The Swiss Eurovision team celebrating the victory, from left to right: Atilla Şereftuğ, lyricist Nella Martinetti, and Céline Dion
“As I mentioned before, we had prepared a backing tape which included bass, drums, and the computerised sounds prepared by Donald Häfliger’s Atari. Donald went with us to mime the keyboards on stage, whilst two old friends from the Dorados band – Walter Parolo and Bruno Schwarz – took care of the bass and percussion parts. Bruno and Walti, who both died quite young unfortunately, enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the Eurovision Song Contest to the full. The rehearsals were far easier than two years before in Bergen. The Irish orchestra was excellent. Up to the moment she arrived in Dublin, Céline did not have an idea of what was awaiting her. It was only when she saw the giant stage – so tierisch gross! – that she realized she was about to be part of something really important.”
“Céline was in Lausanne too and performed her new song, ‘Where does my heart beat now’. I had also submitted two songs for Céline’s new album, but her American producer David Foster said he did not need any European intervention. There is no getting into this American mafia! It took quite a long time before Céline became successful internationally with her English hits, but it was probably inevitable that she would be a world star. To my mind, the Eurovision Song Contest was the trampoline she needed. After her victory in Dublin, René Angelil managed to increase the budget for her recording project from 250,000 dollar to over one million dollar – and all of this because of the Eurovision win! René, a very clever guy, had invited the boss of Céline’s American record company to Dublin, who was obviously very impressed by her winning the event, and managed to bargain a better prize for her there and then.”
“Many, many years later, Céline gave a concert in Genève. It was in 2008. I called Urs Peter Keller, asking if he could arrange for me to meet Céline during rehearsals – which he did. I went there with two of my friends from the recording studio, but I was the only one of the three of us who was allowed into the concert hall. While Céline was doing an excellent, professional sound check without any of the impossible behaviour you would expect from a diva, I sat down on row five, in the dark. Once she had noticed there was someone in the hall, she came to the edge of the stage to check who it was – and she recognized me: “Atilla, is it really you?” We exchanged a couple of words, and I told her I had brought two friends who wanted to meet her too. The three of us were guided backstage, where Céline kissed me and then embraced me for some two minutes… she did not let go of me! Though I was a little embarrassed at that time, I later realized this was her way of saying ‘thank you’… after all those years without being in touch. She told me about her life, of travelling from one concert to the other, from one airport to the other, without the opportunity to watch television or reading a newspaper. That is the downside of stardom!”
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