By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@TheCitizenNews.com

If you are a patron of the Psychic Friends Network, you probably already know what this article is about to tell you; Dionne Warwick is coming to town.

Warwick, an amazing performer whose career has spanned over four decades, will play the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater July 21 and 22. Warwick has recorded dozens of Top 100 hits over the years and has won multiple Grammy awards on a number of occasions. She is well known for her classic movie themes, as well as her humanitarian spirit.

Warwick's career began in East Orange, N.J. She and her sister Dee Dee formed a gospel group called the Gospelaires. It was with the Gospelaires that Warwick got her first taste of singing backup for established performers. She sang backup for saxophonist Sam Taylor and began doing more sessions with other acts.

It was while singing backup for a Drifters song that Dionne met composer Burt Bacharach. Bacharach loved her voice and had her record one of his newer songs. The executives at Scepter Records did not want the song, but they did want the voice and the rest, as they say, was history.

The year was 1963 and Warwick started climbing up the charts. Her first hit was “Don't Make Me Over,” which blended her soulful voice with pop and R&B sensibilities. Over the next five years, Warwick would record 12 consecutive Top 100 singles. The songs were all written and composed by Bacharach and his partner, Hal David.

In 1968, Warwick won five Grammys, including an award for Best Female Performance. She was the first black female performer to win the award since Ella Fitzgerald. Warwick also made history with another first in 1968. She was the first black female performer to appear before the queen of England.

It was at this point in her career that Warwick made another huge stride. She began recording classic movie themes, which made many of the movies instantly memorable. Songs like “Alfie,” “(The theme from) Valley of the Dolls,” “A House Is Not A Home,” and “The April Fools.”

Warwick continued to work with Bacharach and David for several more years, recording hits like “I Say A Little Prayer” and “Walk on By.” She switched labels and began recording on the Warner Brothers label in the early 1970s. In 1974, Warwick achieved yet another milestone when she recorded her first number one hit, “Then Came You,” which was a million selling duet with The Spinners.

In 1976, Warwick signed with Arista Records and enjoyed some of her biggest successes. She had her first platinum album, featuring the song “I'll Never Love This Way Again,” and won Grammys for Best Female Pop Performance and Best Female R&B Performance. In 1977, she also joined Isaac Hayes for a world tour appropriately titled “ A Man and A Woman” tour.

In the 1980s Warwick started tackling television. Se was the host of the hit program “Solid Gold.” She also started exercising her fame for the good of the world. She was a part of the “We Are The World” project and performed at Live Aid in 1984. She recorded “That's What Friends Are For” with Elton John and Stevie Wonder, to raise money for AIDS research. The song has raised over $2.5 million for the cause.

Her dedication led her to be named U.S. ambassador of health in the 1980s.

Currently, she lives in Brazil and recorded an album called “Watercolors of Brazil” in 1994. Her latest album, “Dionne sings Dionne,” features some of her classics with some of her lesser known gems. She continues to tour constantly and performs a wide variety of musical styles. Warwick is also spearheading the development and production of African and African American history books for schools, libraries and bookstores. Few people have made as significant a mark on as many aspects of the world as Dionne Warwick.

Warwick will perform Friday and Saturday, July 21 and 22, at the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater in Peachtree City. Tickets are $25. Phone 770-631-0630.

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