DEE DEE WARWICK

Dee Dee Warwick was the sister of Dionne Warwick and one of the music industry’s first openly lesbian performers.

She was born in East Orange, New Jersey, on September 25, 1942. She was of African-American, Native American, Dutch, and Brazilian descent. Warwick sang with her sister Dionne and their aunt, Cissy Houston, in the New Hope Baptist Church Choir of Newark, New Jersey. They eventually became a trio called the Gospelaires, who often performed with the Drinkard Singers. Dee Dee belonged to both acts.

During a 1959 performance by the Gospelaires and the Drinkard Singers at New York’s Apollo Theater, the Warwick sisters were approached by a record producer to do session work. With a third member, Doris Troy, they became an in-demand trio of New York back-up singers.

By 1963, Dee Dee Warwick was looking into a solo career. She signed with Jubilee and worked with producers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. She recorded one of two versions of the ballad “You’re No Good” that came out at nearly the same time. Of the two, Betty Everett’s version became the bigger hit. (“You’re No Good” achieved its its greatest success in a 1974 remake by Linda Ronstadt.)

Warwick signed with Mercury Records in 1965, working with producer Ed Townsend on the label’s Blue Rock subsidiary. Her first release, “We’re Doing Fine,” made the R&B top thirty. The following year, Warwick’s recording of “I Want to Be With You” cracked the R&B top ten and just missed the pop top forty. She ended 1966 with the original version of “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me,” which became a hit again twice in 1968—first for Madeline Bell, then for the Supremes & the Temptations.

At the invitation of Atlantic’s Jerry Wexler, Warwick signed with its Atco subsidiary in 1970. She was sent to Miami to work with producer David Crawford. The resulting album, Turning Around, produced the top ten R&B single, “She Didn’t Know (She Kept on Talking).” In October, she recorded ten songs in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Atco issued three singles from the sessions, the biggest of which was a remake of Elvis Presley’s 1969 hit, “Suspicious Minds.” Warwick’s final session with Atco was in early 1972.

She returned to Mercury in 1974, but was on Private Stock by the following year. She signed with RCA Victor as DeDe Schwartz in 1975 and subsequently took several years off from recording. Her 1984 album, Call Me, came out on Sutra, and she later recorded for Heritage.

Dee Dee Warwick was one of the music industry’s first openly lesbian performers. She spent many year living in Los Angeles, but relocated to Georgia in 1994. Five years later, she received a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm & Blues Foundation. In 2006, she sang background in concert for her sister Dionne. In January 2008, Dee Dee was featured in the title cut from her sister’s gospel album, Why We Sing. In Europe a month later, she sang back-up for Dionne’s one-woman show, My Music and Me.

For many years, Dee Dee Warwick struggled with drug addiction and was in failing health for quite some time. She died at age 66 in a nursing home in Essex County, New Jersey, on October 18, 2008. Her sister was with her at the time.

In the 2018 documentary film, Whitney, it was alleged that Dee Dee Warwick had molested her cousins, Whitney and Gary Houtson, when they were children and Warwick was in her 20s. However, Dionne Warwick and Cissy Houston, Whitney’s mother, expressed doubts that the allegations were true, as did Whitney Houston’s friend, Robyn Crawford. In her book, A Song for You, Crawford wrote that Houston worshiped Warwick and called her “Auntie Dee Dee.” Crawford further stated that if Warwick had abused her, Houston would surely have said something to her friend.

Charted singles:

“You’re No Good” (1963) Pop #117
“Do It With All Your Heart” (1965) Pop #124
“We’re Doing Fine” (1965) R&B #28, Pop #96
“I Want to Be With You” (1966) R&B #9, Pop #41
“I’m Gonna Make You Love Me” (1966-67) R&B #13, Pop #88
“When Love Slips Away” (1966) R&B #43, Pop #92
“That’s Not Love” (1969) R&B #42, Pop #106
“Ring of Bright Water” (1969) R&B #113
“Foolish Fool” (1969) R&B #14, Pop #57
“She Didn’t Know (She Kept on Talking)” (1970) R&B #9, Pop #70
“Cold Night in Georgia” (1970) R&B #44
“Suspicious Minds” (1971) R&B #24, Pop #80
“Get Out of My Life” (1975) R&B #73