Dionne Warwick's first hit was named after an angry outburst at her producers
In 1962 Dionne Warwick learned that a song she had demoed and wanted as her debut had gone to Jerry Butler instead. She snapped 'don't make me over' at Burt Bacharach and Hal David. They built a song from that phrase overnight, she recorded it the next day, and it launched one of pop's longest chart runs.
Warwick grew up steeped in gospel in East Orange, New Jersey. Her mother managed the Drinkard Singers, a family group, and she sang her first church solo at six in her grandfather's AME church in Newark. As a teenager she and her sister Dee Dee formed the Gospelaires with friends. After school they would ride the bus and subway into Manhattan, sing backing vocals for acts such as the Drifters and Dinah Washington, and still get home in time for homework.
Their break came almost by accident. At the Apollo Theater a record scout rushed backstage looking for singers to back saxophonist Sam 'the Man' Taylor, and Warwick volunteered her group on the spot. Later, while she was singing on the Drifters' 'Mexican Divorce', composer Burt Bacharach noticed her and hired her to cut demos of his songs for $12.50 a session. When Scepter Records president Florence Greenberg heard one, she reportedly told Bacharach to forget the song and get the girl.
Even her surname arrived by mistake. The label of that first single misprinted Warrick as Warwick, and she adopted the new spelling in life as well as on stage. 'Anyone Who Had a Heart' became her first top ten pop hit and first international million-seller, followed by 'Walk On By'. Britain proved harder, because local singers such as Cilla Black covered her songs, and Black's version of 'Anyone Who Had a Heart' topped the UK chart, much to Warwick's annoyance.
The numbers are formidable. Between 1962 and 1998, 56 of her singles reached the Billboard Hot 100, making her the second most charted female vocalist of the rock era. After splitting from Bacharach and David she found a second wind at Arista under Clive Davis with 'That's What Friends Are For'. She has won six competitive Grammys and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted her in 2024.
Source: Dionne Warwick
