"If You Asked Me To" is a song written by Diane Warren. It was originally recorded by American singer Patti LaBelle for her ninth studio album, Be Yourself (1989), and the soundtrack of the James Bond film Licence to Kill. The lyrics are from the point of view of a woman who pleads to her significant other:

Three years later, Canadian singer Celine Dion covered "If You Asked Me To" for her self-titled second studio album. Released as the album's second single, her version topped the Canadian charts and peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100.

"If You Asked Me To" was first featured on the soundtrack of the 1989 James Bond movie, Licence to Kill. LaBelle's version peaked at number 79 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, at number 10 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and at number 11 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks.

This version of the song appeared on the daytime soap opera General Hospital in 1989.

The music video was filmed the day after the funeral of LaBelle's sister Jacqueline "Jackie" Padgett who died of lung cancer at age 43. (She was the third of LaBelle's sisters to die; all three of Patti's sisters died before age 44.) As such, the context of the song changed dramatically, as a mourning LaBelle, dressed in black, sings the song in a church (with candles and mourning lilies), intercut with shots of her in tears.

Despite being a Top 10 hit on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts, the song did not crossover to the pop charts until Celine Dion covered it three years later. Regarding the subject, LaBelle once explained during an interview used for the liner notes of her 1999 Greatest Hits album what she believed to be the reason for this fact: "I knew the song was a hit when I recorded it, and I was happy that Celine did it and did so well with it. But the arrangements are so close and we both have pretty powerful voices...so who knows why my version didn't take off. Maybe it was timing..."

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