''Dion chante Plamondon'' (English: "Dion sings Plamondon") is the ninth French-language

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by Canadian singer

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion (born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Power Ballads", Dion's powerful, technically skilled vocals and commercially successful works have had ...

. It was released on 4 November 1991 by

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

and features songs with words written by French-Canadian lyricist

Luc Plamondon Luc Plamondon (born March 2, 1942) is a French Canadians, French-Canadian lyricist and music executive. His work includes the musicals Starmania (musical), ''Starmania'' and Notre-Dame de Paris (musical), ''Notre-Dame de Paris''. He is the brot ...

. In Europe, the album was renamed ''Des mots qui sonnent'' (English: "some words that resonate"). It was promoted in Quebec by four promotional singles: " Des mots qui sonnent", "

L'amour existe encore "L'amour existe encore" (meaning "love still exists") is a song by Canadian singer Celine Dion from her tenth studio album, '' Dion chante Plamondon'' (1991). It was written by Luc Plamondon and Riccardo Cocciante, and produced by Jannick Top an ...

", "

Je danse dans ma tête "Je danse dans ma tête" (meaning "I dance inside my head") is a song by Canadian singer Celine Dion from her tenth studio album, '' Dion chante Plamondon'' (1991). It was written by French-Canadian lyricist Luc Plamondon and Italian composer Ro ...

" and "

Quelqu'un que j'aime, quelqu'un qui m'aime "Quelqu'un que j'aime, quelqu'un qui m'aime" (meaning "someone I love, someone who loves me") is a song by Canadian singer Celine Dion from her tenth studio album, '' Dion chante Plamondon'' (1991). It was written by Luc Plamondon and Erown, and ...

". In France, three commercial singles were released: "Je danse dans ma tête", "

Un garçon pas comme les autres (Ziggy) "Un garçon pas comme les autres" ( "A Boy Like No Other") is a song written and produced by Michel Berger and Luc Plamondon for the 1978 musical, '' Starmania''. It was originally performed by Fabienne Thibeault and released on the '' Starman ...

" and "L'amour existe encore". ''Dion chante Plamondon'' won the Juno Award for Francophone Album of the Year and Félix Award 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

, pop lyricist of French-speaking Canada. The album includes four new songs (" Des mots qui sonnent", "

", "

" and "

") and eight covers (mostly form the musical '' Starmania'': " Le monde est stone", "Le blues du businessman", "

" 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. Thibeault and Dubois sang also "Les uns contre les autres". Other covers include: Martine St-Clair's "Le fils de Superman", Diane Dufresne'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. On 4 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 A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' 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 database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, "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

In Quebec, Canada four promotional singles were released. In November 1991, " Des mots qui sonnent" was sent 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 "

" (number three in airplay). "

" was chosen as the next single in August 1992 and became a hit reaching number one 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 "

" commercial single, released in March 1992. However, at that time none of them charted. Everything changed in 1993 when Dion's single "

" became a hit, reaching number two and being certified Gold. English version of that song appeared on the ''

Tycoon A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...

'' compilation. 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 four and spent a whole year on the chart. It was certified 2× Platinum in France. The album has sold over one 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 Juno Award for Francophone Album of the Year in 1993. It also won Félix Award for Best Selling Album of the Year in 1992 and was nominated for Pop/Rock Album of the Year. "

" 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, "

" won MuchMusic Video Award for Best Adult Contemporary Video in 1992 and Dion was nominated for the Victoires de la Musique 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.

Personnel

Adapted from

. * Marina Albert – background vocals, choir/chorus * Laurent Gatignol – recording engineer * René Angélil – art direction *

Michel Berger Michel Jean Hamburger (28 November 1947 – 2 August 1992), known professionally as Michel Berger, was a French singer and songwriter. He was a figure of France's pop music scene for two decades as a singer. As a songwriter he wrote for artists ...

– composer *

Riccardo Cocciante Riccardo Cocciante (; born 20 February 1946), also known in French-speaking countries and the United States as Richard Cocciante (), is an Italian and French singer and songwriter. Early and personal life Cocciante was born on 20 February 19 ...

– composer *

Céline Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion (born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Referred to as the " Queen of Power Ballads", Dion's powerful, technically skilled vocals and commercially successful works have had a significant impact on popular musi ...

– primary artist, vocals * Germain Gauthier – composer * François Cousineau – composer * Manu Guiot – mixing * Denys Lable – guitar * Vito Luprano – art direction, executive producer * Romano Musumarra – arranger, composer, producer * Aldo Nova – composer * Serge Perathoner – arranger, keyboards, clavier, producer *

– composer * Claude Salmiéri – cymbals, drums * Eric Seva – saxophone * Erown – composer * Marty Simon – composer * Jannick Top – arranger, electric bass, producer, realization * Christine Wilson – artwork, illustrations

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

References

External links

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