Dionne Warwick My Point Of View North American Release

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warbachavid
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Dionne Warwick My Point Of View North American Release

Post by warbachavid »

Dionne Warwick's Illustrated Memoirs to be Released in U.S. 9/1/2004
Music Legend, Dionne Warwick, Releases European-Published Book To American Readers Through Lighthouse Press, Inc.

ISLAND OF LINDAU, GERMANY / LIGHTHOUSE POINT, FLORIDA, USA (PRWEB) June 24, 2004 -- European publisher, Mastropaolo & Koblischek Editor, has appointed The Lighthouse Press Inc., of Lighthouse Point, FL as the exclusive North American representative and distributor of Dionne Warwick's first book, My Point Of View.

"My Point Of View is a beautiful book," says Lighthouse Press Publisher, Ron Richard. "Richly crafted by Mastropaolo & Koblischek Editor, the book contains over 200 of Dionne’s private photographs featuring the entertainment world’s best known names. Also included is an audio CD specifically produced for this book that is not available anywhere else. The CD, including words and music, underscore Dionne’s words and pearls of wisdom found in the book. But more than that, Dionne Warwick recounts her life in the music industry while relating personal thoughts that we found, frankly, remarkably insightful and uplifting."

Ron Richard invites people to learn more about the internationally renowned singer's entrepreneurial and humanitarian work by reading her career biography which is freely available online at www.TheLighthousePress.com

My Point Of View was originally published to the European market in 2003, and is only now being made available to America through Lighthouse Press, Inc. Fans and readers may reserve the book in advance of the September 2004 release by ordering a copy at local and online bookstores. Telephone orders are also being accepted though a toll free service at 1-800-247-6553.

U.S. Release Date: September 1, 2004

ISBN: 1-932211-14-4 / $50 / Hardcover w/audio CD included
Press: Kelley C. Smith / Ron Richard
E-mail: lighthousepress@bellsouth.net
Web: www.DionneWarwick.info
Web: www.TheLighthousePress.com
Fax: 954.782.2810
Tel: 954.260.4059
warbachavid
Posts: 268
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2004 8:30 pm

Post by warbachavid »

warbachavid
Posts: 268
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2004 8:30 pm

Post by warbachavid »

Author
Dionne Warwick.
Biography
Simply put, Dionne Warwick is an international legend. With nearly sixty charted hits since 1962's "Don't Make Me Over" she has amassed a worldwide audience who love her.

Receiving her first Grammy Award in 1968 (for the classic "Do You Know The Way to San Jose?") she was the first African-American solo female artist of her generation to win the prestigious award for Best Contemporary Female Vocal Performance. Until Warwick this honor had been betstowed upon only one other female African-American legend; Ella Fitzgerald.

Dionne Warwick preceded the mainstream success of some of her peers by becoming the first such artist to rack up a dozen consecutive Top 100 hit singles from 1963 to 1966.

Her performance at the Olympia Theater in Paris, during a 1963 concert starring the legendary Marlene Dietrich, rocketed her to international stardom. While establishing herself as a major force in American contemporary music, Warwick was also gaining popularity with European audiences. Hits like "Anyone Who Had A Heart" and "Walk On By" brought successively higher visibility and ultimately world-wide recognition. By 1968 she became the first African-American female performer to appear before the Queen of England in a Royal Command Performance. Since then, Warwick has performed before numerous kings, queens, presidents, and heads of state.

Her recordings of songs like "A House Is Not A home," "Alfie," "(Theme From) The Valley Of The Dolls," and "The April Fools" were pioneering in popularizing classic movie themes by female artists. In 1968 Warwick made her film debut in the movie "Slaves." Following Lena Horne, this was only the second time that a contemporary African-American female recording artist achieved such a goal.

In recent years, Warwick's efforts have focused on leading the music industry in the fight against AIDS. Her Grammy-winning, chart topping, single "That's What Friends Are For," lead the way by raising, literally, millions of dollars for AIDS research. Throughout the world, Warwick has devoted countless hours to a wide range of humanitarian causes, serving as the U.S. Ambassador for Health throughout the 80s. On October 16, 2002 she was named a global Ambassador for the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), based in Rome, Italy. Warwick has spearheaded the long overdue development and production of a history book that will detail African and African-American history for use in schools, libraries, and bookstores throughout the world. She continues her work as a socially conscious and concerned global citizen.

With a legacy of accomplishments and achievements, Dionne Warwick proudly celebraed her 40th year in the recording industry with the 2003 release of CD composed of duets entitled My Friends And Me. Warwick said the the album traced its roots to the very earliest years of her musical career.

That career began during her childhood years in East Orange, New Jersey, when singing in church. Occasionally she sang as a soloist and fill-in voice for the renowned Drinkard Singers, a group comprised of her mother Lee along with her aunts and uncles. During her teens, Warwick and sister Dee Dee started their own gospel group, The Gospelaires. It was while visiting the Drinkard Singers at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem that Warwick was asked to sing backup during a session for saxophonist Sam "The Man" Taylor. In February 1998, The Apollo Theater paid tribute to Warwick in a special event highlighting her constant support for the venue and her work as a music trailblazer.

While attending The Hartt College Of Music in Hartford, Connecticut, Warwick began making trips to do regular session work in New York. She sang behind many of the biggest starts of the 1960's including Dinah Washington, Brook Benton, Chuck Jackson, and Solomon Burke to name a few. Once Burt Bacharach, composer, arranger, and producer heard her singing during a session for The Drifters, he asked her to sing on demos of songs he was writing with new partner Hal David. In 1962, Bacharach & David presented one such demo to Scepter Records. The label President, Florence Greenberg, did not want the song; she did, however, want the voice and Dionne began a hit-filled, twelve-year, association with the New York label.

In all, Dionne, Burt, and Hal racked up thirty hit singles, and close to twenty best-selling albums, during their first decade together. Songs like "Do You Know The Way To San Jose," "Message To Michael," "This Girl's In Love With You," "I'll Never Fall In Love Again," and "Reach Out For Me," established Dionne Warwick as a consummate artist and performer. Known as the artist who "bridged the gap," Dionne's soulful blend of pop, gospel and R&B music transcended race, culture, and musical boundaries.

In 1970, Warwick received her second Grammy Award for the best-selling album I'll Never Fall In Love Again and her her second decade of hits began by her signing with Warner Brothers Records. Warwick recorded half-a-dozen albums, working with top producers like Thom Bell, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Jerry Ragavoy, Steve Barri, and Michael Omartian. In 1974 she hit the top of the charts for the first time with "Then Came You," a million-selling duet with The Spinners. Three years later, she teamed up with Isaac Hayes for a highly successful World Tour, "A Man And A Woman."

In 1976, fresh from earning a Master's Degree in Music from her alma mater (The Hartt College of Music), Warwick signed with Arista Records, beginning a third decade of hit-making. Label-mate Barry Manilow produced her first Platinum-selling album, Dionne. The album included these back-to-back hits; "I'll Never Love This Way Again," and "Déjà Vu." Both recordings earned Grammy Awards, making her the first female artist to win the Best Female Pop, and Best Female R&B Performance, Award. Hot on the heels of her phenomenal success, Warwick began her first stint as host for the highly successful television show "Solid Gold."

Further milestones marked Warwick's tenure with Arista. Her 1982 album, Heartbreaker, co-produced by Barry Gibb and The Bee Gees, became an international chart-topper. In 1985, she reunited with producer Burt Bacharach, and longtime friends Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John to record the classic "That's What Friends Are For." Profits from the sale of that song were donated to the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR). In 1990 she joined forces with a number of Arista label-mates to raise over $2.5 Million for various AIDS organizations during the star-studded "That's What Friends Are For" Benefit at New York's Radio City Music Hall.

Warwick's album Friends achieved Gold status. Throughout the 80s she collaborated with many of her musical peers, including Johnny Mathis, Smokey Robinson, Luther Vandross and others. Warwick worked with Stevie Wonder as music coordinator for the film and Academy Award winning soundtrack album The Woman In Red. She was one of the key participants in the all-star charity single "We Are The World" and, in 1984 she performed at "Live Aid."

In addition to co-hosting and helping to launch "The Soul Train Music Awards", she also starred in her own show, "Dionne And Friends." She was co-executive producer of "Celebrate The Soul Of American Music" which honored and recognized many of her fellow musical pioneers. Throughout the 1980's and 1990's, Warwick toured extensively with Burt Bacharach. The show won rave reviews from fans and press alike for reinforcing the timeless musical legacy of the Bacharach, David and Warwick team. Her recent musical achievements have included performances as part of the "National Symphony With The Divas," and, in Tokyo, performances with The National Opera Company of Japan; Yes, Warwick even signs classical music.

Warwick's most recent activities have included the creation of Carr/Todd/Warwick Production, Inc. The goal of the organization is to produce television and film projects. For the past fifteen years she has also worked tirelessly as the co-founder of the Dionne Warwick Design Group, Inc. With partner Bruce Garrick, Warwick has been responsible for designing numerous international projects ranging from private estates to world-class hotels which, she notes, are "all affordable!" In 2002 Warwick was featured on a Home & Garden Network show highlighting the Palm Desert home designed by her and her partner Bruce.

Warwick now divides her time between Brazil and the United States, and has made the design of her Brazilian home a special project. (Her final album for Arista was the critically acclaimed Aquarela Do Brasil (Watercolor of Brazil) that showcased her long-term love affair with the people and music of Brazil.)

Not content with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Warwick continues work with various organizations dedicated to empowering and inspiring others. In 1997 she was awarded the "Luminary Award" by the American Society of Young Musicians. That same year she joined General Colin Powell in celebrating the tenth anniversary of the "Best Friends" Program, an abstinence and character-building program for young women. Dionne's East Orange New Jersey Elementary School, Lincoln Elementary, honored her by renaming it "The Dionne Warwick Institute of Economics and Entrepreneurship." Displaying her own business skills, Warwick reactivated her skin care regimen and fragrance in 2003.

In early 1998, the National Association of Record Merchandisers (NARM) gave Warwick the Chairman's Award for Sustained Creative Achievement. In November 2001, the History Makers Organization of Chicago named her "History Maker." 2002 was a special year for Warwick; she was honored by the American Red Ribbon AIDS Foundation; in October she was named FAO Ambassador of the United Nations; in December she was honored by The Recording Academy with the 2002 New York Chapter's Heroes Award and she appeared (for the fourth time) on the Vatican's Christmas Concert. In 2003, she received a lifetime achievement award from the R&B Foundation, and she was selected as one of the 2003 Top Faces of Black History.

As she looks forward to another decade of great music, Dionne Warwick says that she still has some important personal goals; "As I've said over the years, I still want the Tony, Oscar, and Emmy!" Nothing seems impossible to Warwick, a woman who has inspired and empowered millions through her music, her performances, and her work as a humanitarian. In a recent interview she reflected on the words imparted to her by her grandfather; "If you think it, you can do it!" With a life filled with accomplishment and achievement, Dionne Warwick can proudly say that she has always believed in, and lived by, those words of wisdom.

Dionne Warwick's first book, My Point of View is a collection of "pearls of wisdom" that she has gathered through the years. She provides her own thoughts and wisdom on various subjects, all highlighted by personal and rare photographs of her journey.

The Lighthouse Press is pleased and honored to be the exclusive U.S. distributor for her book.

Toll Free Telephone Orders Through BookMasters
My Point Of View is just a Toll Free call away. Order today!
1 (800) 247-6553

Author's Work
MY POINT OF VIEW

Author's Work Offered Online
AMAZON.COM

Author's Website
DIONNEWARWICK.INFO
BachToBacharach

Dionne's Book

Post by BachToBacharach »

Interesting book, great pictures, but if you are looking for an expose or a lot of meat about Dionne's career, don't look here. It is a pleasant, extremely positive inspirational book.

Many of the photos have never been seen. As seen from a career spanning perspective, there is little in the book that will bring any insight into the Dionne-Burt-Hal relationship. There are a few pages devoted to her career with Bacharach/David but she does not dwell on those years. It looks more at Dionne's career sans Bacharach-when you think of it-from 1972 to 1984, she and Bacharach weren't even on speaking terms, and aside from a few tracks and concert tours together since, they've not had the relationship they enjoyed in the 1960s. Things change but the thing that struck me was the success, respect and tremendous fame she enjoyed in the late seventies through the early ninties when Clive Davis signed her to Arista (until the infamous PFN years tarnished her credibility), and the fact that she is probably one of the hardest working entertainers alive (sorry James Brown). Although Dionne's credibility has suffered she is slowly rebuilding her good name; she is among the last of the true "entertainers" that we remember so fondly from concerts and television appearances in the 1960s. There are so few left now. Maybe soon she will be recognized again for her contributions to entertainment. It is sad that the entertainment business and recording business has changed so much-and not for the better.
warbachavid
Posts: 268
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2004 8:30 pm

Post by warbachavid »

This was never said to be an autobiography by Miss Warwick, it is a coffee table book, reflecting on her amazing 42 year career.
BachToBacharach

Dionne's Book

Post by BachToBacharach »

Dionne Warwick's Illustrated Memoirs to be Released in U.S. 9/1/2004.

There may be some confusion as to the content of the book, memoirs may have a different meaning to some who think of memoirs as being autobiographical in nature. As posted earlier, if you are looking for details or meat, this is not the book for you. If you are looking for a positive, upbeat look at the philosophies of Dionne accompanied by pictures, this is the one for you.

warbachavid, there is no criticism here and no need to defend the book. The European site does not promote the book as a "coffeetable" book.
warbachavid
Posts: 268
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2004 8:30 pm

Post by warbachavid »

I will defend whatever I wish, it has always been touted as Dionne sharing her pearls of wisdom, good advise given to her along the way by family and pears, not an autobiography. It is a coffee table book, with many pictures from her illustrious 42 year career. That's the problem with the world today, everything has to be trashy to be accepted.
If you are looking for a scandalous tell-all, name names book then Dionne Warwick is not your girl.
warbachavid
Posts: 268
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2004 8:30 pm

Post by warbachavid »

BachtoBacharach, I am sure you can get a refund from wherever you purchased it!
BachToBacharach

Book

Post by BachToBacharach »

Your assumptions are, quite simply, your assumptions, and I will not bother to comment further regarding your hissy fit.

However, I found the book to be quite a refreshing treat. I purchased mine several months ago in Amsterdam and I knew what I was doing when I purchased it (personally autographed by the DIVA herself, and with whom I had the fortune of sharing a long, candid conversation) and have no intention of seeking a refund. As far as Miss Warwick involving herself in a "tell-all" book, it would be a treat to many, and to you I am sure (don't rule it out , as Miss D frequently speaks her mind in public). Miss Warwick does not need anyone telling us who or what she is or is not, although I am sure she appreciates your presumption to defend her when she does not need your defense (or anyone's for that matter).
BachToBacharach

Thank you Mark

Post by BachToBacharach »

This discussion forum has always welcomed a wide variety of opinions and posts from those of us who love everything Bacharach. I respect the opinions of others, even when I do not agree with those opinions. It is unfortunate that sometimes I sink to a common level when I find my opinions are not respected as legitimate, especially if those opinions are offered in sincerity. An opinion at variance with anothers should entail a lively discussion, not slurs and personal attacks, and alas some do take it to that level. Attacks do discourage an honest discourse on Bacharach, Warwick, and David. There are those of us who love Burt, Hal, and Dionne warts and all and I'll not be guilty of reinventing them to suit my own agenda. Let's talk meaty opinions!

Thanks for keepin' it real, Webmaster!
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