Talent, as the Jacksons, the Osmonds, the Bee Gees, and the Kardashians have proven, is often hereditary. In 1966, when her cousin Whitney Houston was just three years old, Dionne Warwick flew to France to perform a five-week engagement at the Paris Olympia. She'd risen to stardom quickly after finding a happy songwriting match with Burt Bacharach and Hal David, who wrote her first hit song, "Don't Make Me Over," after she stormed out of the studio and yelled at them the title phrase because she was passed up for a song she'd been promised. The new song, written specifically for her, was recorded in August 1962 and was the first of 56 charted singles Warwick placed on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart between 1962 and 1998. (She was such small fries in the beginning that they misspelled her name -- Dionne Warrick -- on the debut's cover. She's gone by Warwick ever since.)
By the time she got to Paris, in 1966, Warwick had five albums and a Grammy nomination under her belt. In this clip she performs the Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody," her debut single "Don't Make Me Over," and "You'll Never Get to Heaven," off her third album, which you can definitely skip. The first two songs are captivating, though; the dramatic black-and-white cinematography, along with her focused concentration on the music, ramp up her performance beyond what her vocals deliver. She's in no rush, especially in the familiar grooves of the song that launched her career.
With women like Dionne Warwick to look up to in her own family -- not to mention godmother Aretha Franklin -- it's no wonder Whitney Houston found the success she did in the music industry. Talent and connections work wonders.
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