Though she was already one of the biggest pop divas of the '90s, Celine Dion's massive popularity was reaffirmed once more with her 1997 smash "My Heart Will Go On." Like virtually everything and everybody associated with Titanic, the song exploded onto pop culture's radar and kept a surprisingly strong hold of its attention span, never straying too far from the top of the charts throughout 1998.
Dion had already had success with soundtrack-based singles like "Beauty and the Beast" (her 1991 duet with Peabo Bryson) and "Because You Loved Me" (from 1996's Up Close & Personal), but the unparalleled popularity of James Cameron's star-crossed love story meant even more exposure for Dion's single, making it popular with Leonardo DiCaprio-obsessed teenyboppers as well as with her own, more mature fan base.
Just as the movie's success spurred an intense (if brief) fascination with everything related to the ill-fated ship, "My Heart Will Go On" launched a fleet of covers. Artists like James Galway and the Belfast Harp Orchestra developed the song's lilting Celtic elements (which also run through the rest of James Horner's lavish score), while many others aped Dion's dance-pop version, which was released as an international single. Still others, such as Erich Kunzel and the Royal Britannia Orchestra, reinterpreted the song as an orchestral piece along the lines of the rest of the film's soundtrack, and many instrumental versions appeared on wedding and mood music compilations.
Interestingly, while well-known, mainstream instrumentalists like John Tesh and Kenny G have covered the song, Neil Diamond is one of the few popular singers to reinterpret it, so much so is "My Heart Will Go On" associated with Celine Dion. Indeed, her performances of it on VH1 Divas, the 1998 Grammy Awards (wearing the film's "Heart of the Sea" pendant, no less), and on her 1997 album Let's Talk About Love have cemented "My Heart Will Go On" as the quintessence of Dion's sweeping, romantic style.
