Dionne Warwick Presents Intimate Musical Evening at Paramount

Media Contact:

Kristen Gleason
Director of Marketing
The Paramount Theater
215 East Main Street
Charlottesville, VA 22902
434.979.1922 ext. 103
kristen@theparamount.net

For Immediate Release

October 9, 2007

Dionne Warwick’s signature interpretations have made their mark on the landscape of pop music for five decades, weaving together generations of listeners from every background and audience demographic. Her reputation as a hit maker has been firmly implanted into American consciousness, thanks to nearly sixty charted hit songs. With legendary songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David, her soulful blend of pop, gospel, and R&B transcends racial, generational, cultural, and musical boundaries.

Warwick will bring her singular vocal style to an unforgettable and intimate evening at Charlottesville’s Paramount Theater on Wednesday, October 17 at 8 pm. This performance is sponsored by Renee & John Grisham. Special Media Sponsor is WCAV CBS 19 Charlottesville. 

Following their first historic meeting in 1962, Warwick and the legendary songwriting duo of Bacharach and David began a hit-filled, twelve year association with Scepter Records. In all, Warwick, Bacharach, and David racked up thirty hit singles and close to twenty best-selling albums during their first decade together. Songs like “Message to Michael,” “This Girl’s In Love With You,” “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” and “Reach Out For Me” established Warwick as a consummate artist and performer.

Warwick received her first of five Grammy Awards in 1968 for her classic hit, “Do You Know The Way to San Jose?” In doing so, she became the first African-American solo artist of her generation to win the prestigious award for Best Contemporary Female Performance. Warwick was also the first artist to achieve twelve consecutive Top 100 hit singles from 1963 to 1966, including “I Say A Little Prayer,” and “Close To You,” among many others.

Dionne Warwick's performance at the Olympia Theater in Paris during a 1963 concert starring the legendary Marlene Dietrich rocketed her to international stardom. Steadily gaining popularity among European audiences, hits like "Anyone Who Had A Heart" and "Walk On By" brought her successively larger visibility and success around the world. In 1968 she became the first African-American female performer to appear before the Queen of England at a Royal Command Performance. Since then, Dionne has performed before numerous kings, queens, presidents, and heads of state.

Warwick’s recordings of the songs “A House Is Not A Home,” “Alfie,” “The Valley of the Dolls,” and “The April Fools” made her a pioneer as one of the first female artists to popularize classic movie themes to mainstream listeners. In 1968, Warwick made her film debut in the movie Slaves -- the first time since Lena Horne that a contemporary African-American female recording artist achieved such a goal.

Warwick received her second Grammy Award in 1970 for the best-selling album, “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again,” and hit the top of the charts in 1974 with “Then Came You,” a million-selling duet with The Spinners.

In 1976, Warwick signed with Arista Records.  Barry Manilow produced her first Platinum-selling album, Dionne, which launched two back-to-back hits. “I’ll Never Love This Way Again,” and “Déjà Vu,” both earned Grammy Awards, making Warwick the first female artist to win the Best Female Pop and Best Female R&B Performance Awards in the same year. Her 1982 album and single, “Heartbreaker,” co-produced by Barry Gibb and The Bee Gees, became an international chart topper.

In 1985, Dionne reunited with producer Burt Bacharach, as well as longtime friends Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John to record the smash hit, “That’s What Friends Are For.” The landmark Grammy-winning and chart-topping single was the first music collaboration to raise millions of dollars for amfAR, The American Foundation for AIDS Research. In 1990 she joined forces with a number of Arista label-mates to raise over $2.5 million for various AIDS organizations during the star-studded "That's What Friends Are For" benefit at New York's Radio City Music Hall.

Throughout the world, the socially-conscious singer has devoted countless hours to many philanthropic causes. She has served as the U.S. Ambassador for Health and Global Ambassador for the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, among other educational and charitable endeavors.

Having earned a master’s degree from The Hartt College of Music herself, Warwick ceaselessly advocates for music education in public schools.  Her efforts in lobbying Congress for this cause have been recognized with the first Support Music Appreciation Award in Washington, DC.

Warwick continues to tour worldwide, performing in every city and on every continent that she has ever played, again making music history. In a life filled with accomplishment and achievement, she can proudly say she has always believed in, and lived by, the words of wisdom imparted to her by her grandfather; "If you think it, you can do it!"

Tickets for Dionne Warwick’s concert on October 17 are $60.50, $69.50, $73.50, and $79.50. Half-price student rush tickets and group discounts are also available.

Tickets are currently on sale online and through The Paramount's Box Office at 434.979.1922.

For more information about Dionne Warwick, please visit www.dionnewarwick.info.