Always Something There To Remind Me-1st recorded by Warwick!

[BachtoBacharach]

Ron, thanks for your post! I was a little stunned when Warwick popped off that she hadn't heard Painted From Memory and it's simply because I felt the tune "This House Is Empty Now" is the one tune on the album I could hear her singing in my head the very first time I heard it...it's as though it was really written for her and maybe Bacharach heard her singing it in his head when he was writing it. It's the best tune Bacharach had probably written since the 60s and the whole album was the best body of work on an album since Bacharach's glory days with Warwick, IMHO. As much as I loved Costello's work with Bacharach on the album, I agreed with many of the critics who said that the only thing missing on the album was Dionne Warwick. Warwick could have probably pulled off the tune with some adjustments 1997, alas, now age and smoking have taken a toll but at 70 (Dec 12) I still believe she and Bacharach have one great album together left in them. Bacharach understands Warwick's voice as no one else does and Warwick knows Bacharach's music as no one else does; I believe he could still bring out the best in her voice like no one else and she could inspire him to write just for her voice as it is now. At times, she still has quite a range when her voice is rested and pampered. However, she doesn't rest much and she certainly doesn't do much to protect her voice and never has. I have had the impression for quite a while that Warwick and Bacharach are not as close as they once were even 10 years ago and I am interested to see what she reveals in her book. I doubt she will reveal much; I certainly don't believe she will delve into much of anything controversial that has been revealed in some posts to this forum in the past years. She was deeply hurt over frankly bitchy remarks Patti LaBelle made about her in her biography and I have no doubt that she won't respond in kind in her book. Despite some of her less than savory associations in the past 15 years, she remains a class act in that respect. I expect no fireworks.

[ron hertel]

BachtoBacharach: - We won't have to speculate much longer on what she reveals in her autobiography - Barnes and Noble informed me that my copy of Dionne's "My Life As I See It" was shipped today. I do hope that she does open up about some of the more controversial stories that have surfaced over the years along with addressing some of the personal tragedies and disappointments she has experienced .... even some of the regrets she might have. From all accounts I have heard over the years - she is well respected and has many many lifelong friends both in and out of the business. Despite the ups and downs that all of us can relate to - Dionne does remain a "Class Act" and is truly a survivor!

[Dionnefan]

I am very excited as I was informed my book should arrive tomorrow. I really hope there is some good stuff in there. I keep thinking a big fish like Simon and Schuster wouldn't publish the book if it wasn't interesting. And I don't necessarily need a lot of gossip--I would be thrilled to hear in detail what it was like growing up with the Drinkards, and in depth details of how she put together her music and her shows.

BtoB -- you should really write the book! You seem to know so much interesting info about Dionne.

[GehVorbei]

Dionne has made some uncharacteristically acerbic remarks about Elvis Costello as a singer. Fairly soon after Painted From Memory came out and at the time it felt very much like she had an issue with not being part of that project. And why shouldn't she. Burt suddenly returning to his signature style must have brought up all sorts of emotions for Dionne, including those about the breakup and the songs that never were.

[maestrofan]

Mr. Costello is not the only recipient of Ms Warwick's "uncharacteristically acerbic remarks". Add Cher, Cilla Black and the maestro himself to that list. Do not lose sight of the fact that EVERY SONG on the "Painted From Memory" project WAS COMPOSED BY BURT BACHARACH and ELVIS COSTELLO!

[Pablo]

I have read carefully all your posts and, yes, maybe the Dionne biography will tell something interesting about her feelings towards Bacharach (although autobiographies normally don't reveal too much, think of Michael Jackson's 'Moonwalk 'or Diana Ross' Secrets of a sparrow; a Randy Taraborrelli-Dionne biography would be very interesting, I say this after reading his fantastic and balanced biography on Diana Ross). You are bigger Warwick experts than me, but imo Dionne Warwick feels more than ambivalent towards Bacharach; among other things, remember she sued Bacharach for break of contract in the 70s after signing with Warner ... that can damage any professional or personal relationship. In parallel, it was not easy for her to continue a career without him and, also, she has been been reminded all the time that her best artistic period was with the Bacharach/David duo and she has had to record their songs again and again in various records in the 90s and 00s. To cup it all, other newcomers (Costello mainly) were really the ones who got all the glory of Bacharach "resurrection" for critics and public.

[Dionnefan]

Pablo, I think you are correct in your assumption that Dionne is at least somewhat ambivalent about Burt. In her book she mentions that at least Hal had the decency to call her after the settlement was through to apologize for the way things went down. I don't think she ever totally forgave Burt.

And I do think Dionne was angry that she got virtually none of the lift from the "Bacharach renaissance" in the late 90's sparked by Austin Powers. I can see how she could feel "left out" when of all people Elvis Costello is singing one of her signature songs in the Austin Powers sequel. Of course if Dionne had never tarnished her image with the Psychic Friends and damaged her voice with chain smoking, she would have probably no doubt been chosen for the cameo. Dionne Warwick just had way too much baggage around the end of the nineties.

In fact someone at work today saw my Dionne book sitting on my desk. She kind of laughed and said "Dionne Warwick?!?" in a slightly incredulous way. She said that Dionne "scares" her, whatever that means. This person is in their late 20's, and her only frame of reference was Psychic Friends and That's What Friends Are For. I don't think she had any idea that Dionne was one of the biggest stars in music throughout almost the entire decade of the 60's. I asked if she knew about any of Dionne's earlier work and what an excellent vocalist she was, and she knew nothing about it. It made me kind of sad. I guess that's why I kind of see Dionne nowadays as my own secret fantastic singers with huge catalog of excellent music no one else even knows about.

[Blair N. Cummings]

If Dionne resented not receiving a commercial boost following the PFM project, why then did she stop David Nathan in his tracks during his Scepter re-issue project and declare that his efforts were "not appreciated"?

[BachtoBacharach]

Blair, I must have totally missed this but could you provide more details regarding Dionne's statements to David Nathan about stopping her reissue project? Nathan released all her Scepter material on Rhino and continued with the project on his own with her Warner material on Spy Records. I was under the impression that it was Rhino and not Warwick who didn't continue forward with the project past her final Scepter release. Warwick holds no rights to any of her recordings and hasn't since 1991 so I don't know how she could stop the project...Nathan never had to have her permission to move forward with it. Now she may have objected because she was promoting her own remake Dionne Sings Dionne and her subsequent ad-nausem remake projects, but Nathan obviously didn't listen to her. I do seem to remember some press article about she felt she was competing with herself. By the way, Warwick owes $8,000,000 in Federal and State back taxes. The most recent lien was filed by the IRS on 12/31/2009 for almost $7 million. This is truly sad. This reminds me of the tax troubles Willie Nelson, Redd Foxx, and Sammy Davis had but nowhere near this amount; how does she overcome this massive debt? As for Bacharach, he burned Warwick royally; can't blame her for her ambivalence toward him but the damage to his career after the split was just as severe, lest she forget. Burt was hoping with the Stephanie Mills release that he could get past folks associating him with Dionne but the public would have none of it. And, Burt was chosen for the Bette Midler film project Isn't She Great because of Dionne's association with Bette Midler, Jackie Susann and the film Valley of the Dolls. I would have said that Burt tried to offer a "make-up project" to Dionne after PFM with that film until I remembered why Dionne was chosen. Complex relationships! BTW, Burt told the Associated Press (in a wire service story that went nation wide) in 1979 that he would never work with Dionne again (this after her spectacular comeback) and I am sure she was laughing about Burt's apparent sour grapes...Burt can be just as snarky as Dionne, lest anyone forget.

[Blair N. Cummings]

Bto B: You`re probably right about Dionne not being able to stop the Rhino project; but I recall e-mailing Nathan about finding the remaining Bacharach/Warwick tapes from the mid-70s. His response was that he wouldn`t be finding them any time soon since the project had been halted and that DW had made it known that she " didn`t appreciate " what had been done to date. I just assumed she had something to do with that.
Still, it`s hard to imagine that she believed that that dismal "duets" project could in any way have competed creatively or commercially with her `62 - `72 material. Obviously no one else believed it either since its intended sequel was scrapped. and what did we get? The Christmas album!
I `m beginning to wonder if she has any perspective at all on her talent or her career.

[BachtoBacharach]

Nathan has done a fine job with the projects. I believe Dionne's objection was probably more esoteric than anything else. Her own projects would make her money and those Nathan projects put nothing in her coffers since she sold the rights back to Warner Music Group in 1991. From all accounts, Dionne is working for the IRS! Her tax troubles began years ago. She sings those hits in concert because she's making the dough but gets nothing when the original recordings are played on the radio. I truly feel for the plight Dionne is in but this goes back for years and years and it's hard to understand why she keeps burning herself financially. I also believe she is pretty pragmatic about her status as a legend and would likely say that "you can't put "legend" in the bank" but I believe her perspective would be quite different about everything if she weren't so strapped for cash. She's not only squandered her reputation, she's squandered the fortune she's made. She also made some remakes of her own tunes back in 1973 for Warners that haven't seen the light of day and from all accounts they are pretty bad, dated 70s crap (she remade Don't Say I Didn't Tell You So, and In Between Heartaches, among others). Now we would all love to see the unreleased remaining original Bacharach material in the vaults but I don't think that the reissue of those tracks would be commercially viable unless there is a box set and that's been talked about for years. I do think that Dionne is not only ambivilant about Bacharach but ambivilant about her own career with Bacharach. I hold hope that folks will rediscover Dionne's artistry as they have Etta James's. Etta was at low ebb for many years with career troubles far beyond what Dionne has gone through and all that's moot because folks are loving Etta's ART and couldn't care less about Etta's past! Let's hope for the same for Dionne; come to think of it, Etta was pretty PO'ed at Beyonce for remaking "her song" At Last, so Dionne's feelings about Cher, Cilla Black and even her ambivilance toward Bacharach aren't unusual. Also, Aretha had a feud with Beyonce as well over Tina Turner being called "The Queen"...maybe some of Dionne's statements through the years seem pretty tame! Ahhhhh, the DIVAS!

[Dionnefan]

I have also seen the $7 million dollar lien filed on 12/31. How is Dionne generating enough income to incur another $7 million in tax debt? Why is she not paying? I just feel so sorry for her. I don't know how accurate the website is on which I saw the new debt. I would think there would have been at least one article written about such a MASSIVE! debt if it were true. And would the IRS be filing something on New Year's Eve? I doubt any such business would be conducted on a holiday.

[BachtoBacharach]

The IRS filings are a matter of public record and yes, the IRS would file a lien on that day. Dionne also owes over a million in California state taxes as well. The IRS debt goes back many years (as early as 1992) and with interest and penalties, what started out as perhaps a million or two has become so massive that there is no way she can hope to pay it off unless she hits a Power Ball somewhere. It is truly sad but she has also incurred tax debt on her December 12 Company and her Dionne Warwick Design Group among others. Some of the tax debt comes from her PFN income which from late 1992 through 1998 was estimated to be as much as $18 million. All speculation on my part but she's earned conservatively about $50 million in her career according to my speculation and apparently she's spent most all of it. I believe she's probably earned more than that in a 48 year career. Of course she's traveled with a band and an entourage for years and that's an expense she bears. She might have suffered a career slump in the 90s but she more than made up for the slump in income with the PFN money. As I said previously she has a good heart and takes good care of friends and family but she has been generous to a fault. And, sadly now at almost 70, I believe she is finding out that many of those folks who took her money have run. All this to say that her music with Bacharach will never change regardless of how folks think of her and I can only hope that folks rediscover that.

[Dionnefan]

When Dionne was being paid by Psychic Friends did she just not pay any taxes on it? I don't understand how that could happen. She must have had some pretty poor accountants working for her. I feel so bad for her. I mean with a debt like that hanging over my head, I think I seriously might feel suicidal. How can she ever hope to pay that? Will she have nothing left to leave to her children and grandchildren? Will the IRS seize her home?

[Dionnefan]

BtoB, where did you see that Dionne owes another 7 million? I saw it on one website that I am not sure is "official". I have seen several articles written about celebrities with tax debts several months into 2010, and none of them mention anything other than about 2 million to CA and 2 million to the feds.