Céline Marie Claudette Dion OC, OQ (born March 30, 1968) is a popular vocalist from Québec, Canada. Her music has been influenced by pop, rock and soul, and from humble beginnings she has risen to become one of the best-selling female artists of all time, with worldwide record sales surpassing 200 million.
Early life and career beginnings
Dion was the youngest of 14 children, born to Adhemar and Therese Dion in Charlemagne, a small town 30 miles east of Montréal, Québec, Canada. This Roman Catholic family often faced material deprivation and austerity, but it was filled with love and music and the family persevered.
Dion honed her musical talents by singing with her siblings from the age of five in the small club belonging to her parents. On weekends, the entire family performed and entertained the local population. At 12, together with her mother and one of her brothers, she composed her first song "Ce n'etait qu'un rêve" ("It Was Only a Dream"), which her brother Michael sent to René Angélil, a manager, whose name he had found on the back of an album by Ginette Reno, a popular Francophone singer. Angélil was brought to tears by Dion's beautiful voice and immediately decided to make her an international success.
Angelil mortgaged his home to help finance her career and in 1981, they released her first record in her native French language, "La Voix du bon Dieu" ("The Voice of God"), which made her an instant star in Québec as it became a local #1 single. This recognition would soon spread worldwide, as the following year she won the gold medal at the Yamaha World Song Festival in Tokyo, along with the Musician's Award for Top Performer. In 1983, she became the first Canadian ever to receive a Gold Record in France.
Celine Dion: Commercial Success
At 18, Dion saw Michael Jackson performing on television and she told Angelil that she wanted to be a star like him. Dion then underwent a physical transformation to remake her image; she cut her hair, and had her teeth capped to cover up the incisors that had caused a Québec humor magazine to dub her "Canine Dion." She was also sent off to an English language school to polish her language and this would later enable her to break into the anglophone North American market.
In 1987, she produced the album Incognito, which became a huge success in francophone Canada. She enjoyed superstar status, receiving numerous Felix Awards and multiple sales. She was approached by Swiss songwriters Atilla Sereftug and Nella Martinetti, and was chosen to represent Switzerland in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest, singing "Ne partez pas sans moi". By winning the contest in Dublin on April 30, 1988, she received a large boost to her career in Europe and she also gained recognition in other areas worldwide, such as the USSR, the Middle-East, Japan, and Australia.
Dion's first English-language album, Unison, released in 1990, expanded her international recognition with the breakthrough top five single, "Where Does My Heart Beat Now". The album also earned Dion her first certification from RIAA as it went platinum in America. However, her real international breakthrough came when she recorded the title track for the soundtrack to the animated Disney hit movie Beauty and the Beast with Peabo Bryson. The song topped the US charts for five weeks and earned her an Academy Award for "Best Song Written for a Motion Picture or Television" and a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Shortly after her Unison album was released, Dion acted in a television mini-series called Des fleurs sur la neige (Flowers on the Snow). She portrayed a young woman named Elisa who lived a very difficult, abused life. Dion enjoyed her role and has since expressed interest in acting in a motion picture.
Dion's 1992 eponymous album also featured the single "Beauty and the Beast." That album produced four more hit singles; "Love Can Move Mountains," "Water From The Moon," "If You Asked Me To" and "Did You Give Enough Love." The album went 2× platinum in America and 6× platinum in Canada, and won her many awards including Juno Awards and the World Music Award for being the "World’s Best selling Canadian Female Recording Artist of the Year".
Apart from her rising success, there were also changes in Dion's personal life, as Angelil would make the transition from manager to lover. However, fearful that the public would find the 26-year difference between their ages perturbing, the relationship was kept a secret.
In late 1993, Dion fearlessly indicated to the public for the first time that she was in love with her manager, René Angélil. In the dedication section of her third English-language album, The Colour of My Love, Dion named Angélil "the colour of [her] love". Eventually, they became engaged, and married in December 1994. The wedding was widely watched on television across Canada. The couple would soon have a son, René-Charles Angélil (born January 2001). The album itself would go on to be certified 6× platinum in America. Hits included a cover of Jennifer Rush's "The Power of Love", which topped the US charts for four weeks, and "When I Fall In Love". In the UK, she received massive success as fans took well to "Think Twice". The song and album stayed at the top of their respective charts for five consecutive weeks, with "Think Twice" spending two more weeks atop the charts. It surpassed the million mark to become the fourth million-selling single ever in the UK, by a female artist.
In 1995 Dion recorded a collection of Carole King songs called Tapestry Revisited, In My Life (a collection of Beatles songs in tribute to producer George Martin).
In keeping with her French roots, Dion continued to release French albums between her English language recordings. These include the albums Dion chante Plamondon and Céline Dion à l'Olympia, 1994, and D'eux (known as The French Album in the United States) in 1995.
In March 1996, the monster hit, Falling Into You, was released. It spawned hits such as the title track, "It's All Coming Back to Me Now", a remake of Eric Carmen's "All by Myself", and the chart-topper "Because You Loved Me". The album topped the charts in 11 countries, and won the Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Pop Album at the 39th annual Grammy Awards ceremony. It became her biggest selling LP to date; it has been certified 11× platinum in America and has sold about 30 million copies worldwide.
That year, Dion was also asked to perform at the opening ceremonies of the Atlanta Olympics. She performed the theme song, "The Power of the Dream" accompanied by composer David Foster and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
Dion followed Falling Into You with her 1997 release Let's Talk About Love. Though it was a tough act to follow, Let's Talk About Love actually matched the success of its predecessor. The album was recorded in London, New York and Los Angeles and featured a host of special guests, including some of popular music's greatest vocalists; Barbra Streisand, the Bee Gees, and world renowned classical vocalist Luciano Pavarotti, as well as many great songwriters and producers.
'Let's Talk About Love' was released on the same day as the soundtrack of the 1997 motion picture Titanic. Both albums featured the theme song, "My Heart Will Go On," written by James Horner and produced by James Horner and Walter Afanasieff. At first she was reluctant to record "My Heart Will Go On"; her husband/manager and James Horner had to convince her. My Heart Will Go On became the all-time best-selling orchestral soundtrack in recording history. The album went on receive Diamond status in America and won Dion innumerable local and international awards, such as many Juno Awards, and two Grammy's (the song itself won four, but two were presented to the songwriters) in 1999, and three World Music Awards for being the "World's Best Selling Pop Artist of the Year", "World's Overall Best Selling Recording Artist of the Year" and "World’s Best Selling Canadian Recording Artist of the Year". She also received countless awards for her achievements from Europe and Asia. In 1998, she received many honors from her home country; she was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada for outstanding contribution to the world of contemporary music and Officer of the National Order of Quebec. A year later, she was inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame.
Following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, Dion participated on a double-CD set in commemoration.
At her career peak, Dion was asked to perform on VH1's "Divas Live" special with such superstars as Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey, Gloria Estefan, and Shania Twain, solidifying her status as one of the biggest divas of contemporary music.
Keeping busy in the studios, Dion released the holiday album These Are Special Times in 1998 and it went on to become one of the biggest selling of its kind. The chart topper, "I'm Your Angel", a duet with R. Kelly came from this album, as well as "The Prayer," a duet with Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli, wich was recorded for the 1998 animated film Quest for Camelot.
In 1999, Dion released the album All the Way...A Decade of Song. This contained a collection of her previous hit singles, such as "Beauty And The Beast", "The Power Of Love," "Because You Loved Me," "I'm Your Angel,"and the classic "My Heart Will Go On", plus seven new songs including "Thats The Way It Is", a remake of Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" , her remake with Frank Sinatra, "All The Way" (which she dedicated to her husband), and "Then You Look at Me" (from Bicentennial Man, also written by Horner and Jennings). An accompanying DVD with videos and live performances was also released. On that album, she also told the public that she was taking an hiatus from the music industry to enjoy her family.
Celine Dion: Career break
Things took a turn for the worse in Dion's personal life; her husband, Rene Angelil, was diagnosed with throat cancer. Dion decided to put a new emphasis on her family life and announced a temporary retirement so that she could spend more time at home and have a child. On New Year's Eve 1999, in Montreal, Dion gave her last public performance before beginning this break. After undergoing fertility treatments, she gave birth to a son, René-Charles Angélil, in January, 2001. Her son's baptism on 25 July was broadcast live throughout Canada. She has decided to raise her son to be multilingual as she plans to send him to a school where he will learn English, French, and Spanish.
During Dion's hiatus, a compilation album, 'The Collector's Series...Volume One,' was released in October 2000.
Celine Dion: Return
A New Day Has Come, released in March, 2002 ended her two-year hiatus from the music world. The album debuted at number one across 17 countries and it sold over 600,000 copies in the United States in its first week, the highest first-week sales for the year. It features the tracks "A New Day Has Come", "I'm Alive" (which is featured in the second Stuart Little motion picture), "The Greatest Reward", which is an adaptation of "L'envie d'aimer", a song from the French stage musical Les dix Commandements (The Ten Commandments), and a cover of Etta James' hit, "At Last". The album resumed her success and has since become 3× platinum in America and six times platinum (600,000 units)in Canada, with worldwide sales reaching over 12 million copies worldwide.
Apart from her success as a musician, Dion has also become an entrepreneur. She developed her own perfume, which became one of the biggest selling prefume of 2003, she has her own magazine, Céline Dion Magazine, and she has also opened many restaurants in Canada and the northern parts of the US. Her restaurant chain is called Nickles.
On 25 March her A New Day show opened in Las Vegas, and her album One Heart was released with singles including the title track, "Have You Ever Been In Love", which spent 14 weeks at number two on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, and a remake of Roy Orbison's "I Drove All Night". The album has been certified as 10th-best selling album of the year, according to IFPI.
Dion's French album 1 fille & 4 types was released in October 2003. The album which, like S'il suffisait d'aimer took only five to six days to record, is a collaboration between Dion and Jean-Jacques Goldman. They were joined by three of his friends, Gildas Arzel, Eric Benzi and Jacques Veneruso, who had previously worked with her on S'il suffisait d'aimer and D'eux (also known as The French Album. Critics have called it Dion's best and most natural album. Dion herself has referred to it as "the album of pleasure". The first single from this album, "Tout l'or des hommes", established the record for becoming the highest charting francophone single on the National (English) CHR Audience chart in the BDS era. "Tout l'or des hommes" reached number five on the English CHR Audience Chart.
In 2004, Dion recorded the title track for the Franco-Québécois movie Nouvelle-France, titled "Ma Nouvelle-France", written by Luc Plamondon and Patrick Doyle and produced by Christopher Neil. In July 2004, "You and I", the promo song for the new Air Canada advertising campaign, actually hit No. 1 in the Canadian mainstream adult contemporary category, according to Nielsen BDS. The song, included as a "bonus track" on her A New Day... Live in Las Vegas album, was among the Top 100 most requested singles on Canadian radio stations for 23 weeks.
Continuing her success, Dion released her first concept album, Miracle, in October 2004. It was produced by David Foster, as part of a multimedia project conceived by both Dion and photographer Anne Geddes. The theme of the album is centred around babies, and available in three different versions: the CD with a 20-page booklet featuring photos by world-renowned baby photographer Anne Geddes; the "Limited Edition" CD/DVD box set includes a 60-page version of the Miracle book, the Miracle CD and a "making of the CD" DVD; the 180-page book with the Miracle CD and the "making of the book" DVD. In January 2005, Miracle was certified Platinum by RIAA in USA.
On July 2nd, 2005, Dion sent a taped performance of "Love Can Move Mountains" to Ontario, Canada as part of the worldwide Live 8 concerts. That same year, she recorded "Dance With My Father" for the album So Amazing. A tribute album to the late Luthur Vandross.
On October 3, 2005, she will release On Ne Change Pas, a collection of her greatest french music hits.
Following the Hurricane Katrina disaster, Celine Dion publicly criticized Bush regarding the Iraq War and slow response in aiding the hurricane victims. The general public were very surprised to see Celine Dion in such an emotional state, breaking down into tears while discussing the unfortunate events. Furthermore, she vowed to donate one million dollars for relief efforts.
Celine Dion: Vocals
Celine Dion has often been praised for her lyricism and her ability to communicate the text of her songs expressively. In 2003, she ranked #9 in MTV's The 22 Greatest Voices in Music. In Cove Magazine's list of The 100 Oustanding Pop Vocalists, Dion finished #4 behind only Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey and Michael Jackson.
Celine Dion: A New Day...Live in Las Vegas
In early 2002, Dion had announced a three-year, 600-show contract to appear five nights a week in an entertainment extravaganza, A New Day, at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. Dion first conceived the idea for the show after seeing O by Dragone early into her break from recording. She began on March 25, 2003 in a 4000-seat arena designed for her show. The show is put together by Franco Dragone.
A New Day...Live in Las Vegas is a combination of dance, music and visual effects. It includes Dion performing her songs against an array of dancers and special effects. Even though the show did not get the best reviews from some critics it has been very well received by audiences, selling out every night since opening in March 2003. In September 2004 the contract was extended into 2007. [2]
Dion sold 322,000 tickets and grossed $43.9 million in the first half of 2005, the trade paper Pollstar reports. Billboard placed her show at #2 in the Mid-Year Concert Chart. As of the week ending 17 July 2005, Dion has sold out 315 out of 384 Las Vegas shows.
Celine Dion: Career achievements
Celine Dion has sold over 47 million albums in America (according to RIAA), and 40 million albums in Europe, (making her the best selling female artist in Europe) according to IFPI. With over 180 million albums and over 35 million singles sold across the globe, she ranks as one of the best-selling female artists in music history.
Dion is the most successful artist in Canadian music history.
On September 15, 2004, Dion received a Diamond Award at the World Music Awards show, for selling over 175 million albums during her career. Only one other female artist, Mariah Carey, has ever received the award.([3])
Has an estimated wealth between $320 million to $400 million (Hello magazine, 2002).
In 1998 she was honoured by two governments in two days: on 30 April, her home province made her an officer of the National Order of Quebec, and on 1 May she became an officer of the Order of Canada.
She received a star on the Canadian Walk of Fame in Toronto on 25 June 2003, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004.
"My Heart Will Go On" has become the all-time best-selling orchestral soundtrack in recording history.
The French Album has sold over nine million copies worldwide, making it the biggest selling French-language album of all time.
In the US, Dion, Britney Spears, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Shania Twain, and the Dixie Chicks are the only female artists with multiple Diamond (shipped over 10 million copies) albums.
On UK singles top Céline has: 2 No. 1s, 13 "Top 10" and 23 "Top 40" singles. On UK albums top: 5 No. 1, 10 "Top 10" and 14 "Top 40" albums.
On US The Billboard Hot 100 singles top Céline has: 5 No. 1s, 10 "Top 10" and 24 "Top 100" singles. On US The Billboard 200 albums top Céline has: 4 No. 1s and 9 "Top 10" albums.
Céline Dion performed the hit single of the film Titanic, the second best-selling CD of the 1990s, and her albums Falling into You and Let's Talk About Love are both in the third position, having sold more than 30 million copies each.
In the United States, Céline Dion's song "I Drove All Night" from the "One Heart" album was used from 2003-2004 in an advertising campaign for DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler Group. The song in the advertising campaign was used exclusively for the Chrysler brand.
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