Dionne Warwick looks at her life
by Seth Rogovoy

(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Oct 19, 1998) -- When Dionne Warwick set herself to the task of putting down on paper the story of her career in preparation for a one-woman show, she wasn’t prepared for what came out.

“I guess when you move through a career as I have, going into my thirty-fifth year, you tend to just do it,” said the singer in a recent phone interview from Los Angeles. “And sitting down and remembering, I didn’ t realize I’d done so much.”

Opening tonight at the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge and running through Sunday, “Dionne Sings Dionne -- I Won’t Stop Now” is the result of Warwick’s efforts to chronicle the course of her career, which includes five Grammy Awards and dozens of pop hits, most of them as the voice of the venerable songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

The show, labeled a “pre-Broadway tryout,” is being directed by Tony Award-winning Broadway veteran Christopher Renshaw (“The King and I”), and follows on the heels of the release of Warwick’s latest CD, “Dionne Sings Dionne” (River North), which features contemporary remakes of such classic Warwick gems as “Walk On By,” “Always Something There to Remind Me,” “I Say a Little Prayer for You” and “Do You Know the Way to San Jose.”

Performances are tonight through Saturday night at 8 p.m., with matinees at 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. All tickets are $35.00. For information and reservations call 298-5576.

With more than 50 hit singles behind her, including duets with Johnny Mathis, Luther Vandross and The Spinners, the 58-year-old New Jersey native said her stage show presents the opportunity for her to fill in the gaps for an audience that may not grasp the entirety of her being.

“It’s basically my life, musically, from the beginning to now,” said Warwick about the show, which includes her band and three backup vocalists. “We’re going to leave you with a little bit of information that you don’t know and that everyone wants to know, and hopefully it will give people a little more insight on who Dionne Warwick really is and other things that people want to know and don’t know.”

According to a press release, the show will include renditions of many Warwick classics, as well as stories about her career, including anecdotes of meetings such figures as Marlene Dietrich, Lena Horne, Frank Sinatra and Nelson Mandela.

“I don’t know why people are so curious about me,” said Warwick. “I guess maybe because I have been very, very private about who I am and what I do with whom. I still feel that that is the way it should be -- not only in my life but in anybody’s life.”

Warwick said that in reviewing the arc of her life and career, what most struck her was the consistency of events. “A always came before B, and always continues to,” she said. “That is the highlight for me. I’ve been pretty true to who I am and true to me with regards to my audience.”

What is already known about Warwick is that she grew up in a very musical family -- including her sister Dee Dee, aunts Cissy and Thelma Houston, and cousin Whitney Houston -- singing in church choirs and family gospel groups.

While attending the Hartt College of Music in Hartford, Conn., she began doing recording sessions in New York, singing behind such renowned soul stars as Dinah Washington, Brook Benton, Chuck Jackson and Solomon Burke.

It was during this period that a young composer, arranger and producer named Burt Bacharach heard Warwick and asked her to record demos of songs he was writing with his lyricist partner, Hal David. As the story goes, Bacharach pitched one such song to Florence Greenberg, president of Scepter Records, who turned down the song but wanted the singer.

The rest, as they say, is history, as the team of Warwick, Bacharach and David went on to rack up about 30 hit singles in a crossover style blending pop, soul, Broadway, gospel and Latin.

As to the secret of the team’s formula, Warwick said, “We’re basically the same people. We’ve known each other my whole career -- prior to that even. We had kind of grown together in the music industry. We’ve presented something together to people’s ears that they apparently wanted or needed at the time, and apparently still do.

“We each brought our individual talents and they clicked. We were known in the industry as the triangle marriage that worked -- Burt with his wonderful melodies and the intricacy of it all, Hal David with the incredible lyrics that are pure poetry, and I was the exponent that brought it to the listening ears.”

Warwick said that her academic background in studying music was an essential ingredient. “I’ve always said and I still believe that you basically almost have to be a student of music in order to sing Bacharach melodies,” she said. “He is a very unorthodox composer. He writes what he feels and it takes someone who first of all understands him and his emotional value to his music in order to translate it.”

As to the current Bacharach revival -- the composer is enjoying a resurgence of popularity as the subject of several tribute albums, including one by avant-garde musician John Zorn, and he has just released a duet album with rock singer-songwriter Elvis Costello -- Warwick said, “What is apparently happening with the music industry is it’s going back to good melodies and great lyrics, something that is easier on the ear than what we’ ve been exposed to over the last ten years. People are growing up and they are at the point where they feel, `soothe me.’ This is what’s going on.”

Presumably, this same audience dynamic will make this a ripe time for Warwick’s own comeback, via her new stage show and her CD. Next week, Warwick is being honored in New York by the National Music Foundation, which is presenting her with the 1998 Cultural Impact Award at its “Women in Music” gala dinner, hosted by foundation chairman Dick Clark, on Tuesday night.

Warwick’s new CD hopes to reach a new generation of listeners with collaborations with such contemporary figures as El DeBarge, the Emotions, Big Daddy Kane, Coolio, Bobby Brown and Celia Cruz.

“I think I’m ready now,” said Warwick. “It’s always been one of my dreams to do Broadway….We’re going to see if we have what we feel is a really good show to take there, and then off we go.”

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