Celine Dion
Born in Charlemagne near Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Celine is the youngest of 14 children of a highly musical family. Her parents, both musicians, operated a small club, and at weekends, the entire family performed and entertained the local population. From the age of 5, Celine sang with her siblings and quickly acquired the ability to perform live. At the age of twelve, together with her mother and one of her brothers, Celine composed a French song which would forever alter the course of her life.
The demo tape containing the song was brought to the attention of René Angélil, a well respected personal manager. In January 1981, René was so taken by the voice of the young Celine, that he became determined to make her an internationally known talent - he even mortgaged his house to finance the recording of Celine’s debut album. (On December 17, 1994, Celine married her manager René Angélil at Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal.)
Celine began to receive recognition for her talent in 1982, winning the Gold Medal at the Yamaha World Song Festival in Tokyo, along with the coveted Musician’s Award for Top Performer.
In 1988, Celine won the prestigious Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin Ireland, where she performed live before a television audience of 600 million viewers throughout Europe, the USSR, the Middle-East, Japan, and Australia.
British fans took extremely well to "Think Twice," a ballad on ’The Colour of My Love.’ For five consecutive weeks, the song and album stood on top of the respective British charts, an achievement not replicated since 1965 and the heyday of The Beatles. "Think Twice" remained at number one for two more weeks, surpassing the magic million mark to become only the fourth million-selling single ever in the UK by a female artist.
Despite Celine’s amazing pace of recording, video shoots, touring and appearing on TV shows and awards specials, she still finds time for helping an important cause. Celine has used her talents to further the cause of Cystic Fibrosis Canada. In fact, one of Celine’s most emotional songs ("Vole," from the ’D’eux’ album, later translated into English as the song "Fly," which appears on the ’Falling Into You’ album) is a touching memorial to her niece, Karine, who was taken from her by this disease.
Released in March 1996, ’Falling Into You’ became the best-selling album released that year; topped the charts in 11 countries, and was voted Album of the Year and Best Pop Album at the 39th annual Grammy Awards ceremony. The album has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide.
’Let’s Talk About Love’ was released on the same day as the soundtrack of the motion picture ’Titanic’. Both albums featured the much-loved Titanic movie’s theme song, "My Heart Will Go On," written by James Horner and produced by James Horner and Walter Afanasieff. "My Heart Will Go On" quickly became the wedding song of choice for Celine’s fans.
’Let’s Talk About Love’ went on to match the 27 million worldwide sales of its predecessor; ’Titanic’ also sold over 27 million copies worldwide. It is the all-time best-selling orchestral soundtrack in recording history. Celine sang "My Heart Will Go On" on the worldwide telecast of the 70th Annual Academy Awards, live from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song - the second Oscar for a song sung by Celine Dion, following "Beauty and the Beast."
In March 2003, Celine began a three-year commitment to appear five nights a week at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, a 4000-seat arena designed for her show. A 90-minute event, A New Day... introduced a new form of entertainment, a fusion of song, performance art, theatrical innovation and state-of-the-art technology. The show was created by Dragone Productions, a team led by Franco Dragone, the creative spirit behind ten of the critically acclaimed productions by Cirque du Soleil.
In the following year on June 15, 2004, Celine released her wildly anticipated live CD, ’A New Day...Live in Las Vegas.’ This album featured two previously unreleased studio tracks, "You And I" and "Ain’t Gonna Look The Other Way" and 13 live tracks from Celine’s incredibly successful Las Vegas show, A New Day... Fans cherish the live album as it gives them the opportunity to re-live the energy from A New Day... over and over again.
Celine teamed up with famed baby photographer Anne Geddes for one of the most incredible artistic collaborations of all time…the Miracle project. ‘Miracle’ was released in October 2004. Celine and Anne worked together for many months to produce a stunning collection of images and powerful songs celebrating the bond of love between mother and child. The body of work touched the hearts of people throughout the world. The Miracle CD/DVD box set includes a 60-page version of the Miracle book and a “making-of-the-CD” DVD.
October 2005 also marked the release of a truly unique book project encompassing Celine’s life in words and pictures. ’Celine Dion: For Keeps’ is an intimate look into Celine’s personal and professional life from her childhood days though to her spectacular show in Vegas. Author Jenna Glatzer spoke with Celine, her family, close friends and associates during the course of a year to come up with a detailed and accurate story of her life. The result is a treasury for Celine’s fans: a book which documents Celine’s life and times, featuring rare photographs and removable mementos from Celine’s personal collection.
Due to the unprecedented sold-out success of Celine’s Las Vegas show, the original three-year engagement was extended an additional two years. Celine took the stage for her final performance of A New Day… on December 15, 2007. The spectacular Las Vegas show that had been seen by nearly 3 million fans at 717 performances since its premier in March 2003 finally came to an end.
Celine’s ‘Taking Chances World tour, her first worldwide concert tour in over nine years, played to sold-out stadiums and arenas throughout 2008. By its completion, at the end of February 2009, it had crossed 5 continents, 23 countries, and 93 cities, en route to playing for an audience of over 3 million people. The tour’s success was undeniable. In North America it was the No.2 tour of 2008 (based on ticket sales).
Celine and René have 3 children, all with the help of in-vitro fertilisation. Their first son also named ‘René’ was born in 2001 and she gave birth to twin boys in October 2010. Nelson and Eddy were baptized on March 5, 2011 in Las Vegas, just days before Celine’s grand return to the stage.
On March 15, 2011 Celine made a triumphant return to the stage of The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. The new show, directed by long time Grammy Awards producer Ken Ehrlich, includes Celine’s biggest hits mixed with timeless classics and pays tribute to some of the most celebrated songs and artists of all time. Featuring 31 musicians, consisting of a full orchestra and band, the show is set to a visually stunning presentation designed exclusively for the 4,300 seat state-of-the-art venue.
With each new release, Celine has managed to top her previous successes and, along the way, has become one of the brightest stars in the world of popular music.
