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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZWARWICK, Dionne(b Marie Dionne Warrick, 12 December 1940, East Orange NJ) Pop singer, with more than 50 hit singles, over 30 hit albums since 1962. From a family bursting with vocal talent including sister Dee Dee, aunt Cissy Houston and niece Whitney Houston. She sang in the Gospelaires with Dee Dee and Cissy, did studio work, and was discovered by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, the ideal voice and stylist for their exceptionally successful songs: they placed her with the Sceptre label (see the Shirelles) and of her first 37 hits all but four were written and all but two produced by Bacharach/David. She added an 'e' to 'Warwicke' for luck, whereupon the Bacharach/David team ran out of steam, her chart run broken in 1972; she worked with Holland/Dozier/Holland, then Jerry Ragavoy; went to WEA and was teamed with the Spinners for a freak no. 1 smash 'There Came You' '74 (her first no. 1); live two-disc LP A Man And A Woman with Isaac Hayes on HBS was a top 50 album '77. Having dropped the 'e' she went to Arista, had hit LPs and singles produced by Barry Manilow, no. 12 LP Dionne including 'I'll Never Love This Way Again' and 'Deja Vu'. She co-hosted Solid Gold on TV '80-1, again '85-6. More hits on Arista included Friends In Love '82, the title duet with Johnny Mathis; Heartbreaker '82 produced by Barry Gibb, who sang backup on the top ten title track; How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye '83, produced and co-sung by Luther Vandross. She sang in hit soundtracks Love Machine '72 and Stevie Wonder's Woman In Red '84; her second no. 1 was AIDS aid single 'That's What Friends Are For' by 'Dionne and Friends' including Wonder, Elton John, Gladys Knight (album Friends '85). More albums were Reservations For Two '87, Greatest Hits '89, Sings Cole Porter '90, Friends Can Be Lovers '93 (with Whitney), Aquarela do Brasil '94; also Celebration In Vienna '94 with Placido Domingo on Sony Classical. Throughout the rock era she has continued to sell albums with big-time showbiz glamour; she teamed again with Bacharach in the 1990s, talked about retirement in '97. Sister Dee Dee (b Delia May Warrick, 25 September 1945, Newark NJ; d 18 October 2008) sang backup for Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and others, launched a solo career and had nine soul hit singles 1966-75, including top tens 'I Want To Be With You' '66 on Mercury (from the Broadway musical Golden Boy) and 'She Didn't Know (She Kept On Talking)' '70 on Atco. Six of the hits crossed over to the pop Hot 100. She also sang backup for Dionne in recent years.
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