The Centennial Olympic Games began on July 19, 1996 in Atlanta Georgia and Celine Dion helped open the 1996 Summer Olympics by performing a song written exclusively for the Games. The Power Of The Dream was written by David Foster, Linda Thompson and Kenny "BabyFace" Edmonds.
Celine was attracted to the project because of the Games' international importance and the example Olympic athletes represent.
"It is an honour to sing for the world's athletes", she said. "The sacrifices they made, their dedication and commitment to a single purpose and the hard work they have gone through makes every one of them a hero for having earned the priviledge of being on that field for the Opening Ceremony".
The Opening Ceremonies began at 8:00pm EDT and was broadcast to an expected worldwide television audience of more than 3.5 billion people.
For the recording of the album Falling Into You, David Foster asked to Celine to do a remake of "All by myself".
"David informed me that he changed the orchestrations of the last part of the song, Celine tells. I had to sing a little higher, until a F# that almost reached the limit of my voice. The worst was that he wanted me to hold this note during several seconds... I knew that I couldn't do it more than two recordings without risking to break my voice.
The day of the recording, Rene and I quarrelled, for a mere trifle... He decided not to acompany me to the studio. I left all by myself, to the Record Plant (in Los Angeles), where I found a rather cold, condescending, almost contemptuous David Foster... While the technicians were finishing to put the orchestra tracks, I was going around in circles. I think that David was delaying everything on purpose... At one point, innocently, he told me: "If you don't manage... I could ask it to Whitney". Whitney Houston was recording on this day in the nearby studio...
I did not say a word... I sang "All by myself" with all my strength, with all my soul. When I came to the time to climb towards the F#, I put my voice at maximum, until it was hurting, and I held the note a very long time, without weakening. When I finished, the musicians on the other side of the glass were standing to applause.
I left without greeting David Foster...I was thinking of Rene. I was looking for the reason of our fight. And suddenly, I understood... He put once again the difficulty harder to give me new challenges, to force me to surpass myself."
Now, Celine speaks about the impact of this song when she sings it on stage:
"Before, people did not expect this note, she says, and when I was doing it, they were surprised, amazed or not, but they did not expect this note... And now they expect this note, and there is a silence which moves me, and which paralyses me, it's incredible! And then, I say to myself, "well, I can't leave them now", so, there is a hand inside me, this performer who loves singing, who's saying to me "go girl, do your note, make them happy, do it right!"
Eric Carmen originally recorded it.
It is Celine's favorite song on the album D'Eux. Jean-Jacques Goldman wrote it late in 1994.
"Pour que tu m'aimes encore, Celine tells, the first song heard, the first recorded, at once reminded me L'hymne à l'amour by Edith Piaf. The same subject, the same structure, the same woman consumed by love. It is a hymn to wild, possessed, possessive, definitive love, as mine... We knew while we were recording that now it will be part of my life."
(Duet with Barbra Streisand) This stunning duet with Barbra Streisand, born of the two singers' initial meeting at the 1997 Academy Awards is the first single from Let's Talk About Love.
(Theme song in "Titanic") "In April (1997), Celine remembers, composer James Horner came to Las Vegas and proposed a project to Rene : 'I'm writing the music for a movie about the Titanic'. The three of us met in a suite of the Caesar's Palace. Horner played My Heart Will Go On on the piano. On his back, I was making signs to Rene, pouts, I was looking sternly at him, so that he understood I didn't want this song : I really didn't want to record it. First, I didn't like the song, he couldn't sing right, it wasn't really alright on the piano at the moment, I had already performed several songs for movies, one more? We wanted to take a break, another project? More especially as director James Cameron didn't want any songs for his movie. We weren't in the middle of the song that Rene was pretending not to understand me. When Horner turned towards us, he said : 'In one month, we will be in New York, at the Hit Factory, where Celine records her new album Let's Talk About Love. If you give us an orchestral track, she could make a model, then Cameron could listen to it. It would be, I think, the best way to convince him.'"
"One month later, James Horner was at the Hit Factory in New York with his orchestral track. He told me with many details the story of the movie. I began to feel the atmosphere of the movie... There is a scene with a couple of old people who are hugging, who are seeing the water come in from under the door and who are deciding to go to bed, and who are going to die together... And there is also a mother who is singing lullabies to her children, and she knows that they're all going to die... And then I imagined it. And on that day, I wasn't totally in top shape vocally and usually I don't take caffeine when I sing, but here it was a model 'no things to worry' so I took a black coffee with two sugars... Then I sang, there were all the Sony team, Tommy Mottola, John Doelp, Vito Luprano... Everybody knew, since the first take, that we had a big hit."
"But the model, the coffee and the two sugars remained the original, I never recorded the song again : the model is on the disc. They built the orchestration with my voice... I never recorded it again, so much so that the tremolo is faster on the song than on stage, than usual, because of the caffeine."
"A few years ago, when I was touring in Japan, Celine tells, I met an incredible young violonist: his name is Taro Hakase, and we have recorded this next song together." To love you more was the theme song for a popular Japanese drama series.
Against a finespun sweep of strings and piano, the sparkling title track from the album A New Day Has Come is among the most delicate, understarted songs Céline has recorded.
"For me, this represents the birth of my child, Céline says. Nothing can ever come close to that. But it can mean different things for anyone who has to find strength again. I think it's very positive." Stephan Moccio wrote the lyrics of the song on a music by Aldo Nova. Stephan told: "It's funny because everything took place in 2002 and, ten years earlier, in March 1992, I met Celine while I was studying at the university, said the musicia . I then told her: "One day, I will compose a song for you!" When I met Celine ten years later, when I presented her "A New Day has Come," I reminded her of the meeting and I also showed her the photo that was taken. She thought it was amazing! She also joked "You look better now!" "
(Theme song in "Stuart Little II") From the team that wrote That's The Way It Is, this is one of the lighter moments on the set A New Day Has Come; the rhythm is particularly stimulating.
"It's cute, it's fun, it's fresh, Céline offers. You don't have to listen to the lyric to enjoy it."
The recording of this classic by Céline was produced by Peer Astrom and Vito Luprano.
The original version is recorded by Cindy Lauper on her album A night to remember aired in 1989. A version by Roy Orbison, of whom the song was originally aimed, is aired in 1992.
"Taking Chances" was written by Kara DioGuardi and David A. Stewart from Eurythmics, and produced by Grammy Award-winner John Shanks. It was recorded in April 2007 and released as the first single from the album.
In July 2003, Luther Vandross released the single Dance With My Father. Celine Dion appeared a few seconds in the music video for this song.
On Sunday, February 8, 2004, Celine Dion performed en live Dance With My Father in a special tribute to Luther Vandross, at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards.
Later, on September 20, 2005, is released a tribute album 'So Amazing: An All-Star Tribute To Luther Vandross' featuring performances of Luther Vandross hits by various artists. These hits range from his debut album to his last release. Celine took part in this beautiful project by recording a studio version of Dance With My Father, from Vandross' most recent album.
(2007) The song was recorded on September 9, 2006 in Las Vegas and appeared on the album 'We All Love Ennio Morricone' released in 2007, a tribute to the legendary composer of over 400 film soundtracks. Composed by Maestro Morricone for 'Once Upon a Time In America', with brand new lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman written especially for this release, "I Knew I Loved You" is the perfect ballad for Valentines Day and beyond.
