Rising
from humble beginnings in the small town of Charlemagne, Quebec,
Celine Dion became one of the biggest international stars in
pop music history, selling more than 100 million albums worldwide.
The youngest in Adhemar and Therese Dion's family of 14 children,
Dion grew up in an environment full of the inherent chaos and
material austerity that comes with such a large working-class
family. However, the Dion household was also one filled with
love for children and music, and her parents and siblings were
important figures in the early development of her singing career.
Celine Dion began singing in her parents' piano bar when she
was just five years old. By the age of 12 she had written one
of her first songs, "Ce N'etait Qu'un Rêve"
("It Was Only a Dream"), which she recorded with the
help of her mother and brother and shipped off to a manager
named Rene Angelil, whose name they found on the back of an
album by Ginette Reno, a popular Francophone singer.
After weeks with no response from Angelil, Celine's brother
Michel phoned him and said, "I know you haven't listened
to the tape, because if you had, you would've called right away."
Angelil dug up the tape and called the family back the same
day to set up a meeting with Celine. When the 12-year-old performed
in his office in Montreal, Angelil cried and set in motion the
process of making her a Quebecois, and later international star.
He mortgaged his house to pay for her first two albums, producing
a local number one single. In 1983 she became the first Canadian
to have a gold record in France and she won a gold medal at
the Yamaha songwriting competition in Japan. Her worldwide reputation
was in the making, but success in the United States was not
yet forthcoming.
When she was 18, Dion saw Michael Jackson performing on television
and told Angelil that she wanted to be a star like him. Angelil's
response was to order her to take 18 months off to remake her
image. Dion underwent a physical transformation, cutting her
hair, plucking her eyebrows, and having her teeth capped to
cover up the incisors that had caused a Quebec humor magazine
to dub her "Canine Dion." She was also sent off to
English school to polish the language that would help her to
break into the American market. When she emerged from this process,
she had made an amazing transformation from teen star to adult
chanteuse.
The
payoff came almost immediately. Her 1990 breakthrough album,
Unison, was released in the U.S. by Epic Records and produced
several hit songs, but it was her duet with Peabo Bryson on
the theme song of Disney's Beauty and the Beast that was her
true breakthrough. The song reached number one on the pop charts
and won both a Grammy and an Academy award. "Beauty and
the Beast" was also featured on her second English album,
1992's Celine Dion, which launched another Top Ten American
hit with "If You Asked Me To," while spawning two
additional Top 40 singles, "Nothing Broken But My Heart"
and "Love Can Move Mountains."
During
this time there were also important developments in Dion's personal
life. In 1988 Angelil crossed the line from manager to romantic
partner when he kissed Dion one night after a show in Dublin.
Fearful that fans would find the 26-year difference in their
ages unsettling, the couple kept their relationship a secret
for several years. But their 1994 wedding in Montreal's Notre
Dame Basilica was celebrated not only by the 250 invited guests,
but by millions of fans worldwide.
One
of the hardest working stars in show business, Dion continued
to record and perform on a schedule that would kill most people.
She recorded six albums between 1992 and 1996, when her album
Falling Into You took her to a new level of stardom. The recording
was a runaway hit, winning Grammys for both Album of the Year
and Best Pop Album. 1996 also brought her another honor; she
was asked to perform at the opening ceremonies of the Atlanta
Olympics.
Dion's longest tenure on the pop charts would come the following
year, however, when she recorded "My Heart Will Go On,"
the theme song for James Cameron's blockbuster movie Titanic.
"My Heart Will Go On" became omnipresent on the radio
as Titanic fever swept the world and when it was featured on
her album Let's Talk About Love it helped propel that recording
to the top of the charts. By then, Dion had the power to gather
a supporting cast of stars and the album contained an amazing
collection of artists, including Barbra Streisand, Luciano Pavarotti,
and the Bee Gees. The album would win a host of awards and bring
Dion a whole new world of fans.
Her
appearance on VH1's Divas Live special with Aretha Franklin,
Gloria Estefan, Mariah Carey, and Shania Twain proved popular
as well and helped solidify Dion's position amongst not only
current female pop singers but historical greats like Franklin.
The continuing popularity of her recordings and live performances
made her 1999 sabbatical seem like a tragedy to her fans, but
Dion needed a break after more than a decade and a half of breakneck
pace. In 1999, her husband Angelil was diagnosed with throat
cancer. While the disease responded well to treatment and went
into remission, the illness was a wake-up call for Dion, who
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. After undergoing fertility treatments,
she gave birth to a son in January2001. The Collector's Series…Volume
One was released during Dion's hiatus; it featured many of her
best-loved songs, as well as a Spanish-language version of "All
By Myself".
Dion
returned to the public eye in a big way in March 2002 with A
New Day Has Come. The album debuted at number one in over 17
countries, and was accompanied by a full-scale media blitz.
But Dion's greatest challenge was yet to come.
Despite
millions of albums sold, the adoration of fans worldwide, and
the validation of her peers, Dion's success was still hampered
by image problems that had dogged her since the days of "Canine
Dion." While many Americans adored her, just as many snickered
at her Quebecois heritage and the relative the unorthodoxy of
her marriage. There was also the issue of her relevancy to lucrative
audiences existing outside of her pop vocal constituency. To
combat these issues, Dion and her management made a series of
bold moves that attempted to solidify her career, and ensure
its continuity as the singer entered her middle 30s.
In
early 2002, Dion announced a three-year, 600-show contract to
appear five nights a week in an entertainment extravaganza at
Caesers Palace, Las Vegas called A New Day. The production would
take place in a custom-built, 4000-seat theatre and would feature
Dion as the centerpiece of a multimedia program designed and
orchestrated by Franco Dragone, the Belgian theatre impresario
behind the modern circus phenomenon Cirque Du Soleil. The project
united Dion, her label Sony Music, Drangone's production company
Creations du Dragon, Caesars parent Park Place Entertainment,
and promoter Concerts West in a landmark, multi-million dollar
alliance that hinged on Dion's ability to put fans in seats
five nights a week for three years. In conjunction with the
rollout of A New Day was an endorsement deal with German automaker
DaimlerChryslter AG worth additional millions.
The campaign placed Dion in a series of stylish, black-and-white
advertisements promoting the stylish allure of Chrysler's line
of upscale automobiles. The performer also recorded a brand-new
song to accompany the spots. Debuting in early 2003, the campaign
dovetailed into the March release of One Heart, Dion's first
album since 2001's A New Day Has Come, which in turn heralded
the opening of A New Day on March 25, 2003.- Stacia Proefrock
- All Music Guide
Concerts
West - Aeg Present 
