Dionne Warwick (b. 1940) gave fans a fright when she had to cancel her concert in Chicago in June 2023 over a “medical incident.” The legendary songstress was having issues with one of her legs and was forced to reschedule the show, according to TMZ. The “Walk On By” hitmaker told the outlet she was on the mend, however, and looking forward to performing again.
The cancellation comes as the 82-year-old icon is having a bit of a renaissance with her social media presence, as she’s won over a whole new generation of fans with her trademark sass on Twitter. “Remember: If I follow you today, I can unfollow you tomorrow if foolishness is your thing,” she once posted. And in another sign of her command of the platform, she shared, “I am always tweeting while wearing a black, vintage sequin gown…as divas do.”
With Dionne’s name in the spotlight again, followers are clamoring to know more about her personal life, including her romantic endeavors. The Grammy winner has had one name on her list of partners… and it appeared twice! Dionne married William Elliot in 1966, divorced him in 1967 and then married him again that same year!
Most recently, Dionne made headlines when it was revealed that she would be accepting a Kennedy Center Honor for lifetime artistic achievement on December 3, 2023. Just days ahead of the ceremony, Dionne revealed what she plans to do next at this chapter in her career. “Oh my heavens, there’s an awful lot to be done,” she said while on The Jennifer Hudson Show, per PEOPLE. “Yeah, there is. I just have to put ’em in order. And manifest them.”
Amid the exciting honor, learn all about her two marriages to the same man, below!
What Did William Elliot Do in Hollywood?
While Dionne was a rising star when she met William Elliot, he was no slouch either! The Baltimore native, born on June 4, 1934, had already turned down studying at Massachusetts Institute of Technology to pursue his musical passion of drumming. He would go on to form his own bands where he would eventually meet Dionne.
William, or Bill, as Dionne refers to him in her autobiography My Life, As I See It, would also pursue an acting career. Bill had a recurring role in Bridget Loves Bernie as Otis Foster and a recurring role as Officer Gus Grant in Adam-12, per his IMDB. He also appeared in Elvis Presley’s 1969 film Change of Habit, as seen on Bill’s son, David’s, Instagram.
How Did They Meet?
Dionne wrote about first running into Bill when he played in a band in her autobiography. “I met Bill while doing background on a session with the Rhoda Scott Trio. Bill was the trio’s drummer,” she explained. “They were pretty well known up and down the northeastern seaboard and frequently played the local clubs in Newark.”
The pair would start up a romance almost immediately. “Bill had a flamboyant personality and was known as “not a one-woman man.” He was the “catch” as they say,” Dionne wrote. “So I made up my mind to catch him (or so he thought) and to everybody’s surprise – including mine — he asked me to marry him.”
Dionne Almost Called Off the First Marriage
Bill went to ask Dionne’s father for permission to marry his daughter and although Dionne’s dad was cleaning a gun at the time, per her autobiography, Bill got the green light. However, on the day of the wedding in 1966, Bill went for a boat ride with his buddies and was very late for the ceremony.
“An hour after the ceremony was supposed to start, I made this announcement: ‘If he is not here within the next half hour, there will be no wedding,’” Dionne wrote. Bill eventually showed up “huffing and puffing, full of apologies” and they got hitched!
A ‘Mexican Divorce’
Dionne wrote in her autobiography that it was only three days after their wedding that she felt like she had “made a huge mistake.” She added, “It felt like I had done the wrong thing. In that short period, it seemed like the marriage would have become a mess.” So she took a bus to Juárez, Mexico. “It took all of three hours for me to get my ‘Mexican divorce.’ I took the bus back to El Paso and flew back to New Jersey a “free” woman,” she wrote.
The Second ‘I Do’
After not seeing Bill “for months” after the divorce, he showed up to one of her shows in the front row with a bouquet of flowers, per her autobiography. “He declared he was going to “woo” me back. And Bill’s approach worked. Two days later, we remarried in Italy and this time our marriage lasted for 12 years and blessed us with two sons, David and Damon.”
Bill and Dionne’s Kids
On January 18, 1969, while living in East Orange, New Jersey, Dionne and Bill welcomed their her first son, David Elliott. Four years later, Damon arrived. David would go on to become a singer-songwriter himself, while Damon ended up a music producer and manager, working with the likes of Destiny’s Child, Pink and Dolly Parton.
Bill and Dionne would eventually go their separate ways once again in 1975. Sadly, Bill passed away at the age of 49 in 1983.
