Dionne Warwick is the cousin of Whitney Houston. She was born as Marie Dionne Warrick on December 12, 1940. Her father Mancel Warrick was a gospel record promoter and her mother Lee Drinkard Warrwick was the manager of a relative gospel group, the Drinkard Singers. Alike Whitney, Dionne grew up going to church at New Hope Baptist Church in New Jersey. Her first performance was at the age of 6 and soon after she became a member of the choir. During her teen years, she formed a gospel group known as the Gospelaires with Cissy Houston and sister Dee Dee Warwick. The group was soon renamed to the Sweet Inspirations. The group is known to have performed with singers such as Aretha Franklin The Drifters, and Chuck Jackson. In 1962, her first single "Don't Make Me Over" was released. The song reached the Top Five on the R&B charts, and later peaked top 20 on the pop charts in 1963. When the record was released the performer credit contained a typo that read "Dionne Warrick" instead of "Dionne Warick" and prior to that event she decided to kept the new name, her sister Dee Dee also decided to change her last-name as well.
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