"Because You Loved Me"

Up Close & Personal is an American romantic drama film, that stars Robert Redford as a news director and Michelle Pfeiffer as his protegee. This film was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Original Song "Because You Loved Me" which was written by Diane Warren, produced by David Foster and performed by Celine Dion.

Back in 1996 this session was actually my first recording for that year, I was called to sing backgrounds on "Because You Loved Me" with a host of great LA Singers. I remember this session as if it were yesterday. There were 8 singers, including myself, and we went to the studio and rehearsed before David Foster got there. Once he got there we recorded the backgrounds over Celine Dion's gorgeous vocals. I will tell you about more Celine Dion's recordings that I've worked on in a future BLOG. 


"Because You Loved Me" is a song from Celine Dion's album Falling into You, released as the first single in February / 1996. This song, as I mentioned, was written by Diane Warren as a tribute to her father for his encouragement.

"Because You Loved Me" is one of Celine Dion's biggest hits and signature songs. It reached #1 in the United States, Australia and Canada.

The single of this song has sold 1,345,000 copies in the U.S. and was certified platinum. In addition to being nominated for an Academy Award, this song was also nominated for A Golden Globe Award, as well as four Grammy Awards. It won a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. The song was also nominated for 'Record of the Year', 'Song of the Year' and 'Best Female Pop Vocal Performance'.

You can tell that this is a great song not only because of everything that the song accomplished but also because the song has been re-recorded by many different artists including Johnny Mathis and Clay Aiken.

I originally met Diane Warren, the songwriter, when I used to sing song demo's. I sang some song demos while her career was taking off as a songwriter. It's really nice to be a part of such a huge hit. Every once in a while a song comes along that you wish you had written, the song 'Because You Loved Me' definitely falls into that category.

Until Next Time - Phillip