"Belle" is a 1997 song performed Patrick Fiori, Daniel Lavoie, and Garou, from the musical Notre-Dame de Paris. Released as a single in 1998, it was a hit in France and Belgium, topping the charts for many months. To date, the song is one of the best-selling singles of all time in these countries.

Background and writing

As for the songs from the musical, the text was written by Luc Plamondon, who had also written the musical Starmania in 1978, and the music composed by Richard Cocciante. The musical arrangements were made by Richard Cocciante, Jannick Top and Serge Perathoner who also worked on the musical direction.

"Belle" is a romantic song in which the three singers, who respectively portrayed Quasimodo (Garou), Frollo (Daniel Lavoie) and Phoebus (Patrick Fiori), reveal in turn their love for Esmeralda, before singing together the last verse.[1]

The theme of the song is based in Victor Hugo's 1831 novel Notre-Dame de Paris. In chapter VI of the Eighth book "Trois coeurs d'homme faits différemment" (Three men's hearts made differently), Phoebus, Frollo and Quasimodo watch Esmeralda who is sentenced to death. Phoebus is with his fiancée and though he pales when seeing Esmeralda proving he has feelings for her, he stays with his Fleur-de-Lys. Frollo is trying once again to propose Esmeralda a salvation, but in return he wants her to become his woman. And finally Quasimodo selflessly saves Esmeralda from death, only because of his enormous love for her.

Other recording

Since its debut, it has been professionally played in Belgium, Canada, China, France, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States, and has been translated into seven languages (English, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Korean, Flemish and Polish). The song has thus been officially adapted in these six languages, but several covers have been made in various languages.

The English-language version of the song, recorded by Steve Balsamo, Garou and Daniel Lavoie, is available on Notre Dame de Paris - Version anglaise.[2]

All official versions of "Belle"
Language Original cast Title Translation
Quasimodo Frollo Phœbus
English Garou Daniel Lavoie Steve Balsamo "Belle (is the only word)"
Flemish Gene Thomas [nl] Wim Van Den Driescche Tim Driesen "Belle" /
French Garou Daniel Lavoie Patrick Fiori "Belle" "Beautiful"
Italian Giò Di Tonno Vittorio Matteucci [it] Graziano Galatone [it] "Bella" "Beautiful"
Korean 윤형렬 (Yun Hyeong-ryeol) [ko] 서범석 (Seo Beom-seok) [ko] 김성민 (Kim Sung-min) "아름답다" ("Arŭmdapda") "Beautiful"
Polish Michał Grobelny [pl] Artur Guza Przemysław Zubowicz "Belle" /
Russian Вячеслав Петкун (Viatcheslav Petkoun) [ru] Александр Маракулин (Alexander Marakoulin) [ru] Антон Макарский (Anton Makarsky) [ru] "Belle" /
Spanish Albert Martínez Enrique Sequero Lisardo Guarinos "La palabra "belle"" "The word "belle""

Chart performance

"Belle" charted on the French Singles Chart for 60 weeks, which was at the time the single with most total weeks in the top 100, and the first one in the top 50, with 49 weeks. It entered the chart at number 96 on 9 May 1998, climbed slowly, reaching number one in its 18th week, which is one of the slowest climbs to first position. It was also the first single performed as a trio to reach number one on this chart. It weekly sales began to rise when the musical was performed, from 12 September 1998.[1] It stayed at the top for 18 consecutive weeks, which was at the time the record of the most weeks at number one (this record was beaten in 2000 by Lou Bega's "Mambo no. 5 (a Little Bit of...)", with 20 weeks). After that, the song managed to drop slowly, totaling 31 weeks in the top ten.[3] Certified diamond disc by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique,[4] it was the best-selling single of 1998.[5]

In Belgium (Wallonia), the single debuted at number 24 on the Ultratop 40 Singles Chart, on 6 June 1998. It topped the chart for only six weeks, from 19 September to 24 October, remained in the top ten for 30 consecutive weeks, and fell off the chart (top 40) after 44 weeks.[6] It is the best-selling single of the year[7] and the most successful song from 1995 in that country.[8]

In 1999, the song was awarded 'Song of the year' at the Victoires de la Musique.

Track listings

  • CD single
  1. "Belle" — 4:36
  2. "Déchiré" by Patrick Fiori — 3:18

Charts

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Belgium (BRMA)[10] 3× Platinum 150,000*
France (SNEP)[4] Diamond 750,000*

* Sales figures based on certification alone.

Dadju, Gims and Slimane version

On April 5, 2021, a cover version was released by trio Dadju, Gims and Slimane on Play Two and Sony Music Entertainment reaching number 36 on SNEP, the official French Singles Chart. A music video was also released[11] in which they play a scene from the musical Notre-Dame de Paris in a modern setting.

Chart (2021) Peak
position
France (SNEP)[12]36

References

  1. 1 2 Habib, Elia (2002). Muz hit.tubes (in French). Alinéa Bis. pp. 434–35. ISBN 2-9518832-0-X.
  2. ↑ Notre Dame de Paris - Version anglaise, track listing and chart Lescharts.com (Retrieved 1 November 2008)
  3. 1 2 "Belle", French Singles Chart Lescharts.com Archived July 21, 2009, at the Wayback Machine (Retrieved 26 April 2008)
  4. 1 2 "French single certifications – Garou – Belle" (in French). SNEP. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  5. 1 2 1998 French Singles Chart Disqueenfrance.com Archived 2009-04-16 at the Wayback Machine (Retrieved 26 April 2008)
  6. 1 2 "Belle", Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart Ultratop.be Archived November 1, 2014, at the Wayback Machine (Retrieved 26 April 2008)
  7. 1 2 1998 Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart Ultratop.be Archived October 7, 2014, at the Wayback Machine (Retrieved 26 April 2008)
  8. ↑ Best-selling singles in Belgium from 1995 Ultratop.be (Retrieved 26 April 2008)
  9. ↑ "Year in Focus – Eurochart Hot 100 Singles 1999" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 17, no. 1. 1 January 2000. p. 11. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 June 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2026 – via World Radio History.
  10. ↑ "Ultratop − Goud en Platina – singles 1999". Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
  11. ↑ "Gims, Dadju et Slimane reprennent le tube Belle de Notre-Dame de Paris" (in French). Le Figaro. 6 April 2021. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  12. ↑ "Dadju - Gims - Slimane – Belle" (in French). Le classement de singles.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_(Patrick_Fiori,_Daniel_Lavoie_and_Garou_song)