Dionne Warwickdoesn’t believeBeyoncéis an icon — just yet!
During a recent interview withEssence, Warwick, 78, raved over the “Formation” singer, 37, but questioned whether or not her career will reach the level of success that “classic” musicians from the ’60s have.
“I have an admiration for Beyoncé Knowles, Carter now. Watching her growth has been quite refreshing. It’s wonderful to see how she’s been able to create what and who she wanted to be and who she is… very proud of that, I really am,” Warwick, who released her new albumShe’s Backearlier this month, toldEssence.
“Now sustaining and becoming a big icon thatGladys Knight, orPatti LaBelle, or Johnny Mathis, orFrank Sinatra, orSammy Davis Jr.is? I doubt that,” Warwick said.
She continued, “And I love her to death and can appreciate her talent. But that iconic status? It’s a long road [ahead].”
A rep for Beyoncé did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Dan MacMedan/Getty Images; ason LaVeris/FilmMagic
“I don’t know if 10 years from now, anybody can actually sing the songs of our babies today. That’s not, as you guys say, ‘throwing shade,’ it’s looking at it with reality,” Warwick explained toEssence.
“The youngsters are doing it,” Warwick told the publication.
She would later go on to release the hits “Michael to Michael” and her version of “I Say A Little Prayer,” in 1966.
In 1968, Warwickwon a Grammy Awardfor “Do You Know the Way to San Jose.”
Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach.Everett
“I did not want to sing or record ‘San Jose,’” Warwick previously told PEOPLE. “It was not one of my favorite songs that David wrote. I just couldn’t imagine Hal writing a lyric that had ‘whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa….'”
“I said to him, ‘How could you?’” she adds with a laugh. “I sang it because of the affinity he had for the song and cried all the way to the bank. What can I tell you?”
“They’re definitely my songs,” she said. “Even with the multitude of others singing those songs, they still know whose song itreallyis.”
source: people.com
