MUSIC

Dionne Warwick performs today in Hot Springs

Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick

When Dionne Warwick sang “Don’t Make Me Over,” the die was cast for her long career as a singer who got her start as an interpreter of the songs of Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

Indeed, Warwick had been heard to utter the warning, “Don’t make me over,” which the songwriters Bacharach and David duly noted, and then proceeded to do just that.

Well, not really, except that someone got her name wrong, misspelling the 22-year-old singer’s real name (Dionne Warrick) on her first single, “Don’t Make Me Over,” which made it to No. 22 on the Billboard singles chart in 1962. The Bacharach/David hits kept on coming, but it was 1985 before an actual No. 1 single for Warwick came to pass, and that one, “That’s What Friends Are For,” was released by Dionne & Friends (said friends included Elton John, Stevie Wonder and Gladys Knight), as a benefit in the fight against AIDS.

In the 23 years between, there were five Top 10 hits: “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” “Walk on By,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” and “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” plus other songs that charted below the Top 10: “Here I Am,” “Are You There (With Another Girl),” “The Windows of the World,” “Promises, Promises,” “Odds and Ends” and “Paper Mache,” plus several that failed to make the charts: “Land of Make Believe,” “In Between the Heartaches,” “Check Out Time” and “The Balance of Nature.”

Those 17 songs are contained on a three-disc collection, The Look of Love: The Burt Bacharach Collection, which did not include several other Warwick hits: “Alfie,” “Message to Michael,” “Trains and Boats and Planes,” “This Guy’s in Love With You,” “I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself” and “Love Power.” Warwick later had hits by other songwriters, but is best known for her versions of Bacharach/David compositions - which won her five Grammy Awards between 1969 and 1987. She has also had numerous roles in dramatic TV series.

In his boxed set liner notes, Bacharach wrote of Warwick: “Dionne is just this magical voice. She has this remarkable understated thing that can be very explosive and immediately recognizable. The more that we wrote for Dionne, the more we saw what she was capable of doing, and then we’d keep stretching.”

Warwick came by her musical talent naturally: Her mother, aunts and uncles had a gospel group, The Drinkard Singers. Her aunt, Cissy Houston, became a renowned singer and Cissy’s daughter, Whitney Houston, went on to even greater success until her tragic death in February 2012. Warwick’s sister, Dee Dee, also had her own singing career.

Nowadays, Warwick says that she travels with a rhythm section and that “at one time both my son and granddaughter were traveling and performing with me, but sadly, they both are no longer doing this.”

For a time, Warwick was a regular on network TV variety shows, even hosting her own specials and the Solid Gold series. In 1969, her first CBS special featured Arkansas native Glen Campbell, whom Warwick recalls warmly, as one of her guests.

“I did several appearances on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour and Glen is a dear friend, so it was and is a joy to speak of the fun we had not only singing together but just hanging out together,” she says.

When asked if she has a favorite Bacharach/David song, Warwick diplomatically says, “In a word, no … all of the B&D recordings I have done are my favorites !”

Dionne Warwick 7 p.m. today, Finish Line Theater, Oaklawn Racetrack, 2705 Central Ave., Hot Springs Tickets: $30, $20 (must be 21) (501) 623-4411, Extension 340

Weekend, Pages 33 on 09/12/2013

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