Dionne Warwick

Marie Dionne Warwick born December 12 1940 is an American singer actress and television host Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest US hit makers between 1955 and 1999 based on her chart history on Billboards Hot 100 pop singles chart She is the secondmost charted female vocalist during the rock era 19551999 She is also one of the mostcharted vocalists of all time with 56 of her singles making the Hot 100 between 1962 and 1998 12 of them Top Ten and 80 singles in total either solo or collaboratively making the Hot 100 RB andor adult contemporary charts Dionne ranks 74 on the Billboard Hot 100s Greatest Artists of all time During her career she has sold more than 100 million records worldwide and she has won many awards including six Grammy Awards Warwick has been inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame the Grammy Hall of Fame the RB Music Hall of Fame and the Apollo Theater Walk of Fame In 2019 she won the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award Three of her songs Walk On By Alfie and Dont Make Me Over have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame She is a former Goodwill Ambassador for the UNs Food and Agriculture Organization Marie Dionne Warrick later Warwick was born in Orange New Jersey to Lee Drinkard and Mancel Warrick Her mother was manager of the Drinkard Singers and her father was a Pullman porter chef record promoter and CPA Dionne was named after her aunt on her mothers side She had a sister Delia Dee Dee who died in 2008 and a brother Mancel Jr who was killed in an accident in 1968 at age 21 Her parents were both African American and she also has Native American and Dutch ancestry She was raised in East Orange New Jersey and was a Girl Scout for a time After finishing East Orange High School in 1959 Warwick pursued her passion at the Hartt College of Music in West Hartford Connecticut She landed some work with her group singing backing vocals for recording sessions in New York City During one session Warwick met Burt Bacharach who hired her to record demos featuring songs written by him and lyricist Hal David She later landed her own record deal Many of Warwicks family were members of the Drinkard Singers a family gospel group and RCA recording artists who frequently performed throughout the New York metropolitan area The original group known as the Drinkard Jubilairs consisted of Cissy Anne Larry and Nicky and later included Warwicks grandparents Nicholas and Delia Drinkard and their children William Lee Warwicks mother and Hansom When the Drinkard Singers performed on TV Gospel Time Dionne Warwick had her television performance debut Marie instructed the group and they were managed by Lee As they became more successful Lee and Marie began performing with the group and they were augmented by popRB singer Judy Clay whom Lee had unofficially adopted Elvis Presley eventually expressed an interest in having them join his touring entourage Dionne began singing gospel as a child at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark New Jersey Source Article Dionne Warwick from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30