Eldergays, Tell Us More About the Dionne Warwick/Cilla Black Feud

Cilla said yes to "Alfie." Dionne recorded it about 40 versions later.

I can understand Dionne being bitter about Anyone Who Had A Heart when Cilla had a huge hit with it. Dionne was scathing in one interview. "If I coughed on the record, Cilla would have coughed on the record". But Dionne and Dusty had a mutually respectful friendship.

My grandfather (a working class Labour voter) loathed Cilla with a vengeance and I think that hatred rubbed off on me. I can't stand her - she always struck me as insincere and fake and her voice are like nails on a blackboard.

Even though Dionne is the artists most associated with Bacharach & David there are very few of their classic songs for which she recorded the definitive or best known version, at least in the UK. Walk On By and San Jose being the obvious two. Sandie Shaw, Dusty, The Walker Brothers, The Carpenters, Aretha, Jackie DeShannon, Bobbie, BJ,

But what did Cilla think about Dionne? The first time I ever heard about Cilla was via YouTube some twenty years ago.

I like her here singing this song in 1964 on Ready Steady Go.

Dionne gets pretty tiresome and, based on her track record of whining and boasting, I would give the presumption to Cilla in any feud. Especially since Cilla is dead. Dionne had a great voice and great recording career but she does not own the Bacharach/Hal David library and many others sang their songs as well or better than she did. Notwithsatanding Dionne's very snitty comment, , Cila did a pretty crdible job on Alfie earlier even if it wans't a hit in the USA.

Bacharach made Cilla sing Alfie over and over and over again until he was happy with her recording.

I don't mind Cilla's version as she sounds like she's being tortured, which goes with the theme of the song.

cilla was an ugly bitch who was always complaining about something.

I know I'm in the minority but I'm one of the few people who enjoyed Cher's ORIGINAL rendition of 'Alfie'. And this live version on The Smothers Brothers Show is even better than the recorded version. The Smothers Brothers Orchestra were able to make more sense of Sonny Bono's somewhat akward (but interesting) arrangement.

Dionne's younger sister Dee Dee Warwick went to her grave somewhat bitter over the song 'Alfie'. In her last years, Dee Dee stated in print that although by 1967 several artists had recorded 'Alfie', Dionne Warwick had ZERO INTEREST in recording the song until she heard HER recording of it for Mercury Records. And of course Dionne's 'Alfie' instantly became immortal, while Dee Dee's rendition (although released as a single) was completely ignored. Dee Dee lamented "Dionne NEVER bothered to mention that I provided her with an excellent demo for own hit recording of the song".

My favorite recording of 'Alfie' is the live version Dionne did on her "Hot! Live & Otherwise" album in 1981. She sang it with more ooooomph & spice than ever before. Brilliant!

She was named after that character from "Clueless."

[quote]Dionne had a great voice and great recording career but she does not own the Bacharach/Hal David library

Considering how many of their songs were tailored using her voice as a guide, I'd say she is in the right. When Burt had the cast of Promises Promises assembled at rehearsal, he had Dionne come in to show them how the songs should be sung.

Both Cilia and Dionne have reps for being incredibly difficult, but Cilia often put on heirs of being a huge prude as well, which gave her the edge in bitchiness. And we will always have the video of a mortified Cilia listening to Cybill Shepherd talk about how Elvis ate her pussy as evidence of that.

Which one of them sells pies?

Love this duet with Marc Bolan.

R8 Cher does a great job there.

I think that in order to appreciate Cilla Black you have to be older and be British. You can associate her with a time in the UK and your youth. She represents something. Americans never showed much interest in her.

To me Cilla sounds harsh and clumsy. She doesn't have the cool swanky sound that Dionne or Dusty had that melds so well with those melodies.

R9 According to Dionne, it was not her intention to record Alfie. She just needed to fill an album, so that was the chosen song. To her surprise, it became a hit.

How is Dionne right when Dusty met Burt Bacharach in late 1963 and HE suggested Dusty record "Wishin' and Hopin'"? And Dionne has not show mutual respect for Dusty consistently. Dionne has flip-flopped.

Dionne has even suggested that Sandie Shaw owes her an apology, when Sandie Shaw had a 1964 hit with a song Dionne didn't release until 1967!?

[Quote] When Burt had the cast of Promises Promises assembled at rehearsal, he had Dionne come in to show them how the songs should be sung.

I don't believe that for a second. Dionne doesn't even sing "Knowing When to Leave" at the same tempo as Jill O'Hara does on the Broadway cast album.

Cilla is an acquired taste. But her discography under George Martin is very fine, better than Cher's under Sonny.

R18, Believe it, the cast needed Dionne's superior musicianship to demonstrate how to deal with a very difficult song.

Dionne is a great singer and probably the best interpreter of the Davd/Bacharach catalogue but I do prefer Cilla's version of Alfie. Maybe because the film character is British, it seems fitting it should be sung by a British singer (though Cher's version was used for the film I believe).

It's too bad they didn't get Dionne and Cilla to do a reality show before Cilla passed away. Just imagine the memes -- and the cuntitude!!!

There was no "feud." If I repeatedly dee-clined the opportunity to have a feud with poor Re when she was bat-crap-cray-cray with that fucking "Don't Say It/Call It Cancer/Lie Lie Lie" sickness on her - and her loony ego - do you think I'd make the slightest face over Cilla for any reason other than her odor?

All fish and no chips, that one. Even her last name was an appropriation.

Don't worry. I won't hang around here to re-mind you that only I re-main relevant among these non-survivors.

Not to mention alive.

R23 But Tina is then one with a man and money.

^ the one

[Quote] Believe it, the cast needed Dionne's superior musicianship to demonstrate how to deal with a very difficult song.

You could not be more of a fanboy if you tried.

Remember when Lady Gaga was announced to play Cilla Black in a Dionne Warwick biopic? I think Letoya Luckett was pencilled in for the Dionne role.

Neither one of them ain’t me…..

After listening to the two renditions of Alfie, Dionne wins by a landslide for me. I was lucky to be born in 1962 and grow up with all those beautiful songs of the 60's. I was singing along with Dionne before I knew what singing was. I am a fan of all of the above singers and their renditions, but, shoot, Dionne would have been Niagra Falls to Cilla's Walden Pond.

[quote] but Cilia often put on heirs of being a huge prude as well,

Oh, [italic]dear.[/italic]

It seems there are really two questions here, which need to be separated out and not confused):

1) Was Dionne right to be such a cunt? (The actual question OP asked)

2) Whose version was better? (The question some people are answering instead)

The answer to question #1 is no, because Dionne is always a cunt, and she's never right to be one. But cuntiness is the air she breathes.

The answer to question #2 is Dionne's.

No one ever sang Burt Bacharach's songs better than she did, and I will always love her for that. But, that does not give her a right to be a cunt, and a cunt she indeed is.

D was a bitch, not a cunt.

A cunt ruthlessly sets out to destroy perceived enemies. A bitch merely complains.

E26, it's the truth, Dionne is a fucking MASTER MUSICIAN, conservatory trained and she DID have to demonstrate to the Promises, Promises cast how to sing the music. Her sight-reading and ear are damn near equivalent to Burt's. YOU may not like her, but her musicianship was always top tier

Cilla Black was a prize A cunt. Ask any of the unfortunate British Airways staff who had the nightmare of a flight with Miss Black. Miss Black’s PA would insist no one look at or speak to Miss Black directly. Miss Black was a vulgar, pretentious, ill bred guttersnipe who enjoyed bullying and looking down on those she did not view as on her level of wealth and success.

As already mentioned, Cilla Black was known throughout the TV and music industry for being a complete nasty cunt. There are tons of stories on the internet about how vile she is. She had workmen doing building work in her garden on a hot summers day, one of them knocked on the door to ask for a glass of water, she told him there was a shop in the village and slammed the door in his face. If you Google Cilla Black PPRuNe there is a fantastic 20 page thread on a forum. It was initially for BA staff to name their favourite celebrities who have flown with them, of course it soon turned into who is the worst famous person. Cilla was voted the worst by a landslide, carbon crew referred to her as ‘the cunt’. It’s a great read, very datalounge. Also if you Google Cilla Black British Airways a flyer forums thread comes up with Cilla mentioned many times. She really was a vile person.

^^^should read cabin crew.

Every thing you need to know is in the link you shared, OP

YUCK

The feud was a bit one-sided on Dionne Warwick's part mainly.

Cilla only had a recording career for about 10 years if you are being generous, she moved into light entertainment later.

She almost totally retired in 2003 a few years after her husband died, probably because she was a bit of a cunt and nobody wanted to work with her.

The funniest Cilla/Dionne fact is that Cilla and her son set up a psychic hotline.

My favorite story from that BA thread was the person who had a relative who worked behind the scenes at ITV. After Cilla unleashed her cuntery on the woman, she replied, "If you ever speak to me that way again, I'll kick the shit out of you!"

Was she as ugly as you R7?

Aside from the imagined feud, Cilla's big problem was her schizophrenic relationship with her Identity, at times she'd insist on being addressed as Mrs. Willis (her married name) and then revert to 'Our Cilla' in public. But always want to be treated like a 'Star' nobody ever knew her? Least of all herself.

She's dead, right? I mean [italic]still[/italic] dead?

Like stone-cold dead, like her-career dead.

Hmmthiefmmm.

Why did people keep working with Cilla if she was such a cunt?

[quote]Cilla Black was a prize A cunt. Ask any of the unfortunate British Airways staff who had the nightmare of a flight with Miss Black. Miss Black’s PA would insist no one look at or speak to Miss Black directly.

The all-time great story (perhaps apocryphal) involved the flight attendant who had to ask Miss Black's assistant if Miss Black would like something to drink, etc. After he tired of that, he snapped, "I knew you couldn't sing, but I didn't know you couldn't speak, either."

Her shows got really good viewing figures, cash is king

She walked away from it all after her husband died, he kind of used to smooth her path and without him everyone hated her quite openly.

She died in 2015 after a stroke/accident/club on her head relatively wealthy (£20million+)

The problem with Cilla was that she sang through her nose. Her voice was so pinched. How could anyone enjoy listening to that?