Who Is John Farnham? Singer Celine Dion Is Obsessed With

There are a lot of emotional moments in Celine Dion’s new documentary about her life, but there is one that might leave some viewers scratching their heads.

That moment comes when Dion is filmed watching a vintage video of Australian singer John Farnham, gaping in awe at his vocal abilities.

I Am: Celine Dion premiered on Amazon’s Prime Video on Tuesday and follows the celebrated diva as she navigates life and career comeback with the extremely rare stiff-person syndrome (SPS).

Some scenes show Dion in the middle of a “crisis” where her whole body seizes up as she struggles to breath, and in some cases is rushed to the ER by paramedics. Elsewhere, the feature film shows Dion coping with the death of her husband, René Angélil, and battling to get her singing voice back.

Directed by Academy Award nominee Irene Taylor, the Canadian singer is enthralled with an old video of Farnham in concert playing the piano while performing a cover The Beatles hit, “Help!”

Dion said she loved the “hoarseness” of his voice and wished she “could be more rock and roll” like Farnham.

She is then seen preparing to record some clips for a documentary about his life and Dion went off script talking about how much she loved him.

“I did not discover John Farnham, but I wished I did. But when I heard John Farnham, I was flipping because he had a power that broke the radio,” she said in the movie.

In another clip, Dion said: “When I first heard John his voice was incredible and so emotional.”

She described putting together her setlist for her Asian Australian tour and how she wanted to “so bad” include Farnham’s mega-hit, “You’re The Voice,” which is often described as the unofficial national anthem of Australia.

It then cut to a clip of Dion and Farnham on stage in 2018 singing the song and showed present-day Dion swept up in the emotion of their performance.

“I never thought that I was going to sing it with him,” she said.

Newsweek contacted Farnham’s representatives by email for comment.

Who Is John Farnham?

The 74-year-old singer was born in England, but moved to Australia as a child and is arguably one of the country’s most successful musicians of all-time after rising to fame in the 1970s.

In the 1980s, he cemented his place in Australian culture as frontman of the successful Little River Band, before branching out as a solo artist.

“You’re the Voice” was a number one hit in Australia and its associated album, Whispering Jack, stayed on top of the album charts for 25 weeks and is the third-highest selling album in Australian history.

He has won 21 of the Australian music awards, known as the ARIA Awards and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 2003.

In 2022, Farnham revealed he had been diagnosed with throat cancer. Dion opened up about their friendship and individual health battles in an interview earlier this month with Australian breakfast TV show Sunrise.

“It’s prophetic that I performed ‘[You’re] the Voice’ with him, then I lost my voice,” Dion said.

“He’s one of my favorite singers of all time. And I just will never forget the gift that he gave me (of singing it).”

Dion also said: “I tell you that, when I’m back on stage and I sing ‘Help,’ it will be for you, John, for sure. Thank you for that gift.”

Farnham announced in 2023 that he was cancer free after undergoing surgery to remove a tumor from his mouth.