The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

"But for those people who want to really begin to sing, I suggest getting a lot of Dionne Warwick albums-the old ones-and instead of playing the chords as much, or trumpet things, try to match her vocal note-for-note. Because there was one time where she had that beautiful balance between black and white, you know? Not too black and not too white-right in the middle. The Burt Bacharach [period]; beautiful stuff. I listened to that, and I learned how to sing. Like that. Through her."

excerpted from "Viva Santana" Guitar World

On "Song of the Wind," I still can't hear where one of you leaves off and the other takes over.

Well by that time he was coming more to my side. I wasn't going to go his side, which is Eric Clapton. I love Eric Clapton and B.B. King, but I'm always looking to find my own fingerprints. You can trace me more to Gabor Szabo and singers. I used to sing "Never Gonna Give You Up" by George Butler, the original Ice Man. I used to listen to a lot of singers. Vernon Reid and I discussed how we listened a lot to Dionne Warwick. That's where we learned how to sing. She has a very beautiful middle path where she doesn't sound black or white. She just sounds like a soul. Like a glass of water with no color in it. I like that tone; I like that sound.

It's so surprising that the Devadip should make this quote.

It's what I've also been saying for years.

I tell people-- honestly-- that it was Dionne who taught me how to sing. Though I'm a guy, and a tenor, I have nonetheless appropriated (consciously and unconsciously) much of her vocal style over the last twenty-five years, even her vibrato and embellishments.

The aspiring singer just cannot go wrong in emulating her.