The word pioneer, as often as it’s bandied about, hasn’t lost its meaning on one true trailblazer: Dionne Warwick.

During her music career, which has spanned more than four decades, the five-time Grammy Award-winning Warwick has broken boundaries and set the pace for other pop music acts.

The 68-year-old songbird has long been considered a musical artist who broke molds, cultivating a brand of pop that infused rhythm and blues, soul and gospel elements, all the while challenging audiences’ notions of culture, generation and race.

“You know, I’ve never really thought about it,” Warwick said when asked during an interview with the Gay & Lesbian Times if she’s aware of her label as a “pioneer.” “I just happened to be doing the music that appealed to a variety of people.”

Warwick will appeal again to a variety of people by kicking off the 2008 San Diego Symphony Summer Pops series, featuring special guests Kool & The Gang on Saturday, June 14.

Warwick also chatted with us about her humanitarian efforts, a few new projects she has in store this year, the longevity of her career and her musical roots.

“I was born into music,” Warwick said. “I come from a musical family, so music has always been a part of my life.”

Warwick’s family tree includes her first cousin, the once-troubled Whitney Houston, who Warwick said is on the mend.

“She’s doing absolutely incredible!” Warwick said. “She’s on the road, and doing concerts in the eastern region of the world. And her CD should be coming very, very soon.”

Warwick got her early start in a church choir – in fact, her mother, aunts and uncles used the choir as a launching pad to begin the renowned group, The Drinkard Singers. As a teen, Warwick, her sister Dee Dee, and four other members of the church choir formed their own group, The Gospelaires.

When Warwick was performing as a part of The Gospelaires, she met Burt Bacharach, who asked her to contribute vocals to demo songs he was writing with his partner, Hal David.

Backed by Bacharach and David, her first single, circa 1962, “Don’t Make Me Over,” was the first of 12 consecutive Top 100 hits from 1963-1966. Billboard magazine has Warwick positioned behind “The Queen of Soul,” Aretha Franklin, for second most Billboard Hot 100 hits from 1955-1999.

While tunes such as “Walk On By,” “I Say A Little Prayer For You,” and “Message to Michael,” to name a few, made Warwick a household name, the songs “Alfie” and “(Theme From) Valley of The Dolls,” took her distinctive style to movie theaters.

“I couldn’t pick a favorite, there’s no way, all of them are,” Warwick said when pressed to cite a particular song from the collaborations with Bacharach and David. “I think of them like my children, so they’re all my favorites.”

Warwick’s first Grammy win came in 1968 for her smash hit, “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” The win signified another milestone, not only in Warwick’s career, in music history as well. With her win for Best Contemporary Female Performance, Warwick became the first black solo artist of her generation to receive this coveted accolade.

“It was always exciting to win a Grammy, of course,” said Warwick, who called that first win “wonderful.”

During the same year, Warwick, gave another notable contemporary female performance in the film, Slaves, her motion picture debut, which made history again, making Warwick the first black performer, since Lena Horne, to be showcased in this manner. To cap off that banner year, she also became the first female black recording artist to perform at a Royal Command Performance for the Queen of England.

During the 1970s, three more Grammy awards came Warwick’s way, courtesy of the songs “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” “I’ll Never Love This Way Again, and “Déjà Vu,” and she also struck gold with a duet, “Then Came You,” with the Spinners.

Speaking of gold, in 1980 Warwick began hosting duties on the weekly music show, “Solid Gold,” where she was the mistress of ceremonies through 1981, and returned to hosting in 1985 and 1986.

“Every single show was so much fun!” she said. “Having the opportunity to meet some new talent, and interface with some of my buddies, my peers, was just a ‘You had to be there’ kind of thing.”

Warwick is also known as an esteemed humanitarian, and was at the forefront of raising AIDS awareness. In 1985, she re-teamed with producer, Bacharach, and superstar colleagues, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder and Elton John to record “That’s What Friends Are For.” The song was a hit single in a number of ways – it raised millions of dollars for AMFAR and AIDS research, spent four weeks at number one, and brought Warwick her fifth Grammy. The song also gave a hopeful message in a time when AIDS was still largely looked upon as only a gay disease.

Warwick shared her thoughts on the pandemic.

“I think it’s a shame that we still have to deal with it,” Warwick said. “The kind of progress that we are doing, that has happened, of course we are very happy about that – but it hasn’t been enough.

“We just have to keep working at it until we can beat it. I think the problem basically is, and has been, is that the face of AIDS, it just changes so rapidly. It’s not just one strain, but a multitude of them. So until we can corral at least one of them, then we may have an opportunity to look at how to get the rest of it.”

Currently, Warwick has two inspirational projects set for 2008.

The CD, Why We Sing – her first all-gospel record in 40 years – was released in January, and much like her days of singing in the church choir, she enlisted family members to help her on the project; son Damon Elliot (who has also produced Destiny’s Child and Pink) serves as one of the disc’s producers, while another son, David Elliot, has writing credits on one song.

With nearly four decades passing between her last gospel album, 1968’s The Magic of Believing and Why We Sing, Warwick has seen a stylistic change in that genre of music.

“It has changed quite a bit,” she said. “What is very encouraging is that the change is because of the youth movement of it and to know that our youth is being drawn into its fold is wonderful.”

Her other venture is a children’s book, Say A Little Prayer, set to hit bookstores on Sept. 1.

“It’s something that I happen to love very, very much,” Warwick said of writing. “This is one of my best accomplishments so far; I wanted to write something inspirational and encouraging.”

“Staying in the industry as long as I have is because I love what I do,” she said. “Apparently, I’m bringing something to people,and I need to continue to do it.”