Pop singer Dionne Warwick was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today (December 12 1985) in honor of her 45th birthday.
Dionne was born Marie Dionne Warrick today (December 12, 1940) in East Orange New Jersey.
She recorded for the Scepter Label from 1962 to 1971, Warner Bros. from 1972 to 1977 and Arista from 1979 to 1995.
Dionne was discovered while laying down background vocals for one of The Drifters classic songs titled “Mexican Divorce,” which was composed by her future collaborator, song writer Burt Bacharach.
Warwick did some demos for Bacharach and his song writing partner Hal David.
The demos found their way to Florence Greenberg head of the Scepter/Wand label, which was experiencing major success with Chuck Jackson and The Shirelles.
Greenberg signed her to the label and released Warwick’s first single “Don’t Make Me Over” in 1962.
Throughout her career Dionne has released a number of hits, including songs like “Say A Little Prayer,” “Walk On By,” “Do You Know The Way To San Jose” “Then Came You (With The Spinners,)” “Heartbreaker” and the famous duet “That’s What Friends are For,” which was released in 1985 and features Elton John, Stevie Wonder and Gladys Knight.
“What really got me, was the way everyone arranged their schedules to be there,” Warwick said of the recording “That’s What Friends are For” studio session. “We didn’t finish ‘til 4:00 AM.”
Warwick donated over $500,000 of the song’s proceeds to the American Foundation for Aids Research, was headed by Hollywood starlet, Elizabeth Taylor.
Warwick has recorded with a number of artists of the years, including Isaac Hayes, Chuck Jackson, The Bee-Gees, Luther Vandross and Michael Jackson.
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