''Dionne Warwick in Paris'' is Dionne Warwick's sixth album, and was released on April 14, 1966 on

Scepter Records Scepter Records was an American record company founded in 1959 by Florence Greenberg. History Florence Greenberg founded Scepter Records from the $4,000 she received after she sold Tiara Records and the Shirelles to Decca Records. When the Shire ...

. It was recorded during Warwick's five-week engagement at the

Paris Olympia The Olympia (; commonly known as L'Olympia or in the English-speaking world as Olympia Hall) is a concert venue in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France, located at 28 Boulevard des Capucines, equally distancing Madeleine church and Opéra ...

in January 1966 and was released shortly after the tour was completed. The LP was issued as number 534 in the Scepter Catalog. The liner of this LP is pink with three pictures of Warwick side-by-side, not unlike the ''

Make Way for Dionne Warwick ''Make Way for Dionne Warwick'' is the third studio album by American singer Dionne Warwick. It was released by Scepter Records on August 31, 1964 in the United States. Propelled by the hit singles " Walk on By," " You'll Never Get to Heaven," a ...

'' album two years earlier.

History

The album featured a major hit single that almost didn't happen: "

Message to Michael "Message to Michael" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, that has been a hit for several different artists under several different titles. The song was first recorded as "Message to Martha" by Jerry Butler in 1962. In 1964, singer ...

". Robin Platts says in his book, '' Burt Bacharach &

Hal David Harold Lane David (May 25, 1921 – September 1, 2012) was an American lyricist. He grew up in New York City. He was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach and his association with Dionne Warwick. Early life David ...

'',Robin Platts. ''Burt Bacharach & Hal David: What the World Needs Now'' that Warwick was at the Olympia as co-star of "The Sacha Show" alongside

Sacha Distel Alexandre "Sacha" Distel (29 January 1933 – 22 July 2004) was a French singer, guitarist, songwriter and actor who had hits with a cover version of "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" in 1970, which reached No 10 in the UK Charts, " Scoubidou" ...

, a French heartthrob that Florence Greenberg was considering signing to Scepter. Distel wanted to record a version of Bacharach and David's "Message to Martha" and had asked Warwick to record a guide vocal. Warwick re-gendered the piece to suit her, and when executives at Scepter heard the recording, a single was issued. Bacharach and David were convinced that the song was better recorded by a man, but nonetheless agreed that Warwick's version was a stunning one indeed. "

" was arranged and recorded by

Jacques Denjean Jacques Denjean (25 May 1929 – 21 December 1995) was a French composer and arranger, active in the 1960s and 1970s. He worked with artists such as Dionne Warwick, Françoise Hardy, Nana Mouskouri, Johnny Hallyday, Barış Manço, Maria del Ma ...

, thus becoming the first real single for Warwick at Scepter to not be produced by Bacharach and David. The single peaked at number eight on the '' Billboard'' charts. Additionally, according to Platts, the decision to release "Message to Michael" was largely due to the efforts of Scepter promotion executive (and a singer in his own right)

Steve Tyrell ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

. Though the album included French versions of "A House Is Not A Home" and "You'll Never Get To Heaven (If You Break My Heart)", these were essentially phonetically-read versions over the same studio tracks of the original singles, and therefore not included in the actual performance. The album's liner quotes a ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' reviewer as stating that Warwick was "one Yank singer who could put over her wares completely in English and hit big." Another song of note on the album is Cole Porter's "

I Love Paris "I Love Paris" is a popular song written by Cole Porter and published in 1953. The song was introduced by Lilo in the musical '' Can-Can''. A line in the song's lyrics inspired the title of the 1964 movie '' Paris When It Sizzles''. Notable re ...

" which Warwick performed after being introduced on stage by Distel.

Track listing

Personnel

*Dionne Warwick – vocals *Burt Goldblatt - cover design, photography

References

External links

*
Dionne Warwick in Paris
' at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

{{Dionne Warwick 1966 live albums Dionne Warwick live albums Albums produced by Burt Bacharach Albums produced by Hal David Scepter Records live albums albums recorded at the Olympia (Paris)