Dionne Warwick - Message To Michael (Hullabaloo)

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Marie Dionne Warrick was born into a gospel-music family. Her father was a gospel record promoter for Chess Records and her mother managed the Drinkard Singers, a gospel group consisting of her relatives. She first raised her voice in song at age six at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, NJ, and soon after was a member of the choir. As a teenager, she formed a singing group called the Gospelaires with her sister Dee Dee and her aunt Cissy Houston (later the mother of Whitney Houston). After graduating from high school in 1959, she earned a music scholarship to the Hartt College of Music in Hartford, CT, but she also spent time with her group recording background vocals on sessions in New York. The Gospelaires are said to be present on such well-known recordings as Ben E. King's "Spanish Harlem" and "Stand By Me." They were at a Drifters session working on a song called "Mexican Divorce" composed by Burt Bacharach when Bacharach, attending the session, suggested Warwick might do some demos for him. She did, singing songs he had written with lyricist Hal David. Bacharach and David pitched one of the songs to Florence Greenberg, head of the small independent Scepter Records label, and Greenberg liked the demo singer enough to sign her as a recording artist. Bacharach and David wrote and produced her first single, "Don't Make Me Over," in 1962. When the record was released, the performer credit contained a typo; it read "Dionne Warwick" instead of "Dionne Warrick," and she kept the new name. (Her sister Dee Dee eventually became Dee Dee Warwick as well.)

"Don't Make Me Over" peaked in the Top 20 of the pop charts in early 1963, also reaching the Top Five of the R&B charts. Warwick's subsequent singles were not as successful, but in early 1964, she reached the pop and R&B Top Ten and the Top Five of the easy listening charts with "Anyone Who Had a Heart," which was also her first record to reach the charts in the U.K. (There, such singers as Cilla Black and Dusty Springfield sometimes would cover her records before her own versions had a chance to become hits.) "Walk on By" followed it into the Top Ten of the pop, easy listening, and U.K. charts in the spring of 1964, and it hit number one on the R&B charts. By then, the Beatles had arrived on the American scene, followed by the British Invasion, and for a while, pop artists like Warwick took a beating on the charts. Nevertheless, the singer continued to place singles and LPs in the rankings over the next couple of years and in the spring of 1966, she returned to the Top Ten of the pop charts and the Top Five of the R&B charts with "Message to Michael." Other, more modest hits followed, including the most successful U.S. recording of the title song from the movie Alfie, which reached the R&B Top Five and the pop Top 20 in the spring of 1967. That summer, Warwick topped the R&B LP charts with her gold-selling Here Where There Is Love album and by the fall, Scepter had amassed enough chart singles to issue Dionne Warwick's Golden Hits, Pt. 1, her first album to reach the pop Top Ten.

Curiously, Warwick's career reached a new level with a single not written by Bacharach and David, although they produced it. It was "(Theme From) Valley of the Dolls," written by André and Dory Previn and issued at the end of 1967. The record reached the Top Five of the pop, R&B, and easy listening charts. Its B-side, Bacharach and David's "I Say a Little Prayer," reached the Top Five of the pop and R&B charts, helping the single become a gold record and the Valley of the Dolls LP also made the Top Five of the pop and R&B charts and went gold. With that, Warwick was on a roll. Her next single, "Do You Know the Way to San José," reached the pop Top Ten and the R&B and easy listening Top Five in the spring of 1968 and won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Pop Vocal Performance, Female. In the winter of 1969, her version of "This Guy's in Love With You," re-titled "This Girl's in Love With You," made the pop and R&B Top Ten and the easy listening Top Five and in early 1970, "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" from Bacharach and David's score for the Broadway musical +Promises, Promises made the pop Top Ten and topped the easy listening charts, bringing her another Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance, Female.

~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

Category:

Education

Tags:

• pop
• rock

[heyathere1000]

what year was this?

[John1948FourA]

@heyathere1000 Dionne released the recording in May of 1966 so this performance was PROBABLY in 1966. Artists tend to perform live songs that are current.

[zainol2010]

Originally penned by Hal David as Message to Martha-Dionne had it changed to Michael

[John1948FourA]

@zainol2010 True. "Both Burt Bacharach and Hal David, when contacted by Warwick, were opposed to her singing what they maintained was a man's song. David also mentioned to Warwick that the only male name that could be subbed for "Martha" was "Michael", a name David disliked. Warwick took David's comment as a suggestion, recorded "Message to Michael" in a Paris recording studio, and added her vocals to the track prepped for Distel."

[mjimme]

I enjoyed it. I'm a big Dionne fan. She's not lip syncing either unlike many singers now when they sing live. I heard her in concert with Burt Bacharach many years ago. She amazes me that she never sings a song the same way twice.

[AndrewRossi100]

what a jewel she is.. this was a Hullabaloo appearance I believe?

[b5wifeygurl]

While MJ was 8 or 9 he actually thought that song was to him.. lolsx cute story

[scheckdj]

Her early days are classic gems!

[wattever333]

yup, michael changed his name... to martha! XD

[jane78ist]

it reminds me of a love who went away to search, yes for fame in science!!!!! I love this song ! Rich or poor I still love him so!!!

[mthowielong007]

@clever072004 me too LOL



[msdefender]

A signature voice...this is one of my favorite Dionne songs.....thank you for posting.

Artists back then were so pure...I miss those days.

[justicevue]

Take me back to the '70s.  I wish I could go back.

[HEARTHEANGELSVOICES]

ONE OF THE GREATEST VOICES OF ALL TIME. GREAT SONG. GO DIONNE-BURT-HAL.