Delia Mae Warrick, known as Dee Dee Warwick (September 25, 1942 – October 18, 2008) was an American soul singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she was the sister of Dionne Warwick, niece of Cissy Houston and the cousin of Whitney Houston. Celebrated in the 1960s and early 1970s for the beauty of her voice and appearance, her career was overshadowed by record-company mismanagement and the fame of her sibling, older by five years.
Born Delia Mae Warrick in East Orange, New Jersey, Dee
Dee came from a family who were prominent members of the East Coast gospel
community. Her father was the director of gospel promotion for the Chicago
black-music powerhouse Chess Records, while her mother managed the Drinkard
Singers, a gospel group that recorded for Savoy, Verve and RCA Victor during
the 1950s.
The Drinkard Singers were led by Dee Dee's aunt, Cissy
Houston (the mother of Whitney Houston), and both Dee Dee and Dionne sang with
the group as teenagers. The sisters then formed a trio called the Gospelaires
that sang both in church and on secular recording sessions in the late 1950s.
Dee Dee's dulcet tones graced hundreds of soul and pop recordings over the next
decade and she can be heard on hits cut by Garnet Mimms, the Drifters, Wilson Pickett,
Aretha Franklin and Nina Simone.
Dionne Warwick was discovered by the songwriters Burt
Bacharach and Hal David in early 1963. Dee Dee was signed later that year by
the celebrated song writing-production team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
and, following her sister's lead, changed her surname from Warrick to Warwick.
Leiber & Stoller produced her first single, You're No
Good. Although not a hit when it was released, the song became a US hit for
Betty Everett in 1964 (and a UK No 3 when covered by the Swinging Blue Jeans)
and topped the US charts in 1975 when sung by Linda Ronstadt. Leiber &
Stoller tried again with Standing By (1964), but the single failed and Warwick
signed with Blue Rock, a black-music subsidiary of Mercury Records and, with Ed
Townsend as the producer, scored R&B top 30 hits with We're Doing Fine and
I Want To Be With You.
Dee Dee's 1966 hit I'm Gonna Make You Love Me was remade into a huge pop hit the following year by Madeline Bell and then reached No 2 in the US pop charts (No 3 in the UK) when recorded as a duet between the Supremes and the Temptations. Warwick continued to issue high-quality soul music, her records possessing stronger rhythmic and gospel vocals than those of her sister, and in 1969 she scored an R&B and pop hit with Foolish Fool. The song won Warwick a Grammy nomination and a guest spot singing on Dick Cavett's popular talk show.
She then signed with Atco, a subsidiary of Atlantic, and
was sent to Miami to record with top session band the Dixie Flyers, immediately
enjoying a top 10 R&B hit with She Didn't Know (She Kept on Talking). This
won Warwick her second Grammy nomination. Her 1970 album Turning Around was
well received, yet her career stalled, with the singles Suspicious Minds and
Cold Night in Georgia being minor R&B chart hits.
Dee Dee returned to Mercury in 1973, claiming that
Atlantic concentrated its energies on Aretha Franklin and Roberta Flack to the
detriment of her career. In 1975 she enjoyed an R&B hit with Get Out of My
Life. It was her last chart placing. Thereafter, she recorded for a variety of
small labels before concentrating on providing backing vocals for commercial
sessions.
After several years away from the recording studio, Dee
Dee Warwick made her final recordings in the mid-80s: in 1984 her album Dee Dee
Warwick, Call Me was released on Sutra Records and she subsequently recorded
for Heritage. After living in Los Angeles for a number of years, Warwick became
a resident of Georgia in 1994. Dee Dee received a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm
and Blues Foundation in 1999.
In January 2008, Dee Dee was featured in the title song
from Dionne's gospel album, Why We Sing. In February 2008, she continued her
background vocals for Dionne's one-woman show My Music and Me in Europe.
Dee Dee struggled
with narcotics addiction for many years and was in failing health for some
time. Her sister was with her when she died on October 18, 2008 in a nursing
home in Essex County, New Jersey, aged 66. (Info edited mainly from The Guardian obit)
Here's Dee Dee singing I WANT TO BE WITH YOU Taken from SHIVAREE (JULY 17TH YEAR 1965) SEASON 1 EPISODE 25
For Dee “Dee Warwick - She Didn't Know: The Atco Sessions” go here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www40.zippyshare.com/v/eAZ5dDse/file.html
1. She Didn't Know (She Kept On Talking)
2. More Today Than Yesterday
3. Make Love To Me
4. I Ain't Got To Love Nobody Else
5. Who Will The Next Fool Be
6. I'm Only Human
7. Down So Low
8. If This Was The Last Song
9. A Girl Who'll Satisfy Her Man
10. I'm Glad I'm A Woman
11. Searchin'
12. Cold Night In Georgia
13. Suspicious Minds
14. Everybody's Got To Believe In Somebody
15. Signed DeDe
16. Only The One You Love
17. The Way We Used To Do
18. I Can't Wait Until I See My Baby's Face
19. Love I Found (In You)
20. Turn Around And Love You
21. Take Your Time And Love Me
22. Worlds Apart
Hi BB, may I take a copy kind sir?
ReplyDeletethanks
Hello Denis, Here's Dee Dee
ReplyDeletehttps://mega.nz/file/Y3QGlJpY#-TSyCnvXTpALT3czhMQpKiDHqW9Pna6YMAQ73H4NDv8
This was an old file I downloaded at the dawn of my web surfing. I can't remember where I got this from as those days I didn't credit the uploaders then as I do now. Plus this is 160 bit rate I'm afraid.
Thanks a mil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete