Dionne Warwick: ‘I’ve got a monthly allowance – and can’t spend anymore’

She’s sold over 100 million records in more than six decades with 80 singles including Walk On By and I Say A Little Prayer, winning six Grammys along the way including the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Now 83, Dionne Warwick is in the UK for her Don’t Make Me Over tour beginning tonight at The Glasshouse in Gateshead.

How did your parents teach you the value of money?

My dad, in the first years of my career, put me on a budget and made me stick to it. He was the only man in my life who ever looked after me financially. It was difficult when I was married because I was the one earning the big money and a man doesn’t like the woman to be the breadwinner.

Were you given pocket money as a child?

Well, we called it an allowance. When I was six, my weekly allowance was a quarter which was a lot of money to me.

A bar of candy was five cents so I could buy five of them; a comic cost 10 cents.

What was your first job?

At 11, I had my first babysitting job – three little kids on my block – at 75 cents an hour. If I did four hours, that was three dollars.

I was rich! But I didn’t spend it. I gave it to my parents to hold on for me for when I was older.

They put it in an account so that, when I reached high school in my teens, I had a few hundred dollars in savings.

How did you break into the music industry?

At 17, I wanted a career in music education. Along with some family and friends, I was in a group called The Gospelaires and we’d sing back-up vocals for various singers.

Burt Bacharach singled me out when I was singing on Mexican Divorce, a song he’d written for The Drifters. He started paying me $12.50 a time to sing on demo discs he would then pitch to record labels.

It’s Love That Really Counts was destined for The Shirelles but when the president of Scepter Records heard it, she said: “Forget the song – get the girl!” And that’s when my life changed forever.

Where did you get your stage clothes?

A lot of the clothes I wore were given to me by designers on the way up, people wanting the public to see their creations.

When I went to Paris, Marlene Dietrich took me under her wing and introduced me to designers like Yves St Laurent, Balmain, Chanel, Dior, all of them only too happy to have me wear their clothes.

I didn’t have to pay for them but I learned the value of couture, a word I’d never heard before I went to France. Back in the States, Oscar de la Renta dressed me for some time for free.

What’s been your best investment?

The education of my grandchildren.

My two sons, David and Damon, have seven kids between them – five girls and two boys – and I put them all through college. My reward has been to see them grow into fine, educated young people.

How do you enjoy your money?

Buying paintings and cars.

But I’m not particularly acquisitive. You can only drive one car at a time, for instance. So, what’s the point of having more? I had a nice Mercedes which eventually I gave to my elder son; now I drive a Jeep.

Are you good with money?

As an artist, I’d say my creative juices are superior to my financial acumen. I always regard money as something to spend on whatever it is I want. On the other hand, I don’t fritter it away on the frivolous.

But I do like to spoil my grandbabies. I’m not a gambler, though. I worked hard for that money. Nor do I invest in stocks and shares; I regard myself as my own biggest stock.

How were you affected when songwriting duo Burt Bacharach and Hal David split in the 1970s?

I was left high and dry when they fell out. In the end, I sued them for breach of contract and won $5m.

It took 10 years for everyone to start talking to everyone else and then we collaborated all over again.

But worse was to come?

That’s right. In 2013, I had to file for bankruptcy. Unbeknown to me, my financial advisers were lining their own pockets.

I don’t know what money does to people but I discovered down the years that anyone who had access to my money for some reason felt it was theirs.

I ended up owing $7m to the Internal Revenue Service and a further $3m in unpaid taxes to the state of California. Well, I didn’t have that sort of money lying around so the best course of action was to declare myself bankrupt.

How did that make you feel?

I was very angry. These people were meant to be my friends but they didn’t have Dionne’s best interests at heart; they had their own. They took advantage of me.

It took me some time to find financial advisers on whom I could absolutely rely. But I did and now they’ve almost become family.

Was it hard to rebuild?

Well, it wasn’t easy but you know what they say: when the going gets tough, the tough get going. And I’m a survivor, always have been. But I can’t say I went on with my career to build up my bank balance. I’m a performer and I like to perform.

I also see this as God’s destiny for me. His gift was my voice and I’ll carry on using it until I can’t hit those notes anymore.

What properties have you owned down the years?

I was born and raised in New Jersey but, when I was performing regularly in Las Vegas, I bought a house there. Then, when I moved to Los Angeles, I acquired another house. But I’m not one of those people who wants to own a string of properties.

You can only sleep in one bed at a time. Now, I’ve moved back to the East Coast. I live in a house I bought a dozen years ago and its value has doubled in price during that time.

I’m very comfortable; I can’t complain. In the end, I’ll hand it over to my sons when I relocate to Brazil, my favourite place in the whole world.

What song has made you the most money?

I can’t answer that. I’ve been blessed to have had a string of successful recordings – Don’t Make Me Over, Anyone Who Had A Heart, Always Something There To Remind Me, Do You Know The Way To San Jose? and so on – and they’ve all been good to me.

I couldn’t single out just one of them.

Do your advisers put any restrictions on your spending?

They keep me on a very tight leash. That’s been good for me. It also tells me that they care about me. They keep me informed as to exactly how much money I have in my bank account.

I don’t mind people knowing the arrangement: Dionne Warwick lives on a monthly allowance and she’s not allowed to exceed it. And she ain’t complaining.

Dionne Warwick’s Don’t Make Me Over tour begins tonight at The Glasshouse in Gateshead. Tickets available from tickemaster.co.uk