Why make this film now? What was the impetus for this documentary? Wooley: As a businessman, you look at marketplace and you look for things that don't exist, and that becomes your business. I'm amazed that a theatrical documentary on Dionne Warwick didn't exist. So, my mission was to fill that void and its part of her legacy. There would be millions of people like you who would totally enjoy it. It took five years to make, and that's pretty fast.
She's lived the kind of life she lived, and you can't do that quickly. We were fortunate not to have to rush it. As for why now? We need something like this, a ray of light with the racial tension that is going on in America and has been going on, and COVID. It is what the world needs right now. Dionne, given your experience in the music industry, you have seen the changes — you went from singing background vocals to charting hits during the '60s only to see how tastes changed in the Disco era and later with rap music.
You were called a sellout during the early years of your career, but also crossed over, being the first Black artist to win a Grammy for Pop music. What observations do you have about the industry given your range of experience? You have seen it all and adapt and go high when the industry went low. Warwick: Staying relevant is something everyone has in mind to do. You want to stay as current as you possibly can.
My sons grew up in different music era, and I have seven grandchildren, who are now growing up in this musical era. It's helped me to understand the current generation. It's allowing me to understand what is going on musically given the interesting recording these days.
Warwick: I listen to my peers. Gladys Knight, and my Brazilian friends. Sometimes I don't have a choice about what I hear, because my nieces and nephews play their music in my home. Dave, at the end of the documentary, you ask folks about their favorite Dionne song. What would each of you say, and what makes it special? Wooley: There are so many of her songs that mean something to me. One my mother played was "I Say a Little Prayer" while she was putting on her makeup.
As a kid you can visualize that. She's singing to my mother. What was magical was my mom and Dionne having breakfast, and mom said that was her theme song for getting dressed for work. Warwick: All of them. Every single one. They are like my children.
They got all the love they deserve. Dave, what can you say about constructing the film with all the different interviews and footage? Wooley: This was my debut as a filmmaker, so I had the pleasure of watching many, many documentaries.
Which ones stand out in her memory? Are you kidding me? They were stars. And subsequently, over the years, I made friends with all these people. But I had the pleasure of meeting him and getting to know him. The music industry had other plans for her. Hal David and Burt Bacharach , the songwriting duo and kings of easy listening, had heard her work as a session musician and asked her to record a demo of a song that they had written for The Shirelles.
She wanted the voice, and that was me. Despite starting so young, she never had Motown-style deportment coaching for public life, or a chaperone, nor did she need one.
I came from a safe, solid home. Her s heyday was relatively short-lived. By she had split with her prolific writing and producing team; Bacharach and David had decided, mid-recording contract, not to work together any more. That happens to be high on my priorities, and it seems it is everywhere else except the United States. Warwick experienced formal segregation first-hand while touring the southern US, where audiences were split according to race.
I was probably the first person in a lot of areas. That put a strain on the marriage. Breadwinning became harder in the s. This was when Warwick started presenting infomercials sponsored by the Psychic Friends Network. These took the form of a pastel-hued daytime talkshow, complete with studio audience and a lot of pot plants. I politely ask whether this sojourn was a passion or just a job. It was during a period of time when I was not recording.
You know, it kept the lights on in my house and food on my table. It was an earning power. I earned money that I normally would have earned if I was on the road.
But was she a believer? She describes the experience as very interesting. Indeed, the Ohm Zone of which the singer is part owner is just one of the many unlikely spots in which the surprisingly busy Warwick has turned up lately. I cannot stop thinking about this.
I would like to know who we are angry with. With COVID numbers trending downward, Warwick, who lives in her native New Jersey, hit the road again last month for her first live concerts — including a gig she played to a nearly full house at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills — since the beginning of the pandemic.
And what did she think? Leave her alone. Fans show in droves for Day N Vegas festival, but Astroworld tragedy not far from mind. In only concert, an ambitious Kendrick Lamar reestablishes his generational greatness.
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