When Celine Dion paused backstage interview to watch her idol Whitney Houston perform

16 September 2024, 14:21

Real talent recognises real talent.

That's certainly the case between two of the twentieth century's greatest musical talents in Céline Dion and Whitney Houston.

In 2004, Céline Dion had solidified herself as a once-in-a-lifetime kind of star, whose stock was higher than ever before.

To celebrate her status as one of the world's greatest singing talents, she was presented with an incredibly prestigious award.

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At the World Music Awards that year, Céline was given the Chopard Diamond Award, an award achieved only when an artist has sold a miraculous 100 million records plus throughout their career.

So you can understand why Céline would be feeling on top of the world at the time.

But with the spotlight on her during her backstage interview with the press, she couldn't resist but pause the press conference to watch Whitney's incredible performance that night.

With journalists lining up to get Céline's perspective on winning the Chopard Diamond Award, she shifted attention away from her own glory.

It was brought to her attention that Whitney was performing at the very same time, so she brought proceedings to a standstill.

Céline then sat beside rocker Courtney Love backstage whilst watching Whitney perform on the television above the podium.

She sat there like a young aspiring star herself, gazing into the television at her musical idol.

With the way she was entranced in Whitney's performance, you wouldn't have thought that Céline was a multi-million-selling artist in her own right.

But it just indicated the love and passion she felt toward Whitney's music, something Céline has been vocal about throughout her career.

As recent as 2021 in an interview with Style magazine, Céline revealed that Whitney inadvertently inspired her to hit the epic hit note on her 1996 classic 'All By Myself'.

When Céline went to the studio to record the track, her producer David Foster "gave the song to me and it was almost a key and a half higher than what he had proposed and what I had agreed [to]."

"I didn’t think it was funny at all. He said to me, “Don’t worry. If you can’t hit it, Whitney [Houston] is just next door and she can come and do it'."

"I was like, 'Oh. My. God'. But I guess that was all I needed to hear, so I went into the studio and I had no choice but to do it because I really wanted to sing that song. And it worked out."

It sounds like there was a little healthy competition between the two, but ultimately, there was a lot more respect for their individual talents.