Ambassador Frank Lavin Presents Special Honorary Award to American Musical Icon Dionne Warwick

January 27, 2004

Ambassador Frank Lavin presents Special Honorary Award to American Musical Icon Dionne Warwick

It’s my great pleasure to welcome to Singapore a distinguished performing artist and wonderful representative of our country, Ms. Dionne Warwick. Dionne, this building has received Ministers and Cabinet Secretaries and Generals and Ambassadors and corporate CEOs and even an astronaut or two, but it’s not often that we get to welcome a real star, so thank you for coming here today.

Dionne Warwick is a solid professional. Her career has spanned forty years, and all of us baby boomers grew up hearing her wonderful music – whether or not we already knew the way to San Jose or thought we never would fall in love again. Her musical blend of pop, gospel and R&B transcended race, culture and musical boundaries to become very much a part of the fabric of our lives over the past decades.

She won five Grammy awards for her music, and if you are fortunate to attend her concert in Singapore this Thursday, her full talents will be on display. In the past, she’s performed before Kings, Queens, Presidents and Heads of State. We don’t have any royalty in our country, but every member of the audience is going to receive royal treatment.

But we are here today because Dionne Warwick is much more than an internationally acclaimed star. Her professional success has been matched by her humanitarian activities. She has placed her art at the service of humanity, bringing people together for worthwhile and charitable causes.

In recent years she has led the music industry in the fight against AIDS. In 1985 she teamed up with Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder and Elton John to produce the Grammy-winning, chart-topping single “That’s What Friends are For,” which raised millions of dollars to benefit AIDS research. Through the 1980s she served as a U.S. Ambassador for Health, and now it is our pleasure to welcome her to Asia.

We in the U.S. government are proud to salute her humanitarian achievements. HIV/AIDS represents one of the greatest medical and social challenges of our time. It threatens prosperity, good governance, and stability around the world – and some of the most threatened countries are right here in Asia. It will take long work together by doctors and officials and artists and activists and the business community to keep this threat at bay.

So we salute Dionne Warwick for her exemplary dedication to the fight against AIDS. Later this week, she’ll speak to the American Chamber of Commerce, and say more about her work in this area. For today, we want to recognize her humanitarian commitment, and her energy with this plaque, which is dedicated as follows:

In recognition of your contributions to promoting American music around the world and your tireless efforts on behalf of AIDS research, the U.S. Embassy Singapore presents this American Citizen Honor Award.