( * ... and Peabo Bryson )
Chart entered : 16 May 1992
Chart peak : 9
Number of hits : 28
Celine was born to a large Catholic family in Quebec in 1968. She sang at her parents' small piano bar from an early age. Her brother sent a tape of her singing to a music manager, Rene Angelil, and she made her first French-language album "La Voix du Bon Dieu" in 1981 at the age of 13. She looks absolutely petrified on the sleeve. She recorded a Christmas album at the same time which was released three weeks later. Celine already sounds an assured vocalist amongst the syrupy MOR arrangements. The albums sold well in Quebec but were not eligible for the main Canadian chart.
Celine's third album ,in 1982, "Tellement j'ai d'amour ... " brought her some temporary international recognition as the title track won the World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo and the track "D'amour ou d'amitie" was a huge hit in France. However , the success of her next few albums was confined to Quebec until 1987's "Incognito" was a minor hit in Belgium.
The following year, despite having no obvious connection to the country, Celine sang the Swiss entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, "Ne partez pas sans moi ". It won by one point over the UK entry. If it were not for Celine's subsequent fame , I suspect it would be one of the least memorable Eurovision winners and its commercial fortunes were modest. It wasn't translated for release in the UK and even in Swizerland itself it only reached number 11. Its best showing was number 3 in Holland.
She and Angelli were now an item and decided that radical changes were necessary if Celine was going to be a truly international star. She took a break from recording for a couple of years during which she learned English and had major dental surgery.
Celine had recorded a few songs in English before but the album "Unison", released in 1990 was her first real attempt at cracking the Anglophone markets. Made with a cast of thousands, the album's cursed by bombastic eighties production values but it's a solid enough pop rock set that allowed Celine to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Martika and Laura Branigan ( who'd previously recorded the dance-y title track without the naff rap section ). The serviceable power ballad "Where Does My Heart Beat Now ?" broke her in the US where it reached number 4 but it wasn't a hit here until 1993 when it reached 72. The likeable "Any Other Way" was also a hit in the US reaching number 35.
Celine had no intention of abandoning her Francophone audience and released another French album "Celine Chante Plamondon" in 1991. It yielded another French hit in "L'amour existe encore".
Celine was then approached to sing a tune for the film An American Tail : Fievel Goes West. She recorded a demo but it appeared she was not the unanimous choice of the producers and she was unceremoniously bumped in favour of Linda Ronstadt. She was thus a bit hesitant about accepting a similar intervention from Disney to record "Beauty and the Beast", a song written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken for the film of the same name. In the picture the song is sung by veteran actress Angela Lansbury in character as Mrs Potts, the housekeeper who's been turned into a teapot. Disney wanted a single to promote the film and felt the Lansbury version wouldn't get radio play. The original idea was that Celine would sing it solo but Disney then worried she hadn't yet attained a high enough profile and drafted in reliable singing partner Peabo Bryson to record the song as a duet.
"Beauty and the Beast" is what it is , a schmaltzy power ballad for a romantic film with a fashionably synth-heavy arrangement. Both parties give it some vocal welly and the song was a huge international hit which put Celine firmly on the map.
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