The day I rescued The Beatles: My bust up with Burt Bacharach and getting a leg-up from Elvis... As Dionne Warwick goes on tour aged 83, a showstopping audience with the Queen of Soul

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She was a young singer and they were the most famous band in the world, but Dionne Warwick still had to rescue John, Paul, George and Ringo when she first came to England.

‘I was friends with The Beatles,’ says the veteran star, who is about to return to this country on tour, singing massive hits like Heartbreaker and Walk On By and telling stories about her remarkable life. 

‘I was performing at The Savoy Hotel in 1965 and they were backstage with me beforehand. They wanted to come and see the show. I told the maître d’, “I need four very good seats, please.”’

Unfortunately, The Beatles were wearing leather jackets rather than their usual suits. ‘When the boys walked up the maître d’ said, “No, they can’t come in! They’re not dressed properly.” I said, “They’re dressed!”’ She laughs at the memory. ‘Being an American, I just didn’t understand his point at all. So I said, “Well, if they can’t go into the room then I can’t go into the room!”’

Snooty hotel staff were no match for a woman who had faced down racists in the States on her way to stardom. Without her, there would have been no show. ‘That was the end of that. The maître d’ changed his mind,’ she says gleefully. Did he give The Beatles ‘very good’ seats? ‘No doubt!’

Dionne Warwick's new tour Don't Make Me Over was the title of her first single way back in 1962. Pictured at the Grammy Awards last month

Dionne still has the same steely resolve at the age of 83 and it is echoed in the name of her new tour Don’t Make Me Over, which was the title of her first single way back in 1962. ‘I said that to Burt and Hal when they broke a promise,’ she explains in a video call from her home in Orange County, California, the reigning Queen of Soul somehow still looking regal in a baseball cap and white fleece.

Dionne had yet to start her pop career and Burt Bacharach and Hal David were still aspiring writers when they asked her to demo a song called Make It Easy On Yourself, but then gave it to somebody else to record. She was furious, but they put her words to good use. ‘Hal put pen to paper and Burt wrote some music.’

That was the start of a spectacular run of success for the trio, although Dionne now admits there was one song of theirs she hated. ‘I was like, “Where is San Jose? How could the person who wrote Walk On By have written a song that goes woh woh woh?”’ Do You Know The Way To San Jose? was a huge hit all over the world.

‘I admit I was completely wrong. I only recorded it because of my love and respect for Hal, but it was my first Grammy!’

Dionne has six of those now and has sold more than 100 million records. She’s having a resurgence in her eighties too, even appearing on The Masked Singer performing I Can See Clearly disguised as Weather in December, under a fake head to represent thunder and lightning. 

‘The minute I opened my mouth the judges went, “Oh we know who that is!” Jonathan Ross said, “If it is who I think it is, then we are in the presence of one of the greatest soul singers of all time.”’

Dionne is also an unlikely sensation on X, formerly known as Twitter, having been shown how to use it by her niece Brittani. She started out teasing younger stars like Billie Eilish – ‘William Eyelash’ – who were amazed and amused that it was really her.

A poke at US star Chance The Rapper led to a single together and this new generation of musicians and fans has showered her with fresh honours. ‘Being discovered by the ones I call my babies – and rediscovered by the industry – is a wonderful thing.’

A young Dionne is pictured in the 1960s - she has now become a sensation on social media

Dionne sings a duet with her cousin Whitney Houston in March 1990 - she says her death in 2012 at the age of 48 has hurt her most

Dionne is having a resurgence in her eighties too, even appearing on The Masked Singer (pictured) performing I Can See Clearly disguised as Weather in December 

Dionne entrusts her career to family these days, starting with her two sons, Damon and David.

‘Damon manages me and produces my recordings. David was my drummer for quite a while and my duet partner at shows. His daughter Cheyenne is on the road with me. My little baby nephew Kato recently decided, “Everybody in the family is singing with you, why aren’t I?” I said, “Okay, come on.” He’s done That’s What Friends Are For with me at a couple of shows. He’s six years old.’

The father of her sons was the drummer William Elliott, who married Dionne in 1966. They divorced the following year, remarried almost immediately but split for good in 1975. Damon is producing a movie about her life, starring the actor Teyana Taylor.

‘She looks so much like me you think, “Okay, we gotta do a little DNA test here.”’

How involved will Dionne be in the movie? ‘I have complete artistic control. The story has been taken from my autobiography. I’ll be sitting there while they’re filming.’

The film will tell how she grew up performing gospel alongside her mother, sister Dee Dee and aunt Cissy Houston, who would later give birth to Whitney. Dionne will talk about those days on her tour, including the time she saw her sister singing backing vocals for Elvis Presley in Las Vegas in 1969 and he was incredibly generous.

‘Elvis was in rehearsal when I met him and he was so kind to me. He let me know he enjoyed my music and that he was a fan and said he was going to do something wonderful for me, “My gift to you will be when I announce on stage during my show that I am going to slip a signed photograph of mine inside each Dionne Warwick album on sale in Vegas.”

Dionne had to rescue The Beatles' John, Paul, George and Ringo (pictured in 1964) when she first came to England

‘I sold more albums in Las Vegas than I ever have since,’ says Dionne happily. ‘It was a wonderful thing to do.’ Elvis is one of the many friends and family Dionne has lost over the years, but her sons say it was the death of her cousin Whitney Houston in 2012 at the age of just 48 that hurt her most. 

‘She’s the little girl I never had,’ says Dionne in a recent documentary, but otherwise the loss is too painful to talk about. She was raised in church and still has faith, so does Dionne believe she will be reunited after death with those she has lost?

‘Yes I do. It’s going to be a joyous day.’ Dionne Warwick beams at the thought, although she is in no hurry to join them. ‘The choir they have up there now is just outrageous.’

• For tickets for Dionne’s Don’t Make Me Over UK tour 2024, visit ticketmaster.co.uk.