Has the industry 'walked on by' Dionne Warwick?

[carlo]

A random thought came to me...is it just me, or is Dionne Warwick severely under appreciated by the music industry? When I think of some of her contemporaries, many of them have received countless honors and lifetime achievement awards in recent years. Considering her amazing catalogue of hits and legendary career, she should have received the Kennedy Center honour and/or Grammy Lifetime Achievement years ago. Am I wrong? Any thoughts?

[daviddesper]

She would get my vote. I have often thought the Kennedy Center Honors would be appropriate, especially since she once appeared in a tribute to another honoree.

[marv2]

She would get my vote. I have often thought the Kennedy Center Honors would be appropriate, especially since she once appeared in a tribute to another honoree.

Dionne had her first major hits while President Kennedy was in office. She does deserve a lot of recognition not just for her timeless music, but also for her substantial humanitarian efforts.

[marv2]

Dionne has won 5 Grammy Awards in competition. I would like to see her inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She was inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame last year.

[abfan]

I was just watching her great work on Solid Gold..What a beauty and voice..

[Guy]

I love her and she'd have won every lifetime achievement award if it were up to me. In popular music, these institutions rarely award black performers who are outside of a traditionally black idiom. Dionne Warwick is not a R&B, Soul, Blues, Jazz or Gospel singer, so she is not recognized alongside Aretha, Etta or Tina. Johnny Mathis is similarly outside of the "black" box.

[marv2]

I love her and she'd have won every lifetime achievement award if it were up to me. In popular music, these institutions rarely award black performers who are outside of a traditionally black idiom. Dionne Warwick is not a R&B, Soul, Blues, Jazz or Gospel singer, so she is not recognized alongside Aretha, Etta or Tina. Johnny Mathis is similarly outside of the "black" box.

I don't know what that means because they are all black and their record albums have all been in my home as a kid and as and adult. I am black and enjoy all of their music.

[PeaceNHarmony]

Hmmm. In comparison to most other singers of Dionne's age, I'd have to maybe say 'no'. 'The Industry' is, always has been, and always will be youth- and new thing-oriented. Some of Warwick's low-profile may [[or may not; I don't know) have to do with her own career management, which to me has long seemed to be a tad scattershot. But in closing I'll vote 'yes', simply because there should be more prestige opportunities for a contributor to American popular culture such as Dionne Warwick -

[mr_june]

I don't know what that means because they are all black and their record albums have all been in my home as a kid and as and adult. I am black and enjoy all of their music.

I was just reading a book about Burt & Hal and of course Dionne. She talked about the fact that her music wasn't easy to classify and mentioned that some black stations didn't play it. I certainly heard her stuff on the radio [[WVON) in Chicago. There was more that she said but I'm at work and the book is at home. I'll look at it when I get home.

[ms_m]

'The Industry' is, always has been, and always will be youth

Best statement in the thread IMO.

Even when I was a kid [[a million years ago) this was true. No matter how much we enjoy and appreciate old school [[and I'm talking OLD SCHOOL) that comment is something we need to remember.

Sure there are kids who like our music but for the most part,kids enjoy and prefer what they grew up with just like we did. My daughter is in her forties and the fact she listens to rap blows my mind but that's what she grew up with. shrugs

If us old timers spend as much time supporting old school artist now as we do supporting music of the past, MAYBE things would change but I stopped holding my breath on that idea a long time ago. It is what it is. You do the best you can, keep it moving and simply pray someone out there is still willing to give you a shot.

[marv2]

I was just reading a book about Burt & Hal and of course Dionne. She talked about the fact that her music wasn't easy to classify and mentioned that some black stations didn't play it. I certainly heard her stuff on the radio [[WVON) in Chicago. There was more that she said but I'm at work and the book is at home. I'll look at it when I get home.


Mr. June. I grew up in the sixties and although we had "Soul Radio Stations" we also had powerhouse Top 40 Stations such as CKLW Windsor-Detroit and WOHO, KEENER, etc,etc that played music from a wide variety of artists. These stations were extremely popular. So much so that I became a big fan of the Four Seasons, the Beatles, Rolling Stones just as I did the Temptations, James Brown, Four Tops, Supremes, Dionne Warwick. I believe because my earliest listening experiences, I only thought of Dionne Warwick as a great, great singer.

[Ozmo]

I don't know what that means because they are all black and their record albums have all been in my home as a kid and as and adult. I am black and enjoy all of their music.

It seemed to me back in the 60s and 70s when I was growing up in Australia that there was still a form of racism exercised by some music journalists who felt the need to categorise artists, for example if you were a 'black' female singer in the 60s and 70s you had to sing 'soul' a la Aretha, otherwise you were 'selling out' and trying to sound too 'white'. Consequently artists like Dionne, The Supremes and The Fifth Dimension seemed to cop a lot of unfair criticism. Ironically, white artists like Joe Cocker, Janis Joplin and Rod Stewart who were imitating their r and b idols were lauded for their 'soulful' vocal styles.

Of course such attempts to pigeonhole artists in this way were nonsense and as Marv points out, most of us enjoyed the recordings of Dionne etc for what they were and continue to be), great music.

Dionne Warwick is certainly in my own personal Hall of Fame as one of the all-time greats!

[Luciano]

From my own perspective, I felt like there was a change after Dionne's Physic Friends Network scandal. I think industry wasn't the same towards her after then.

But she definitely​ deserves to be recognize for an outstanding career.

[jack020]

I always thought it strange that the only song of hers to be featured on the main menu of 25 Years of #1 Hits - Arista Records 25th Anniversary Celebration was the Finale: Dionne Warwick, Natalie Cole, Melissa Etheridge, Carole King, Barry Manilow, Kenny G, Deborah Cox, Monica, Next, Westlife, David Foster - That's What Friends Are For, and that for her solo performance of I'll Never Love This Way Again you had to play one of the extras.

[marv2]

From my own perspective, I felt like there was a change after Dionne's Physic Friends Network scandal. I think industry wasn't the same towards her after then.

But she definitely​ deserves to be recognize for an outstanding career.

I was hoping no one was going to bring that up. LOL! Whatever happened to Linda Georgian?

[reese]

I always thought it strange that the only song of hers to be featured on the main menu of 25 Years of #1 Hits - Arista Records 25th Anniversary Celebration was the Finale: Dionne Warwick, Natalie Cole, Melissa Etheridge, Carole King, Barry Manilow, Kenny G, Deborah Cox, Monica, Next, Westlife, David Foster - That's What Friends Are For, and that for her solo performance of I'll Never Love This Way Again you had to play one of the extras.

I agree. When the program aired in the US, I'LL NEVER LOVE THIS WAY AGAIN was reduced to one chorus as part of a montage with songs like ALL BY MYSELF and DON'T CRY OUT LOUD. I thought that it was rather disrespectful considering that she had quite a few hits while at Arista. At least her full performance was shown in other territories and has surfaced on YouTube.

If memory serves me correctly, the same thing happened when Arista's 15th anniversary special. Although Dionne had performance quite a few songs during the actual show, the only performance of hers to make it to the broadcast was I'LL NEVER LOVE THIS WAY AGAIN, done as a duet with Barry Manilow. But at least, the entire song was shown. And again, THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR was the finale. But to be fair, when that show aired, most of the artists only had one or two songs included.

[marv2]

This is my favorite Dionne Warwick song [[I have about 30 other Dionne favories...). Sweet, simple and to the point:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzQBOBoPg04

[Luciano]

I was hoping no one was going to bring that up. LOL! Whatever happened to Linda Georgian?

Sorry Marv! LOL

Linda passed away on May 1st from multiple myeloma.

[marv2]

Sorry Marv! LOL

Linda passed away on May 1st from multiple myeloma.

Oh I am so sorry to hear that. She did make her mark on Popular Culture may she rest in peace.

[jack020]

I said it before on this forum: we need a big box set of Dionne!
BTW: I just ordered Track Of The Cat, the 2013 Jap remaster.:)

[arr&bee]

I absolutely love dionne,grew up on her music and have alot of her work in my collection and yes she has been overlooked just as many of the legends have been,just afew years ago the great jerry[the iceman]butler stated that he couldn't get a recording contract...jerry butler...both he and dionne should be up for a kennedy centers honors in my opinion!!

[Circa 1824]

She had a great career with many great songs. Maybe that is enough. Everyone does not get full career awards. There are tons of artists who had many great songs who never get the full end-of-career celebrations.

[jobeterob]

She couldn't be pigeonholed so at times she was overlooked because she didn't fit the purist categories

[PeaceNHarmony]

Unfortunately it can't be denied that the lady has made disastrous career choices [['Apprentice', anyone?) and her in-concert attitude can be less than warm and fuzzy.

[arr&bee]

Her body of work and longivity should qualify her...i'm sick of these johnny come lately no talent bums[male and female]get fawned over and our pioneers get ignored!!!

[marv2]

Unfortunately it can't be denied that the lady has made disastrous career choices [['Apprentice', anyone?) and her in-concert attitude can be less than warm and fuzzy.

I have to disagree. Those so called "career choices" you mention were mere blips when you consider the entire expanse of Dionne Warwick's illustrious career! At one point, she was just as popular in France as she was in the United States. I met her several years back at B.B. King's at one of Mary Wilson's concerts. She was extremely nice and gracious as I gushed and lavished praise on her, hehehehehehe! She is true professional and a great, kind lady! She was one of the first to hold large scale fundraisers for AIDS research way back in the 80s but people don't mention all that she's done for others, just the bullshit little nothings like Celebrity Apprentice and the Friends Psychic Network.

[marv2]

Remember when Dionne was the principle host of the television series "Solid Gold"? She was the main host not once, but twice!

[StuBass1]

I have always been a fan of Dionne's singing, and believe that her version of "Say A Little Prayer" blows Aretha's away [[strictly personal stylistic preference). The thing with Dionne, and it's no secret, is that for many many years she had issues with state and federal tax payments, and her finances were in shambles, I can say, possibly partially due to her ex-husbands involvement in her finances. What really then hurt Dionne in much of the public eye was her television fortune telling scam that she participated in, and then, the icing on the cake was her unabashed and public defense of her friend O.J. Simpson during his murder trial. Those issues I believe, impacted her legacy and it's unfortunate, because she is a true song stylist and was the perfect person to perform all of that Bert Bacharach-Hal David material that she so magnificently performed...

[rrussi]

Well, Dionne herself kind of Walked On By when she did her psychic network tenure. She has also drastically changed her look over the years and in recent times, in my opinion, dresses as if she's Nelson Mandela. She hasn't exactly kept up her classy supper club/posh showroom look. Yes, her music is stellar and remarkably timeless, but again, in my opinion, she has drastically changed in her presentation and perhaps that's had some effect. The industry is not just based on youth, but looks too. I think she needs a makeover that contrasts greatly with the sound of her music.

[rrussi]

In that last sentence, I actually meant "that compliments the sound of her music".

[PeaceNHarmony]

Well, Dionne herself kind of Walked On By when she did her psychic network tenure. She has also drastically changed her look over the years and in recent times, in my opinion, dresses as if she's Nelson Mandela. She hasn't exactly kept up her classy supper club/posh showroom look. Yes, her music is stellar and remarkably timeless, but again, in my opinion, she has drastically changed in her presentation and perhaps that's had some effect. The industry is not just based on youth, but looks too. I think she needs a makeover that contrasts greatly with the sound of her music.
... I wasn't planning on going there, but now that ... I agree that 'the look' is a bit unfortunate. There are vids on YT where she basically appears to be wearing a track suit on stage ...

[mr_june]

I noticed that too when she was on WGN News one morning not too long ago. She had that slumming look and the "I'm about to paint the kitchen" hair style. Last year, I taped a TV special that she did back in the 60's that featured Burt and Glen Campbell. Dionne was sharply dressed from head toe. The best I've seen her look. Maybe she's tired if so, she's earned it.

[arr&bee]

She has earned the right indeed,if she wants to appear in her pajamas[so what]...dionne forever!!!

[jack020]

Just Being Myself

:)12882

[TNSUN]

"I'll Never Love This Way Again" by Dionne Warwick. This song should be covered by other artists. Such a great song and wonderfully sung by Ms.Warwick and produced by Barry Manilow.

[jack020]

At least we now have:
18704

And I recently bought a few of those Japanese remasters which are getting scarse.

[nativeNY63]

IMO, it also seems that Dionne is being further pigeonholed by social media. Sadly, known by those same youth online as 'what funny thing will she say about' a current hot act, ala Chance the Rapper. And not her hefty catalogue! Seemingly, thanks to her niece behind the scenes. My intro. to Ms. D was singing Walk On By in high school chorus in the 70s.

[TammiTerrellFan]

I have been voting for Dionne to get inducted into The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame every day, but she's around 8th on the list. Tina Turner is #2

[nativeNY63]

Word. I'm all for that.