Soul legend, Dionne Warwick, 81, currently prepping for her final UK and renowned for global hit singles such as: Walk On By, Don’t Make Me Over, Anyone Who Had A Heart, etc was recently honoured as one of the 2022 BLACK ENTERPRISE WOMEN OF POWER HONOREES.
The iconic singer was honoured at the 2022 BE Women of Power Summit with the coveted Legacy Award.
The Women of Power Legacy Awards recognize women’s outstanding impact, achievement, and leadership in business, the arts, education, government, and other influential areas.
The BLACK ENTERPRISE Women of Power Summit held on Friday, March 25 honouring the renowned American singer, actress, television host, and former Goodwill Ambassador for the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization who has for decades blessed hearts, dishing out several chart-topping hits.
Although visibly limping a little, Warwick stated that
she fell and injured her leg but nothing was going to stop her from “coming to get my stuff,” according to the site.
The singer, who stands proudly as the first Black woman to win a Grammy in 1968 for her hit “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” and one of the first celebrities to raise awareness about the AIDS pandemic after partnering with the American Foundation for AIDS Research and raised over $3 million for that cause, has since established herself as a force in entertainment and activism.
She is best known for her collaborations with a-list artists as Burt Bacharach and Barry Manilow. Dionne’s mother managed a renowned gospel choir, the Drinkard Singers, while her father was a gospel record promoter. She began her musical career as a gospel artist playing piano for the Drinkard Singers. While a student of Hartt School of the University of Hartford, in 1959, she made trips to perform with the Gospelaires and on one of those days, composer and producer Burt Bacharach, invited her to sing on some demos he was recording with lyricist Hal David, her singing caught the attention of an executive at Scepter Records, and Warrick was soon signed to the label. In 1962 she released her first single—“I Smiled Yesterday,” and hasn’t looked back ever since.
Warwick, a tireless activist served as the U.S. ambassador of health for both the Ronald Reagan and George Bush administrations. Warwick has also notably been inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame, the R&B Music Hall of Fame and the Apollo Theater Walk of Fame.
At 81 years old, Warwick isn’t slowing down and keeps busy with her interior design company with Bruce Garrick, WG Design Lab.
Fans will also get a close up on the R&B legend as she is set to open up even more in tell-all documentary feature Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over, acquired by CNN. The doc debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2021 and will premiere on CNN’s forthcoming streaming platform, CNN+.
The documentary follows the 80-year-old’s influential moments from her personal and professional life including her becoming the first solo Black female artist to win a Grammy, her upbringing in her grandfather’s church, and interview with her cousin Whitney Houston.
Other honorees include singer Yolanda Yvette Adams, journalist A’Lelia Bundles, among others.
