Céline Dion, Björk, Paul McCartney… A look back at the stars who sang at the Olympic Games

“We will all see from Friday evening why it was worth it.” promised Emmanuel Macron, Wednesday July 23. Three days before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, rumors are still growing about the presence of stars for the show. Thus, as soon as her plane landed at Le Bourget airport, Wednesday July 23 in the morning, all eyes turned to the Canadian singer Céline Dion, who has just arrived in Paris. She has in fact been expected for several months to perform at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, scheduled for Friday July 26. But other names are circulating: Aya Nakamura, Lady Gaga, Dua Lipa and even the French DJ Cerrone…

Only a handful of members of the organizing team know what this highly anticipated parade of over three hours on the Seine, broadcast around the world, will look like. Each edition has its opening ceremony and prestigious musical guests. Franceinfo looks back on 30 years of Games and song.

1996: Celine Dion sets Atlanta alight

While she is strongly expected to make an appearance at the opening ceremony of the Games in Paris, Celine Dion is not new to the Olympic Games. The Canadian singer lent her voice to the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Atlanta in 1996, in front of a stadium of 83,000 people and 3.5 billion television viewers worldwide. The song The Power of the Dream had been composed especially for the occasion.

The Quebecer performed from the center of an athletics track, surrounded by several thousand people, under the Olympic flame. She was praised for her performance, but she would later admit to having collapsed from stress backstage as soon as the song was over. It was soul icon Stevie Wonder who closed these Games, with a cover of John Lennon’s hit Conceivedin tribute to the victims of a bomb attack in the Olympic Park, which left one person dead during the competition.

2004: Björk, the ocean in the stadium

For the return of the Olympic Games to Athens, the organizers are counting on the unclassifiable Icelandic artist to sing the opening anthem. And they are not skimping on the means. Björk takes to the stage of the Olympic stadium to perform Oceaniathe official song of the Athens Games. Right on theme, the artist wears a blue, billowing dress, 210 meters long of fabric. It swells, expands and covers the people gathered on the lawn of the Olympic stadium.

Except that the performance doesn’t go as planned because of a technical problem: the star was supposed to rise on a platform, but it breaks down. No problem, the Icelandic improvises and the audience doesn’t see a thing. Her performance and the electro track Oceania, which stands out significantly from those sung during previous editions, making this ceremony one of the most daring in the history of the Games.

2006: Luciano Pavarotti, a tenor in Turin

It was his last public performance. The organizers of the Turin Olympics chased Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti for months to convince him to participate in the opening ceremony of the Winter Games. He finally agreed to come and sing Nessun Dormaan opera piece that he popularized in Italy, in an Olympic stadium transformed into a classical opera stage.Many football fans appropriated this tune as the popular anthem of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. Pavarotti died a few months after this performance.

2012: stars galore, from the Beatles to the Spice Girls and George Michael

The Queen of England jumping out of a helicopter with James Bond, Mr Bean on stage… The opening ceremony of the London Olympics was one of the most impressive in the last 30 years. In the middle of the show, the British group Arctic Monkeys took the stage, notably with a cover of Come Together of the Beatles, to celebrate the legendary British group. Before passing the torch to one of the members of the quartet, Paul McCartney. At 70 years old, he sings Hey Judethe band’s legendary hit, in front of 80,000 people in the Olympic stadium in London.

It is above all the closing concert of the London Games that remains a great moment of music. A slew of artists from all generations follow one another for three hours. The Spice Girls reform for the occasion and George Michael returns to the stage, Ed Sheeran sings Pink Floyd and the rockers of The Who close the ceremony in front of 750 million viewers worldwide.