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Celine
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BORN: March 30, 1968, Charlemagne, Quebec,
Canada
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, ... continue
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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 Montreal 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 announced her pregnancy in June, 2000,
declaring "There is no hiding happiness... the dream dearest to our hearts
has come true." ~ Stacia Proefrock, All Music Guide
