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Dionne Warwick

Photo: Popperfoto/Getty Images

News
making-dionne-warwicks-walk

The Making Of Dionne Warwick's "Walk On By"

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Current GRAMMY nominee recalls creating magic with Burt Bacharach and Hal David on her GRAMMY Hall Of Fame-inducted classic "Walk On By"
Dionne Warwick
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 4:06 pm

(Since its inception in 1973, the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame has enshrined nearly 1,000 recordings across all genres. The Making Of … series presents firsthand accounts of the creative process behind some of the essential recordings of the 20th century. You can read more Making Of … accounts, and in-depth insight into the recordings and artists represented in the Hall, in the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition book.)

"Walk On By"
Dionne Warwick
Scepter (1964)
Single
Inducted 1998

(As told to Roy Trakin)

The song was originally the B-side of "Any Old Time Of Day." It didn't really get played on the radio until [New York DJ] Murray the K turned the record over after holding a contest for which side the listeners preferred, and they chose "Walk On By."

I liked it the first time I heard it. Like most of the songs I was given to record at the beginning of my career, it was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, who were not only my songwriters, but my producers. I depended on them to give me great songs, and they did, as my history shows.

I met Burt first. He had written a song called "Mexican Divorce," with another writer named Bob Hilliard, for the Drifters. I was one of the background singers on the session, and after the date was finished, he asked if I'd be interested in singing some demos he was writing with a new partner, Hal David. And that was the start of our association.

We recorded the song at Bell Sound Studios in New York, live with full orchestra ... strings, horns, [a] rhythm section, [and] background singers. That's something I miss terribly. Those were always wonderful musical events. It was basically a performance, and a lot of fun.

With Burt Bacharach sitting at the piano or in the control room, it was never the first take, even if, in fact, it usually ended up being the first take [that we used for the record]. It wasn't about punching in overdubs. We did every single recording full-out, and on about the 28th take, I think someone probably said — if it wasn't me — "I think we may have it."

The song had a memorable melody and words. If I had known it was going to be a hit, I'd be sitting on a mountain with a ruby in my hand. I was dear, dear friends with both Burt and Hal. We depended on each other to bring to the table the expertise we each possessed. Hal David's lyrics were the most incredible I've ever sung. And Burt created those intricate, but memorable, melodies. And I was the vehicle to bring all of that to the listeners' ears.

I'm totally enamored [with] Isaac Hayes' cover, which he made his own. Very much like what Aretha did with "I Say A Little Prayer" or Luther Vandross did with "A House Is Not A Home." When anyone covers a song, it's a compliment to the original version.

To this day, I can't leave the stage without singing it. It's a song that not only I have grown to love over my 50 years in the industry, but it has become a favorite of my audience. The songs that I've had the pleasure of recording with Bacharach [and] David have grown with me. I'm singing it for people my age, who have brought their children, and in turn, they've brought their children. It's been able to age with each new group of listeners.

(Roy Trakin, a senior editor for HITS magazine, has written for every rock publication that ever mattered, some that didn't, and got paid by most of them.)

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Steve Jobs Dies

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THE GRAMMYs
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 3:22 pm

Steve Jobs Dies
Apple
co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs died Oct. 5. A cause of death was not disclosed. He was 56. Jobs co-founded the company in 1976 with childhood friend Steve Wozniak, developing what was considered the world's first personal computer with the Apple II. His impact on music was immeasurable as the visionary behind Apple's iTunes music store and iPod music player. In 2002, Apple Computer received a Technical GRAMMY Award. Jobs, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004, had been on medical leave since Jan. 17 and officially resigned from his position as CEO on Aug. 24. "Visionary, pioneer, innovator, genius — all of these words and more have been used to describe the dynamic, passionate, and driven Steve Jobs," said Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow. "He took technology and turned it into art, becoming a key player and leader in the entertainment world, particularly music. The world has lost an inspiring and creative inventor whose extraordinary legacy will forever remain present in our lives." (10/5)

Awards For Lang Lang, Mehta, Bacharach, David
Pianist Lang Lang and conductor Zubin Mehta were among those who were honored at the 2011 ECHO Klassik German Music Award ceremony on Oct. 2 in Berlin. Lang Lang received the best-seller award for his Live In Vienna album while Mehta received a lifetime achievement honor. In other awards news, the U.S. Library of Congress announced that GRAMMY winners and Recording Academy Trustees Awards recipients Burt Bacharach and Hal David will receive the fourth Gershwin Prize for Popular Song during an all-star tribute in Washington, D.C., next spring. The songwriting team joins previous recipients upcoming MusiCares Person of the Year honoree Paul McCartney, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder. (10/5)

Clive Davis (R) and John Legend (L)

Clive Davis (R) and John Legend (L)

 

Photo Courtesy of Clive Davis

 
News
2021 Pre-GRAMMY Virtual Gala Recap 2021-pre-grammy-virtual-gala-clive-davis-pandemic

2021 Pre-GRAMMY Virtual Gala: How The Annual Clive Davis Extravaganza Adapted To The Pandemic

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With its high-profile guests shushing their pets and grappling with technology, this year's virtual Pre-GRAMMY Gala created a sense of intimate beauty and captured the shared feeling of community online
Morgan Enos
MusiCares
Feb 2, 2021 - 10:03 am

Picture this pantheon: Bruce Springsteen, Carole King, John Legend, Rod Stewart, Jamie Foxx and Barry Gibb, all gathered to pay homage to music's finest executive, Clive Davis. Dynamo performances from the Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Madonna, and more punctuate the gala, while everyone from Dionne Warwick to Martha Stewart watches from the sidelines.

Er, one second—that's "iPhone Dionne Warwick" and "Martha's iPhone XS Max T-Mobile." Wait, is that a Pomeranian-themed calendar behind Warwick? Did Martha Stewart just drop said iPhone in her purse without deactivating the camera first? Holy cats—does she have a marble ceiling?

Nearly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, it goes without saying that assembling a multitude of celebrities for a Beverly Hills bash remains impossible. So, this year, Clive Davis' annual, high-profile Pre-GRAMMY Gala went virtual.

Clive Davis and Alicia Keys

Alicia Keys (L) and Clive Davis (R) | Photo Courtesy of Clive Davis

The 2021 Pre-GRAMMY Virtual Gala took place Saturday (Jan. 30), the night before the Academy initially planned to throw the 63rd GRAMMY Awards. They have rescheduled the ceremony to Sunday, March 14, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Virtual Gala, benefitting MusiCares, was the first of two events. The second will occur Saturday, March 13, the night before this year's GRAMMY show, and will benefit the GRAMMY Museum.

Clive Davis' annual Pre-GRAMMY bash is one of the starriest nights of the year, an opportunity to rub elbows with music industry giants and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi alike. But 2021 was no ordinary year, and this was no average gala. Swapping bespoke suits and elaborate dresses for pajamas and leisure suits, the famous guests gave viewers a personal, sometimes awkward, look into their homes and lives. Where it lost the spectacle of someone like Travis Scott bringing a crowd to its knees, this year's virtual event created a sense of intimate beauty and captured the shared feeling of community online.

Taking full advantage of the virtual experience, Davis structured the Virtual Gala around archival footage of what he believes to be the most outstanding performances of all time. (The night featured clips of Frank Sinatra, Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys, Whitney Houston and others.)

Throughout, Davis acted as a tour guide through past live and televised performances from rock, folk and soul artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. A baby-faced Bob Dylan strums his signature song, "Blowin' in the Wind." The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, brings Barack and Michelle Obama to near-tears at the Kennedy Center in 2015 with "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman." (The tune's co-writer, Carole King, can hardly contain herself in the crowd.)

"This performance speaks to why I want to do this event tonight," Davis said of the Franklin performance. "Even through your computer screen, if you don't have goosebumps, you should check carefully for a pulse."

Davis later calls Houston's 1994 set, a medley of "I Loves You Porgy," "I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" and "I Have Nothing," "the greatest television performance for any artist."

And while Davis' annual Pre-GRAMMY Gala is typically a place where artists shine, the virtual audience was the main attraction this year. Anyone with an internet connection can watch old rock 'n' roll footage; it's a different, surreal experience to watch Joni Mitchell, George Benson and Herbie Hancock as they watch it. Ditto Carl Bernstein, who helped break the Watergate scandal, and "CNN Tonight" anchor Don Lemon.

If there's one silver lining of the Zoom era, it's that we can be a fly in the wall in celebrities' homes. As such, the Gala's format delivered the lion's share of its fun. Martha Stewart picked at the charcuterie in her kitchen, where her enviable pan collection hung from the ceiling. One of the most magnificent harmonic thinkers of the 20th and 21st centuries, Hancock smiled in front of a series of laser-beam screensavers. "Will you shut up?" Rod Stewart chided his yapping dog with a smile during his interview. "I'm talking to Clive Davis!"

Clive Davis and Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen (L) and Clive Davis (R) | Photo Courtesy of Clive Davis

Despite the fact we're still housebound, the online Gala’s tenor was one of brighter days ahead. "Perhaps the most uplifting and optimistic song you've ever written is 'Land of Hope and Dreams,'" Davis told Springsteen at one point, citing his late-'90s cut released on Wrecking Ball (2012).

"Are you despondent about the nation's future and the American promise? Or are you as hopeful as you were when you wrote about those 'big wheels rolling through fields where sunlight streams'?" he asked.

"The American dream itself is [an] aspiration," Springsteen replied from the Colts Neck, New Jersey, studio where he and the E Street Band recently slugged out their 2020 album, Letter to You. "The distance between American reality and the American Dream, we are always trying to close, whether you're an artist or a politician … I remain hopeful even in the midst of the great difficulties we are going through at this moment that the nation can reunite and find its better angels and move forward, you know? I have to believe that."
 

Clive Davis and Barry Gibb

Barry Gibb (L) and Clive Davis (R) | Photo Courtesy of Clive Davis

For celebrities and everyday folks alike, the past year has taken a toll on all of us. As such, an extra glint of humility shone through these interviews.

"I've never taken anything for granted, and you've never taken anything for granted," Davis told Barry Gibb. (The latter is having a banner 2020 and 2021 with the HBO doc on the Bee Gees, How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, and his duets album with Americana artists, Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook, Vol. 1.) "To see this album debut at the top of the charts is thrilling for me as a fan, and it's got to be thrilling for you as the architect."

"It's shocking; there's no question about that," Gibb replied. "It's the first No. 1 in 40 years, and that's something extremely special that I can't put into words … It was all like a dream, and the whole thing came like a vision, including the title."

As expected for a whopping five-hour event, some of the celebs tapped out early, leaving their bewildered pets blinking at the camera. Joni Mitchell, however, was a trooper, observing the telecast stoically while her creamsicle-colored cat pranced around for attention.

Seeing Mitchell happy, healthy and hilarious is bittersweet. In 2015, she suffered an aneurysm; in 2020, she still struggled to walk because of it. Yet at the end of the night, there she was, pajama-clad, munching popcorn and cracking jokes. Throughout the broadcast, Mitchell regally sipped white wine with both hands. (Here's to your next 77 years, Joni.)

While this year's Pre-GRAMMY Gala may have missed the usual hobnobbing and rapport, that bug revealed itself to be a feature. Of course, as always, the point was the music, but housebound legends and their assemblage of furry friends stole the show for once. With vaccines rolling out worldwide, music will be back to business as usual in no time."

And just like every year, this year's (virtual) Pre-GRAMMY Gala was unique and unrepeatable—and it hit different as a result.

2021 GRAMMYs: Complete Nominees List

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Solid Gold Dancers

The Solid Gold Dancers in 1982

Photo: Ron Wolfson/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

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History Of "Solid Gold" explore-solid-gold-epic-80s-hit-music-tv-show-history

Explore "Solid Gold," The Epic '80s Hit Music TV Show | History Of

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The third-ever episode of GRAMMY.com's History Of video series tells the story of a glitzy music show that featured the biggest artists of the moment, backed by the fabulous Solid Gold Dancers
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Sep 14, 2020 - 6:12 pm

"Welcome to 'Solid Gold!' Starting right now and for every week to come, we're gonna bring you the biggest hit records in the country, some by the people that made them famous. So get ready for a lot of comedy, some real hot dancing and many surprises," host Dionne Warwick said during its debut episode on Sept. 15, 1980. The GRAMMY-winning singer hosted the entire first season, after which would go on to be hosted by Andy Gibb, comedian Arsenio Hall and others for the remaining seven seasons.

We celebrate the 40th anniversary of the launch of the shimmering '80s music TV show in our third-ever episode of the one-minute History Of video series, which you can watch below.

History Of "Solid Gold"

Learn About The U.S.' First Integrated Nightclub In 60 Seconds | The History Of

During that lively first show, Irene Cara performed (most numbers were lip-synched) her GRAMMY-nominated hit "Fame" and Chuck Berry rocked the crowd with a live rendition of "Johnny B Goode," both backed by the amazing in-house dance squad known as the Solid Gold Dancers. To add excitement to the countdown of the week's top hits, the crew served up energetic choreography for each song.

Other legendary musical guests included GRAMMY winners Rolling Stones, Bon Jovi, James Brown, Madonna, the Pointer Sisters and Rod Stewart, as well as Hall & Oates, a-ha and many others.

Gladys Knight & Patti LaBelle's Verzuz Faceoff Was A Moment Of Pure Soul Sisterhood

Gladys Knight & Patti LaBelle

Gladys Knight & Patti LaBelle in 2014

Photo: Walter McBride/Getty Images

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Gladys Knight Verzuz Patti LaBelle Was All Love gladys-knight-patti-labelles-verzuz-faceoff-was-moment-pure-soul-sisterhood

Gladys Knight & Patti LaBelle's Verzuz Faceoff Was A Moment Of Pure Soul Sisterhood

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"There's nothing I don't love that you might sing tonight. So, let's just get it clear, I'm ready for you honey," LaBelle said to her longtime friend and fellow R&B/soul icon
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Sep 14, 2020 - 2:55 pm

Last night (Sept. 13), GRAMMY-winning music icons Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight brought a big serving of soul and sisterhood to the latest Verzuz faceoff. During the livestream's joyful three hours, the powerhouse pair sang 35 songs (including two renditions of "Midnight Train To Georgia") selected from their gem-filled catalogues dating back 60 years. In between the music, the two R&B/soul greats showered each other with praise and offered nuggets of wisdom, humor and shout-outs to the star-studded virtual audience, which included the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama.

"I love that tune," LaBelle praised after Knight's first rendition of "Midnight Train To Georgia" and just about halfway into the faceoff. "There's nothing I don't love that you might sing tonight. So, let's just get it clear, I'm ready for you honey."

https://twitter.com/verzuzonline/status/1305338553145200641

The best Sunday night in a while. Thank you @MsGladysKnight and @MsPattiPatti for blessing us with your greatness tonight ✨ This is something we all needed.

Thank you @_DionneWarwick for making our night with your surprise appearance!!

📸 @benselkow pic.twitter.com/tGawXvrqUW

— VERZUZ TV (@verzuzonline) September 14, 2020

The Verzuz Effect: How Swizz Beatz & Timbaland's Beat Battles Showcase Music's Past, Present And Future

The evening's rich setlist included selections from their early acts—LaBelle's fabulous girl group Labelle and Knight's family affair Gladys Knight & the Pips—as well as their longtime solo acts. This included LaBelle's "Lady Marmalade," If You Don't Know Me By Now" and "Love, Need and Want You" and Knight's "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)," "Friendship Train" and "Love Overboard."

They both sang along to their songs—for the most part, joking about forgetting some of the lyrics to the older songs—with their warm voices and still-epic high notes offering comfort during these hectic times. They also sang along with each other, as this Verzuz was not a battle, but a moment for the musical powerhouses to show each other some love and appreciation. They also shared the love for their collaborators, children, viewers and the Verzuz and Apple Music team (who recently partnered with the Swizz Beatz- and Timbaland-created event). Swizzy got warm birthday wishes (he was born Sept. 13) and wow, what a great way to celebrate being alive.

After their seventh-round faceoff, where LaBelle sang "Love, Need and Want You" and Knight delivered "Someone to Watch Over Me," the pair began talking warmly about their children. Knight revealed she didn't know about Verzuz until her son Shanga called her up and encouraged her to try to get on in, which she did. "I hope you're proud of us, sons," she said. We also learned that LaBelle still has a flip phone. "I love my flip. I'm very low-key," she shared with a smile.

When they saw the Former First Lady pop up in the viewer list, or as LaBelle dubbed it "the virtual front row," they were both genuinely thrilled and sent love and praise her way. "I am so proud of her," Knight chimed in, adding, "She's a sweetheart and she's down to earth." "And she's married to the best man in the whole world," the both chimed in. "We miss you Michelle and Barack," LaBelle said.

In addition to the many notable virtual guests, there was a very special in-studio guest—Dionne Warwick, who helped close out the evening with an extra dose of sisterhood. The three musical heroes sang Warwick's "That's What Friends Are For" and their 1991 remake of Karyn White's female empowerment hit, "Superwoman."

If you missed the much-needed evening of wholesome, heartwarming and soul-stirring content, you can watch the last half or so in the YouTube video above.

https://twitter.com/MissyElliott/status/1305349683951304704

Thank you @verzuzonline 🙏🏾 This platform has allowed us to enjoy the soundtrack to our lives while also showing APPRECIATION to those artist who have put out TIMELESS Music for DECADES! It’s like History in Music hearing the BTS stories is so AMAZING💜

— Missy Elliott (@MissyElliott) September 14, 2020

From Brandy Vs. Monica To Timbaland Vs. Swizz Beatz, What's Your Favorite Verzuz Battle Matchup?

The LaBelle and Knight Verzuz follows Brandy and Monica's also-amazing showdown on Aug. 31. In addition to the huge number of viewers who tune into the streams via IGTV and Apple TV, the much-buzzed-about episodes always lead to a boost in interest in the featured artists and their music. In the case of the '90s R&B queens, their episode was watched by over 60 million viewers and they collectively logged 21.9 million U.S. streams in just the two days following. Stay tuned to Verzuz' Instagram for the data behind the Knight and LaBelle love fest, as well as for info on upcoming T.B.A. pairings. Here's to the love being showered back onto the soul queens.

Jonathan McReynolds Takes You To Church With A Blissful Performance Of "God Is Good" | Positive Vibes Only

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Some of the content on this site expresses viewpoints and opinions that are not those of the Recording Academy and its Affiliates. Responsibility for the accuracy of information provided in stories not written by or specifically prepared for the Academy and its Affiliates lies with the story's original source or writer. Content on this site does not reflect an endorsement or recommendation of any artist or music by the Recording Academy and its Affiliates.