Making Pop Hits--That’s What Friends Are For : Music: Dionne Warwick counts on those close to her for ‘catchy, memorable’ songs. She’ll sing some of her latest works when she appears with the Pacific Symphony.

The list of hits Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote in the ‘60s for Dionne Warwick seems endless: “Walk on By,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?,” “Alfie”. . . . And when she appears with the Pacific Symphony tonight and Saturday, Warwick certainly will be singing some of them.

But Warwick also will be doing a new Bacharach-David song “Sunny Weather Lover.” The tune is the first single from Warwick’s album “Friends Can Be Lovers,” released earlier this week. “It’s the first song they’ve written together in 20 years,” Warwick says. “So this is a 100% reunion album.”

The musical team that wrote the scores for “What’s New, Pussycat?,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and Neil Simon’s play “Promises Promises” (from which Warwick pulled yet another hit single, “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again”) were known for a long string of hits, not only for Warwick, but also for other pop figures including Jackie DeShannon, Gene Pitney, Dusty Springfield and the Carpenters. But the collaboration soured in the early ‘70s and the two composers followed separate paths. So what’s the ‘90s edition Bacharach-David music sound like?

“(“Sunny Weather Lover”) is an absolute gem--and typically Bacharach-David,” Warwick, 52, said by phone earlier this week from Los Angeles during a break in yet another busy studio session. “Anybody who knows me musically knows the kind of quality song I’m after, and this it. It has a catchy, memorable melody, memorable lyrics. It’s a hit song is what it is.”

The rest of the album finds Warwick working with close friends as well. “It’s almost a family affair,” she said. “I’ve gathered together lots of people I’ve known and worked with.”

Evidence of the album’s family ties can be found on the ballad “Love Will Find a Way,” written by Warwick’s son David L. Elliott and his partner Terry Steele. The song features Warwick doing a duet with her niece Whitney Houston. Elliott also co-wrote the funky dance number “Til the End of Time.” Luther Vandross does backup vocal duty on Sting’s “Fragile” (a tune produced by another friend, Harvey Mason).

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Warwick says she’s optimistic about the current state of the American popular song and singers. “Of course, some of the musicians out there are good and some aren’t. But I’m happy that the majority of artists out there are in the good category. Any new number of brilliant new talents have come along, evident in the amount of airplay they’re getting and the amount of records they are selling. It’s nice to know that good music is still a primary interest.”

Warwick does more than support promising talent during interviews. The singer occasionally hosts performances for talent she feels deserves wider recognition and has recently added her name to appearances from jazz-blues singer Barbara Morrison and Brazilian vocalist Eliana Estevao. “People like Barbara and Eliana are such talented people. If my visibility and belief in their talent brings attention to them, then it’s worth doing.”

The success of Natalie Cole and Harry Connick Jr., says Warwick, is evidence that there will always be a demand for the popular music of the past. “What they’re doing basically is a renewal of the great songs. You know, once a great song, always a great song. Both of them have a desire to keep that music in the forefront, like Johnny Mathis did with that incredible album of Ellington (1990’s ‘In a Sentimental Mood: Mathis Sings Ellington’). I hope this kind of renewal is a constant trend.”

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Though still highly visible as a performer--she performed during President Clinton’s inauguration festivities and interviews celebrities as a special correspondent for “Entertainment Tonight”--the singer has gained a solid reputation as a fund-raiser. She’s done high-profile projects on behalf of AIDS organizations and for such various causes as the Big Sisters Guild, Children’s Hospital, the Assn. for Retarded Children, and the United Negro College Fund.

“My family has always been trying to do what we felt is right about helping others. My parents, my aunts and uncles, my sister, they were all involved in one way or another doing something and giving something back to society. That’s the example that was set for me. If I can use my celebrity status to be a part of that, that’s what I’ll use it for.”

Despite the busy schedule--she’s just finished taping another segment of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” this week--Warwick continues to operate her Beverly Hills-based interior-decorating business with partner Bruce Garrick. Interior decorating, she said, “is an extension of what I do musically. The combination of colors and harmonies have the same intrinsic values as melodies do. Like music, it all has to blend together.”

Dionne Warwick appears with the Pacific Symphony in pops programs tonight and Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. (714) 740-2000 (Ticketmaster).