CNN World Beat Interview Transcript

                            Inside Track Interview

                  First Broadcast: December 26, 1998 (9:00 p.m.PST)

                       Transcript added on: December 28, 1998

Interview by Brooke Alexander

Transcript by: David Tsang

BA: And, next week, we'll play the Top 20 of 1998. Guess who's likely to be near, or at, the top. Her theme
song for Titanic must have enjoyed more airplay around the world than any other single this year. She followed it
up with the hugely successful album, "Let's Talk About Love". We are talking about Celine Dion, of course --
Canada's one-woman hit machine and, most suitably, our last Inside Track for 1998. 

[Cut to performance of "To Love You More" from the Five Star/CBC production in Memphis in March
1997] 

BA: Celine, welcome to World Beat's Christmas show. 

CD: Thank you. 

BA: Okay, so tell us who are your musical influences growing up? 

CD: Lots of people, but especially my family. Everyone played an instrument, everybody sings. My both parents,
my dad plays accordion, my mum [the] violin. And before I was born, they used to tour with members of my
family on the weekends; weddings, and parties and clubs and things -- we grew up in music, it was our most
precious thing, I guess. So my main influence would be my family. 

[Cut to studio recording of "Feliz Nevidad": THESE ARE SPECIAL TIMES (1998)] 

BA: You've been embraced by both the Canadian and the French audiences throughout the 80s; at what point
did you feel embraced by the rest of the world? 

CD: My career's been slowly but surely. I started at -- you know I met Rene, my manager -- [when] I was
twelve years old. And my career started to go slowly only in the province of Quebec and then the whole Canada,
and then in France and then I wanted to have an international career and I did my first recording in English. And
things started to go slowly but surely and I always wanted to have a career like that because I was always afraid
of having a huge hit, a huge success, and then you sell so many albums and then, that's it. After it goes like...
phew... a peak and then it's over, but I was afraid of that; I didn't want a hit, I wanted a career. And it started
slowly like that. And it's been incredible, I've been very lucky. 

[Cut to music video of "Zora Sourit": S'IL SUFFISAIT D'AIMER (1998)] 

BA: Tell us about your most recent album in French. 

CD: "S'il Suffisait D'Aimer" - "If Only Love Could Be Enough" - I've worked with Jean-Jacques Goldman, who's
like a Bruce Springsteen in France. You know I did an album with him before, this once or twice, second time
working together and the first one we did together [D'eux: 1995] was like a great experience and it seems like,
this time, things got even more intimate. And his way of writing for me, it's in closer to my own feelings. "S'il
Suffisait D'Aimer" means like "If Only Love Could Be Enough", like sometimes you watch TV and you see
there's so many bad things around the world that happens that you don't have the control of changing and you say
to yourself, "if only love could change all this, if only we can just love each other and it can be like peace around
the world"; it would be just so amazing. 

[Cut back to music video of "Zora Sourit": S'IL SUFFISAIT D'AIMER (1998)] 

BA: Are there differences between recording in English and French? 

CD: I'm not sure there is a difference. It comes from your soul when a song touch you in English or a song touch
you in French. Whatever you sing in Japanese, or in English or in French, your soul will translate everything to
you automatically. But, of course, French will always remain something that I need to sing; it's my blood, it's my
origin. 

BA: Right. 

CD: So, I'll sing in French for the rest of my life, I hope. But, English is just a language of the music too. 

[Cut to music video of "I'm Your Angel": THESE ARE SPECIAL TIMES (1998)] 

BA: You also did a duet with R. Kelly, Andrea Bocelli -- 

CD: Yes. 

BA: -- what was it like working with R. Kelly? 

CD: Fabulous everytime. R. Kelly, I'm a big fan [of] and I think you have to be a fan to be able to share what
you love the most with another person. 

[Cut back to music video of "I'm Your Angel": THESE ARE SPECIAL TIMES (1998)] 

CD: I'm glad I did, he's a wonderful, wonderful human being, very funny, very talented; we spent a great time -
short, though -- but great time, in Montreal. 

[Cut to music performance of "(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman" at Divas Live] 

BA: I'm very fortunate because I just love singing and then one day you're with Arethra, and one day you're on
stage with Barbra, and then it's Mariah and Shania and Gloria. I'm a fan, I listen to people's music and I'm a fan
and then you're on stage and you can just have a good time with your idols. It's like this cannot be true so you
want to make sure that you take every second and live those moments as much as you can. 

[Cut to music video of the Oscar-winning "My Heart Will Go On": LET'S TALK ABOUT LOVE (1997)] 

BA: Did the success of Titanic surprise you? 

CD: Yes and no. I mean, you never expect anything from what you do. To me, it's not a movie, to me it's not a
song, it's a magic moment that happened. And, I'm just very thankful that I'm part of it. 

[Interview ends] 

BA: Celine Dion, a satisfactory year...