Celine Dion : "Samuel, your talent is as big as your voice"

A teenager from Gabon, West Africa, has said he was "overwhelmed" after the Canadian pop star Celine Dion shared a video of him performing one of her hits.

The video of the 17 year old boy, Samuel, singing “The Power of Love” and “To Love You More” while sitting on a staircase in the capital, Libreville, has attracted millions of views on Facebook.

Dion commented :

"Samuel, your talent is as big as your voice. I hope we have the chance to meet one day."

The song, originally by Jennifer Rush, was a hit for Dion in 1993.

A popular Gabonese blogger, Barack Nyare Mba, first noticed Samuel's talent before Ms Dion reposted the video on her own Facebook page. That gave the video an enormous boost - it's approaching nearly 3m views. Barack is now Samuel's current manager.

Celin Dion wrote :

"I'm touched my songs have traveled all the way to you and hope we have the chance to meet one day.

May all your dreams come true. Keep singing like you do. When music comes from the heart, it knows no borders!"

In response to her message. Samuel said that he was

"overwhelmed and very surprised.

I wasn't expecting that. I haven't got a phone or a Facebook account, it was my brother who told me Celine had shared my video.

I just hope that one day I can meet her for real"

He already has been approached by producers from TV singing contests in France and Ivory Coast.

Samuel continued :

"I'm not used to this [success]. I feel good when I sing in the staircase, and now people recognise me in the street."

Samuel said that he started singing by himself in break times at school.

He told the BBC's Charles Stephane Mavaoungou :

"The others could not believe it was me singing. When they entered the classroom, they began to applaud."

He now intends to pursue a singing career. With Celine Dion giving this super talented teenager her thumbs up, no doubt he has a great singing career ahead of him.

Good luck to him !!