Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion’s The Prayer is a powerful duet that earned nominations and bagged multiple awards. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in 1999. And in 2000, it also bagged the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. Not to mention that it also received praises from critics and also entered the adult contemporary charts both in Canada and in the US.
The Prayer was originally recorded as two solo versions by Canadian singer Celine Dion and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli for the May 1998 film Quest for Camelot, wherein Dion sang in English while Bocelli in Italian. It was written by David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager, Alberto Testa, and Tony Renis.
Celine Dion first released the duet in her 1998 studio album These Are Special Times. After a year, it also appeared in Andrea Bocelli’s album titled Sogno. Bocelli released the duet as a promotional single in March 1999. After this, the two artists included the duet in their respective compilation albums. Celine Dion featured the song in her 2000 The Collector’s Series, Volume One compilation album and then again in 2008 as part of her greatest hits compilation My Love: Ultimate Essential Collection. On the other hand, Bocelli re-released the duet in his 2007 compilation album The Best of Andrea Bocelli: Vivere.
For You
Aside from performing the song during the Awards Night, they also performed it in their respective concerts. During Dion’s Taking Chances Tour, she sang the song in a virtual duet with Andrea Bocelli. And in 2011, Dion joined Bocelli on stage for a live duet during Bocelli’s Concerto: One Night in Central Park.
Both Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli recorded the song with other duet partners. Various artists also covered the song either as solo or duet. Just last year in April, the two iconic singers were once again brought together for a remote duet of the song joined by Lady Gaga, John Legend, and famed pianist Lang Lang for Global Citizen’s One World: Together at Home special. This was to raise funds for WHO’s efforts to fight COVID-19, and the special was able to generate $127 million in donations. The two original performers handled most of the song while Lady Gaga and John Legend sang select parts.
If you want to be taken back in time, you can watch Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion’s The Prayer live performance in the video below.
