Who is John Farnham? Singer Celine Dion is obsessed with

There are many emotional moments in Céline Dion’s new documentary about her life, but one may leave some viewers confused.

This moment comes when Dion is filmed watching an old video of Australian singer John Farnham and marveling at his vocal abilities.

I am: Celine Dion premiered on Amazon Prime Video on Tuesday and follows the celebrated diva on her journey through life and her career comeback despite the extremely rare stiff person syndrome (SPS).

Some scenes show Dion in the midst of a “crisis,” with her whole body convulsing as she gasps for air. In some cases, she is rushed to the emergency room by paramedics. Elsewhere, the feature film shows Dion coping with the death of her husband, René Angélil, and struggling to regain her singing voice.

Directed by Oscar nominee Irene Taylor, the Canadian singer is captivated by an old concert video in which Farnham covers the Beatles hit “Help!” while playing the piano.

Dion said she loved the “hoarseness” of his voice and wished she could be “more rock’n’roll” like Farnham.

Then we see her preparing to shoot some footage for a documentary about his life, and Dion goes off script and talks about how much she loved him.

“I didn’t discover John Farnham, but I wish I had. But when I heard John Farnham, I freaked out because he had a power that broke the radio,” she said in the film.

In another clip, Dion said: “When I first heard John, his voice was incredible and so emotional.”

She described putting together her setlist for her Asia-Australia tour and how much she wanted to include Farnham’s megahit “You’re The Voice”, often referred to as Australia’s unofficial national anthem.

A clip was then shown of Dion and Farnham singing the song on stage in 2018, and present-day Dion could be seen getting carried away by the emotion of their performance.

“I never thought I would sing it with him,” she said.

Newsweek has emailed Farnham representatives for comment.

Who is John Farnham?

The 74-year-old singer was born in England but moved to Australia as a child and has been arguably one of the country’s most successful musicians of all time since his breakthrough in the 1970s.

In the 1980s, he cemented his place in Australian culture as frontman of the successful Little River Band before setting out on his own as a solo artist.

“You’re the Voice” was a number one hit in Australia and the accompanying album, Whispering Jackstayed at the top of the album charts for 25 weeks and is the third best-selling album in Australian history.

He has won 21 of the Australian music awards known as the ARIA Awards and was inducted into the organisation’s Hall of Fame in 2003.

In 2022, Farnham announced that he had been diagnosed with throat cancer. Dion spoke about their friendship and individual health issues in an interview with the Australian breakfast show earlier this month. Sunrise.

“It’s prophetic that I sang ‘(You’re) the Voice’ with him and then lost my voice,” Dion said.

“He’s one of my favorite singers of all time. And I’ll never forget the gift he gave me (of singing it).”

Dion also said: “I’m telling you, when I get back on stage singing ‘Help’, I’m definitely going to do it for you, John. Thank you for that gift.”

Farnham announced in 2023 that he was cancer-free after undergoing surgery to remove a tumor from his mouth.