To her millions of fans, Celine Dion is considered an icon, a legend, even a saint. And for one New Yorker, the musician approaches fairy-godmother status.
With Dion’s new album, “Loved Me Back to Life,” out this Tuesday, Chelsea-based singer-songwriter Dana Parish has a dream come true: The pop diva sings her songs.
On a fated night two years ago, Parish and her composer husband, Andrew Hollander, 38, flipped through their late-night TV options. When they landed on OWN’s biography of Celine Dion — a longtime hero of Parish’s — Hollander graciously let his wife watch.
Parish and her husband, Andrew Hollander — here with their pup, Lucy — co-write songs together.
In addition to Dion’s childhood as the youngest of 14 children, meteoric rise to fame, and life in Sin City, the Oprah Winfrey-produced show chronicled her long battle with infertility. (She has given birth to three sons via IVF: René-Charles, 12, and 3-year-old twins Eddy and Nelson.)
“I was so struck by her humanity and her realness,” says Parish, 32. “This woman who had all the fame in the world was actually dealing with a terrible struggle.”
Though Parish, who does not have children, hasn’t experienced the same struggles as Dion, she empathized with the legendary songstress. “You don’t need to go through the same thing to feel for someone,” she notes. “She seeped into my subconscious that night.”
Inspired by Dion’s love of life and family, Parish feverishly wrote “Always Be Your Girl” with Hollander the next morning, in less than an hour. Parish describes it as a love song from her mother to her children.
“This was one of those songs that was more me channeling than writing,” Parish says. “I knew I was meant to write this song.”
So when her publisher friend, Peter Lloyd, mentioned that Dion was looking for songs for an upcoming album, Parish knew she had to get the tune to her idol. With Lloyd’s help, she e-mailed Dion’s manager-husband, René Angélil, and said if Dion heard the song, Parish knew she would take it in a second. She included an MP3 of the demo track, and hoped for the best.
Her chutzpah paid off.
Celine Dion’s new album, “Loved Me Back To Life,” drops on Tuesday.
The next morning, Parish heard back from Angélil: Dion had fallen in love with the song and planned to record it. Angélil also wanted to know if there was more where that came from.
Dion wound up recording two Parish-Hollander songs, “Thankful” and “Always Be Your Girl.” The latter was produced by Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds. “I loved [his music] so much growing up,” gushes Parish, who has since co-written a track with him.
She finally met Dion last week at “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.” “As soon as we walked into her dressing room, Celine looked at me and said, ‘You are the singer and the writer?! Come here!’ and she hugged me.”
“It’s as if they read my mind, and I hope that I interpreted them with the same sensitivity that they envisioned when writing them,” says Dion.
Not bad for the girl who grew up in Cherry Hill, NJ. At age 4, Parish announced she was going to be a singer. She followed that dream to the Manhattan School of Music at 18, and has released two albums.
She met Hollander in 2005. “One of the first songs we co-wrote was about Dana’s ex-boyfriend, called ‘Not My Problem,’ ” says Hollander, laughing. Parish’s own recording of it ended up a 2008 hit on the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts.
Next up for Parish is another solo album, although she can’t deny the opportunities that come with having a Celine Dion song on your résumé: “We’ve been writing songs for Kelly Clarkson, Pink and Shakira.”
She’s also attracted a new following, even before Dion’s album is out: Celine superfans from all over the world.
“There’s not a day when I don’t sift through Facebook messages and tweets. Though sometimes the language is fuzzy, the common thread is always ‘love,’ ‘Celine’ and ‘please,’ ” Parish says.
There’s one other perk, too: “My royalty check from iTunes sales surged this quarter,” she admits. “It’s about five times higher!”