Singer. Born Marie Dionne Warrick (professionally known as Dionne Warwick), on December 12, 1940, in East Orange, New York. As a teenager in the mid-1950s, Warwick, her sister Dee Dee, and two cousins formed a group called The Gospelaires. The group performed locally and sometimes worked as backup singers for other acts. Planning to become a public school music teacher, Warwick accepted a scholarship to study at the University of Hartford's Hartt College of Music. In 1961, during a summer vacation from college, Warwick rejoined The Gospelaires to sing backup on The Drifters' recording of "Mexican Divorce." Conducting the session was the song's composer, Burt Bacharach.

Bacharach, and his lyricist partner Hal David, asked Warwick to sing on a demonstration record of one of their compositions. The record was heard by Florence Greenberg of Scepter Records, a small label specializing in rhythm and blues. Greenberg did not like the song but did like the singer and signed Warwick to a contract. Warwick's first recording for Scepter, released in 1962, was more Bacharach-David material. Though Scepter was promoting the song "I Smiled Yesterday" as the potential hit, it was the record's "B" side, the powerfully plaintive "Don't Make Me Over," that caught on and went to the No. 21 position on the Billboard chart. A misspelling on the record—Warwick instead of Warrick—gave Warwick her stage name. The trio of Warwick, Bacharach, and David followed up with a long string of top ten hits over the next decade, including "Anyone Who Had a Heart" and "Walk on By" (both 1964), "Message to Michael" (1966), "I Say a Little Prayer for You" (1968), and "This Girl's in Love with You" (1969). Other hits include "Trains and Boats and Planes," "Alfie," "You'll Never Get to Heaven," and "Make It Easy on Yourself."

Warwick took two songs from Bacharach and David's 1968 Broadway musical Promises, Promises—"I'll Never Fall in Love Again" and the title song to the pop charts. She won the Grammy Award for Contemporary Pop Vocal twice during this period—for "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" (1968) and "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" (1970). Though numerous other performers made hits of Bacharach-David songs, including The Carpenters with "Close to You," and B.J. Thomas with "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head," it was their work with Warwick that best exemplified their distinctive style. Despite her lucrative relationship with Bacharach and David, it was the song “Theme from The Valley of the Dolls" (written by Andre and Dory Previn) that brought Warwick the most success when it reached No. 2 on the charts.

In 1972, Bacharch and David brought their songwriting partnership to an acrimonious end. The split shocked Warwick and left her unable to fulfill her obligation to Warner Bros., the record company with which she had signed the previous year, to make a new album of Bacharch-David material. Threatened with a breach of contract suit from Warner Bros., Warwick sued Bacharach and David and eventually won an out-of-court settlement.

Though her collaboration with The Spinners on the song "Then Came You," went to the top of the Billboard chart in the autumn of 1974, Warwick's career languished for much of the 1970s. Her personal life also reached a low point during this period. Her marriage to Bill Elliott, a musician and actor whom she had married in 1967, began to founder. Warwick and Elliot, who had two young sons together, were divorced in 1975. Two years later, her father died suddenly and her mother suffered a stroke.

Warwick's career got back on track when she signed with Arista records in 1979. (Arista president Clive Davis was also instrumental in the career of Warwick's cousin, Whitney Houston). Davis arranged for Barry Manilow to produce Warwick's first Arista album, Dionne. Warwick was at uneasy at first about working with Manilow, fearing their differing styles would clash. Happily, the Warwick-Manilow collaboration was spectacularly successful, resulting in the hits "I'll Never Love This Way Again" and "Deja Vu." Each song earned a Grammy award for Warwick (in the Pop Female Vocal and in Rhythm and Blues Female Vocal categories, respectively).

Warwick further increased her visibility by hosting the television show Solid Gold, which featured a countdown of the week's top hits and guest appearances by popular recording artists. Furthermore, the title song from her 1982 album Heartbreaker took her yet again to the top ten on the Billboard chart.

Since the early 1980s, Warwick has devoted much of her time to charitable activities. In 1984, she was one of 45 top performers to sing on the hit single "We Are the World," the proceeds of which went to USA for Africa's hunger relief program. Warwick brought together Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, and Elton John to join her on the recording "That's What Friends Are For." Written by Burt Bacharach and lyricist Carole Bayer Sager, the song was a smash that went to No. 1 on the Billboard chart in January 1986 and raised an estimated $2 million for AIDS research. Warwick, who has hosted countless fundraising benefits for AIDS research, has also been involved in raising awareness of other health issues, including Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Sickle Cell Anemia. In the mid-1980s she founded the group BRAVO (Blood Revolves Around Victorious Optimism) to raise awareness of blood diseases.

A heavy schedule of charitable activities has not caused Warwick's singing career to languish. She has continued to record and perform regularly. In 1987, her duet with Jeffery Osborne on the song "Love Power" went to No. 12 on the Billboard chart. Among her notable albums is the 1992 release Friends Can Be Lovers, which featured the songs "Sunny Weather Lover,” "Love Will Find a Way," and a duet with close friend Luther Vandross titled "Fragile."

Away from music, Warwick devotes her time to a Beverly Hills-based interior design business she operates with business partner Bruce Garrick. Her appearance on infomercials for the Psychic Friends Network is one of her best known non-musical endeavors.