Katherine Macalister finds out what the Oxford audience can expect when singing legend Dionne Warwick walks on in.

Dionne Warwick is such a legend it's hard to know where to begin.

But, firstly, you should know that the five-time Grammy Award-winning singer, actress, activist, United Nations Global Ambassador, former United States Ambassador of Health, and 67-year-old humanitarian is coming to Oxford's New Theatre on Tuesday.

Best known for her partnership with songwriters and producers Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Dionne Warwick is second only to Aretha Franklin as the female vocalist with the most Billboard Hot 100 chart hits during the rock era 1955-1999.

She also chalked up a total of 56 hits in the US – putting her 20th out of the top 200 artists.

But then music runs in the blood, because with Whitney Houston as a cousin, gospel singer Cissy Houston as an aunt and Dee Dee Warwick as a sister, it was inevitable that the Warwick legend would survive.

“I’ve always been a singer – it was predestined. I come from a singing family," she said.

But it wasn't until a young Dionne was performing backing vocals on a Drifters album that she was spotted by Bacharach.

“I was doing a background session with the Drifters, performing Mexican Divorce by Burt Bacharach and Bob Hilliard. Burt approached me to do more background work, and demonstration records of songs that he was writing with Hal David.

“I agreed, and that’s how it all began,” Dionne remembers.

Her debut album aired in 1963 and was her first top 10 hit, and she hasn't looked back since, with award-winning singles and albums in every decade, including songs such as Walk On By, I Say A Little Prayer, Do You Know The Way To San Jose and I'll Never Fall In Love Again.

Dionne's current tour is called My Music and Me.

She said of the shows: “You’ll be getting my life story through my music. From the beginning to now!

“Some misnomers are going to be corrected.

“There’s music and there’s talk, giving you the real deal about Dionne Warwick.

“With a show like this, it’s something people have been wanting to see for years and it’s fun to perform. I love it!”

So does she have a favourite?

“I love every single one of my songs – they were written for me,” she says.

“I love all of them – they are like my children and I cannot have a favourite child as I have more than one.

“Forty years on these finely crafted classics have been updated and brought into the 21st century, but primarily you’ll be getting them as they were first recorded.

“They’re a big part of me.”

And, these days, it’s not about the money. She says: “I’ve been blessed to be appreciated at home, as well as abroad, and though the touring can be quite tiring, the performing makes it all worthwhile.

“It’s always nice to look out to my audience and see smiles on their faces when a certain song happens to hit their last nerve and, you know, I hope it’s a wonderful memory for them – that’s the joy.”

And, of course, despite her close ties and friendship with Bacharach and David, she’s worked with a host of other stars, including Barry Manilow, the Bee Gees, Quincy Jones. Luther Vandross Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, Elton John, and Stevie Wonder.

And the list goes on.

“They all have been quite instrumental in the development of what I am and who I am,” she says.

She has been married twice to actor and drummer William Elliott and has also found time to launch a skincare line and an interior-design company.

“But music will always be a part of my life,” she says.

l Dionne Warwick is at the New Theatre on Tuesday. Call 0844 8471588 for tickets.