What era or year is Celine's prime vocally?

[PuraVida]

Well her head voice was best in the 97-98 era...that's clear from the footage we have of her warming up, her notes in When I Need You, etc.

 

She's always struggled with low notes...or has not showcased them enough. Her technique was better in LTAL era I believe...

 

Don't discount the studio.

[Tyler1991]

Her head voice has stayed fairly consistent to me, IMO. It's had the least amount of change. She showcased it more, and the best in 97-98, so it's easiest to choose that as her peak for head vice.

[PuraVida]

Which year was it that she had the vocal chord inflammation/nodule ordeal?

 

Well maybe you're right...because now that I think about it she did have some trouble with the execution of BYLM's major whistle...

I think the technique shown during that era was great though...mainly as seen in her SSDA and LTAL.

 

 

Also, can someone link me to the "random thoughts" thread? I cannot find it?

Edited December 20, 2010 at 12:05 AM by PuraVida

[CelineAndRene]

Which year was it that she had the vocal chord inflammation/nodule ordeal?

 

Well maybe you're right...because now that I think about it she did have some trouble with the execution of BYLM's major whistle...

I think the technique shown during that era was great though...mainly as seen in her SSDA and LTAL.

 

 

Also, can someone link me to the "random thoughts" thread? I cannot find it?

 

I believe it was either 1995 or 1996. If I remember correctly she talked about it in the interview of Behind Closed Doors 1996...

 

(And about the random questions thread, I'm having a hard time finding too lol)

Edited December 20, 2010 at 02:07 AM by CelineAndRene

[Tyler1991]

Someone accidentally removed the Random Topic into the Remix Topic instead of the Remix Topic being moved to the Random one....

[CelineAndRene]

Someone accidentally removed the Random Topic into the Remix Topic instead of the Remix Topic being moved to the Random one....

 

 

Hopefully Vic or Bellamy will fix this.

[Bellamy]

Someone accidentally removed the Random Topic into the Remix Topic instead of the Remix Topic being moved to the Random one....

It's just because I thought that's a new random topic. But it was actually one made in 2008, and someone decided to bump it with a random reply.

It's been fixed now.

[Tyler1991]

Oh, I see...but I mean ....you moved the random topic into the remix topic....not the remix into the random like what you meant to do lol

[Bellamy]

Oh, I see...but I mean ....you moved the random topic into the remix topic....not the remix into the random like what you meant to do lol

I simply merged the 2 topics. But the random remix topic was actually older. So it became the topic starter and topic title. Now I moved those posts to somewhere else.

[PuraVida]

Well if the vocal chord inflammation/nodule/doctor telling Celine not to speak for three weeks or have surgery was in 1995-1996, that might explain some strain we hear from her...even on notes which are not difficult for her where the strained sound still exists (IACBTMN on Rosie) the "Noooowww".

 

However, I think it was in the early 1990s... so....

 

 

Just want to use this emoticon

 

[disadiva]

This is a great topic Tyler you rock man.

 

The best vocal years of Celine i would guess 1993-1998 she had some great

F5-A5 in that era.

 

Personal fave All By Myself' Because U loved Me' The Prayer feat Andrea Bocelli.

TPOTD' And more.

 

Her worst years vocally was in 2004-7. But there are some

nice songs she hits some grand notes but they are probably mixed.

[disadiva]

This is a great topic Tyler you rock man.

 

The best vocal years of Celine i would guess 1993-1998 she had some great

F5-A5 in that era.

 

Personal fave All By Myself' Because U loved Me' The Prayer feat Andrea Bocelli.

TPOTD' And more.

 

Her worst years vocally was in 2004-7. But there are some

nice songs she hits some grand notes but they are probably mixed.

[Tyler1991]

I think her only good A5 is in 2003. I don't even know any others besides that one she did in LCMM on the Today Show..

[celinesounds]

1981

[Javier_Natalio]

I don't know about technique so I can't really say... there are worthy notes in all eras so I guess consistency throughout a whole song, the same one song, is what I'm looking for, and 1994 and River Deep Mountain High live @ Letterman is what screams exactly that to me. Also isn't this right before the time her voice's thining out process began? Thin and nasal growing by the day-- I don't know, I guess I'm asking.

[celinemaniacaik]

1996!!!

[RLAAMJR.]

I'm gonna say Celine voice was best between 1995 - 1999

[CelineAndRene]

Well if the vocal chord inflammation/nodule/doctor telling Celine not to speak for three weeks or have surgery was in 1995-1996, that might explain some strain we hear from her...even on notes which are not difficult for her where the strained sound still exists (IACBTMN on Rosie) the "Noooowww".

 

However, I think it was in the early 1990s... so....

 

 

Just want to use this emoticon

 

 

 

To correct myself earlier, her vocal problem which led to her not talking for 3 weeks was in 1988 during her Incognito tour.

Source: For Keeps

 

It's strange, sites like the following say this problem was in early 90s on her Unison tour. LOL I'll trust For Keeps rather this site.

 

http://www.answers.com/topic/celine-dion

[SylviaSilver]

1997! My favorite era with some of my favorite songs by her: My Heart Will Go On and Immortality.

[Scramasboy]

I don't think there is a " worst" when it comes to Celine, just a "not as good" hahaha and that is for sure 2005-2007. None of the promo for Taking Chances was very good in my opinion. There are highlights all through the 90's, and early 2000's. LBDB at the Juno awards is one of my all time favorite Celine performances and it's from '99. Her voice thinned out by the mid to late 90's but seemed fuller again in the early 2000's now that I am thinking about it. The mixing is purely preservation I think, or used to be, and she still sounds good anyway. Her mixing is more obvious to you Tyler, because you've studied it, if you didn't, you'd probably think she sounded great as before With mixing it's easier to reach and sustain a note for longer, something Celine is known for, without putting so much pressure on your voice and it's pretty much a garantee you won't crack. It's how she's been able to perform consistantly for close to 30 years with no real dreadful performance like her contemporaries. Every smart singer who sings high pressure songs like Celine, Mariah, who are also technical singers, mix. It's just more obvious and not as even sometimes. It's how a singer can fail on a simple C5, scratchy and uneven, yet hit a smooth E5 in the same song, because they mixed. Edited December 29, 2010 at 09:19 PM by Scramasboy

[Tyler1991]

Her mixing started in FIY era. She never did it back in 90-95. So that's my new prime. 90-95.

[Dionism]

Before 1993 her voice was good and it had these raw qualities that I like as well, but her voice was best in these albums:

 

The Colour Of My Love (1993)

A L'Olympia (1994)

Falling Into You (1996)

Live a Paris (1995, released in 1996)

Let's Talk About Love (1997), except 'Immortality', which is the start of a technique which has taken over in the following years like a virus very slowly integrating itself untill it had almost completely taken over in the later las vegas shows, Miracle and D'elles. Too bad the songs on the album were not so outstanding in my opinion.

These Are Special Times (1998) Just fantastic vocals. Interesting that S'il Suffisait D´aimer from the same year had more of the 'Immortality-sound' in her voice, although still very little.

All The Way (1999)

A New Day Has Come (2002)

1 Fille & 4 Types (2003)

 

and then the Immortality-virus took control. Although on the Taking Chances album her voice became more orally again and less Immortality-like.

Edited December 31, 2010 at 12:51 AM by Dionism

[Oblinarox]

I kind of feel like her high chest voice has just really thinned out, and she's not mixing as much as people jump to (if that makes sense)... Then again, I could be wrong as her belts in "We are the World" were more "screamy" (though I really liked it)

[Tyler1991]

I kind of feel like her high chest voice has just really thinned out, and she's not mixing as much as people jump to (if that makes sense)... Then again, I could be wrong as her belts in "We are the World" were more "screamy" (though I really liked it)

 

 

From F5 and above she almost always mixes. Often she does it at Eb5 also.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHAAL9Yue2w

 

Go to F5 and see for yourself. From that point on there is about 3-4 good F5's.

Edited January 1, 2011 at 07:26 AM by Tyler1991

[CelineDork14]

Even though i wasn't alive in most of the 90's...i wasn't alive at all in the 80's..lol...but from what iv herd on YouTube vedios from the 90s and the 80's i would have to say that she was beast in the 90's...especialy when she sung at the 1996 Olympics...when i herd it i could not stop smiling she is so amazing

[andreaB]

I might be stupid,but can you tell me what you mean by 'mixing'?

 

 

I def think the early 90's was when she was at her best vocally. Didnt think she was at her best in the early vegas days.

[Tyler1991]

Well, as you probably know, there are chest notes and head notes. Mixing allows you to resonate the note with both and will allow you to extend your upper register (the chest). For most, chest voice ends around G5-G#5....head voice around F6 or so, and with mixing, Aretha has belted a D6 (Celine a C6 but it wasn't very good).

 

When mixing properly, you can sound better than a singer singing in full chest. Take a look at this clip of Natalie Cole and Whitney Houston both belting two G#5's in the same clip. Natalie is mixing, Whitney is not. However, Natalie mixes properly and sounds better than Whitney in the clip. She is able to hit the note with more ease and gently slide down the scale. Whitney does not sound as great in hers.

Go to 2:39 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kBpnDZEr70

 

You'll notice Natalie not only hits the note, but sustains it with ease where as Whitney touches it and that's it.

 

So, this is a great singer who has complete control of their voice and great technique. The problem is, Celine's mixes rarely sound like this. An example of a G#5 mix by Celine is seen here -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBVnYGvoX9M - 3:00 "everywhere"

 

The problem is that it is hardly a belt. It sounds more like a head note...

 

9/10, maybe more, this is how her mixes come off. Look at all the C6's she hit in Love Can Move Mountains on Live 8. Until I watched a vocal range video, I actually thought those were head notes. But it turns out those are apparently "belts" .....doesn't sound like it, eh?? Well, it's mixed, but obviously head dominant.

 

The most equal mix I've seen Celine do is the A5 she hits on Love Can Move Mountains in 2003.

The note is at :15. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wS7R2DsjVQ

[andreaB]

Oh right. Thanks for that explanation.

[Abodi2002]

Was using the search function and found this instead. 1989-92, absolutely her prime in terms of belting. Compare the 1992 performances of LCMM and Beauty And The Beast to 1996-97 ones, the difference is night and day. I love that her belts were chest dominant!

1993, almost as good until TCOML came out, then we saw a decline in her consistency.

1994-95, she struggled with The Power Of Love, but other than that she was consistent to Eb5 imo. E5s and F5s usually sounded quite good but again not as consistent as before. The Birmingham concert is easily one of her best vocally of her career! Performances of Think Twice, When I Fall In Love, ETMBD, were some of the best in her career!

Later 95, sorry but the Paris concert is overrated. Midbelts were good but upper belts were strained and weak.

96 and 97, her worst years vocally of the 90’s, but in terms of comercial success the late 90’s was her peak. The only concert I’d give her any consistency to Eb5 is Ghent, otherwise she struggled with many songs, including but not limited to All By Myself, Seduces Me, and All Coming Back. Call The Man usually was amazing! Her tone was often nasal and winy in this era.

98/99, absolutely her second prime! She regained some consistency, her best attempt of the big note in ABM was Anaheim imo, not strained but not overly heady like mileneum concert. The big issue with this era is she rarely tried anything above Eb5 in chest dominance, sometimes making her downright lazy in songs like LCMM. The E5s in BYLM were more often heady. 1998 was generally better than 1999, Renae’s cancer, and the stress from all that took its toll on her voice as to be expected. I’ll have a hopefully shorter breakdown of the 2000’s later tonight.

Edited November 23, 2023 at 10:46 PM by Abodi2002

[zuv]

I think her peak was which ever year she recorded These Special Times album. So i’d say 1998? Or did she record it before that, 1997?

 

IMO her most fully matured, powerful, crystal clear voice she ever had. Before the pregnancy/retirement changed everything.

Sometimes I think she never wanted to record a follow up christmas album, because she knew it could never be as good.