‘I’ve earned it’: Bowie State honors icon Dionne Warwick with naming of theater

Alex Glaze, CBS Baltimore

Published 3/31/2023 3:09 p.m. EDT, Updated 3/31/2023 7:33 p.m. EDT

Dionne Warwick speaks onstage during MusiCares Persons of the Year at Los Angeles Convention Center on February 03, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Dionne Warwick speaks onstage during MusiCares Persons of the Year at Los Angeles Convention Center on Feb. 3, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
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This weekend, Bowie State University will name the theater at its performing arts center after a music icon.

The Dionne Warwick Theater will officially be unveiled on Saturday.

WJZ sat down with the six-time Grammy Award-winning singer to talk about the honor.

Warwick is a world-renowned vocalist. Along with her Grammys, she is an actress and television host.

She has been inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Grammy Hall of Fame, R&B Music Hall of Fame and Apollo Theater Walk of Fame.

She has sold more than 100 million records worldwide and is one of the most charted vocalists of all time.

Warwick told WJZ that having the theater at Bowie State University’s Fine Arts Center is one of her biggest honors.

“It’s wonderful to know that I have reached a level that I am being appreciated for the work that I have put in, the time I’ve put in. I’ve earned it,” Warwick said.

This is the first performance center named in Warwick’s honor.

Warwick is from New Jersey and attended school in Connecticut.

Still, she build a connection with Bowie State.

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“Just conversations, speaking to students and instructors as well, as to what their concerns were and, did they think I could be of some kind of service to them, and I feel I can,” Warwick said.

The Dionne Warwick Theater will host concerts, plays and other performances.

Warwick has a message for young artists who will grace the stage at the Dionne Warwick Theater.

“The only thing I can think of is look what I learned,” Warwick said. “That’s what the deal is, you have to earn it. Nothing is given.”

There is a ceremony Saturday morning at Bowie State University to celebrate the naming of the theater.