Celine Dion's First English-Hit “Where Does My Heart Beat Now” Was Almost Sung By Another Artist

Jan 07, 2020

When Celine Dion was only 22-years-old she released her first English album, the third single on the album “Where Does My Heart Beat Now,” shot the young singer to stardom. However, many do not know the story behind the popular ballad which was written by two Nashville songwriters. The songwriters were looking for a vocalist who had enough power and range to pull off the song... cue Celine Dion. 

"We needed to find the right female vocalist with the chops to sing it [for the demo]. We knew it would take someone with power and range to pull it off," said Robert White Johnson to American Songwriter who was a writer and musician on the song.

They originally wanted a German artist to sing the powerful ballad however as fate would have it the songwriters missed their chance with the german singer. Leading them to search for another vocalist to fill the shoes of the song. 

Eventually, the song was sent to Canada where a 20-something-year-old Celine Dion hand-picked the song herself to record. The song was on Celine Dion's first English-language album entitled "Unison."

Johnson said when creating the lyrics to the song it pretty much wrote itself. "The bulk of the verses were done in about 20 minutes. I don’t remember us ever really laboring over any aspect of the song. It just kept falling together. All the best songs seem to happen that way!”

The song debuted in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart and then became Dion's first top ten single on the charts. This success also made Celine Dion the first French-Canadian artist to get a spot on the top ten hits. But the song wasn't only popular in the U.S. it also had major success in Norway, Ireland, France, Belgium, and New Zealand. 

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