b. Delia Mae Warrick, 25th September 1945, Newark, New Jersey, U.S.A.
d. 18th October 2008, Essex County, New Jersey, U.S.A.
Born Delia Mae Warrick in Newark, New Jersey, Her older sister, Dionne Warwick recorded a catalogue of Soul classics, however, not to be outshone, Dee Dee created a body of work that his highly regarded amongst Soul purists.
At that time, Dee Dee changed her surname from Warrick to Warwick in the early 1960's.
Dee Dee sang background vocals for Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and others before starting her solo career.
Her first record on the Jubilee label, 'You're No Good', was later recorded in Chicago by Betty Everett for the VeeJay imprint.
In 1964, Dee Dee signed with Mercury's Blue Rock subsidiary and, under the wing of producer Ed Townsend, recorded a series of excellent recordings, notably 'We're Doing Fine' (number 28 R & B).
She then relocated to Mercury in 1966, where she reached the charts with 'I Want To Be With You' (number 9 R & B, number 41 pop), which was taken from the Broadway musical 'Golden Boy', and 'l'm Gonna Make You Love Me' (number 13 R & B, number 88 pop), which was remade the following year in the pop market by Madeline Bell and much later by a collaboration of the Supremes and the Temptations.
Dee Dee then switched labels to Atco in 1970 and became produced in Miami by Dave Crawford, achieving chart success with 'She Didn't Know (She Kept On Talking)' (number 9 R & B, number 70 pop) and a remake of 'Suspicious Minds' (number 24 R & B, number 80 pop).
'Get Out Of My Life' was her last chart record in 1975.
In 2006 Dee Dee returned to singing backgrounds for her sister, Dionne, in concert and also was part of the 'Family First' song in the Tyler Perry movie and soundtrack for 'Daddy's Little Girls'.
In January 2008, Dee Dee is featured in the title song from Dionne's gospel album 'Why We Sing' and continued background vocal chores with her sister.
In February 2008, Dee Dee toured with Dionne's one woman show 'My Music and Me' in Europe.
Dee Dee Warwick died on Saturday 18th October 2008, at a nursing home in Essex County, and had been in failing health in recent months. Dionne was with her when she died.
Dee Dee was the niece of gospel singer Cissy Houston and a cousin of Whitney Houston.
Dee Dee Warwick was an R&B Foundation Pioneer Awardee, and was also was a two-time Grammy Award nominee.
Albums:
I Want To Be With You / I'm Gonna Make You Love Me (Mercury 1967)
Foolish Fool (Mercury 1969)
Turning Around (Atco 1970)
Dee Dee (Heritage Sound Recording Distributions 1983)
Call Me (Sutra 1984)
