Dionne Warwick is only 84, kids.
At the Apollo last night, the sold out audience kept murmuring “She’s 85,” “She’s 86.”
Let’s not push it. At 84, she still as a lot of spunk, and we love spunk. She also has a killer voice that has aged like fine whiskey and still retains it timber.
To close the Apollo for one year (renovations), Dionne — who her start there decades ago — put on a special three hour show of songs, stories, and wry jokes mixed with video clips and testimonies from friends like Clive Davis, Elton John, Smokey Robinson, Valerie Simpson, and an admiring Alicia Keys. Her son, Damon, serves as interviewer, they sit on a lovely looking couch (the kind “Frasier” would have), and there’s a top notch band. (Her other son, David, sings with her and has clearly inherited the family gene.)
In the audience were Broadway types like Tony winner Andre DeShields (who’s known her forever), and Seth Rudetsky.
Dionne appears in a cream colored pants suit and top that looked like they were made of cashmere. Her short, cropped hair has turned white, so the whole package seems like a dessert.
But don’t undersell Dionne. She’s no cream puff. As her Twitter followers know, Dionne has sharp elbows. She’s not pulling any punches in her recollections of growing up as part of the family gospel group, the Drinkards, or finding her way to Burt Bacharach and Hal David, who wrote her foundational songs like “Walk on By,” and “I Say A Little Prayer.”
Don’t worry: there is plenty of mention of her aunt, Cissy Houston, and her cousin, Whitney. Whitney’s brother, Michael, was a guest star in the audience.
Warwick recalls playing the South for the first time, and the surprise of facing segregation. At a stop in South Carolina on tour with Sam Cooke, she was told to face the white audience, with her back to the Blacks. She did just the opposite. She also caused mischief at a segregated diner, where — after being sent to a crummy corner away from the white customers — she ordered the entire menu and then changed her mind, leaving the diner on the hook
The local law enforcement may still be looking for her.
But here she is, a living legend, six time Grammy winner, two of which were for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (1969, 1971), picking up the baton from Ella Fitzgerald, the only other Black woman to win before her.
In the first half of last night’s show — which was expanded to double the usual length because of the occasion — Dionne sang just two songs: “Don’t Make Me over,” the title of the evening, and “I Say A Little Prayer.”
When she returned from a 20 minute break, she was ready for the eager fans. In a stunning run, with her unique vocal styling, Dionne ran through a set of hits including “Walk on By,” “Heartbreaker,” “I’ll Never Love this Way Again,” “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose,” “Alfie,” “Windows of the World,” and “That’s What Friends Are For.”
A bittersweet (and rather racist) story about “Alfie”: for the UK release, producers used Cilla Black, because she was “British,” (meaning White) and not Dionne, whom the songwriters wanted. For the US release, Cher sang “Alfie,” again not Dionne. (She was American, had plenty of hits, but…) As Warwick notes, 42 people covered “Alfie” before she got to it and made it a hit. But her version is not in the movie.Â
This was 1965-66, when Shirley Bassey was toplining with “Goldfinger” in the UK. But she was British. Read between the lines. (She also shows a UK album cover (see below) of her first album, depicting her as a white girl. Boy, were they surprised when Dionne showed up!)
Dionne used to host variety shows back in the day, with aplomb. She is so natural on stage, directing herself, and speaking to the audience, she could have an afternoon talk show. But she’s a singer first, and her sense memory has only made her more present than ever. What a treat. She says the Apollo has asked her back in a year for the re-opening, and I can’t wait.
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