"The Power of the Dream" is a song by Canadian singer

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 ...

, released as a single in Japan on 20 August 1996. It was written and produced by

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian musician, composer, arranger, record producer and music executive who chaired Verve Records from 2012 to 2016. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His music career spans mor ...

, Linda Thompson, and

Babyface Babyface or Baby Face can refer to: Nicknames * Lester Joseph Gillis a.k.a. Baby Face Nelson, an infamous 1930s bank robber * Roosevelt "Baby Face" Willette (1933–1971), an American hard bop and soul-jazz musician * "Baby Face", Jimmy McLarnin ...

for the opening ceremony of the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. Dion performed it in front of more than 100,000 people, in addition to over three and a half billion television viewers. She gave away the money she received for the occasion, to support Canadian athletes. ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' listed it as the second best Olympics theme song of all time.

Background and release

The music video shows Céline Dion performing the song during the opening ceremony of the 1996 Summer Olympics with

on the piano, accompanied by the

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) is an American orchestra based in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, USA. The ASO's main concert venue is Atlanta Symphony Hall in the Woodruff Arts Center. History Though earlier organizations bearing ...

and the Centennial Choir ( Morehouse College Glee Club, Spelman College Glee Club and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus). The single peaked at number 30 on the

Oricon Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track download sales. In J ...

in Japan and was certified gold (75,000 copies sold). Although it was not released in other countries, many radio stations all over the world played "The Power of the Dream" and it even charted on some airplay charts. The song was included on the limited editions of the ''

Falling into You ''Falling into You'' is the fourth English-language and fourteenth studio album by Canadian singer Celine Dion, released on 11 March 1996 by Columbia/Epic Records. The follow-up to her commercially successful album '' The Colour of My Love'' (1 ...

'' album in Asia and Australia. "The Power of the Dream" was also a B-side of "

Because You Loved Me "Because You Loved Me" is a song by Canadian singer Celine Dion from her fourth English-language studio album, ''Falling into You'' (1996). It was released on 19 February 1996 as the first single in North America and as the second single in the ...

", "

It's All Coming Back to Me Now "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" is a power ballad written by Jim Steinman. According to Steinman, the song was inspired by ''Wuthering Heights'', and was an attempt to write "the most passionate, romantic song" he could ever create. ''The Sunda ...

", and "

All by Myself "All by Myself" is a song by American singer-songwriter Eric Carmen released in 1975. The verse is based on the second movement (''Adagio sostenuto'') of Sergei Rachmaninoff's circa 1900–1901 '' Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor'', Opus 18. The ...

" singles. It became available worldwide on Dion's 2000 compilation ''

The Collector's Series, Volume One ''The Collector's Series, Volume One'' is a primarily English-language compilation album by Canadian singer Celine Dion, released by Columbia Records on 20 October 2000. The album was renamed ''Tout en amour'' (meaning ''All in Love'') in France ...

''. In 2008, the song was included on the U.S. version of '' My Love: Essential Collection''. Dion performed the song during her 1996/1997 Falling Into You: Around the World tour.

Formats and track listings

Japanese CD single #"The Power of the Dream" – 4:30 #"

" (Radio Edit) – 5:31

Personnel and credits

Credits adapted from

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

. *

: main artist, lead vocals *

: writer, producer, keyboards, bass (synth) *

: writer, producer, drum programming (kick programming) * Linda Thompson: writer *

Simon Franglen Simon Franglen (born Westminster, London, England) is an English composer of classical and film music. He is also a record producer and former musician. His credits include four of the list of top grossing films and six of the list of best-sel ...

: drum programming (snare sound) and synclavier * Dan Shea: programming (synthesizer) * William Ross: arranger (orchestra) and conductor *

Mervyn Warren Mervyn Edwin Warren (born February 29, 1964) is an American film composer, record producer, conductor, arranger, lyricist, songwriter, pianist, and vocalist. Warren is a five-time Grammy Award winner and a 10-time Grammy Award nominee. Warren ...

: conductor (choir) *

The London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orche ...

: orchestra * Dean Parks: acoustic guitar * Michael Thompson: electric guitar * David Reitzas and Felipe Elgueta: engineers *

Humberto Gatica Humberto Gatica is a Chilean-born American recording engineer, mixing engineer and record producer, best known for his work with Celine Dion, Chicago, Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban and Michael Bublé. Gatica's ...

, Jon Gass and Marnie Riley: recording engineers *

Mick Guzauski Nathan "Mick" Guzauski is an American multi-platinum mixing engineer and sound engineer. His work spans a wide range of styles, including jazz, R&B, Latin, rock, pop, easy listening, funk and hip hop. He won a 2002 Latin Grammy for Thalí ...

: mixing engineer * Kyle Bess and

Paul Boutin Paul Boutin (born December 11, 1961 in Lewiston, Maine) is an American magazine writer and editor who writes about technology in a pop-culture context. Boutin, who began writing for ''Wired'' in 1997, wrote for ''The New York Times'' from 2003 ...

: assistant engineers

Charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Power of the Dream, The 1996 singles 1996 songs 1996 Summer Olympics Celine Dion songs Olympic theme songs Song recordings produced by Babyface (musician) Song recordings produced by David Foster Songs written by Babyface (musician) Songs written by David Foster Songs written by Linda Thompson (actress)