When two of the most powerful voices of the 20th century meet, you’d assume the result came from a calculated artistic masterstroke. In reality, one of the most celebrated pop duets of the late ‘90s began because of a restroom break gone wrong.
In 1997, Barbra Streisand and Celine Dion were unwittingly set up for a media storm. At the Academy Awards, Celine performed Streisand’s ballad I Finally Found Someone, after Barbra herself had declined to sing it. When she later changed her mind, it was too late. Celine had been booked.
As Dion stepped onto the stage, Streisand walked out, not out of disdain, but to use the restroom. Unfortunately, she was locked out of the venue when she tried to return. Cameras caught the absence. Tabloids pounced. Headlines painted it as a deliberate snub from one diva to another.
Streisand, deeply aware of how the incident looked, decided to make amends. She sent Celine a bouquet of flowers and extended a personal invitation: record a duet. That olive branch became Tell Him.
Released later that year, the song paired Celine as the “younger woman” seeking advice and Barbra as the seasoned voice of wisdom, a framing that mirrored their dynamic in the public eye. Written by Walter Afanasieff, David Foster, and Linda Thompson, the single soared to No.3 on the UK charts and remains one of the era’s defining vocal duets.
Celine described the recording process in her 2001 memoir My Story, My Dream. “Barbra sang her part in Los Angeles, and a few days later in New York, I added my voice to hers,” she recalled. After the final mix, the two women listened to the track simultaneously from opposite coasts. “When it was over, silence fell over the studio. We all were watching the telephone, which took an eternity to ring. David answered it. ‘It’s for you, Celine.’ It was Barbra calling to say how much she liked my interpretation.”
Dion admitted privately she had “sung with her hundreds and hundreds of times before in my bedroom on the Rue Notre-Dame in Charlemagne.” To do it for real, and earn Streisand’s praise, was something else entirely.
Their friendship endured. The pair were later invited to perform the song at the Grammy Awards, where it was nominated for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals. Streisand, ill with the flu, couldn’t attend, but the song had already done its work: it turned a perceived rivalry into one of pop music’s most iconic duets.
