Dionne Warwick was “all shook up” when she first met Elvis.
In an interview with CBS Newsthe legendary singer/actress (83), who was one of this year’s Kennedy Center award winners, opened up about her first impression of the king of rock and roll after meeting him in Las Vegas while Cissy Houston, her aunt and Whitney Houston’s mother, was is in his backing group, Sweet Inspirations.
“Oh my god, he was beautiful!” Warwick recalled, adding: “He said, ‘I’m going to announce at my show tonight that anyone who walks into a record store and [buy] any Dionne Warwick album, you’ll find a photo signed by me.'”
Warwick said that as a result, she “sold more records in Vegas than I’ve ever sold.”
Dionne Warwick Says She Still Has ‘So Much To Do’ After 62 Years In Music: ‘Just Got To Manifest’
She also shared how she got her “first standing ovation”, which happened when Warwick was just 6 years old when her priest grandfather called her to the pulpit to sing in church.
“After I finished singing, the entire congregation stood and applauded,” she told the publication. – That was my first standing ovation.
Born into a musical family – her mother and siblings performed as the Drinkard Sisters – she believes her future is predetermined.
“It was almost like it was predetermined, that if you’re in this family, you’re going to do this,” she said.
As the “That’s What Friends Are For” singer rose to fame, artists like Issac Hayes and Aretha Franklin began covering her older songs. She didn’t like it at first: “No! What are you doing singing my stuff?”
But eventually she changed her tune.
“It got to the point where I realized, or started to realize, what a compliment that was,” she said.
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Dionne Warwick in New York in May 2023.
Santiago Felipe/Getty Images
Dionne Warwick on her new song ‘Merry Mission’ and why she has no advice for younger artists (Exclusive)
Warwick recently told PEOPLE why she wants her next project to be a gospel album.
“It’s time. It really is. We need to get back to loving each other again. I don’t know what’s going on in our world right now, so much hate and stubbornness and ugliness. People are actually doing things that they feel I have the right to do without any retribution,” she said. is.
The “Walk on By” artist continued, “Now I feel like we have to go back to our Bible. We have to go back to words that are meaningful, words of encouragement, words of happiness. We’re missing so much that everyone should be looking forward to.”
Warwick plans to release an LP — Songs of inspiration — in 2024
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Source: HIS Education