''Dion chante Plamondon'' (meaning ''Dion Sings Plamondon'') is the tenth studio album by Canadian singer

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

. It was released on 4 November 1991 by Columbia Records and features French-language songs with words written by French-Canadian lyricist, Luc Plamondon. In Francophone countries in Europe, the album was renamed ''Des mots qui sonnent'', meaning ''Words That Resonate''. It includes the French hit songs, " Un garçon pas comme les autres (Ziggy)", "

L'amour existe encore "L'amour existe encore" (meaning "Love Still Exists") is a song by Quebec songwriter Luc Plamondon and Italian composer Riccardo Cocciante. It's sung by Canadian singer Celine Dion, recorded for her French-language album, '' Dion chante Plamondo ...

", " Je danse dans ma tête", " Des mots qui sonnent" and " Quelqu'un que j'aime, quelqu'un qui m'aime". ''Dion chante Plamondon'' won the

Juno Award for Francophone Album of the Year The Juno Award for Francophone Album of the Year is an annual award presented by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) for the best French-language album in Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten pro ...

and

Félix Award The Félix Award (french: Trophée Félix or Prix Félix) is an award, given by the ''Association du disque, de l'industrie du spectacle québécois'' ( ADISQ) on an annual basis to artists working in the music and humor industry in the Canadian ...

for Best Selling Album of the Year. It topped the chart in Quebec and reached number four in France.

Content and release

Dion interprets the words of Luc Plamondon, pop lyricist of French-speaking Canada. The album includes four new songs (" Des mots qui sonnent", " Je danse dans ma tête", " Quelqu'un que j'aime, quelqu'un qui m'aime" and "

") and eight covers (mostly form the musical '' Starmania'': "Le monde est stone", "Le blues du businessman", " Un garçon pas comme les autres (Ziggy)" and "Les uns contre les autres"). "Le monde est stone" and "Ziggy" were performed originally by Fabienne Thibeault, and "Le blues du businessman" by

Claude Dubois Claude André Dubois (born 24 April 1947) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Dubois was an early star of the Francophone musical '' Starmania''. He was a vocalist in the Canadian famine relief song " Tears Are Not Enough" and was nominated Most ...

. Thibeault and Dubois sang also "Les uns contre les autres". Other covers include: Martine St-Clair's "Le fils de Superman",

Diane Dufresne Diane Dufresne, (born 30 September 1944) is a French Canadian singer and painter, and is known for singing a large repertoire of popular Quebec songs. Dufresne was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She lived in Paris from 1965 to 1967 where ...

's "Oxygène" and "J'ai besoin d'un chum", and Marie Carmen's "Piaf chanterait du rock". On 4 November 1991, the album was released in Canada. In May 1992, it was issued in France, Belgium and Switzerland. On 25 January 1993, it was released in Australia. In 1994, ''Dion chante Plamondon'' was released in the rest of the world, becoming Dion's first French album available worldwide. It was released with four different cover pictures.

Critical reception

Lary Leblanc from '' Billboard'' listed ''Dion chante Plamondon'' as one of the best albums of the 1992 saying: "Dion's french-language recordings outrank her english pop output". According to

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

, "on this relatively early album, Dion sounds as self-assured and mature as on her latter-day recordings as a world-class superstar. Her voice exudes a passion beyond her young years, especially on the album's rocking opener, "Des mots qui sonnent"." They also said that "this album spans a wide musical spectrum, including the dramatic "Le fils de Superman", the funk-tinged "Je danse dans ma tête", the bluesy "Les uns contre les autres", and the mega-power ballad "Le blues du businessman".

1991-92 in Canada

There were no commercial singles from this album released in Quebec, Canada, although five of them went to the radio.

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainmen ...

decided to release two singles at the same time, in November 1991: " Des mots qui sonnent" to the pop stations (airplay peak at number 10) and "

" to the adult contemporary format (airplay peak at number 16). March 1992 saw the issue of " Je danse dans ma tête" (number 3 in airplay). " Quelqu'un que j'aime, quelqu'un qui m'aime" was chosen in August 1992 as the next single and became a hit reaching number 1 on the airplay chart in Quebec. The album was very successful in Quebec, topping the chart for seven weeks. It reached number 57 on the Canadian Albums Chart as Quebec sales did not factor into this chart at that time, but was certified 2× Platinum in Canada.

1992-94 in France

In France, the album was renamed ''Des mots qui sonnent'' and was promoted by " Je danse dans ma tête" commercial single, released in April 1992. However, at that time none of them charted. Everything changed in 1993 when Dion's single " Un garçon pas comme les autres (Ziggy)" became a smash hit, reaching number 2 and being certified Gold. English version of that song appeared on the ''Tycoon'' compilation, as well as the single's B-side. Thanks to its success, ''Des mots qui sonnent'' charted for the very first time in September 1993. In January 1994,

released the third and final commercial single in France - "

", which peaked at number 31. The album reached number 4 and spent a whole year on the chart. It was certified 2× Platinum in France. The album has sold over a million copies in France alone.

1994 worldwide

There was no promotion when the album was released worldwide in 1994. Only Dion's English single " Think Twice", released at that time contained as B-sides two songs from ''Dion chante Plamondon'': "

" and "Le monde est stone". ''Dion chante Plamondon'' has sold over two million copies worldwide. Although a French-language record, it managed to sell 275,000 copies in the United States as of June 2014. On the Belgian Wallonia chart, which is available only since April 1995, the album peaked at number 17. It was also certified Gold in Belgium in November 1995.

Accolades

''Dion chante Plamondon'' won

in 1993. It also won

for Best Selling Album of the Year in 1992 and was nominated for Pop/Rock Album of the Year. " Quelqu'un que j'aime, quelqu'un qui m'aime" was nominated for the Félix Award for Most Popular Song of the Year in 1993 and "

" was nominated for the Video of the Year in 1994. Dion was also nominated for the Félix Award for Female Vocalist of the Year in 1992, 1993 and 1994, and won in this category in 1994. Additionally, " Je danse dans ma tête" won

MuchMusic Video Award The iHeartRadio MMVAs were an annual awards show broadcast on Much to honour the year's best music videos that was last held in 2018. Originally debuting in 1990 as the Canadian Music Video Awards, the awards were renamed in 1995 to the MuchMu ...

for Best Adult Contemporary Video in 1992 and Dion was nominated for the

Victoires de la Musique Victoires de la Musique (; en, Victories of Music) is an annual French award ceremony where the Victoire accolade is delivered by the French Ministry of Culture to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The classical and jazz ...

in category Francophone Artist of the Year in 1994. ''Dion chante Plamondon'' television special was also nominated for two Gémeaux Awards in 1992.

Track listing

All tracks produced by Jannick Top and Serge Perathoner, except "Je danse dans ma tête" produced by

Romano Musumarra Romano Musumarra (born 21 July 1956) is an Italian composer, arranger, musician and record producer. Life and career Born in Rome, Musumarra approached music as a child, learning to play pipe organ at his church. He studied piano, compositio ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

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Release history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dion Chante Plamondon 1991 albums Celine Dion albums Juno Award for Francophone Album of the Year albums