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Six GRAMMY® Awards, including one for Lifetime Achievement. A dozen Top Ten singles. Record sales that top 100 million. Burt Bacharach’s longtime muse. The sultry-voiced avatar of sophisticated ’60s pop music. One of the most iconic soul singers of all time. Devoted humanitarian.
Soka University Performing Arts Center is proud to present Dionne Warwick in concert. It’s hard to imagine a better way to kick off our spectacular 2024-25 season than hosting a genuine cultural legend whose life is a rich panorama of styles, interests, and causes.
Dionne Warwick will perform one concert only at Soka Performing Arts Center on Sunday, September 29th, 2024, at 5 p.m. Tickets go on sale now.
Warwick’s spectacular and multi-faceted career is impossible to capture in a few descriptions and superlatives, but her singular gifts and lasting influence on popular music over the last six decades is unmatchable. Consider this amazingly diverse string of hits: “I Say a Little Prayer,” “Walk on By,” “That’s What Friends Are For,” “Don’t Make Me Over,” “Then Came You,” “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” “Alfie,” “Heartbreaker,” “I’ll Never Love This Way Again,” “Déjà Vu,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose.”
Born into a musical family in East Orange, New Jersey, Warwick began singing professionally in 1961 when she was discovered by Burt Bacharach and Hal David during their formative years. She recorded her first hit, “Don’t Make Me Over,” in 1962. Less than a decade later, she had released more than 18 consecutive Top 100 singles, including many of her most celebrated Bacharach/David recordings.
Unlike many Aquarian Age superstars, Warwick had staying power. She enjoyed a major career renaissance after the release of “I’ll Never Love This Way Again” in 1979. The following year, Warwick won two GRAMMY® Awards: Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female for “I’ll Never Love This Way Again” and Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female for “Déjà Vu.”
She reunited with Bacharach and David when she recorded “That’s What Friends are For” in 1985 as a benefit single for the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Gladys Knight, Elton John and Stevie Wonder joined her on the recording. It raised more than $3 million for the cause. Warwick also performed in the all-star charity single, “We Are the World.”
Since 1990 Warwick has widened her explorations and humanitarian activities and secured her place in the pop-culture firmament. She recorded an album of Cole Porter’s music, headlined a World Hunger Day concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall, performed benefit concerts for the LGBTQ community, and participated in shows like “Celebrity Apprentice” and “The Masked Singer.” In 2012, Warwick was inducted into the GRAMMY® Museum in Los Angeles. Her Lifetime Achievement GRAMMY® was awarded in 2019. In 2021, she was nominated for inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the first time. She is a 2023 Kennedy Center Honoree.
Throughout her career, Dionne has continued to fascinate critics and defy stylistic categorization. Biographer William Ruhlmann writes, “Although Warwick grew up singing in church, she is not a gospel singer. Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan are clear influences, but she is not a jazz singer. R&B is also part of her background, yet she is not really a soul singer, either, at least not in the sense that Aretha Franklin is.” He concluded that Warwick combines elements of jazz, R&B, and gospel, making her a “pure pop singer.”
Perhaps that’s the secret to Warwick’s success: she’s as uncategorizable as she is unique.
Soka Performing Arts Center is located at 1 University Drive, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656.
Ticket prices start at $55 and will be available at the Soka box office at 949-480-4278 and online at performingarts.soka.edu. Box Office walk-up hours are 12-4 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and one hour prior to show times on show days.
Photo Credits: Soka Performing Arts Center
