Céline Dion won global admiration when she delivered a grand French love anthem in the lashing rain from the Eiffel Tower in the finale of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, repoorts The Times.
Her moving version of Édith Piaf’s Hymne à l’amour, accompanied by a rain-drenched pianist on the tower platform, was hailed by the organisers and fans alike as a musical feat, given the weather and Dion’s two-year absence from the stage with a debilitating health condition.
This week, however, the release of her “live from the Olympic Games Paris 2024” has been dampened by word that the world did not hear Dion’s voice but a studio recording that had been tweaked to improve her pitch.
Dion’s representatives and the producers of the ceremony have not responded to queries but a member of the Paris team told Libération newspaper: “Everyone realises that she was singing in playback. The sound had obviously been recorded. How could she have done otherwise, from the first floor of the Eiffel Tower and in the weather?”
After doubts following the ceremony, Victor Le Masne, its musical director, was asked whether Dion’s voice was a recording. “No. We prepared for that possibility but she really did sing,” he said. Thomas Jolly, the ceremony director, told France Television: “No, it was without playback. The voice was there.”
Dion was told in 2022 that she was suffering from stiff-person syndrome, a rare neurological disorder.