''Incognito'' is the eighth French-language and eighth 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 ...

, which is her first album on a major label released by

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records or CBS/Sony, former name of Sony Music, a global record company * CBS Records International, label for Columbia Records recordings released outside North America from 1962 to 1990 * CBS Records (2006), founde ...

on 2 April 1987 in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada. It features eight songs produced by

Jean Roussel Jean Alain Roussel (born 1951 in Port Louis, Mauritius) is a Musician, Composer, Record Producer, Arranger, Educator and 'Music and Life Coach'. He is best known for keyboard work from the 1970s through today, playing regularly with Cat Stev ...

Aldo Nova Aldo Nova (born Aldo Caporuscio on November 13, 1956) is a Canadian guitarist, keyboardist, vocalist, and producer. He initially gained fame and popularity with the release of his 1982 debut album '' Aldo Nova'' which peaked to ''Billboards ...

and Pierre Bazinet. Six songs were released as singles and all of them reached the top five on the Quebec Airplay Chart, including four number ones: "

Incognito Incognito is an English adjective meaning "in disguise", "having taken steps to conceal one's identity". Incognito may also refer to: Film and television * ''Incognito'' (1937 film), a Danish film * ''Incognito'' (1997 film), an American crime ...

", " Lolita (trop jeune pour aimer)", " Comme un cœur froid" and " D'abord, c'est quoi l'amour". ''Incognito'' was certified two-times Platinum in Canada and has sold over 500,000 copies worldwide. It topped the chart in Quebec for five weeks.

Background and development

''Incognito'' started Dion's new look, new sound, new team of writers and producers and was issued by the new record company,

. The album was released in

, Canada in April 1987 and included songs produced by

and Pierre Bazinet. Lyrics were written by Luc Plamondon, Isa Minoke and

Eddy Marnay Edmond Bacri known by the professional name Eddy Marnay (Algiers, 18 December 1920 – 3 January 2003), was a French songwriter. In his career, he wrote more than 4000 songs, including works for Édith Piaf, Frida Boccara and Céline Dion. He ...

, and music was composed by Jean-Alain Roussel, Aldo Nova,

Daniel Lavoie Daniel Lavoie (; born Joseph-Hubert-Gérald Lavoie on March 17, 1949) is a Canadian singer–songwriter, actor, producer, poet, and radio host, known for his song " Ils s'aiment" and the role of Frollo in musical ''Notre-Dame de Paris''. He rele ...

, Robert Lafond and Steven Tracey. The album also contains a French-language cover of

E. G. Daily Elizabeth Ann Guttman, (born September 11, 1961) better known as E. G. Daily and Elizabeth Daily, is an American actress and singer. Daily is best known for her animation voice roles as Tommy Pickles on ''Rugrats'' and its spin-off ''All Grown ...

's " Love in the Shadows", titled "

Délivre-moi "Love in the Shadows" is a song recorded by American singer E. G. Daily. It was written by Daily and Harold Faltermeyer, and produced by Faltermeyer. "Love in the Shadows" was first recorded in 1984 for the soundtrack to the movie ''Thief of Heart ...

". At the end of 1988, ''Incognito'' with different track listing was released in France. Instead of " Partout je te vois" and "Délivre-moi", it included the 1988 Eurovision-winning song, "

Ne partez pas sans moi "Ne partez pas sans moi" (; "Don't Leave Without Me") is a song recorded by Canadian singer Celine Dion. The song was written by Atilla Şereftuğ and Nella Martinetti. It is best known as the Swiss winning entry at the Eurovision Song Contes ...

" and

Jean-Pierre Ferland Jean-Pierre Ferland, (born June 24, 1934, in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Life and career Ferland began work with Radio-Canada in 1956 as an accountant, but his career there was short lived. Shortly after, he began ...

-written " Ma chambre" (B-side of ''Incognitos singles). In October 1992, ''Incognito'' was issued in France with the original track listing and in August 1995 the album became available in various countries around the world.

Singles

The first single, " On traverse un miroir" entered the Quebec Airplay Chart on 25 April 1987 and peaked at number two. The second single, "

" debuted on this chart on 6 June 1987 and topped it for six weeks. The next single, " Lolita (trop jeune pour aimer)" entered the Quebec Airplay Chart on 3 October 1987 and occupied the number-one position for two weeks. The fourth single, " Comme un cœur froid" debuted on the chart on 6 February 1988 and also topped it for two weeks. The fifth single, "

" entered the Quebec Airplay Chart on 18 June 1988 and peaked at number four. The last Canadian single, " D'abord, c'est quoi l'amour" debuted on the chart in Quebec on 17 October 1988 and became Dion's fourth number one from ''Incognito'' spending two weeks at the top. " Jours de fièvre" was released as a single in Denmark in late 1988.

Promotion

On 2 April 1987, Dion performed at a special show organized to celebrate the release of ''Incognito'' at Club L'Esprit in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

, Canada. On 7 April 1987, she appeared on the television show ''Montréal en direct'' aired on Télé-Metropole and sang " On traverse un miroir", " Lolita (trop jeune pour aimer)" and "

". On 27 September 1987, a television special titled ''Spécial Incognito'' aired on

Radio-Canada The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

. It included the music video for "Incognito" and performances of songs from ''Incognito'' (" Partout je te vois", "Lolita (trop jeune pour aimer)", "

", "On traverse un miroir", " Jours de fièvre", " Comme un cœur froid") and three covers (" My Heart Belongs to Daddy", "

Chattanooga Choo Choo "Chattanooga Choo Choo" is a 1941 song written by Mack Gordon and composed by Harry Warren. It was originally recorded as a big band/swing tune by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra and featured in the 1941 movie '' Sun Valley Serenade''. It was ...

" and " Seulement qu'une aventure"). On 2 November 1987, Dion performed the English-language version of "Partout je te vois", " Have a Heart" at the

Juno Awards The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

. During 1987, she also performed "Incognito" and "On traverse un miroir" on ''Ad lib'' on

TVA The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a Federal government of the United States, federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, an ...

, " Ma chambre" (B-side of ''Incognitos singles) on ''Ferland/Nadeau'' on Télé-Metropole, "Partout je te vois", "

The Greatest Love of All "The Greatest Love of All" is a song written by Michael Masser, who composed the music, and Linda Creed, who wrote the lyrics. It was originally recorded in 1977 by George Benson, who made the song a substantial hit, peaking at number two on the ...

" and "Encore et encore" (duet with

Francis Cabrel Francis Christian Cabrel (; born 23 November 1953) is a French singer-songwriter, composer and guitarist. Considered one of the most influential French musical artists of all time, he has released a number of albums falling mostly within the real ...

) on ''Station soleil'' on Radio-Québec and "Comme un cœur froid" on ''Montréal en direct''. On 15 February 1988, Dion sang "Incognito", "Comme un cœur froid" and "

Memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered ...

" on ''Téléfun'' on

TQS Noovo is a Canadian French-language terrestrial television network owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc. The network has five owned-and-operated and three affiliated stations throughout Quebec, although it can also be seen over-the-air ...

. On 1 July 1988, she performed "Comme un cœur froid" and "

Can't We Try "Can't We Try" is a 1987 duet performed by Dan Hill and Vonda Shepard. The ballad was ''Billboard''s No. 1 Adult Contemporary Song of the Year for 1987. "Can't We Try" was released as a single from Dan Hill's 1987 self-titled album. The song r ...

" (duet with

Dan Hill Daniel Grafton Hill IV (born 3 June 1954) is a Canadian pop singer and songwriter. He had two major international hits with his songs " Sometimes When We Touch" and "Can't We Try", a duet with Vonda Shepard, as well as a number of other charti ...

) on ''Joyeux millions Canada'' on TVA. In September 1988, Dion sang " D'abord, c'est quoi l'amour" on ''Laser 33-45'' on Radio-Canada. Other 1988 television performances included "Ma chambre", " Summertime" and "D'abord, c'est quoi l'amour" on ''Ad lib''. Later, in 1989 Dion also performed "Lolita (trop jeune pour aimer)" and " D'amour ou d'amitié" on ''Ad lib'' and "Délivre-moi" on ''Ferland/Nadeau''. In addition, she embarked on the Incognito tournée and gave seventy-five performances in

between January and December 1988.

Critical reception

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 ...

gave the album three out of five stars.

Commercial performance

On 23 November 1987, ''Incognito'' was certified

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

by the

CRIA A ''cria'' (pronounced ) is a juvenile llama, alpaca, vicuña, or guanaco. Etymology The term comes from the Spanish word cría, meaning "baby". Its false cognate in English, ''crya'' (pronounced ), was coined by British sailors who explored C ...

for selling 50,000 copies. On 16 September 1988, it was certified

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

in Canada for selling 100,000 units. Later, on 31 January 1996 the album was certified two-times Platinum by the CRIA for sales of over 200,000 copies. It entered the Quebec chart in April 1987 and topped it for five weeks, spending 91 weeks on it. In Belgium Wallonia, ''Incognito'' entered the

Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organization ...

200 Albums chart in 1995, thanks to the success of ''

D'eux ''D'eux'' (French for "Of Them, "About Them", or "From Them"; homophonic with , meaning "two") is the thirteenth studio album by Canadian singer Celine Dion, and her tenth French-language studio album. It was released by Columbia Records on 30 M ...

'' and peaked at number sixty-five on 11 November 1995. ''Incognito'' has sold over 500,000 copies worldwide.

Accolades

In 1987, Dion was nominated for the

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 Female Vocalist of the Year and ''Incognito'' was nominated in category Pop Album of the Year.

won Félix Award for arranging " Comme un cœur froid" and was nominated for two other Félix Awards for producing and engineering "

". In 1988, Dion won Félix Award for Female Vocalist of the Year and "Incognito" won in category Most Popular Song of the Year. Thanks to the Incognito tournée, Dion also won Félix Award for Best Stage Performance of the Year and was nominated in category Show of the Year. Incognito tournée also won Félix Award for Stage Director of the Year and was nominated in category Stage Designer of the Year and Lighting Designer of the Year. Dion was also nominated for the

Juno Award for Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year The Juno Award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year is an annual award given by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to the best new musician in Canada. The award has been given since 1974, when it was originally divided into separate ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

and Female Vocalist of the Year in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

. She was also nominated for three

MetroStar Award The MetroStar Award (french: Prix MetroStar) was presented for achievements in French-Canadian ( Québécois) television and was based on popular vote. Many notable Québécois performing artists have been honored with this award; for example, Cél ...

s in 1987 (Female Vocalist of the Year, Young Artist of the Year, Female Personality of the Year) and four in 1988 (Female Vocalist of the Year, Young Artist of the Year, Female Personality of the Year, Jury Award), and won MetroStar Award for Young Artist of the Year in 1988. Dion's television special titled ''Spécial Incognito'' was nominated for six Gémeaux Awards in 1988 and won two for Best Cinematography and Best Lighting. Other nominations included Best Direction, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design and Best Makeup/Hair.

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from

. *

– lead and background vocals *

– producer, arranger, sound recording, drums, bass synth, keyboards *

– producer, arranger, sound recording, mix, programming, guitars, synth bass, drums, keyboards * Pierre Bazinet – producer, arranger, mix, drums *

René Angélil René Angélil (; January 16, 1942 – January 14, 2016) was a Canadian musical producer, talent manager and singer. He was the manager and husband of singer Celine Dion. Early life Angélil was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to a father of ...

– executive producer, impresario *Vito Luprano – executive producer *Ray Fabi – synthesizers, keyboards programming, Macintosh Plus programming *

Michel Corriveau Michel Corriveau (born June 29, 1962) is a Canadian composer of film and television scores from Quebec. He has received multiple nominations and awards throughout his career for Canadian and international films and TV productions Biography ...

– synthesizers, keyboards programming *Denis Chartrand – keyboards *Alain Simard – programming *Daniel Barkbe – synclavier *Bill Beaudoin – guitars, keyboards *Robert Marchand – guitars *Sylvian Bolduc – bass guitar *Alain Barletano – drums *Pierre Hebert – drums *Martin Daviault – saxophone, flute *Patrick Vetter – saxophone *Isa Minoke – background vocals *Laurie Niedzielski – background vocals *

Paul Northfield Paul Northfield is a prolific British record producer and sound engineer, who has worked on albums by bands such as Dream Theater, Queensrÿche, Rush, Porcupine Tree and Suicidal Tendencies. Northfield worked at Advision Studio, London from 197 ...

– drums recording *Alain Deroque – mastering *J.C. Beaudoin – sound recording, mix *Robin Black – mix *Claude Allard – engineer's assistant *Robert Matichak – engineer's assistant *Martin Soldat – design *Paul Bella – photos *J.P. Karsenty – photo *Carol – hair *Suzane Mia Dumont – press agent

Charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Incognito (Celine Dion Album) 1987 albums Albums produced by Aldo Nova Albums produced by Pierre Bazinet Celine Dion albums Columbia Records albums