All by Myself by Céline Dion

"All by Myself" is a song by American artist Eric Carmen released in 1975. The verse is based on the second movement (Adagio sostenuto) of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Opus 18, famously used to underscore the 1945 British film Brief Encounter. The chorus was taken from the song "Let's Pretend", which Carmen wrote and recorded with the Raspberries in 1972.The power ballad was the first single from Carmen's first solo LP after leaving the power pop group the Raspberries and was released in December 1975, to great acclaim. It reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, both "Love Machine" by The Miracles and "December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" by The Four Seasons, kept the song from #1. "All by Myself" did reach #1 on Cash Box Top 100 Singles and #3 in Canada. The single sold more than one million copies in the United States and was certified gold by the RIAA in April 1976. "All by Myself" was Carmen's first of eight US Top 40 hits. In the UK, however, this was his only Top 40 success, peaking at number 12. In a 2006 poll for UK's Five programme Britain's Favourite Break-up Songs, Eric Carmen's version of this song was voted seventeenth. Rachmaninoff's music was in the public domain in the United States and Carmen thought no copyright existed on it, but it was still protected outside the U.S. Subsequent to the release of the album, he was contacted by the Rachmaninoff estate and informed otherwise. An agreement was reached in which the estate would receive 12 percent of the royalties from "All by Myself" as well as from "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again", which was based on the third movement from Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2.Carmen has stated that he also incorporated part of another melody into this song. The melody was taken from his previous hit with the Raspberries, "Let's Pretend", as noted above.Carmen's original version has spawned numerous cover versions by such artists as Rico J. Puno in 1976, Sheryl Crow in 1993, Babes in Toyland in 1995, Celine Dion in 1996, Frank Sinatra, Igudesman & Joo, Il Divo, and Only Men Aloud!. The slide guitar solo was performed by studio guitarist Hugh McCracken.