the first time.
On December 3, 2021, Dionne was honored with a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars.
Warwick appears in a documentary revolving around her life and career, Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2021. Organizers of the Toronto Film Festival announced that she would be honored in the upcoming event as a music icon. On November 26, 2021, Warwick released the single "Nothing's Impossible×Nothing's Impossible26 November 2021 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Nothing's Impossible2:39" a duet featuring Chance the Rapper. Two charities are being supported by the duet: SocialWorks, a Chicago-based nonprofit that Chance founded to empower the youth through the arts, education and civic engagement, and Hunger: Not Impossible, a text-based service connecting kids and their families in need with prepaid, nutritious, to-go meals from local restaurants. On January 1, 2023, the documentary premiered on national television on CNN.
In December 2023, Warwick participated in the fifth series of The Masked Singer UK as "Weather". She was eliminated and unmasked on the first episode.
On April 26, 2024, Warwick along with the vocal group the Chi-Lites, were inducted into The Atlantic City Walk of Fame. Producer, writer and director Dave Wooley was the presenter for Warwick. The induction ceremony was held at Brighton Park in Atlantic City, NJ.
In 2024, Warwick was selected for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the musical excellence category. She also competed on episode of Celebrity Wheel of Fortune.

Voice and artistry

Warwick is a contralto, particularly known for her signature musicality and "husky" singing voice. The New Yorker theatre critic Hilton Als reported that, early in her singing career, Warwick's wide vocal range "allowed her both to sing contralto low notes and to soar as a soprano". According to Mike Joyce of The Washington Post, some performances on Warwick's album Dionne Warwick Sings Cole Porter×Dionne Warwick Sings Cole Porter11 June 1990 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Night and Day3:422I Love Paris3:313I Get a Kick Out of You3:564What Is This Thing Called Love So in Love3:205You’re the Top3:276I’ve Got You Under My Skin3:417Begin the Beguine5:208It’s All Right With Me4:419Anything Goes2:4010All of You3:2311I Concentrate on You3:4912Just One of Those Things3:3213Night and Day (Jazz version)4:1414You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To2:59 (1990) capture her warmth "and emphasize her subtle phrasing". In a separate review published in 1982, Joyce noted that Warwick's "magical" voice still manages to be "opaque, elusive, elegant" simultaneously, even when performing what he described as some of her most banal material in her discography. Reviewing a concert in 1983, The New York Times music critic Stephen Holden observed that Warwick's voice had deepened "into a near-baritone at its bottom end", resulting in "an ever-more fascinating vocal personality". Similarly, in 2006, Sarah Dempster of The Guardian observed that Warwick's voice "has deepened with age, lending a splendidly full-bodied finish to everything".
Music critics have described Warwick as the muse of songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David's, a term Bacharach himself has used to refer to the singer. Bacharach confirmed that they considered Warwick their "main artist", to whom they allowed first priority on new songs. MTV contributor Carol Cooper said Warwick's interpretation of their songs "established Warwick as the eloquent voice of wounded feminine pride", crediting her with making their material "even more unique and compelling". According to Michael Musto of The Village Voice, the singer's voice proved to be "the perfect venue for Bacharach-David hits", writing, "Dionne could do sultry, pained, wispy, and regretful, all with sophisticated phrasings that made her a vocal emblem for the '60s heartbeat". The singer claims she did not find their material difficult to sing because they had been written specifically for her voice. Cooper identified their partnership as a precedent to the collaborations between R&B singer Toni Braxton, and songwriters Babyface and Diane Warren.
Musically, The New York Times music critic Stephen Holden and The Guardian's Ian Gittins described Warwick as a pop soul singer. However, AllMusic biographer William Ruhlmann found the singer particularly difficult to categorize as a vocalist, writing, "Although Warwick grew up singing in church, she is not a gospel singer. Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan are clear influences, but she is not a jazz singer. R&B is also part of her background, yet she is not really a soul singer, either, at least not in the sense that Aretha Franklin is". Similarly, another AllMusic reviewer, Steve Leggett, believes Warwick combines elements of jazz, soul, R&B and gospel, which ultimately results in her being a "pure pop singer". The Washington Informer senior editor D. Kevin McNeir reported that Warwick's delivery and stage presence are often described as "scintillating, soothing, sensual and soulful". A writer for the South Bend Tribune observed that Warwick is usually described as a "sophisticated" singer, while noting that this term "doesn't place her in a specific musical category". A writer for The Guardian described Warwick as "one of the greatest pop singers of all time", while Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times named her "that one-of-a-kind instrument that defined pop sophistication in the mid-1960s".
In recent years, Warwick has become known for sharing candid, straightforward opinions about various topics on the social media platform Twitter, being nicknamed the "Queen of Twitter" by several media publications.

Legacy

As a black female contemporary artist during the 1960s, Warwick broke racial barriers by being a frequent presence on the Billboard and Cash Box top 40 between 1962 and 1971. Several of her hits in that era were also internationally successful and inspired cover versions by various artists, namely Cilla Black, Dusty Springfield and Aretha Franklin.
Prior to Warwick's debut with "Don't Make Me Over" in November 1962, few African American female artists charted on the pop charts, with the most notable artist to do so being Dinah Washington. Due to her not fitting the tradition of many rhythm and blues artists of her era, Warwick is sometimes referred to as the "first black female pop star".
In addition, Warwick was acknowledged for "bridging the worlds of pop, R&B and jazz" in her most popular recordings.

Personal life

In 1966, Warwick married actor and drummer William Elliott; they divorced in May 1967. They reconciled and were remarried in Milan, Italy, in August 1967. On January 18, 1969, while living in East Orange, New Jersey, she gave birth to her first son, David Elliott. In 1973, her second son, Damon Elliott, was born. On May 30, 1975, the couple separated, and Warwick was granted a divorce in December 1975 in Los Angeles. The court denied Elliott's request for $2,000 a month (equivalent to $12,000 in 2025) in support pending a community property trial, and his request for $5,000 a month after he insisted that his monthly income was just $500, compared to Warwick's $100,000 (equivalent to $598,000 in 2025). Warwick stated, "I was the breadwinner. The male ego is a fragile thing. It's hard when the woman is the breadwinner. All my life, the only man who ever took care of me financially was my father. I have always taken care of myself."
In 2002, Warwick was arrested at Miami International Airport for possession of marijuana. It was discovered that she had 11 suspected marijuana cigarettes inside her carry-on luggage, hidden in a lipstick container. She was charged with possessing marijuana totaling less than five grams.
In 2009, Warwick had a $2.2 million federal tax lien filed against her. The IRS eventually discovered that a large portion of the lien was due to an accounting error and revoked $1.2 million in 2012.
In 1993, her older son, David, a former Los Angeles police officer, co-wrote with Terry Steele the Warwick–Whitney Houston duet "Love Will Find a Way", featured on Warwick's album Friends Can Be Lovers×Friends Can Be Lovers1993 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Sunny Weather Lover4:112Age of Miracles4:433Where My Lips Have Been4:384Friends Can Be Lovers5:285Love Will Find a Way4:576Much Too Much4:317Til the End of Time5:128The Woman That I Am4:379Fragile4:1110I Sing at Dawn4:28. Since 2002, he has periodically toured with and performed duets with his mother (along with being the drummer of her touring band), and had his acting debut in the film Ali as the singer Sam Cooke. David became a singer-songwriter, with Luther Vandross's "Here and Now" among other credits.
Warwick's second son, Damon, is a music producer who has worked with Mýa, Pink, Christina Aguilera and Keyshia Cole. He arranged and produced his mother's 2006 Concord release My Friends and Me. Warwick received a 2014 Grammy Award nomination in the Traditional Pop Category for her 2013 album release, Now.
On January 24, 2015, Warwick was hospitalized after a fall in the shower at her home. After ankle surgery, she was discharged from the hospital.

Bankruptcy

Warwick declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy in New Jersey on March 21, 2013. Due to the reported mismanagement of her business affairs, she listed liabilities that included nearly $7 million owed to the Internal Revenue Service for the years 1991 through 1999 and more than $3 million in business taxes owed to the state of California. Unable to work out an agreement with tax officials, she and her attorney decided that declaring bankruptcy would be the best course of action.

Relations

Warwick's sister, Dee Dee Warwick, also had a successful singing career, scoring several notable R&B hits in the US, including the original version of "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me". Dee Dee recorded the original version of the song "You're No Good", which later became a 1963 No. 5 R&B hit for Betty Everett, a 1964 No. 3 UK hit for the Swinging Blue Jeans and a 1975 No. 1 pop hit for Linda Ronstadt. In 1966, the Swinging Blue Jeans had a No. 31 UK hit with a cover of Dionne's "Don't Make Me Over", thus appearing in the UK Singles Chart with covers of songs from both Warwick sisters.
Warwick's maternal aunt is gospel-trained vocalist Cissy Houston, mother of Warwick's cousin, the late singer Whitney Houston.
In her 2011 autobiography, My Life, as I See It, Warwick notes that opera diva Leontyne Price is a maternal cousin.

Awards and honors

In addition to numerous awards and honors, the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce has declared May 25 to be Dionne Warwick Day and Lincoln Elementary School in East Orange, New Jersey, honoring her by renaming it to the Dionne Warwick Institute of Economics and Entrepreneurship.
On Friday, October 11, 2024, Warwick was honored by the City of East Orange, NJ with a street renaming ceremony. North Arlington Avenue at City Hall Plaza was given the name "Dionne Warwick Way". The ceremony included a tribute concert by hundreds of children. The ceremony was also attended by her two sons and Clive Davis, the notable music producer. Reported by CBS News.