Céline Marie Claudette Dion , CC OQ ChLD ( /ˈdiːɒn/ ; [2]
French: [selin djɔ̃] ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer and businesswoman. Born into a large family from
Charlemagne, Quebec , Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband
René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record. Dion first gained international recognition in the 1980s by winning both the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest where she represented Switzerland . Following a series of French albums during the 1980s, she signed on to Epic Records in the United States. In 1990, Dion released her debut English-language album,
Unison , establishing herself as a viable pop artist in North America and other English-speaking areas of the world.
Celine Dion
CC OQ ChLD
Dion in 2017
Born
Céline Marie Claudette Dion
30 March 1968 (age 49)
Charlemagne, Quebec , Canada
Residence
Henderson, Nevada , U.S.
Occupation
Singer businesswoman
Years active
1980–present
Net worth
$630 million (estimate as of December 2014) [1]
Spouse(s)
René Angélil (m. 1994; d. 2016)
Children
3
Parent(s)
Adhémar-Charles Dion
Thérèse Tanguay Dion
Musical career
Genres
Pop chanson soft rock R&B
Instruments
Vocals
Labels
CBS Epic Columbia 550 Legacy
Website
During the 1990s, with the help of Angélil, she achieved worldwide fame after releasing several English albums along with additional French albums. Her albums, Falling into You (1996) and Let's Talk About Love (1997), were both certified
diamond in the US while D'eux (1995) became the best-selling French-language album of all time. She also scored a series of international number-one hits, including " The Power of Love ", " Think Twice", " Because You Loved Me ", " It's All Coming Back to Me Now ", " My Heart Will Go On ", and " I'm Your Angel ". However, in 1999 at the height of her success, Dion announced a hiatus from entertainment to start a family and spend time with her husband, who had been diagnosed with cancer. She returned to the top of pop music in 2002 and signed to perform nightly in A New Day... (2003–07), a five-star theatrical show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada . It became the most successful concert residency of all time, grossing US $385 million.
Dion's music has been influenced by genres ranging from rock and R&B to gospel and classical . Her recordings are mainly in French and English, although she also sings in Spanish, Italian, German, Latin, Japanese, and Mandarin Chinese. While her releases have often received mixed critical reception, she is regarded as one of pop music's most influential voices. Dion has won five Grammy Awards , including Album of the Year and Record of the Year . She is the second best-selling female artist in the US during the
Nielsen SoundScan era. In 2003, Dion was honoured by the
International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) for selling over 50 million albums in Europe. Dion remains the best-selling Canadian artist and one of the best-selling artists of all time with record sales of over 200 million copies worldwide.
Life and career
1968–1989: Early life and career beginnings
Dion was born in Charlemagne, Quebec, the youngest of 14 children of Thérèse (née Tanguay), a homemaker, and Adhémar Dion, a butcher, both of French-Canadian descent.
[3][4] Dion was raised a Roman Catholic in a poor, but, by her own account, happy home in Charlemagne. [5][6] Music had always been a major part of the Dion family; indeed, Dion herself was named after the song "Céline," which French singer Hugues Aufray had recorded two years before her own birth. [7] On 13 August 1973, at the age of five, the young Céline made her first public appearance at her brother Michel's wedding, where she performed Christine Charbonneau 's song "Du fil des aiguilles et du coton". [8] She continued to perform with her siblings in her parents' small
piano bar called Le Vieux Baril , "The Old Barrel." From an early age, Dion had dreamed of being a performer. [9] In a 1994 interview with People magazine, she recalled, "I missed my family and my home, but I don't regret having lost my adolescence. I had one dream: I wanted to be a singer." [10]
Dion at the age of 18
At age 12, Dion collaborated with her mother and her brother Jacques to write and compose her first song, " Ce n'était qu'un rêve ," whose title translates as "It Was Only a Dream" or "Nothing But A Dream." [6] Her brother Michel sent the recording to music manager René Angélil, whose name he discovered on the back of a Ginette Reno album. [11] Angélil was moved to tears by Dion's voice and decided to make her a star. [6] In 1981, he mortgaged his home to fund her first record, La voix du bon Dieu , which later became a local No. 1 hit and made Dion an instant star in Quebec. Her popularity spread to other parts of the world when she competed in the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo, Japan , and won the musician's award for "Top Performer" as well as the gold medal for "Best Song" with " Tellement j'ai d'amour pour toi ". [11]
By 1983, in addition to becoming the first Canadian artist to receive a gold record in France for the single " D'amour ou d'amitié " ("Of Love or of Friendship"), Dion had also won several Félix Awards , including "Best Female performer" and "Discovery of the Year". [11][12] Further success came when Dion represented Switzerland in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest with the song " Ne partez pas sans moi " and won the contest by a close margin in Dublin , Ireland. [13]
At age eighteen, after seeing a Michael Jackson performance, Dion told Angélil that she wanted to be a star like Jackson.
[14] Though confident in her talent, Angélil realized that her image needed to be changed in order for her to be marketed worldwide. [6] Dion receded from the spotlight for a number of months, during which she underwent dental surgery to improve her appearance, and was sent to the École Berlitz in 1989 to polish her English. [15]
In 1989, during a concert on the Incognito Tour, Dion injured her voice . She consulted the otorhinolaryngologist William Gould, [16][17] who gave her an ultimatum: have immediate surgery on her vocal cords or do not utilize them at all for three weeks. [16] Dion chose the latter and underwent vocal training with William Riley. [16][17]
1990–1992: Unison, Dion chante Plamondon and Celine Dion
Dion's earlier English releases
"Where Does My Heart Beat Now" (1990)
"Where Does My Heart Beat Now", Dion's first North American hit, was 1980s soft rock. (Note the prominence of the electric guitar). It contrasts with the style of subsequent efforts.
Problems playing this file? See media help .
Two years after she learned English, Dion made her debut into the Anglophone market with Unison (1990), the lead single having originally been recorded by Laura Branigan . [11] She incorporated the help of many established musicians, including Vito Luprano and Canadian producer David Foster .
[9] The album was largely influenced by 1980s soft rock music that quickly found a niche within the adult contemporary radio format. Unison also hit the right notes with critics: Jim Faber of Entertainment Weekly wrote that Dion's vocals were "tastefully unadorned," and that she never attempted to "bring off styles that are beyond her". [18] Stephen Erlewine of AllMusic declared it as "a fine, sophisticated American debut". [19] Singles from the album included " (If There Was) Any Other Way", " The Last to Know ", " Unison ", and " Where Does My Heart Beat Now ", a mid-tempo soft-rock ballad which made prominent use of the electric guitar. The latter became her first top-ten hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 , peaking at number four. In 1991, Dion was a featured soloist in Voices That Care , a tribute to American troops fighting in Operation Desert Storm . [ citation needed]
Dion's real international breakthrough came when she duetted with Peabo Bryson on the title track to Disney 's animated film Beauty and the Beast (1991). [20] It became her first top-ten hit in the UK and her second top-ten hit in the US. The song earned its songwriters an Academy Award for Best Song and gave Dion her first Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal . [9] "Beauty and the Beast" served as the lead single from Dion's 1992 self-titled album, which, like her debut, had a strong pop rock influence combined with elements of soul and classical music. Owing to the success of the lead-off single and her collaborations with David Foster and Diane Warren , the album was even more well-received commercially than Unison ; it received diamond record in Canada and double platinum in the US. The album's second single " If You Asked Me To " (a
cover of Patti LaBelle 's song from the 1989 movie Licence to Kill) became her first number-one single in Ca
