Dionne Warwick

The East Orange singer whose Bacharach and David records include "Walk On By".

Bacharach, David and Scepter

Marie Dionne Warrick was born on December 12, 1940 in East Orange, New Jersey. She started in gospel in her grandfather's AME church in Newark and at 14 formed the Gospelaires with her sister Dee Dee, becoming an in-demand New York session singer; she went to East Orange High School and then Hartt College of Music on a scholarship. Her name was misspelled Warwick on her 1962 single and she kept it, adding an e from 1971 and dropping it in 1975. In summer 1961 Burt Bacharach and Hal David met her at Bell Sound while she sang backup on a Drifters session, and Bacharach hired her to record demos.

"Don't Make Me Over", recorded in August 1962 and released that October, was her first solo hit, at 21 on the Hot 100. Presenting Dionne Warwick came in 1963, and "Anyone Who Had a Heart" went to 8 and was her first top ten. "Walk On By" reached 6 in 1964, the year Cash Box named her bestselling female vocalist. Then came "Message to Michael", "I Say a Little Prayer" (4), "(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls" and "Do You Know the Way to San Jose", and her first gold album, Here Where There Is Love (1967). Bacharach and David produced her Scepter records. She won the 1969 Grammy for best female pop vocal performance and founded Sonday Records in 1970.

She moved to Warner Bros. in 1971. "Then Came You", with the Spinners and the producer Thom Bell, went to number 1 in October 1974. At Arista, Dionne (1979), produced by Barry Manilow, went platinum with "I'll Never Love This Way Again" and "Deja Vu" and won two Grammys. "That's What Friends Are For", with Gladys Knight, Elton John and Stevie Wonder, was a number 1 in 1985 in aid of AmFAR. She hosted Solid Gold in 1980 to 1981 and 1985 to 1986. Her 56 Hot 100 singles between 1962 and 1998 include 12 top tens. Honors include a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award in 2019, the 2023 Kennedy Center Honors and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2024 for musical excellence, when she said she had never considered herself a rock and roller. The documentary Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over premiered at TIFF in 2021. Bacharach died on February 8, 2023, aged 94. The SoulMusic box Make It Easy on Yourself, 12 CDs of the Scepter recordings from 1962 to 1971, was announced for 2025.