Dionne Warwick talks about induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Despite a legendary career spanning more than six decades, OG diva Dionne Warwick insists she never said a little prayer to get into the Rock & Roll of Fame.

“I never thought about being inducted into the Rock & Roll of Fame,” Warwick, 83, told The Post. “I don’t consider myself rock ‘n’ roll. I never considered myself a rock ‘n’ roller.”

But having first made a name for himself as a supreme soul-pop singer with ’60s classics like “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” “Alfie” and “Do You Know the Way to San Jose,” Warwick will be enshrined in the rock hall. on Saturday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland.

The five-time Grammy winner, who has been nominated twice in the Performer category, will receive the Musical Excellence Award. And even if she doesn’t consider herself “rock ‘n’ roll,” she’ll accept it.

“It’s wonderful,” she said. “You know, I feel like the music I sing deserves to be seen as excellent music.”

Warwick joins a class of 2024 that crosses genres and generations, including Mary J. Blige, Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Kool & the Gang, Ozzy Osbourne and A Tribe Called Quest.

But when it comes to his own induction performance, Warwick isn’t revealing any surprise songs or guests. “I can’t tell you that,” she joked. “Everyone will have to wait and see.”

However, it has been revealed that she will be introduced by Teyana Taylor, who will play Warwick in an upcoming biopic.

“I’ll be really happy to see you say some nice things about me,” she said with a laugh. “We had many, many conversations, of course.”

In addition to the physical resemblance, Warwick said: “She did some expert homework on me. She knows more about me than I do.”

Since becoming the Queen of Twitter – now X – in 2020, Warwick has been discovered and embraced by a younger generation of artists she calls “my babies.” Following her viral Twitterverse exchange with Chance the Rapper, she teamed up with the hip-hop star — 52 years her junior — on “Nothing’s Impossible” in 2021.

And then her 1964 hit “Walk on By” was sampled by Doja Cat on last year’s No. 1 single “Paint the Town Red.” Warwick admits that she didn’t exactly know the 28-year-old singer and rapper before this.

“My niece told me about the song and I said, ‘Who is Doja Cat? What is that?’ “she said. “I got in touch to say thank you and she, in turn, did the same thing.”

Reflecting on the 60th anniversary of “Walk on By” this year, Warwick said: “For me to say, ‘Oh, I knew it was going to be a hit,’ would be an absolute lie. Nobody knew. We knew we made a very good record, that’s for sure.”

The “we” Warwick refers to includes the songwriting/production team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, with whom the singer collaborated on her ’60s Gems series.

“It was magical,” she said. “We were known in the industry as a triangle marriage. We were friends. We cared about each other. We knew what each of us had to bring to the table and we depended on it happening.”

But their collaboration didn’t get off to the best of starts.

“I was promised that ‘Make It Easy on Yourself’ would be my first recording and it turned out they had given my song to Jerry Butler,” Warwick recalled. “I wasn’t very happy about it and I let them know that they could never… try to change me. And Hal David created ‘Don’t Make Me Over’ – and here we are.”

In 1962, “Don’t Make Me Over” was released as her debut single, and her first album, “Presenting Dionne Warwick”, was released in 1963.

After working with everyone from the Spinners (“Then Came You”) and Barry Manilow (“I’ll Never Love This Way Again”) to the Bee Gees (“Heartbreaker”) and Luther Vandross (“How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye ”), Warwick reunited with Bacharach – this time with Carole Bayer Sager as his songwriting/producing partner – for “That’s What Friends Are For” in 1985. The chart-topping AIDS charity single also featured Gladys Knight, Elton John and Stevie Wonder.

“I was very, very lucky to have three friends who were in town and available to be part of that recording with me,” she said.

Warwick not only had famous friends, but also family. Singing was in her blood, whether it was her sister Dee Dee Warwick or her cousins ​​Whitney Houston and operatic great Leontyne Price. Her aunt Cissy Houston – Whitney’s mother – was laid to rest on Thursday following the renowned vocalist’s death on October 7.

“Cissy was the best gospel singer – and she practiced what she preached,” she said. “We will miss her throughout the industry and, of course, I will miss her as my aunt. She meant a lot to a lot of people.”

Warwick is grateful that Houston, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, passed away peacefully. “God was merciful in allowing her to sleep,” she said. “And so she’s better now. She had 91 glorious years.”

But Warwick isn’t finished building his own legacy. In fact, she just renamed a street in her hometown of East Orange, NJ last week. “I’m still thinking about it,” she said.

And she’s still performing – 62 years after her Rock & Roll Hall of Fame career began.

“I love what I do and I think that shows when I perform,” Warwick said. “They are still sitting in the seats.”