David Foster, producer-musician-composer who has worked with some of pop music’s biggest artists, once refused to produce one of the most iconic hits of the 90s. Foster was a frequent collaborator with Céline Dion since discovering her early on, but he couldn’t get behind the song that became her biggest hit.
In 1997, Dion was offered the opportunity to perform “My Heart Will Go On” for the film Titanic. This, of course, would become one of her signature songs. But Foster said, despite successfully churning out hit after hit with Dion, he advised her against this one.
“I told Céline that if she recorded the Titanic song, it would ruin her career,” he said, speaking with the And The Writer Is… podcast in January 2026. “I literally said that to her because I didn’t like the song. [And] I still don’t, so I didn’t produce it, Walter [Afanasieff] did – I turned it down.”
Céline Dion Collaborator David Foster Still Hates ‘My Heart Will Go On’
Céline Dion was no stranger to movie soundtracks at that time. She contributed “Because You Loved Me” to Up Close and Personal in 1996, and a duet with Peabo Bryson for Beauty and the Beast in 1991. Because of this, Dion was allegedly hesitant to do another movie song.
However, her manager-turned-husband René Angélil convinced her to sign on. Despite David Foster’s personal feelings on the song and initial warning, “My Heart Will Go On” sold 18 million copies worldwide. It became one of the best-selling singles in music history, won multiple awards, including four Grammys in 1999, and became deeply embedded in the cultural zeitgeist of the time.
Still, Foster is consistent in his dislike of the song. To this day, he said, he doesn’t like it. What is annoying, however, is when people assume he produced it because of his long working relationship with Céline Dion.
“If [a conversation] ever gets around to Céline, that’s the first [thing]: ‘Oh, I love that Titanic song,’” he said. “Then I have to say, ‘Well, I didn’t produce that.’ Then they think I’m just full of s***, period. So now I just say, ‘thank you.’ But I had nothing to do with it.”
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