Music icon Dionne Warwick left fans across the country stunned when she was recently unveiled as Weather on The Masked Singer UK.
Showcasing her vocals on the hit ITV show, the 83-year-old unfortunately didn’t last very long in the competition as she was unmasked during week one. Talking about her exit, Dionne told The Sun: “They said I’d be here for this many weeks, and I said, ‘No I’m not. I can’t disguise my voice. The minute I open my mouth, I’m gone!”
Nevertheless, die-hard music lovers will know the US star for her hit songs, That’s What Friends Are For, Hearbreaker and Walk On By. She was also ranked among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers from 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on Billboard’s Hot 100.
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But away from the spotlight, Dionne had a rather bitter and unlikely feud with late singer and Blind Date presenter Cilla Black pertaining to their music careers. And in December 2023, the feud appeared to reignite again with Dionne throwing another shady jab.
Daily Star has taken a look into the pair’s infamous relationship and what caused their clash.
Anyone Who Had a Heart
(Image: Mirrorpix)
Cilla and Dionne’s rift ignited during the 1960s when Liverpool star Cilla was releasing a handful of well-received hits. Going up against The Beatles at the time, Cilla was becoming a well-known player in the music scene.
One of Cilla’s standout songs was Anyone Who Had a Heart which was originally recorded by Dionne. However, Dionne was already taking the US charts by storm at the time with the famous tune.
But English producer George Martin realised that the song was an undeniable hit. Martin then decided he wanted someone from the UK to sing it, so later handed the track over to Cilla to re-release it.
Cilla went on to release the single on January 31, 1964. But this was only two months after Dionne’s version was released in November 1963 which ended up causing a major friction between the pair.
Stolen music
(Image: Redferns)
In her 2010 autobiography My Life, As I See It, Dionne spoke about her grievances with Cilla. She said: “Sometimes there are good reasons why a recording of the same song by different artists is an honest coincidence; other times, there is something a bit sinister about the way it’s done.
“Anyone Who Had A Heart, for example, was just flat-out copied. Note for note, word for word, and not very well, I might add – by the white British pop singer Cilla Black (whose real name is Cilla White; go figure).”
The American songstress failed to hold back during an interview at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016 too. She said at the time: “She stole my music.”
“From 1962, when I first met that woman, there was a confrontation. She stole my songs and I was not a very happy camper about that.”
Revenge
(Image: Getty Images)
Cilla’s version of the song went on to sell more than 1 million copies. It also spent three weeks at number one in the UK.
Speaking about their clash at the time, Cilla realised that she was in Dionne’s bad books. She said at the time: “Dionne was dead choked and she’s never forgiven me to this day.”
Despite this, Dionne later took comfort when she gained a little “revenge” over Cilla with another classic Bacharach song release. She said: “Then she did a little thing called Alfie. I was the 47th person to record Alfie, and I must say I’m very proud I’m the only one to have a hit record with it.”
Friendly foe
(Image: Getty Images for The Recording A)
Years later, Dionne did find a way to forgive Cilla and went on to share that the pair managed to gain an understanding over the matter. Dionne also shared that she knew Cilla’s manager Brian Epstein orchestrated it.
She said in a TV interview: “I don’t blame Cilla. Over the years, I came to realise she hadn’t been making the decision about what to sing. So I’ve almost forgiven her.
“Not completely, but almost. And she was a nice woman… really cute.”
After learning that Cilla had sadly passed away in 2015, Dionne shared her tributes. She also called her “friendly foe”.
Reignited rift
The singers’ feud appeared to cool down following Cilla’s demise at the age of 72. But things seemed to have bubbled to surface once again in December 2023.
Last month, a social media user headed over to X formerly known as Twitter to share their disbelief regarding the feud after Cilla recently became a social media meme. The person wrote: “i just found out the ‘Surprise Surprise’ lady (Cilla Black) stole a bunch of songs from @dionnewarwick back in the day including Anyone who had a heart.”
Replying to the tweet, Dionne appeared to clap. The singer added her take by sharing a clip of Cilla singing her famous song, Surprise Surprie!
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
