Dionne Warwick's Real Name: Marie Dionne Warrick

Quick answer: She is known as Dionne Warwick. AllMusic says she was born Marie Dionne Warrick, and Encyclopaedia Britannica lists Marie Dionne Warrick among her other names. Britannica gives her birth date as December 12, 1940, in East Orange, New Jersey. The Warwick spelling came from a mistake on her first single, and she kept it.

Real name and early life

AllMusic's biography by William Ruhlmann says Marie Dionne Warrick was born into a gospel music family. Her father was a gospel record promoter for Chess Records, and her mother managed the Drinkard Singers, a gospel group made up of relatives. AllMusic says she first sang at age six at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark.

Britannica says she grew up in a middle-class, racially integrated part of East Orange. She often played piano or organ for the Drinkard Singers. As a teenager she formed the Gospelaires with her sister Dee Dee; AllMusic adds that her aunt Cissy Houston was also in the group. Both sources say she enrolled at the Hartt school in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1959 while still recording background vocals in New York.

Career highlights

Britannica says that on one New York session she met composer Burt Bacharach, who asked her to sing demos he was recording with lyricist Hal David. That led to a deal with Scepter Records. Her first single, released in 1962, was "I Smiled Yesterday," with the better-known B side "Don't Make Me Over."

Through the 1960s she had Top 10 hits written by Bacharach and David, including "Walk On By" (1964), "I Say a Little Prayer" (1967), and the theme from Valley of the Dolls (1968). Britannica says she won Grammys for "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" and "I'll Never Fall in Love Again."

AllMusic notes that she reached number one with the Spinners on "Then Came You" (1974). In 1979 the Barry Manilow-produced album Dionne became her first platinum seller, and "Deja Vu" and "I'll Never Love This Way Again" won her two more Grammys. Her biggest hit, "That's What Friends Are For" (1985), with Gladys Knight, Elton John, and Stevie Wonder, raised money for AIDS research and earned her a fifth Grammy.

Britannica records a Grammy lifetime achievement award in 2019, Kennedy Center Honors in 2023, and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2024.

Name notes for searchers

Britannica says the label on her first record misspelled Warrick as "Warwick," and she adopted the mistake as her name. The Library of Congress also records "Warwicke," a spelling she used in the 1970s. Searches for Marie Dionne Warrick, Dionne Warrick, or Dionne Warwicke all lead to the same singer.