Unison (Celine Dion album)

Untitled

Unison is the English-language debut album of Canadian singer Céline Dion, released in 1990 in North America and the next year in the rest of the world. Counting her previous French-language releases, it is her 15th album.

Prologue

Before Unison, Céline Dion already had a solid music career in Francophone markets. She had released 14 albums in her native language: 11 in Canada and 3 in France. She had won numerous music awards including 15 Félix Awards, 2 Yamaha Music Festival Awards, Eurovision Song Contest Grand Prix or MetroStar Award. Dion received gold and platinum certifications for several of her albums (4 gold, 3 platinum awards) and singles (3 gold awards). She was very successful as a French artist but still unknown in the English-speaking world.

In 1985 Dion recorded her first English single called "Listen to the Magic Man" for the movie The Peanut Butter Solution. The soundtrack also contained "Michael's Song." The same year she released a live album, Céline Dion en concert which contained a few English songs: "Up Where We Belong," "Over the Rainbow" and "What a Feeling."

In 1989, she released her second English single in Canada "Can't Live With You, Can't Live Without You," a duet with Billy Newton-Davis. She also recorded "Listen to Me" with Warren Wiebe. This was the title song for the movie starring Kirk Cameron. Also in 1989, she recorded her third duet with Dan Hill, called "Wishful Thinking."

After all those duets and movie songs, it was time for Dion's solo effort, an entire album in English that would introduce her to the world. For the release, CBS Records had originally offered $25,000, which would allow Dion to record new vocals over the original musical tracks from the French album Incognito. Three events would raise the ante. First, Dion performed a duet in English with Dan Hill at CBS Canada's 1987 convention. The performance impressed the company's president Bernie DiMatteo enough for him to raise the budget to $100,000 so that some new songs could be commissioned. Next, at the Juno Awards she sang "Have a Heart" - the English version of "Partout je te vois" from Incognito. After the performance the budget rose to $300,000. When David Foster later saw it on videotape, he told DiMatteo that $300,000 wasn't enough, so they were given an unlimited budget. The record ended up costing $600,000. Dion worked with three well-known producers: David Foster, Christopher Neil and Andy Goldmark.

Album information

Unison was recorded in London, New York and Los Angeles. Hits from the album include: "(If There Was) Any Other Way," "Unison" (a cover of Junior's song for the Tom Cruise movie All the Right Moves), "Where Does My Heart Beat Now," "The Last to Know" (previously recorded by Sheena Easton) and a radio single "Have a Heart" (the English version of Dion's 1987 song "Partout je te vois" from Incognito). Unison earned Dion two Juno Awards for the Album of the Year and the Female Vocalist of the Year.

Céline Dion did the Unison Tour in Canada to support the album. There was also a Unison home video released. During the tour, Céline Dion took part in the recording of "Voices That Care," a charity single released in March 1991. The song was written by David Foster, Linda Thompson and Peter Cetera, and recorded by a group of popular musicians, entertainers and athletes to help boost the morale of U.S. troops involved in the Gulf War, and also support the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The song reached number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was certified gold in the United States for selling over 500,000 copies.

Critical response

Unison was largely influenced by the 1980s soft rock sound that was a fit for the adult contemporary radio format. Unison hit all the right notes with critics: Jim Faber of Entertainment Weekly wrote that Dion's vocals were "tastefully unadorned," and that she never attempted to "bring off styles that are beyond her." Stephen Erlwine of Allmusic declared it as "a fine, sophisticated American debut."

Chart success

"Where Does My Heart Beat Now" is considered the single that broke Céline Dion into the English world of music (reaching number 4 in the United States). Worldwide sales of Unison have reached 3.5 million copies. The albums' biggest success was in Canada and the United States where it charted at numbers 18 and 74 respectively, going 7x platinum in Canada (by selling over 700,000 copies), and platinum in the United States (with sales of 1.3 million). The album achieved top 10 status in Norway, charting at number 8, its highest position around the world. Five years after its initial release, in 1996, Unison peaked at number 55 in the United Kingdom. Although the album did not chart in France, it was nevertheless certified gold in 1997 for selling over 100,000 copies.

Controversy

While Dion was enjoying her rising success in the English-speaking world, her French and Quebec fans criticized her for neglecting them. After she won the English-speaking Artist of the Year at the Félix Awards show, she attempted to reconnect with her French-speaking fans by refusing to accept the award. She stated she was and would always be, a French, and not an English artist.

Track listing

1. "(If There Was) Any Other Way" (Paul Bliss) – 4:00
2. "If Love Is Out of the Question" (Bliss, Phil Palmer) – 3:53
3. "Where Does My Heart Beat Now" (Robert White Johnson, Taylor Rhodes) – 4:33
4. "The Last to Know" (Brock Walsh, Phil Galdston) – 4:35
5. "I'm Loving Every Moment With You" (Tom Keane, Eric Pressley, Tyler Collins) – 4:08
6. "Love by Another Name" (David Foster, Cliff Magnes, Glen Ballard) – 4:51
7. "Unison" (Andy Goldmark, Bruce Roberts) – 4:13
8. "I Feel Too Much" (Keane, Pressley) – 4:09
9. "If We Could Start Over" (Stan Meissner) – 4:22
10. "Have a Heart" (Aldo Nova, Billy Steinberg, Ralph McCarthy) – 4:14

Chart performance

Chart	Peak position	Certification	Sales/shipments
Belgian Flanders Albums Chart	80
Belgian Wallonie Albums Chart	56
Canadian Albums Chart	18	7x platinum	700,000
French Albums Chart		Gold	100,000
Norwegian Albums Chart	8
UK Albums Chart	55
U.S. Billboard 200	74	Platinum	1,238,000

Awards

Year	Award show	Award
1990	Billet Platine	Billet Platine for the Concert Céline Dion
1991	Juno Awards	Album of the Year – Unison
1991	Juno Awards	Female Vocalist of the Year
1991	Félix Awards	Quebec Artist Achieving the Most Success in a Language Other Than French

Release history

Region	Date	Label	Format	Catalog
Canada	March 26 1990	Columbia	CD	80150
United States	September 11 1990	Epic	CD	46983
Japan	February 21 1991	Epic	CD	ESCA-5184
United Kingdom, Australia	March 4 1991	Epic	CD	4672032