Then Came You

[gillanddon]

Yes I am sure this could be the case but there are other factors that have possibly contributed to this. The loss of her legendary partnership with Burt and Hal (the sueing procedure) and generally losing her footing after that. At Warner Bros ..poor management and marketing and a lack of understanding her position as a singer which I think resulted in many lost opportunities. Simarlarly with Clive Davis at Arista .. often choice of the wrong material .. some material not suited to her at all .. and a feeling of her being slightly out of step with the times. Difficult duets with unknown singers. Having said that, she still had some major hits. At the time,I often felt that Arista never gave her new releases the full back up? In those days, pre Amazon, they could be hard to find on the shelves and I used to wonder where the marketing men were or even where the new record was.

[BachtoBacharach]

You know, Aretha went through a career slump in the early 70s that lasted longer than Dionne's and much of the same can be said of Aretha's 1980s work...it was not that strong. In fact, both ladies have had remarkably similar career issues, slumps, etc. at around the same times. Much of Aretha's 1980s work was terribly weak and although she had some big hits, and a handful of bestselling albums, none are nearly as memorable as Dionne's I'll Never Love This Way Again, Heartbreaker, That's What Friends Are For and Deja Vu and her work on the 1979 album Dionne. Aretha's Freeway of Love was a toss away hit, I Knew You Were Waiting was a toss away duet and more in the same vein...all in all Dionne had a stronger career in the late 1970s and the 1980s than Aretha. So what does explain Dionne not being as highly regarded as Aretha although arguably as popular.

[gillanddon]

BachtoBacharach:
I agree, this one is very hard to analyse and it could be that Aretha's image has always been very 'soul' and 'gospel' and identifiable in that way to a large section of followers. Dionne has been hard to categorise in that sense. Getting back to the marketing, which I think, sadly, is so crucial, they have never known where to place Dionne. On the shelves in record stores for example, she sometimes is in the 'easy listening' category, whereas Aretha has always been solidly in the 'soul' section. Dionne finds herself slightly lost amongst Barbra Streisand and Johnny Mathis etc. She can't be categorised in the same vein as everyone else seems to be. This could explain the difficult marketing dilemma ..where to place her? .. thereby confusing the force of the sales message. I've often wondered why Clive Davis didn't do a terrific 'Hidden Gems II' type of album,for example, with COUNTLESS fabulous Bacharach songs, recorded by Dionne during the Arista years, which havn't appeared as major songs on any of her recordings. The recording could also include great songs for her like .. Any Day Now, On My Own, Arthur's Theme and so on and some of Burt's other songs on the Arista recordings which are lost? It's as if no one has managed to grasp the full force of Dionne's wide ranging ability and present it to it's full advantage. I think Clive Davis simarlarly mismanaged Whitney's talents with the wrong material and wrong image. It was all about getting the hit single and then launching an album off the back of it to boost sales. Some of the great songs get lost .. never any airplay etc. That is why it is nice to hear how great in retrospect the 'Then Came You' album is ie all the songs on it produced by Jerry Ragavoy are GREAT and it was amazing listening to it all again tonight. Many thanks to this column and to you.

[Dionnefan]

Back, can you elaborate any on the pot bust? I had never heard ANY rumors before that Dionne was into drugs, so I was shocked when this happened. Is it generally known in the industry that Dionne is a "pot-head"? I recall that one of her relatives (not sure whom) at the time reported that the marijuana was used to alleviate glaucoma symptoms. Of course Dionne claimed it wasn't hers, maybe she is telling the truth, I don't know?

[BachtoBacharach]

The glaucoma rumor started with Ruth Bowen who was friend of Dionne's. She told The Miami Herald that Dionne used marijuana for glaucoma. Dionne has never been known to use marijuana for any reason and if she has glaucoma, apparently Ruth Bowen is the only person who knows that. I believe Ruth thought she was doing Dionne a favor by coming up with some sort of legitimate explaination. At least three people in Dionne's family were no strangers to extensive pot use. DeeDee, may she rest in peace, used many drugs including heroin and her health problems attributed in part to her addiction led to her death at 63. Dionne sent DeeDee to rehab many times and was with her through many interventions. DeeDee told the press that she was shocked about the pot bust and had never known Dionne to use drugs and DeeDee was the first to say that someone put that on Dionne. Now it's entirely possible that Dionne is telling the truth that someone put a silver lipstick case with 11 joints in her purse, which is what she told the court. Dionne has been a staunch anti-drug advocate all her career, so the pot bust was a big surprise. The charges were dropped after Dionne agreed to do a series of anti-drug television commercials for the State of Florida. Whitney Houston was living in Atlanta at the time of Dionne's pot bust with Bobby Brown, who is also no stranger to marijuana use. Darlene Love wrote in her book about Dionne finding one of her backup singers high and chewed them all out, stating that she would not tolerate any drug use at all...never had and never would. Dionne fired DeeDee many times for her drug use only to take her back on tour. In around 1974 Dionne was appearing in Vegas with DeeDee and Darlene Love backing her. DeeDee came to rehearsal high and Dionne fired her. Later that night when Dionne was on stage, DeeDee staggered into the showroom screaming and yelling at the top of her voice that her sister was a bitch...this while DIonne was singing San Jose...DeeDee said that should have been her song and that she could sing better than Dionne any day. Dionne quietly had DeeDee removed and hospitalized. It's ironic that Dionne always acknowledged that DeeDee was "the real singer in the family"...touching in that although they had a very volatile relationship, that Dionne was always there for her sister and was holding her hand when she died. Family has always been the most important thing to Dionne. Despite all her nastiness, Dionne has a big heart for family and friends and is truly generous.

[Dionnefan]

Thanks Bach! Amazing info. So are you of the opinion that Dionne is telling the truth about the pot not being hers? I had heard that Deedee had a cocaine problem in the 80's but I never knew she was into heroin as well. Poor Deedee. Do you know exactly what Deedee's health problems were that led to her death? I often wonder exactly what Deedee's life was like. Did she ever marry or have any kids?

Deedee is of course a great singer. She may be more soulful than Dionne, but there is no way she can match the nuanced brilliance of her sister. The Drinkards are loaded with talented singers, some of which may have a greater natural instrument than Dionne (Whitney, maybe Cissy?), but none of them has the musical intelligence and utterly unique style than Dionne possesses. I wish I could get a chance to hear Lee and the aunts like Annie and Rebbie sing. From what I understand, that all were pretty good.

[An Enormous BB Fan]

I did not know all that about Dee Dee Warrick. I'm shocked at Dee Dee calling Dionne a bitch like that. Dionne was very self-effacing to say that Dee Dee was the singer in the family. Dee Dee was a great singer, no doubt about it. But she was not a better singer and did not have the voice that Dionne did. No one did. But I didn't know that she had such resentment towards Dionne. I guess it can be tough trying to be a famous singer like your sister and never getting to that level. Who could?

The few times that I have seen Dionne in concert, she was just so great! But I would be remiss if I didn't repeat something that I have written here in the past. At the height of Dionne's fame, she gave a concert at the Bushnell Memorial in Hartford, Connecticut. My friend and I waited for her by the stage door. There was a crowd of fans there to see her. The first person went up to her and asked Dionne for her autograph. She haughtily said, "I don't give autographs" and then got into her car and drove off. I never held that against Dionne. But I never forgot it either because I thought that if I had ever been lucky enough to be so gifted as Dionne, and so respected and famous, that I would be more than willing to sign some autographs for my fans. Or, at the least, you would figure that Dionne could have come up with a great excuse of some kind. Anyway, now I come here and I'm reading all of this about Dionne. So I see that that this "bitchiness" part of her personality that everyone is seeing on the Celebrity Apprentice is consistent with what I had seen years ago.

Now regarding Aretha: I never saw her in concert. But a friend of mine went to see her in Wallingford, Connecticut at the Oakdale Music Theatre. He said that he was very unhappy with her because she came out, sang 3 songs and left and never came back. I found that hard to believe, but my friend is definitely not a liar or one to make up tales, so I have no choice but to believe him.

Getting back to Dionne: I love her singing and songs so much that I really don't care what kind of person she is. I would still thank her for all the joy she has brought me with her truly legendary career.

[BachtoBacharach]

Dionne, IMHO, had the best pipes of all the Drinkard girls. Not only could she sing anything but her timing, warmth, nuance, control, and phrasing is unsurpassed.

Whitney has a lot of technical virtuosity but no warmth...and her material is dated and weak. Whitney is also a gimmicky singer who used way too much melisma. She is not even on the same planet in the live performing department. Although Dionne could be off at times when performing live, no one could touch her.

I recall reading a lot of reviews of Aretha concerts from the 1960s and 70 that I attended and I always felt flat and disappointed after every single live Aretha performance and she received some very spotty reviews...many reviewers often wondered where the magic was. She in on fire in the studio but she does not connect well with her audience and never has. A lot of Aretha's magic disappears out of the recording studio, IMHO. Now, I'm going to go ahead and say this but Aretha is not a particularly nice, considerate diva either. She has been known to be very petulant when her demands are not met. I also recall some very childish behavior toward Tina Turner and Beyonce. Tina Turner on the other hand is as gracious as she seems. She is down to earth, pleasant and not particularly diva-ish if that's a word and she is probably the most dynamic and thrilling stage performer of them all. Barbara Streisand is not a very nice person either; she's also not a particulary good live performer although technically superb...doesn't connect well with a live audience at all. Diana Ross is probably the worst of the lot; not particularly talented in comparison to these other ladies, and a very nasty attitude and sense of entitlement to boot. Upstaging Florence Ballard at her own funeral was what did it for me with Diana...showing up late and practically throwing herself prostrate over Florence's coffin and then leaving in her limo before the service was even half over. I don't think she's even the concert draw Dionne is these days.

Dionne connected with record listeners and then were blown away when attending a live concert...she can do it all and even though she's 70 years old, she can still attract an audience, especially overseas and she knows how to throw a great show despite the vocal limitations age and smoking have caused. Aretha doesn't fly these days, but appears at mostly the same type of venues that Dionne does surprisingly. Dionne is definietly an enigma...a super entertainer who sometimes is not so nice personally...sounds like a lot of entertainers out there. Sorry if I have offended anyone with my opinions.

[Dionnefan]

Bach, I had been a casual fan of Dionne (I was born in 76, so not around in her heyday 60s) in the late 80's - early 90's. I thought her voice was so unique. Then I rented a VHS of her performance in Joliet from 1983 and learned about the otherworldly, amazing abilities this woman has. When I heard the end of "Yours", I got chills. I had to play the part for about 10 different people, most of whom had no idea D was capable of that type of singing. The end of "Friends in Love" from that concert is a tour de force. I think a lot of people underrate Dionne and don't think she is as good as the other ladies are because she is hardly ever showy and she has a dry tone. Dionne's voice is to me like a fine wine that you almost have to develop a taste for. Whitney is like Kool-Aid, very sweet and tastes good, but not too deep. Dionne requires a wine drinker's developed palate to truly appreciate. It's funny to me how these people on all these sites rant on and on about how Patti can hit this note or Whitney held that note, but none of them know how to properly SING the song like Dionne does (plus Dionne used to be able to hit and sustain all those notes too!)

[BachtoBacharach]

Patti Labelle is a whole different story! First, she is not in the same league fame wise as any of these women and she, like a lot of singers these days was always gimmicky from the get go...it has never been about Patti serving a song...it's always been about how Ms Patti can showboat. She overpowers practically every tune she sings and she is one of the most narcissistic singers ever...not talking about her personality either...it is always about her and never the song. She's had three big hits as a solo artist...but you would think from the hype she has generated through the years that she was the biggest hitmaker of the 20th century! Dionne almost always sublimated herself into a tune and enhanced not only the tune but herself as well...a unique talent. Although she can showboat with the best of them, she often has chosen not to.

Another observation about Dionne's abilities...she had an immense talent for conveying such aching, hopeless, private pain in all those great Bacharach/David tunes. She could convey more emotion in a couple of bars than most any other singer could convey in an entire album and do so without wailing and screaming. She moved people and your could hear HER in every note but that never took away from the tune. When I hear Patti sing, I am hearing Patti sing. When I hear Dionne sing I am hearing a song like it's almost alive and breathing, if that makes sense.

[Dionnefan]

Bach, I 'd love to hear your opinion on Cissy's singing ability. To me she has always sounded alot like Deedee. And what is Cissy's relationship with Dionne like. For some reason, I sometimes get the impression that she is not all that close with Dionne. Dionne's book mentioned Cissy and included her picture, but Dionne's pic was nowhere to be found in Cissy's book.

[BachtoBacharach]

Cissy was a great singer who never had the drive to be the star Dionne became. Cissy and Dionne are close; more like sisters than Aunt and Niece. Cissy was the youngest of the Drinkard girls and just a little older than Dionne. Actually, of all the Drinkard girls (and I'm including the daughters of the Drinkard girls here, too) Dionne is the nicest. Now Dionne has a very nasty, snarky side but she is basically a decent person, albeit one with a low tolerance for weakness or indeciciveness. Lee, Dionne's mother, never drove her daughter like Cissy and John Houston drove Whitney. Lee was demanding and domineering in many ways but she was basically decent as well. She reveled in and enjoyed Dionne's success and wasn't jealous of it and didn't push her into the business. Cissy, in my opinion was always a Dionne wannabe who lacked the drive and ambition to pursue her own career (and I know how hackneyed this all sounds but it's what I have observed). She has been able to live out her desire to be a star through Whitney and yes, she pushed, pushed, pushed. I was rather shocked when I read Cissy's book and she seemed to downplay Dionne's success as there was a bare minimum of mention of Dionne..yes, I believe there is some sour grapes on the part of Cissy toward Dionne. I found that really odd because Cissy performed backup on hundreds of Warwick recordings in the 60s and 70s and was a fixture in Dionne's life. I find much to admire in Dionne and also much to dislike...she's very tough and strong while Whitney is fragile and fragmented. Dionne also had a very strong and close relationship with her father and he did balance her home life a great deal and she has some of his good qualities...and she's raised two great boys who didn't fall into the things that children of stars can be prone to fall into. She was a good mother. Although many folks including myself want to tell Dionne to wake up about some things, she basically has taken ownership of everything she has ever done good or bad...sometimes she has worn blinders but essentially she knows she's made her bed (as we all do in life) and it doesn't do any good to grouse about it. I don't think Dionne intended to across as the gigantic beyatch she has on Celebrity Apprentice, but she's certainly making no excuses for it from what I have seen.

[An Enormous BB Fan]

I was listening to Dionne's recording of "If We Only Have Love" today. All I can say is "Wow!" I hope you're all familiar with it. It's not a B/D song, but I think it's one of her best recordings. Does anyone know if Burt arranged it, because it's just that good.

Regarding Patti LaBelle: I'm not crazy about how she produces her sound. There's too much of a nasal quality to it and it also gets too damned screechy for me.

Regarding Diana Ross: As a lover and fan of The Supremes, she has a special place in my heart. And, yes, her voice may be on the weak side and slightly tinny at times, nevertheless, I think she's a fabulous singer. And she still has her voice. She was on the Oprah Show recently (with her family) and she sang a capella to Oprah and she sounded beautiful. Diana is a wonderful singer of ballads. And did anyone have more hit songs than Diana? She had eight #1 songs with The Supremes alone, not to mention all the hits that came after that. "It's My Turn" and "If We Hold On (Together)" are two particular favorites of mine.

But Dionne will always be #1 with me. And somethat that B2B said below is so true: No one can better bring out the sorrowness and sadness that is inherent in songs having those qualities. I think of "I Cry Alone", "The Windows of the World", and "Trains and Boats and Planes" as just 3 easy examples. For my money, Dionne had everything in her artistry.

[Dionnefan]

Has Dionne ever publicly acknowledged the damage she's done to her voice? I recall an interview she did in the 80's where the host noticed Dionne smoking and asked her about if she was worried it would affect her voice. Dionne stated something to the effect that the cigarettes helped to make her voice what it is. I have also heard that Dionne liked the fact that the cigarettes gave her a huskier tone as she wanted to go for a more R&B sound. To a certain extent, I DO like what the cigarettes did to her voice. I love the way her voice had that thick tone in the 80's. But, she still had the ability to stretch notes and hit high notes back then. If she would have stopped smoking then, maybe things would be OK today. I was shocked how far she slipped by the time "Friends Can Be Lovers" came out. The last album she sounded really good throughout was probably "Cole Porter". It seems like Whitney is going down a similar path, but when Dionne was at Whitney's current age she was sounding much better than Whitney sounds now. Maybe the Drinkard genes just dictate that the voices don't hold up well over time. But then Cissy still sounds pretty good, so who knows.

Has anyone ever tried to make Dionne stop? I did hear that at one point her sons, Gladys, and Patti gave her an "intervention" of sorts and she stopped for a while around 2004 or so? I did notice that in the last few years she put on weight in the fashion that is common for smokers that give up the habit. Dionne had always been so thin and trim up until this time. But not long ago on an interview where she was promoting her shows with Connie Francis, Dionne unabashedly proclaimed that she smokes at least a pack of Virginia Slims a day.