There are plenty of tribute singers who sound like their famous counterparts, but what if that famous counterpart is Céline Dion? How do you convincingly impersonate one of the great voices of her generation?
Lisa Harter is a Leeds, England-based singer who brings her Celebrating Céline tour to eastern Canada in November, including shows in Ottawa, Gatineau, P.E.I., New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
Harter became a Dion tribute singer after singing hits on a cruise ship in China. “We had a bit of Whitney Houston in there, and a bit of a pop medley. We had a lot of Chinese audiences and after every performance they wanted their photograph with me, and they were saying ‘Celine Dion, Celine Dion!’ It was at that point when I thought, maybe I should think about doing a tribute? That was about 20, maybe 15 years ago.”
Harter sat recently to talk about what it takes. Her reply has been edited for clarity and length.
One question: How does one sing like the great Celine Dion?
Lisa Harter: Yeah, good question.
I think there are two parts to it. A lot of it comes with maturity, with age. Her power ballad love songs, when I sang them when I was younger they probably didn’t feel quite the same as they do as an older, more experienced singer. The technical side of it is obviously of big importance, because you’ve got to think about the longevity of your own voice when you’re impersonating and singing those songs, sometimes night after night, sometimes six nights a week.
I’ve had classical training so I was in what you would call a pop opera, and singing things like Nessun Dorma, like Time to Say Goodbye, like Phantom of the Opera, and just learning how to use all aspects of my range and my voice and really strengthen it. That’s been a massive help in performing her songs. Then there’s an emotional side of it, and I think it’s just pulling all that together from the chest or from the body.
Ironically, the hardest bit for me was embracing her character. When I first started, I would very much come on stage and just sing the songs and not really do the movements and the talking in between. And because she’s quite unusual in how she moves and how she stands, it took me a long time to embrace that. I sort of built the confidence to put together all the hand movements and actions and bring all that into the show.
My favourite Céline song is called Because You Loved Me. It’s very, very beautiful. She has quite a variety of pop music. If you look at a song like I’m Alive, where immediately everyone’s up dancing, to My Heart Will Go On, it’s a completely different song. I like taking it all on.
I admire the fact that she has remained unique throughout her life. She’s not gone down the route of a lot of celebrities where they’ve changed their faces and made their lips bigger. She’s really not done any of that. She looks her age, but she looks good. I can learn a lot from her, really. She’s quite inspirational.
As a pre-show ritual, I never feel like Céline until all my hair is done, until all my makeup’s on, until my costumes are all waiting.
Obviously I’ve got to stay fit. The show is very physical, She moves a lot. It’s very fast paced, running off, getting changed, coming back on. I’ve got to stay healthy.
The show is probably 50 minutes per half, I think roughly, around 20 songs.
I’ll be in Canada from the 16th to the 30th of November. I’m extremely excited. It’s my birthday while I’m in Canada (Nov. 19) as well, so I’ll need to celebrate in some way.
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The Celebrating Céline: A New Day tour has shows scheduled in Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritime provinces. Click here for tickets and more information.