"Belle" is a 1997 song performed by the

Francophone French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...

singers Patrick Fiori, Daniel Lavoie and Garou, from the musical ''

Notre-Dame de Paris Notre-Dame de Paris (; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral, dedicated to the ...

''. Released as a single in 1998, it was a hit in France and Belgium, topping the charts for many months. To date, the song is one of the best-selling singles of all time in these countries.

Background and writing

As for the songs from the musical, the text was written by

Luc Plamondon Luc Plamondon, OC, CQ (b. March 2, 1942 in Saint-Raymond, Quebec), is a French-Canadian lyricist and music executive. He is best known for his work on the musicals ''Starmania'' and ''Notre-Dame de Paris''. He is the brother of Louis Plamondo ...

, who had also written the musical '' Starmania'' in 1978, and the music composed by

Richard Cocciante Riccardo Cocciante (; born 20 February 1946), also known in French-speaking countries and the U.S. as Richard Cocciante (), is an Italian singer, composer, theatre man and musician. He acquired French citizenship. Personal life Cocciante was ...

. The musical arrangements were made by Richard Cocciante, Jannick Top and Serge Perathoner who also worked on the musical direction. "Belle" is a romantic song in which the three singers, who respectively portrayed Quasimodo (Garou), Frollo (Daniel Lavoie) and Phoebus (Patrick Fiori), reveal in turn their love for Esmeralda, before singing together the last verse. The theme of the song is based in Victor Hugo's novel '' Notre Dame de Paris''. In chapter VI of the Eighth book "Trois coeurs d'homme faits différemment" (Three men's hearts made differently), Phoebus, Frollo and Quasimodo watch Esmeralda who is sentenced to death. Phoebus is with his fiancée and though he pales when seeing Esmeralda proving he has feelings for her, he stays with his Fleur-de-Lys. Frollo is trying once again to propose Esmeralda a salvation, but in return he wants her to become his woman. And finally Quasimodo selflessly saves Esmeralda from death, only because of his enormous love for her.

Other recording

Since its debut, it has been professionally played in Belgium, Canada,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, France, Italy,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States, and has been translated into seven languages ( English, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Korean, Flemish and Polish). The song has thus been officially adapted in these six languages, but several covers have been made in various languages. The

English-language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

version of the song, recorded by Steve Balsamo, Garou and Daniel Lavoie, is available on ''Notre Dame de Paris - Version anglaise''.

Chart performance and records

The song was charted on the French Singles Chart for 60 weeks, which is to date the second single with most total weeks in the Top 100 (the number one is "U-Turn (Lili)", by

AaRON According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron ''′aharon'', ar, هارون, Hārūn, Greek (Septuagint): Ἀαρών; often called Aaron the priest ()., group="note" ( or ; ''’Ahărōn'') was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of ...

, with 61 weeks), and the first one in the top 50, with 49 weeks. It entered the chart at #96 on 9 May 1998, and climbed slowly, reaching number one in its 18th week, which is one of the slowest climbs to first place. It was also the first trio to reach #1 on this chart. It had huge weekly sales when the musical was performed, from 12 September 1998. It stayed at the top for 18 consecutive weeks, which was at the time the record of the most weeks at #1 (this record was beaten in 2000 by

Lou Bega David Lubega Balemezi (born 13 April 1975), better known by his stage name Lou Bega, is a German singer. His 1999 song " Mambo No. 5", a remake of Pérez Prado's 1949 instrumental piece, reached number 1 in many European countries and was ...

's " Mambo no. 5 (a Little Bit of...)", with 20 weeks). After that, the song managed to drop slowly, totaling 31 weeks in the top ten."Belle", in French Singles Char
Lescharts.com
(Retrieved 26 April 2008) Certified Diamond disc by the SNEP, it was the best-selling single of 1998.1998 French Singles Char
Disqueenfrance.com
(Retrieved 26 April 2008) In Belgium ( Wallonia), the single debuted at #24 on the Ultratop 40 Singles Chart, on 6 June 1998. It topped the chart for only six weeks, from 19 September to 24 October, but remained in the top ten for 30 consecutive weeks. It fell off the chart (Top 40) after 44 weeks."Belle", in Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Char
Ultratop.be
(Retrieved 26 April 2008) It is the best-selling single of the year1998 Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Char
Ultratop.be
(Retrieved 26 April 2008) and the most successful song from 1995 in that country.Best-selling singles in Belgium from 199
Ultratop.be
(Retrieved 26 April 2008) In 1999, the song was awarded 'Song of the year' at the Victoires de la Musique.

Track listings

* CD single # "Belle" — 4:36 # "Déchiré" by Patrick Fiori — 3:18

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Dadju, Gims and Slimane version

On April 5, 2021, a cover version was released by trio Dadju, Gims and

Slimane Slimane or Sliman is an alternative of Suleiman (in Arabic name ) being the Arabic version of the name Solomon. The name means "man of peace". It is also a common given name and surname. It may refer to Given name ;Sliman *Sliman Mansour (born 194 ...

on Play Two and Sony Music Entertainment reaching number 36 on SNEP, the official French Singles Chart. A music video was also released in which they play a scene from the musical

in a modern setting.

References

{{authority control 1997 songs 1998 songs Daniel Lavoie songs Garou (singer) songs Patrick Fiori songs Ultratop 50 Singles (Wallonia) number-one singles SNEP Top Singles number-one singles Pop ballads Songs from musicals Songs with lyrics by Luc Plamondon 1990s ballads Songs written by Renaud Rebillaud 2021 singles