Music legend Dionne Warwick performed a mix of Christmas classics and her hits at the Grove of Anaheim Thursday night (12/14). Warwick turned 82 just two days before the show and still continues to tour around the U.S. and internationally. Warwick released her debut album back in 1963 and since then has released a total of 40 studio albums, sold over 100 million records between singles and albums, has had nearly 70 singles to hit the Billboard Hot 100 Singles, and 18 were in the Top 20. On top of that Warwick also had two number one singles. Warwick has also been up for 14 Grammy nominations and has won a total of five as well as three songs in the Grammy Hall of Fame. In the 60’s and 70’s Warwick performed on American Bandstand, Hullabaloo, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Red Skelton Show, The Tonight Show, The Dick Cavett Show, and the Dean Martin Show appearing on all multiple times.
Warwick and her band consisting of her oldest son David Elliott on drums, musical director/pianist Todd Hunter, bassist Danny DeMorales, and percussionist Renato Braz. Warwick came out in a sparkly outfit and her first song was “Walk On By” written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David from her third album Make Way for Dionne Warwick. Warwick continued with Christmas classics she recorded on her latest album in 2019, Dionne Warwick and the Voice of Christmas which features duets on the entire album except for two songs. That same year Warwick received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. From the album Warwick performed “Silent Night,” “Jingle Bells,” “Have Yourself a Merry Christmas,” “White Christmas,” “First Noel,” Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer,” and “The Christmas Song.” Warwick sang a duet with her son Todd as well as her second son Damon who came out as a special guest.
This was also a night of storytelling with one story being about the great Celia Cruz which led into performing the Bacharach/David hit “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” followed by another Bacharach/ David hit “What the World Needs Now Is Love.” The second to last song was “That’s What Friends are For” composed by Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sanger. This was a number one hit for Warwick and was recorded with Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder, but was originally recorded by Rod Stewart three years earlier. It also won two Grammys, one for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Song of the Year and at the time raised $3 million dollars for Aids research. Warwick ended on “What’s Good About Goodbye.”
