Grammy Award-winning legend Dionne Warwick has teamed with Grammy-winning R&B/pop singer Mya and platinum-certified rap star Saweetie as the featured artists on the new anthem “One Heart Can Change the World.” The song is being released Sept. 25 in conjunction with the 45th annual International World Peace Day. As the press announcement notes, “the day is dedicated to strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples.”
Academy Award-winning actor Forest Whitaker, the United Nations’ International Good Will Ambassador, is the single’s narrator. Also appearing on “One Heart Can Change the World” are Grammy-winning violinist Miri Ben-Ari and sound healer Ana Netanel.
Commented Warwick, “I was part of the supergroup that united for USA For Africa in 1985 with a Michael Jackson/Lionel Richie-penned song produced by Quincy Jones, ‘We Are the World.’ This groundbreaking musical collaboration was aimed at raising awareness for famine relief in Ethiopia. I was also joined in 1986 by my friends Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder on the Burt Bacharach/Carole Bayer Sager anthem ‘That’s What Friends Are For,’ a No. 1 Grammy-winning song with all proceeds to this day benefiting the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR.) I have seen just how powerful a song for a call to action can be.”
Danny Labretti
[L-to-R] Dionne Warwick, Damon Elliott, Forest Whitaker
In his work on behalf of the United Nations, Whitaker also oversees the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative (WPDI). The Sept. 25 release date for “One Heart Can Change the World” also marks the same day that WPDI will be hosting its “Rise As One” gala at Gotham Hall in New York City. Taking the stage that evening as honorees are Warwick, Mya and Saweetie.
“In a world that longs for peace, it begins with a smile; from a smile hope takes flight,” said Whitaker in the press announcement. “One smile, one world, one heart.”
“One Heart Can Change the World” is the third in a series of high-profile pairings from Warwick’s upcoming DWuets album with 17-time Academy Award-nominated songwriter and special Oscar recipient Diane Warren. Announced in March, DWuets — whose first two singles featured Cynthia Erivo and John Legend, respectively —will be the final album in Warwick’s storied career. Her Grammy-winning son Damon Elliott is producing all of the duets. As with the prior singles, “One Heart Can Change the World” is being released through Elliott Entertainment and Vydia Distribution, a gamma. company.
