Insight Into 2004 GRAMMY Performance Fiasco (Dance With My Father)

[rfkavanagh]

I love getting a little more background information about some of Céline's most notorious performances!

 

I was communicating with someone about live performance fiascos and brought up the epic disaster that was Céline's performance of Dance With My Father at the 2004 GRAMMY Awards. She ultimately gave a fantastic performance, but not before everything went wrong at the beginning of the song.

 

And now, some new insight into how it all went wrong - seems like her own team bears some of the responsibility...

 

The performance is on YouTube if you haven't seen it. For reference, here was my write-up:

 

At the 2004 GRAMMY Awards, Dance With My Father by Luther Vandross won Song of the Year, but he had suffered a debilitating stroke the year before and could not perform (he would pass away the following year). Céline, who had recently lost her own father, performed the song with the track's co-writer Richard Marx on piano.

 

What should have been an emotional centerpiece of the ceremony was a bit of a fiasco right from the beginning. Increasingly panicked production chatter could be heard over the intro, but no music. Dion and Marx started performing but no one could hear them. Her microphone didn't work. She couldn't hear anything. They had to run a PA on-stage to swap out her mic but the new one was completely dry and obviously not calibrated to a vocal performance. She still couldn't hear anything.

 

Despite everything falling apart, and although you could see she was visibly a bit deflated, there were no diva theatrics. She rolled with it, pulled out her in-ear monitor and kept on going. Marx kept tinkling away, and ultimately she gave a pitch-perfect and emotional performance with no monitors. There are none of the usual effects on the mic - her voice is completely exposed, unadorned and raw, and it shows just how good a live singer she is. I know she gets a lot of flack, but it's tough to deny she's a truly talented vocalist.

 

Maybe she lost it backstage after the performance and gave everyone a right bollocking, but she doesn't really seem the type.

 

And here was the reply with some background info:

 

What a coincidence that you cited this particular incident. My wife & I were watching this Grammy show when this occurred. I work in TV production and immediately commented on what was unfolding. I'm always pointing out production shortcomings or mistakes, and she says "oh you love this..." I said, not this time, this is a failure of epic proportion and someone is bleeding here. (I could only imagine what was going on in the control room at this point).

Jump ahead to NAB (broadcasters convention) the next year. I'm walking through a vendors booth that supplies large mobile production trucks for sports & entertainment when I realize that these were the guys that handled the Grammy broadcast. I immediately found someone to talk to to give me the lowdown on this disaster. He explained that Celine's people would not allow any production personnel to interact directly with her. Typically an A2 would supply the performer with mic & transmitter, in ear monitor/IFB with receiver.

All relative functionality is FAXED out, operation being confirmed. In this case, her handlers performed this task. The vendor went on to say that at the sound check they had a similar malfunction of process, yet they insisted to handle things again during the live show. At this point, she evidently had the wrong mic, which would explain why that particular mic wasn't routed to her in ear monitor. How the chatter from production intercom got into the on air program mix still remains a mystery to me.

 

Although I'm not a huge fan, Celine Dion navigated this disaster like a true seasoned professional, as did Richard Marx. Their handling of this disaster was most impressive.

[rfkavanagh]

I guess this topic got approved at some point over the last week! Giving it a bump for anyone who might be interested and missed it based on the timestamp placing it way down the topic list.

[PuraVida]

Thank you. It's nice to have more insight, but I am still confused. Her team brought with them a malfunctional microphone? Or she had a Team Celine ear monitor but a Grammy-production- supplied microphone?

[Peppercorn1991]

I love getting a little more background information about some of Céline's most notorious performances!

 

I was communicating with someone about live performance fiascos and brought up the epic disaster that was Céline's performance of Dance With My Father at the 2004 GRAMMY Awards. She ultimately gave a fantastic performance, but not before everything went wrong at the beginning of the song.

 

And now, some new insight into how it all went wrong - seems like her own team bears some of the responsibility...

 

The performance is on YouTube if you haven't seen it. For reference, here was my write-up:

 

At the 2004 GRAMMY Awards, Dance With My Father by Luther Vandross won Song of the Year, but he had suffered a debilitating stroke the year before and could not perform (he would pass away the following year). Céline, who had recently lost her own father, performed the song with the track's co-writer Richard Marx on piano.

 

What should have been an emotional centerpiece of the ceremony was a bit of a fiasco right from the beginning. Increasingly panicked production chatter could be heard over the intro, but no music. Dion and Marx started performing but no one could hear them. Her microphone didn't work. She couldn't hear anything. They had to run a PA on-stage to swap out her mic but the new one was completely dry and obviously not calibrated to a vocal performance. She still couldn't hear anything.

 

Despite everything falling apart, and although you could see she was visibly a bit deflated, there were no diva theatrics. She rolled with it, pulled out her in-ear monitor and kept on going. Marx kept tinkling away, and ultimately she gave a pitch-perfect and emotional performance with no monitors. There are none of the usual effects on the mic - her voice is completely exposed, unadorned and raw, and it shows just how good a live singer she is. I know she gets a lot of flack, but it's tough to deny she's a truly talented vocalist.

 

Maybe she lost it backstage after the performance and gave everyone a right bollocking, but she doesn't really seem the type.

 

And here was the reply with some background info:

 

What a coincidence that you cited this particular incident. My wife & I were watching this Grammy show when this occurred. I work in TV production and immediately commented on what was unfolding. I'm always pointing out production shortcomings or mistakes, and she says "oh you love this..." I said, not this time, this is a failure of epic proportion and someone is bleeding here. (I could only imagine what was going on in the control room at this point).

Jump ahead to NAB (broadcasters convention) the next year. I'm walking through a vendors booth that supplies large mobile production trucks for sports & entertainment when I realize that these were the guys that handled the Grammy broadcast. I immediately found someone to talk to to give me the lowdown on this disaster. He explained that Celine's people would not allow any production personnel to interact directly with her. Typically an A2 would supply the performer with mic & transmitter, in ear monitor/IFB with receiver.

All relative functionality is FAXED out, operation being confirmed. In this case, her handlers performed this task. The vendor went on to say that at the sound check they had a similar malfunction of process, yet they insisted to handle things again during the live show. At this point, she evidently had the wrong mic, which would explain why that particular mic wasn't routed to her in ear monitor. How the chatter from production intercom got into the on air program mix still remains a mystery to me.

 

Although I'm not a huge fan, Celine Dion navigated this disaster like a true seasoned professional, as did Richard Marx. Their handling of this disaster was most impressive.

 

Interesting read thank you! However it is easy to blame the other party when things go wrong. Weird and interesting info though none the less. Thank you 😊

 

Kev x

[idroveallnight]

It would seem weird to me that her team would want complete control since she didn't lip that performance. I can't remember if it was in For Keeps or somewhere else that they profusely apologized to her and sent her flowers, which to me is an admission of some responsibility. But anyways, it shows that she is truly a seasoned professional for the way she handled it.

[rfkavanagh]

We'll never know the full story - and it's certainly true that the GRAMMY production team have reason to suggest it wasn't really their fault. But it wouldn't surprise me if Team Céline were also a bit over-protective and controlling of the process - ostensibly to ensure perfection - and in this case it backfired.

 

Bottom line, I'm sure there's blame to go around, but Céline and Richard Marx both handled it excellently.

 

An odd upside of the whole thing is that it was clear evidence to all in attendance and watching at home that Céline was performing 100% live, and could do so flawlessly even with so many things going wrong. (They don't need to know about all the other lipped performances in her concerts...)

[jpatdeleon09]

And still singing with a dry raw mic.

[PuraVida]

We'll never know the full story - and it's certainly true that the GRAMMY production team have reason to suggest it wasn't really their fault. But it wouldn't surprise me if Team Céline were also a bit over-protective and controlling of the process - ostensibly to ensure perfection - and in this case it backfired.

 

Bottom line, I'm sure there's blame to go around, but Céline and Richard Marx both handled it excellently.

 

An odd upside of the whole thing is that it was clear evidence to all in attendance and watching at home that Céline was performing 100% live, and could do so flawlessly even with so many things going wrong. (They don't need to know about all the other lipped performances in her concerts...)

 

So whose mic was she singing with? And whose ear monitor?

[idroveallnight]

So whose mic was she singing with? And whose ear monitor?

 

Allegedly her own team's since it didn't sync with the Grammy's sound system. She could have taken out her ear monitors when she got the new mic because they weren't synced and she couldn't hear herself or the music was light from the piano that she didn't need them. To me, that version was better than the studio version she recorded, especially that beautiful note she ad-libbed at the end.

[ryba]

Allegedly her own team's since it didn't sync with the Grammy's sound system. She could have taken out her ear monitors when she got the new mic because they weren't synced and she couldn't hear herself or the music was light from the piano that she didn't need them. To me, that version was better than the studio version she recorded, especially that beautiful note she ad-libbed at the end.

So many years have passed since that happened and she never mentioned that or explained what happened in any interview.

 

Oh man, I wish this upcoming new documentary would feature her telling all such stories from her career where she herself elaborates on the Phils Spector sessions or this 2004 Grammy incident and many more such stories insted of that same old stuff repeated over and over again through all these years. The last insight that we got was the All by myself note story with David Foster that she finally talked about (but we knew about it from her biography anyway). Now it's time to share something new, come on, Celine!

Edited February 1, 2022 at 02:55 PM by ryba

[idroveallnight]

So many years have passed since that happened and she never mentioned that or explained what happened in any interview.

 

Oh man, I wish this upcoming new documentary would feature her telling all such stories from her career where she herself elaborates on the Phils Spector sessions or this 2004 Grammy incident and many more such stories insted of that same old stuff repeated over and over again through all these years. The last insight that we got was the All by myself note story with David Foster that she finally talked about (but we knew about it from her biography anyway). Now it's time to share something new, come on, Celine!

 

Agree. That is actually a good idea for a new thread: career events that we’ve always wanted clarity on. Like how has she felt to be snubbed by the Grammys since 2000?

[broadwaymike92]

Celine is such a class act!!! When things go wrong, she's so cool and keeps going until someone tells her to stop.

[joaofilho]

I believe she was snubbed yes, I don't know why but yes, they say the Grammys are no longer relevant.

[ryba]

What do you mean with she was snobbed?

[crazy4music]

To me, that version was better than the studio version she recorded, especially that beautiful note she ad-libbed at the end.

Agreed 100%!

[PuraVida]

Agree. That is actually a good idea for a new thread: career events that we’ve always wanted clarity on. Like how has she felt to be snubbed by the Grammys since 2000?

 

I think the pop culture and music industry has looked down on adult contemporary music for a long time and that is why.