"The Prayer" is a song performed by Canadian singer

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion (born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Power Ballads", Dion's powerful, technically skilled vocals and commercially successful works have had ...

and Italian tenor

Andrea Bocelli Andrea Bocelli (; born 22 September 1958) is an Italian tenor. He rose to fame in 1994 after winning the newcomers' section of the 44th Sanremo Music Festival performing " Il mare calmo della sera". Since 1994, Bocelli has recorded 15 solo st ...

. It was written by

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian record producer, composer, arranger, and musician. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His career began as a keyboardist for the pop group Skylark in the early 1970s befor ...

Carole Bayer Sager Carole Bayer Sager (born Carol Bayer on March 8, 1944) is an American lyricist, singer, songwriter, and painter. Early life and career Carole Bayer was born in New York City, to Anita Nathan Bayer and Eli Bayer. Her family was Jewish. She gradu ...

Tony Renis Elio Cesari (born 13 May 1938), known by his stage name Tony Renis, is an Italian singer, composer, music producer, and film actor. Life and career Renis was born in Milan. In the mid-1950s he met with Adriano Celentano, and the two started pe ...

and Alberto Testa. "The Prayer" was originally recorded in two solo versions for the

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

' 1998 musical animated feature film ''

Quest for Camelot ''Quest for Camelot'' (released internationally as ''The Magic Sword: Quest for Camelot'') is a 1998 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation, directed by Frederik Du Chau, and very loosely based on the ...

'', in English by Dion and in Italian by Bocelli. A duet between Dion and Bocelli later appeared on their respective studio albums, ''

These Are Special Times ''These Are Special Times'' is the seventeenth studio album and sixth English-language album by Canadian singer Celine Dion, and also her first English-language Christmas album. It was first released in Europe on 30 October 1998, by Col ...

'' (1998) and '' Sogno'' (1999), and was released as a promotional single in March 1999. "The Prayer" won a

Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song The Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song is a Golden Globe Award that was awarded for the first time in 1962 and has been awarded annually since 1965 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The award is presented to the songwriters of a ...

and was nominated for an

Academy Award for Best Original Song The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the Film industry, motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who h ...

in 1999 and a

Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals The Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality pop songs on which singers ...

in 2000. It received highly positive reviews from music critics and entered

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 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

charts in Canada and the United States in 1999. In 2008, Dion released a live version of "The Prayer" as a duet with

Josh Groban Joshua Winslow Groban (born February 27, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. His first four solo albums have been certified multi-platinum, and he was charted in 2007 as the number-one best selling artist in the United States, ...

, who also performed with her on the Grammys, and Groban has also performed with

Charlotte Church Charlotte Maria Church (born Charlotte Maria Reed, 21 February 1986) is a British singer-songwriter, actress, and television presenter from Cardiff, Wales. As a child, Church was a popular classical singer with a less-successful attempt to mov ...

, and

Lea Salonga Maria Lea Carmen Imutan Salonga, ( ; born February 22, 1971) is a Filipino singer and actress. Known primarily for her work in theatre, she has starred in musicals on Broadway and in the West End. Her accolades include a Tony Award and a L ...

. This

music download A music download is the digital transfer of music via the Internet into a device capable of decoding and playing it, such as a personal computer, portable media player, MP3 player or smartphone. This term encompasses both legal downloads ...

entered the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...

at number 37 and the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 70.

History

Originally "The Prayer" was recorded as two separate solo versions, Dion's in English and Bocelli's in Italian. They appeared on the ''

'' soundtrack in May 1998. The duet was included on albums by both artists, released a few months later on ''Sogno'' and ''These Are Special Times''. Bocelli sang original Italian while Dion translated into English. The song won the

from the 1998 film ''Quest for Camelot'', the second win in a row for a

song. In that film, Dion sang it as a solo with slightly different lyrics. It was also nominated for an

in 1999 and a

in 2000. Dion performed it with Bocelli at both ceremonies. It was also featured on Dion's 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 Sony Music on 23 October 2000. The album was renamed ''Tout en amour'' (meaning ''All in Love'') in France. It fe ...

'' (2000) and greatest hits '' My Love: Ultimate Essential Collection'' (2008). A re-recorded solo version by Celine Dion (renamed "A Mother's Prayer") appeared on her 2004 album ''

Miracle A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...

''. Dion performed "The Prayer" live during her

Taking Chances Tour The Taking Chances World Tour was the tenth concert tour by French Canadian singer Celine Dion, in-support of her thirteenth French-language and 22nd studio album, '' D'elles'' (2007), as well as her tenth English-language and 23rd studio alb ...

as a virtual duet with Bocelli on the screen; the performance was released in the '' Taking Chances World Tour: The Concert'' CD/DVD. The song appeared also on Bocelli's 2007 compilation '' The Best of Andrea Bocelli: Vivere''. Dion joined Bocelli to perform the song in his '' Concerto: One Night in Central Park'' concert in 2011; the performance was subsequently released on CD and DVD. Both Dion and Bocelli have sung the song with other duet partners, and various other artists have recorded the song, either as a duet or a solo. The original version of "The Prayer" failed to chart on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, but reached number 6 and number 22 on the adult contemporary charts in Canada and the United States, respectively. It has also become popular during

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

, weddings and, in some cases, funerals and religious services.

Critical reception

Paul Verna from ''Billboard'' called this song a "gorgeous duet". Chuck Taylor from ''Billboard'' reviewed "The Prayer", calling it "a breathtaking, ultra-lush song, and the tour de force combination of Dion and Bocelli

hich Ij () is a village in Golabar Rural District of the Central District in Ijrud County, Zanjan province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq ...

will send a half-dozen chills up your spine". Although he felt that the song is "an unorthodox track for the radio," Taylor called it "affecting," "heartwarming," "absolutely exquisite" and "one of Dion's most radiant performances ever."

Track listing

US promotional CD single #"The Prayer" (

and

) – 4:29 #"The Prayer" (Celine Dion) – 2:48 #"The Prayer" (Andrea Bocelli) – 4:10

Personnel

and

– vocals *

– composer, keyboards, piano, arranger, producer *

– lyricist, producer *

– composer, producer * Alberto Testa – lyricist * William Ross – arranger, orchestral arrangements *

Humberto Gatica Humberto Gatica is a Chilean and 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, Cher and Michael Bublé. Gatic ...

– engineer, mixing *Felipe Elgueta – engineer, programming

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Celine Dion and Josh Groban version

first performed "The Prayer" live with

in 1999, when then 17-year old Groban filled in for

at rehearsal for the

41st Annual Grammy Awards The 41st Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 24, 1999, at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, recognizing musical achievements from the year 1998. Lauryn Hill led the ceremony with a record-breaking 10 nominations, becoming the first woman ...

. Nine years later, the two performed the song during her

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

TV special '' That's Just the Woman in Me'', aired on 15 February 2008. This version was released as a

in the United States and Canada two days earlier. It proved to be much more successful than the original, entering the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 70, becoming Groban's highest-charting song to date as an individual act (he and Dion would both go on to reach number two as members of Artists for Haiti with the song "

We Are the World 25 for Haiti "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" is a charity single recorded by the supergroup (music), supergroup Artists for Haiti in 2010. It is a remake of the song "We Are the World", which was written by American musicians Michael Jackson and Lionel Rich ...

" in 2010). It also appeared on a few other ''Billboard'' charts:

Pop 100 The Pop 100 was a songs chart that debuted in February 2005 and was released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States until its discontinuation in 2009. It ranked songs based on airplay on Mainstream Top 40 radio stations, singles ...

at number 50,

Hot Digital Songs The Digital Song Sales (previously named Digital Songs and Hot Digital Songs) ranks the best-selling digital songs in the United States, as compiled by Luminate and published by ''Billboard'' magazine. Although it originally started tracking so ...

at number 32 and

Hot Digital Tracks The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

at number 29. The single sold 37,531 copies in its first week in the US. In Canada, the song peaked at number 37 on the

and number 19 on the Canadian Top Digital Downloads.

Charts

Anthony Callea version

Callea first performed this song during

Australian Idol ''Australian Idol'' is an Australian singing competition, which began its first season in July 2003 and ended its initial run in November 2009. As part of the ''Idol'' franchise, Australian Idol originated from the reality program '' Pop Id ...

2004, in the week of "contestants choice". He received a standing ovation for this performance and the "Grand Royal Touchdown" from judge Mark Holden. He would go on to be runner-up in this series. At the completion of the show, Callea was signed to

Sony BMG Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyout o ...

, and he released "The Prayer" as his debut single. It was released in Australia on 19 December 2004 and debuted at number 1 on the

ARIA Charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...

. It stayed there for five weeks and was certified 4× platinum by

ARIA In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...

. It became the fastest-selling single by any Australian artist, and was the second-highest-selling single in Australia within the 2000s overall, and for an Australian artist.ARIA's End Of Decade Charts*
PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. 7 January 2010. Retrieved 27 May 2012. The song was included on Callea's debut album ''

Anthony Callea Anthony Cosmo Callea (born 13 December 1982) is an Australian singer-songwriter and stage actor who rose to prominence as the runner-up in the 2004 season of ''Australian Idol''. Callea's debut single, a cover of Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli' ...

''. The music video includes excerpts of Callea recording the song and was released in 2004. Callea has performed "The Prayer" at numerous concerts as well as the

Carols by Candlelight Carols by Candlelight is an annual Australian Christmas tradition that was popularised in Melbourne in 1938. The tradition has since spread around the world. It involves people gathering, usually outdoors in a park, to sing carols by candlel ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. In 2006, he performed the song in front of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

at a Commonwealth Day Service. He also performed it as a duet with

Tina Arena Filippina Lydia "Tina" Arena (born 1 November 1967) is an Australian singer-songwriter, musician, musical theatre actress and record producer. She is one of Australia's highest-selling artists and has sold over 10 million records worldwid ...

on her ''Symphony of Life'' CD/DVD, released in 2012.

Track listing

Australian CD single #"The Prayer" – 4:16 #"The Prayer" (sterling remix) – 4:03

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Prayer, The 1998 songs 1999 singles 2008 singles 1990s ballads Andrea Bocelli songs ARIA Award-winning songs Best Original Song Golden Globe–winning songs Celine Dion songs 2004 debut singles Anthony Callea songs Josh Groban songs Number-one singles in Australia Pop ballads Songs written for animated films Songs written by David Foster Songs written by Carole Bayer Sager Songs with music by Tony Renis Songs with lyrics by Alberto Testa (lyricist) Song recordings produced by David Foster Male–female vocal duets Columbia Records singles Epic Records singles Sony BMG singles