Dionne Warwick

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 12:33pm

Dionne Warwick had many hits. She was the epitome of the 1960s glamour and style that Jackie Kennedy brought to the generation. Yet she doesn't seem to be as big of a star as Diana Ross or Aretha Franklin. Did Dionne not have enough of a "personality" to carve out a bigger profile or did she not diversify her music enough?

Some of my favorites: I Say A Little Prayer, Always Something There To Remind Me, Alfie, Promises Promises, Anyone Who Had A Heart, What The World Needs Now

[DAME]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 12:43pm

Well.. a few things. Dionne has ruined her voice with her smoking habits. If you go see her perform these days it is a quiet Rex Harrison thing going on. She still interprets the songs... but you get the picture. She has also made many poor career decisions . And I am not even thinking about the Physics network crap. She also was embroiled in a huge money laundering scheme involving charities in the late 80's.


Her persona was always mellow and I guess it didn't translate into the diva franchise.

Updated On: 9/17/13 at 12:43 PM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 12:50pm

Dame, that's what I don't understand. Dionne is known more as a camp figure for the Psychic Network stuff than for the music. Her music was not easy to sing so she definitely had talent. I just wonder if it was all considered 1960s fluff-light pop.

[DAME]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 12:54pm

Well the music... Yes. They are classics. And you could consider it 60's fluff. She is obviously one talented lady. But I think her choices did not help the music along . The songs definitely have longevity. But that is more a triumph of the writers. Dionne carried well into the 90's . Now all that is left is this.
Dionne

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 1:22pm

According to the few episodes of Celebrity Apprentice that I saw, she's a RAVING BITCH.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 1:33pm

people tend to forget that it was jackie de shannon who recorded the hit version of 'what the world needs now'.

dionne recorded it afterwards

now people attribute it to her.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 1:34pm

She was good in her time. Like all singers, their time passes. Sadly, her time passed a few years ago.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 1:41pm

I think Dionne has a lot of demons. Runs in the family.

But she really was the voice of the Bacharach/David songs. Nobody sang them like she did. It was a triumvirate that for a while was a major sound of the '60s.

By 1973, David and Bacharach broke up, and it stalled Dionne's career big-time. She had a handful of hits after that, but mostly toured with the old stuff and became a TV spokesperson and personality (Solid Gold, etc.).

Diana Ross and Aretha Franklin can still tour the "nostalgia circuit" and deliver a big concert and fill big arenas, because they sound a lot closer to what they used to than Dionne does. She never was one for a "huge stage show" even back in her day. So that has something to do with it, too.

And I'm sure her Diva personality and troubles haven't won her any points of forgiveness or understanding. I'm sure it's worked against her.

But all I have to do is put on the old Bacharach-David-Warwick recordings, and I would match her to any Diva, yesterday, today, or tomorrow. She's not flashy at all. But that sound. That tone. It goes right through me.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 1:53pm

~ her voice glided over those (complex) bacharach meter changes.

~ she made it sound so effortless.

~ also, the delivery of her lines and her diction, which is something diana ross is also blessed with was impeccable.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 1:54pm

The thing about Dionne's voice is that it was just as special and unique as the Bacharach/David songs. No one ever sang them better, as I said, but also, she never sang anyone else's songs as well as she sang their songs.

Yes, other people did nicely with Bacharach/David songs. And yes, she did nicely on other songwriters' material.

But the real magic came from the three of them together. Part of it is that Bacharach and David were almost at odds when they wrote. Most of their songs have beautiful, relaxing, lovely, soaring melodies. Often quiet and reflective in their sound. But if you look at David's lyrics, they are often bitter, sad, angry, painful, and agitating.

To put those two visions together into one song is a challenge. But Dionne had just the right tone. She sounded sophisticated, soulful, lilting, often ironic, and a mix of sweetness and bitterness that captured BOTH the music and the lyrics simultaneously and (seemingly) effortlessly.

They worked as "one voice." It was like breathing.

Once the songwriters broke up, she never quite got there again. I really love some of her later songs, but none of them matched her early successes artistically (at least in my opinion) with the exception of "The Theme From the Valley of the Dolls," which most people think is a Bacharach-David song anyway, because it sounds like one.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 2:02pm

~ i agree with everything you wrote in regards to the bacharach/david/warwick combo.

~ the theme from the valley of the dolls was written by andre previn (music) and his then-wife dory (lyrics). ironically it was her biggest selling song and earned her her first ever gold record. the film version of the song didn't sound too much like a bacharach tuner but the pat williams arranged radio single version did because it was produced by bacharach himself.

[Jane2]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 3:46pm

I was a big fan of Dionne until I saw her season of Celebrity Apprentice. That's too bad because although I loved her recordings, her extreme bitchiness ruined it for me. I thought she was despicable on the show.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 4:06pm

She also never had a film career, which certainly amped up Diana Ross's status (though that doesn't apply to Aretha, but I think she's less of a direct comparison anyway).

[DAME]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 4:24pm

@Roxy you are wrong. Diana Ross still sounds good and she is 70. Streisand still sounds good. Barbra Cook is still amazing. Dionne ( and Liza) smoked cigarettes like crazy and never took care of that gorgeous gift.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 7:35pm

I think it's just as well I don't watch any of these reality TV shows. I have no idea what Dionne Warwick is like now. I've seen articles written about her troubles, but that's it.

And that's fine with me. I would rather not have the illusion destroyed. I still love her old material, and I listen to those Bacharach-David-Warwick songs, and I am transported.

I don't need to add "but she's such a bitch now" to that feeling.

[DAME]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 8:04pm

Well then Bestie.. it is best you stay away from all those Apprentice clips. While I enjoyed her train wreck during the show.. it was disheartening to watch.

We saw her in concert at Cathy Rigbys theater. Got the tickets thru gold star. We got exactly what we expected.

[fflagg]

Posted: 9/17/13 at 9:08pm

to my knowledge she has been in two films: "Slaves" and "Rent-a-Cop"

neither were oscar caliber. . .