(Jamaica Observer) JAMAICANS have loved Dionne Warwick since the 1960s when she broke through with a number of classy songs for songwriters Burt Bacharach and David Lloyd.
The singer recently released her latest album, Feels So Good, a 14-track set that hears her teaming with her contemporary Gladys Knight, as well as an all-star cast that includes Cyndi Lauper, Jamie Foxx, CeeLo Green, Ruben Studdart and Ziggy Marley.
The album was produced by her son Damon Elliott who has had success with mega-selling acts like Pink. The 73-year-old Warwick, who last performed in Jamaica at the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival in Montego Bay in 2013, says it was great recording the Bacharach/Lloyd gem, Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head, with Marley.
She told the New York Observer newspaper it was her first crack at reggae. The track also features the renown drum-and-bass team of Sly and Robbie.
“I’ve not done any reggae in my recording career, but I’ve known Ziggy since he was born. His father and I were friends,” she said. “Bob [Marley] was an incredible man. Very spiritual. Beautiful thoughts about life and what life should really represent throughout the world.”
Warwick may not have recorded the Jamaican beat, but many of her songs have been popular here, including Do You Know the Way (To San Jose), Deja Vu, I’ll Never Love This Way Again, Heartbreaker and A House is not a Home which was covered in the late 1970s by Sugar Minott.
