Dionne Warwick’s Husband: William Elliott, Their Two Marriages, Kids, and Divorce
Dionne Warwick’s husband is a topic that surprises a lot of people because her only marriages were to the same man, and the relationship had two separate chapters. The short answer: Dionne Warwick married actor and musician William “Bill” Elliott, divorced him, remarried him, then divorced again—while raising two sons and building one of the most demanding careers in modern music.
Quick Facts
- Dionne Warwick’s husband was William “Bill” Elliott, an actor and musician.
- They married twice: first in 1966, then again in 1967, divorcing in 1975.
- They had two sons together: David and Damon Elliott.
Who Was Dionne Warwick’s Husband, William Elliott?
William Elliott—often called Bill Elliott—was an American actor and musician who worked in film and television during the 1970s. Compared to Dionne Warwick’s massive public profile, he remained more of a supporting-name figure in pop culture, which is why so many people know him primarily through their marriage.
That difference in fame matters. When one spouse is constantly in the spotlight, the relationship has to survive pressures most couples never face: nonstop travel, public scrutiny, competing schedules, and the emotional weight of always being “on.” Warwick’s career took off quickly and stayed intense for decades. Their marriage played out inside that reality.
How Dionne Warwick and William Elliott’s Relationship Began
Dionne Warwick’s rise wasn’t gradual—it was a launch. Once her voice became associated with era-defining songwriting and major chart success, the pace of her professional life accelerated. In the middle of that acceleration, she built a personal life with Elliott.
What’s easy to forget is that celebrity relationships aren’t lived at the same speed as “normal” relationships. When your life is tours, recordings, press, and performances, your marriage needs to function under a different kind of strain: you’re not just managing a partnership, you’re managing a partnership under deadlines.
The First Marriage: 1966
Dionne Warwick married William Elliott in 1966. That’s the clean historical marker most biographies agree on, and it places their first marriage in the earliest era of her superstar ascent.
In many long-term celebrity relationships, the early stage is fueled by momentum—everything feels possible because success is expanding, opportunities are multiplying, and your life is changing fast. But that momentum can also become a stress test. When your career is exploding, “time together” becomes a scarce resource, and the marriage can start living in the gaps between obligations.
Warwick and Elliott’s first marriage did not last long. They divorced in 1967.
The Remarriage: 1967
Here’s the twist people often don’t know: they reunited and remarried the same year. That remarriage is a big reason “Dionne Warwick’s husband” is harder to summarize than a single date or a single headline.
Remarrying quickly after a divorce usually signals something simple but powerful: the relationship wasn’t only conflict. There was attachment, history, and an unwillingness—at least at that moment—to fully let go.
In real life, relationships that break and reconnect often do so because both people believe the problems are fixable. Sometimes that belief is right. Sometimes it’s hopeful. Sometimes it’s both.
The Kids: David and Damon Elliott
Dionne Warwick and William Elliott had two sons together: David Elliott and Damon Elliott. Their children are a major piece of the story because they represent the “family life” that continued even as the marriage itself changed shape.
David, the older son, grew up around music and later became known for work behind the scenes, including songwriting and touring involvement. Damon, the younger son, became a record producer and songwriter with a wide range of credits. You don’t need to be a superfan to see the throughline: Warwick’s world was music, and her children inevitably absorbed that world—whether they stepped fully into it or found their own version of it.
Warwick has often been described as protective about her family life, especially considering how public her career has always been. That balance—high visibility as an artist, guarded boundaries as a parent—is part of why people can know her voice intimately while still knowing relatively little about her home life details.
Why Their Marriage Was Often Described as Difficult
It’s tempting to look at a celebrity marriage and assume the pressure comes from drama. More often, it comes from logistics and emotional exhaustion. Dionne Warwick’s career demanded constant movement: performances, studio time, promotional cycles, travel, and the business responsibilities that come with fame.
When one spouse is consistently the primary earner and the public-facing figure, it can change relationship dynamics in ways that aren’t always easy to navigate. In interviews over the years, Warwick has alluded to how stressful it can be to carry the weight of being the breadwinner while also trying to be present as a partner and parent.
That’s not a unique celebrity problem, by the way. It’s a human problem. But fame amplifies it because the pace rarely slows down long enough for the relationship to recover.
The Second Divorce: 1975
After years of trying to make the remarriage work, Dionne Warwick and William Elliott divorced for a second time in 1975. That date is an important anchor because it marks the end of their marriage chapter—not the end of their shared history as parents, but the end of their legal partnership as spouses.
By the time couples reach a second divorce, the story is usually not “one bad month.” It’s typically a slow accumulation of strain: mismatched expectations, repeated patterns, and the realization that love and compatibility are not always the same thing. When it ends the second time, it often ends with a clearer understanding that the relationship can’t survive in the form you keep trying to rebuild.
Did Dionne Warwick Remarry After William Elliott?
No. William Elliott is Dionne Warwick’s only husband in the sense that she did not marry again after their second divorce. That’s another reason search results can feel oddly repetitive: when people look up “Dionne Warwick’s husband,” the answer always comes back to the same name, because there isn’t a later marriage to compare it to.
That doesn’t mean she stopped having a personal life. It simply means she didn’t return to marriage as a structure after that experience. For some people—especially people who have lived through a long, complicated marriage—choosing not to remarry is less about bitterness and more about clarity.
What Happened to William Elliott?
William Elliott died in 1983. Public biographies commonly report that he died of a heart attack at age 49. That detail often lands heavily because it underscores how short his life was, especially considering how long Warwick’s career has lasted. Their marriage ended in the mid-1970s, but their shared family story continued beyond the marriage itself.
Putting It All Together Without the Confusion
If you want the clean, no-drama version of the answer, it’s this: Dionne Warwick’s husband was William “Bill” Elliott. They married in 1966, divorced in 1967, remarried in 1967, and divorced again in 1975. They had two sons together, David and Damon, and Warwick did not remarry after that.
And if you want the human version of the answer, it’s this: their relationship lived at the crossroads of ambition, fame, and family—where love can be real, stress can be relentless, and sometimes even a second try isn’t enough to make a marriage last.