"At the Beginning" is a song by

Donna Lewis Donna Lewis (born August 1959) is a Welsh singer. She is best known for the 1996 pop hit single "I Love You Always Forever", which peaked at number five on the UK Singles Chart, and also peaked within the top ten of the charts in Australia, Aust ...

and Richard Marx, released as the first single from the ''

Anastasia Anastasia (from el, Ἀναστασία, translit=Anastasía) is a feminine given name of Greek origin, derived from the Greek word (), meaning "resurrection". It is a popular name in Eastern Europe, particularly in Russia, where it was the most ...

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

. It was released as a CD and cassette single on October 21, 1997, on Atlantic Records. The song reached No. 45 on the Hot 100 giving Lewis her third Hot 100 hit and Marx his 17th. To date, neither has hit the Hot 100 since "At the Beginning" dropped out. It reached No. 2 on Billboard's

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

Chart, but did spend a week at No. 1 on Radio & Records'

Chart before being knocked out by

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

's "

My Heart Will Go On "My Heart Will Go On" is a 1997 song recorded by Canadian singer Celine Dion. The song serves as the main theme to James Cameron's blockbuster film '' Titanic'', based on an account of the transatlantic ocean liner of the same name which san ...

". The song gave Marx his eighth and most recent number one hit single as a singer. Lewis would not have any further songs that hit any chart.

Composition

The song is a moderate pop ballad.

Critical reception

Filmtracks noted that in addition the two pop reprises of songs features in the credits, "The unique entry is the tolerable "At the Beginning," which seems to have been meant to be the centrepiece of the pop songs but was overshadowed in popularity by the cast song adaptations." The site added "For soundtrack collectors, the song "At the Beginning" is interesting in that it included contributions by two composers still on the rise, including piano performances by Anne Dudley and string arrangements by Aaron Zigman, for whom it would be another ten years before his name would be widely known. " Allmusic notes the film "duplicates the Disney formula of balancing big show tunes from the film with re-recorded MOR pop versions of the same song"; despite this being an original song the genre is still MOR pop. Film Score Monthly said "only the Richard Marx-Donna Lewis pairing "At the Beginning" holds any interest (it's the only original song not performed in the film)". TimeOut described it as "uplifting". Billboard wrote "the romantic At The Beginning solidly ushers in the soundtrack to Anastasia, with Lewis and Marx proving to be a surprisingly chemical pair. Her waifish voice gracefully flutters around his rock edged grit, while producer Trevor Horn provides a reliably grand and dramatic musical environment. Although this oh-so-charming recording deserves widespread pop play, it will likely begin its radio life at AC, where programmers are often quicker to appreciate such a lushly arranged power ballad".

Music video

A music video for the song features a girl (a live-action version of Anastasia) visiting an old building. Throughout the video, Marx and Lewis are shown performing the song, intercut with scenes from ''Anastasia''. The music video was also added on to some VHS copies of the film.

Track listing

# At the Beginning (Album Version) # At the Beginning (Instrumental) # At the Beginning (Remix)

Personnel

* Richard Marx – lead vocals,

arrangements In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

–

guest vocals In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other ...

Anne Dudley Anne Jennifer Dudley (née Beckingham; born 7 May 1956) is an English composer, keyboardist, conductor and pop musician. She was the first BBC Concert Orchestra's Composer in Association in 2001. She has worked in the classical and pop genr ...

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piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

Tim Weidner Tim Weidner is an engineer and producer, best known for his work with Trevor Horn. Biography Weidner has produced for Dead or Alive. He has done mixing for artists including Seal, Mike Oldfield (''Tubular Bells II''), Art of Noise, Captain and Gu ...

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keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, programmer *

Henry Jackman Henry Pryce Jackman (born 1974) is an English composer. He composed music for films such as '' Kong: Skull Island'', '' X-Men: First Class'', ''Winnie the Pooh'', ''Wreck-It Ralph'', ''Puss in Boots'', '' Monsters vs. Aliens'', '' Captain Phi ...

– keyboards, programmer, strings arrangement *

Tim Pierce Tim Pierce (born 1959 in Albuquerque) is an American session guitarist. He has worked for artists such as Joe Cocker, Crowded House, Goo Goo Dolls, Michael Jackson, Beth Hart, Roger Waters, Alice Cooper, Johnny Hallyday, Phil Collins, and the ...

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electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

* Randy Jackson – bass * Niki Harris, Marlena Jeter, Jim Gilstrap and Darryl Phinnessee –

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

* Aaron Zigman – strings arrangement

Production

Trevor Horn Trevor Charles Horn (born 15 July 1949) is an English music producer, label and recording studio owner, musician and composer. He is best known for his production work in the 1980s, and for being one half of the new wave band The Buggles (wit ...

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production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:At The Beginning Songs from Anastasia (1997 film) 1997 singles Richard Marx songs Donna Lewis songs Song recordings produced by Trevor Horn Songs written by Lynn Ahrens Songs written by Stephen Flaherty 1997 songs Atlantic Records singles Pop ballads 1990s ballads Cultural depictions of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia Love themes Male–female vocal duets