Celine Dion

Often referred to as the "Queen of Power Ballads," Canadian singer Céline Dion was born Céline Marie Claudette Dion on March 30, 1968, in Charlemagne, Quebec. She was the youngest of 14 children in a musical family. Raised in a Roman Catholic household, her early life was marked by financial struggles but was filled with music and domestic bliss. Céline Dion's career began in earnest at age 12 when she, her mother, and her brother Jacques composed her first song, "Ce n'était qu'un rêve." Her brother Michel sent the recording to music manager René Angélil, who was so moved by her voice that he mortgaged his home to finance her debut album, La voix du bon Dieu (1981). This album became a hit in Quebec, establishing her as a local star. Her international breakthrough came in 1988 when she won the Eurovision Song Contest for Switzerland with "Ne partez pas sans moi." She entered the English-language market with Unison (1990), which included the hit single "Where Does My Heart Beat Now." Her collaboration with Peabo Bryson on the song "Beauty and the Beast" (1991) brought her widespread recognition. This song won an Academy Award and a Grammy, boosting her profile significantly. Her album The Colour of My Love (1993) featured the hit "The Power of Love" and marked the beginning of her worldwide success. Céline Dion's popularity soared with the release of Falling into You (1996) and Let's Talk About Love (1997), which included the iconic "My Heart Will Go On," the theme song for the movie Titanic. This song won multiple awards, including the Academy Award for Best Original Song and four Grammys. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, she released a series of successful albums in both English and French, including D'eux (1995), the best-selling French-language album of all time. Her career includes numerous awards and accolades, and she is recognized as one of the best-selling music artists in the world, with record sales surpassing 200 million worldwide. In the early 2000s, Céline Dion took a hiatus to focus on her family and husband René Angélil's health, returning in 2002 with the album A New Day Has Come. She also embarked on a highly successful Las Vegas residency, A New Day..., from 2003 to 2007, followed by another residency, Celine, beginning in 2011. Following the death of both his brother and husband in 2016, she resumed her musical endeavors with the French album Encore un soir, which topped the charts in Canada and France. This success was followed by Courage (2019), another chart-topping effort that obtained platinum certification. After canceling her North American tour in 2022, the singer revealed she was diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome, a rare neurological disease that affected her vocal cords. Her struggles with the condition were documented in the film I Am: Céline Dion, whose official soundtrack peaked at number 25 in France.

Please enable Javascript to view this page competely.