How many people would be brave enough to do a cover of a duet by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli then post it online for the world to see? No one in their right mind would. Unless their name is Chris Mann.
See, to even sing like Celine or Andrea is a feat most people could only dream of. Chris though does the one thing no one expects. He sings “The Prayer“, doing BOTH Celine and Andrea’s parts.
To the original key of F Major.
Why did he do it? What made him do it? Well, Mann answers it himself.
“I love singing this song so much…I decided to just sing the whole dang thing myself…”
If only it were that easy for us regular folks. But whatever. He’s super talented!
Christopher Michael Mann is from Wichita, Kansas. He placed fourth in the 2012 edition of The Voice, representing Christina Aguilera in the final round. His style is operatic pop and classical crossover.
Mann has a degree in vocal performance, graduating from Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music. Mann was cast in an Italian opera when he finished school and when he moved to LA, did studio gigs.
You hear his work in films like Avatar, Letters to Juliet, Tangled, and Sex and the City 2.
Mann also played “The Phantom” in The Phantom of the Opera.
“The Prayer” was written by David Foster and his co-writers. It was recorded in two solo versions for the 1998 film, Quest for Camelot. The recordings in English were done by Celine Dion, and Italian by Bocelli.
The duet was included in both Dion and Bocelli’s albums.
Chris Mann is right to love the song. Plus he is able to show his incredible range for this one. Mann starts it off as if he were in Celine’s shoes, singing at a much higher pitch.
“I pray you’ll be our eyes
And watch us where we go
And help us to be wise
In times when we don’t know
Let this be our prayer
When we lose our way”
But the best part is when he goes full tenor in Italian while doing Dion’s backing vocals,
“La luce che tu hai
(I pray we’ll find your light)
Nel cuore resterà
(And hold it in our hearts)
A ricordarci che
(When stars go out each night)
L’eterna stella sei
(Whoa)
Nella mia preghiera
(Let this be our prayer)
Quanta fede c’è
(When shadows fill our day)”
It is ridiculous that Chris is doing this. The attention to detail plus the talent he put in is out of this world.
This is pure talent. Mann is a delight to watch and amazing to listen to. He powers through the entire song, singing both parts. If there was no video, you would swear it was a real duet by two singers.
In fact, go ahead and watch Andrea and Celine‘s, then the one with Lady Gaga. After both videos, go back and listen to Chris Mann. Don’t bother judging which was better. Just admit that Mann is unbelievable.
Put it on repeat and listen to Chris again and again below!
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