Growing old gracefully: a superstar who still shines at 77
Dionne Warwick is revered as one of the greatest popular musical vocalists of our times. And on the evidence of her 10th appearance at the Royal Albert Hall in a career stretching back six decades, she has still got what it takes to mesmerise an audience.
At 77, Warwick remains a formidable stage presence. She strolled on to the accompaniment of a tinkling piano, looking like the funkiest grandmother in town in a glittering Brazilian-style bell dress, her silver hair short and sculpted. Rather than launching into song, she wandered about chatting with the casual ease of someone who takes performing in London’s most august venue in her stride.
There was a 15-minute preamble in which she outlined the order of events, all but pointing out where the lavatories and fire exits were and concluding with, “I think I’ve covered everything”. Then she sat down with her band and orchestra, and sang classic, after classic, after classic in a perfectly executed rolling segue.
She performed 37 songs, every one of them sending a frisson of delighted recognition through the audience. As the favoured singer for the songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Warwick has put her imprint on many of the most wondrous tunes ever, although there are hints that a few may have fallen out of favour with Warwick herself.
Walk On By was dealt with so briefly it might have to be retitled Sprint on Past. Trains and Boats and Planes barely stopped long enough to pick up the audience. Yet before you had the time to regret missing one classic, there was another to carry you away. Anyone Who Had a Heart, I’ll Never Fall in Love Again, A House Is Not a Home, Close to You, The Look of Love, Do You Know the Way to San Jose?, Make it Easy on Yourself: it was an impeccable set list. Later hits such as Heartbreaker and That’s What Friends Are For inspired tuneful singalongs. All the while, Warwick beamed with pleasure, raising her right arm aloft whenever she had to summon a big note.
The human voice changes with age. The tone may deepen or thin, the vocal cords become more rough and ragged, while lung power diminishes, making notes harder to sustain. This is often viewed as a decline – and has accounted for plenty of retirements from showbusiness – but great singers adapt and modulate.
Warwick may have lost the glissando sweetness of youth, but she still has that gorgeous dark tone and always had the benefit of subtly nuanced jazz phrasing. She slid through and under melodies with lithe rhythm, singing in short phrases with delicate inflections, fluttering up to falsetto, dropping to resonant bass, right in the music, interacting with the orchestra.
Say a Little Prayer, sung as a playful duet with Damon Elliott, her drummer son, was soulfully fantastic. The theme tune from Alfie was imbued with melancholic wisdom.
There was only one peculiar misstep, which was to invite Cheyenne Elliott, her granddaughter, to share the stage for an over-stretched four-song encore. Elliott is a fine vocalist, more than half a century younger than Warwick, with the lung power to prove it. But all it really did was demonstrate the gulf between a singer and a superstar. There is something magical in Warwick’s tone and phrasing that just cuts right through. When it comes to real talent, age is just a number.
Warwick may have lost the glissando sweetness of youth, but she still has that gorgeous dark tone