From becoming the voice of '90s movie soundtracks to her long-running Las
Vegas residency, Celine Dion is without a doubt a musical icon.
Let's take a look at the stunning transformation of Celine Dion.
Dion was born on March 30th, 1968, in a small town in Quebec,
Canada. Things weren't exactly easy for the Dion family, but they were a resilient,
optimistic troop. Dion, the youngest of 14 children, told Women's Weekly,
"We didn't have much money, but I never considered us to be poor
because my parents were great survivors and they instilled that in me too."
By the sounds of things, her parents certainly did make the best of a
difficult — or at least a very crowded — situation. Dion recalled to Vanity Fair,
"My mum was brilliant enough to put a pillow in a drawer
for a baby to sleep in. We were safe and warm and taken care of."
For Dion and her sisters, the lack of money was never an issue. As she put it,
"We were given love and affection and support. What else did we need?"
Even though Dion grew up in a crowded,
busy house filled with music and musicians, her talent stood out from the beginning.
"Me, I was trying to go between my mom's legs to go on stage."
In fact, Dion's mother was so taken with her youngest's powerhouse pipes, she wrote her a song,
which Dion recorded and promptly sent to the Quebec-based music manager Rene Angelil.
Angélil was — as anyone might imagine — blown away by the young girl's singing ability. As
Dion once told People magazine, she was invited to audition for him in person. She recalled,
"While I was singing, he started to cry. I knew then I had done a good job."
Meeting Angélil was a momentous turning point in Dion's life.
Even though Angélil was an established manager, he had a hard time finding financial backing
for Dion, his new protégé. So, as the Montreal Gazette reported, he cut ties
with all of his other clients, mortgaged his house, and financed her first album himself.
After he financed her album, Dion made her professional debut in the music industry at
the age of 13. As stated in a biography on the Governor General of Canada's website,
the French album quickly made her a star in Quebec and in other French nations around the world.
For Dion, becoming a professional,
recognized singer was a dream come true. She told the Montreal Gazette,
"The only dream I ever had was to be famous and to sing all
my life and travel all over the world performing."
With her first album's success, she was well on her way.
Angélil became a hugely important figure in Dion's life. Not only did
he help her realize her dreams of becoming a professional singer, he also developed a
romantic relationship with her as she got older. She explained to Access Hollywood,
"So maybe at 17, 18 years old, my feelings started to change for him. I kind of saw him differently."
Apparently, her mom found out early on and tried to stop the
relationship from happening because of the 26-year age gap between Dion
and the twice-married Angélil. But, eventually, she gave in. Dion added,
"She had no choice. Love won."
According to Good Housekeeping, Dion was 19 years old when she and Angélil went on their
first real date; however, it was another five years before the couple went public
with their relationship in a message in the notes of Dion's album The Color of My Love.
The pair married in 1994 in an extravagant affair that was broadcast on Canadian television.
The relationship was clearly the right path for Dion. As she later told Vanity Fair in 2012,
he was "the first and only man of [her] life."
While Dion's career was definitely gaining momentum throughout the '80s, it wasn't until
her famed appearance on the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack that she really set things in motion.
When Dion sang the title song with Peabo Bryson, she was suddenly a bonafide international star,
picking up her first Grammy Award for her performance and even performing at the Oscars.
In a 2012 interview for Entertainment Tonight,
Dion explained just how important the song had been for her — it had given her
"a name." She went on to explain that while she had recently started singing in English,
few English listeners knew who she was. Beauty and the Beast, she said, "put [her] on the map."
Years later, Dion performed another song called "How Does a Moment Last Forever"
for the live-action remake of the movie. As she explained to Entertainment Tonight,
she was "in love" with the first movie. She added,
"Beauty and the Beast [...] brought me to where I am today."
It seems that the '90s were all about singing on movie soundtracks for Dion.
After her iconic turn on the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack, Dion cemented herself as
one of the most iconic singers of the decade with the epic "My Heart Will Go On" from the
Titanic soundtrack. As The Atlantic put it, the song became "imprinted on the movie's legacy."
"When the curtain comes up and they hear [imitates flute],
it works."
As Dion explained in an interview for the American Film Institute, she was approached
by the songwriter James Horner about singing the song. After he explained how the song
would fit into the touching scenes of the sinking Titanic, Dion sang a demo of the song. Speaking
about the moment James Cameron, the director of the film, heard the song, she recalled,
"It felt incredible. [...] He fell in love with it."
Of course, the rest is history. The song became "synonymous" with the movie, as Billboard put it.
Plus, it kept the movie's soundtrack in the number one position for 16 weeks after its release.
Dion had three kids with René Angélil — Rene-Charles in 2001 and twin boys Eddy
and Nelson in 2010. But having children hadn't been easy for Dion and Angélil. She ended up
using in-vitro fertilization for both of her pregnancies, so when Rene-Charles was
finally born, it was a huge joy and relief. Her obstetrician told People magazine,
"Everybody was just crying tears of joy."
"We tried four times to have a child. We're still trying. We're on the fifth try and I tell you,
if five is my lucky number, this fifth try has gotta come in!”
Their friend, David Foster, added,
"This was their dream. It's bigger than any hit record, bigger than anything for them."
By the sounds of things, Dion really was overjoyed
to become a mother. In an interview with Woman's Weekly, she revealed,
"My greatest reward is my children. Unless you are a mum you don't know what you're missing or
what it even is really. It felt for me that with all my children another heart grew inside of me."
She added that while the umbilical cord was physically cut with each
of her children's births, she felt that the strong tie remained. As she put it,
"Once you're a mum you're a mum for life."
After Dion gave birth to her twins, she took a break from her career to take
care of her family. She returned to her career in 2011 with her Las Vegas show.
Then, in 2014, Dion announced another break. Angelil had been
struggling with throat cancer again, a disease he had beaten 14 years prior.
Angélil had recently undergone a serious operation. Dion wrote on her website,
"I want to devote every ounce of my strength and energy to my husband's healing and,
to do so, it's important for me to dedicate this time to him and to our children."
Her decision to take a break meant putting her
Las Vegas residency on pause and canceling a planned tour of Asia.
After years of touring the world, Dion eventually found some stability by taking up a residency in
Las Vegas. Her show A New Day opened in 2003 in Vegas and ran successfully for five years.
Dion seemed to be a perfect fit for the city. In fact, as of 2019, the show was still the most
financially successful the city had ever seen. At first, Dion told Elle magazine,
the concept of taking up a residency in Las Vegas worried her fans and colleagues. She admitted,
"People thought we were absolutely bazooka for performing here!"
However, the residency proved to be a huge success. And for Dion,
it meant some semblance of a stable family life, as she told CBS Watch.
By 2019, she had comfortably settled in Las Vegas. She told Elle mag,
"I'm not even thinking about leaving. I think I can stay as long as I want,
if Las Vegas will want me to stay."
Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and Dion ended her eight-year Vegas residency in 2019.
In 2016, Dion's husband and manager passed away — and Dion was heartbroken. In 2021,
she posted a moving tribute to her late husband on
the five-year anniversary of his death. She confessed to The Sun,
"I think I will probably grieve for the rest of my life."
And as she told Today several years later, she had no plans of finding someone new. She said,
"I don't date. I'm not ready to date."
"If I do, that would be great, if I don't that would be great because I'm still in love."
However, as she told Q on CBC in 2019,
she was able to get through the difficult time with courage. She explained,
"Losing the father of my children, my husband, my manager,
the person that I love the most in the world and the person that I can rely upon without
questioning anything since [I was] 12 years old — losing that person was a big deal [for] me."
In 2019, Dion released the album Courage. She explained of the title song on the album,
"I don't think a song could have been written more appropriately than this one
at this time of my life, taking charge of my inner strength."
Even though Dion's fame peaked in the '90s, she certainly hasn't faded out of
the public's consciousness. In fact, in more recent years, she's enjoyed a resurgence in
popularity with younger generations. According to The Telegraph in 2017,
Dion has become a timeless icon with age. As the publication pointed out,
Dion had been ridiculed for being, quote, "over the top" for many years. However,
when her husband passed away, people began to take her sweeping, emotional ballads more seriously.
Dion's extravagant lifestyle, unique fashion sense, and performance style have also contributed
to her status as an icon. As Good Morning America reported in 2019, Dion was consistently topping
best dressed lists and had even announced plans to build a "fashion playground" in her home.
As Elle noted, her fans have been able to form a sense of community on social media,
where Dion has begun sharing more of her exciting life. While she was once obsessed with her work,
the superstar has become more easy-going and spends more time enjoying life. She explained,
"Now I am discovering myself more and more. I am a woman assuming her own destiny,
full of energy and in love with life."
It's no wonder a whole new generation of fans have found her zest for life so infectious.
Dion turned 50 in 2018 — and instead of slowing down, she sped up. She revealed to The Sun,
"To be honest with you, I think I'm at the best of my life right now and
I really want to enjoy and embrace every moment of it. It's all new.
It's like I'm having a second wind — 50 has been great for me."
Dion went on to explain that she certainly
hadn't forgotten the memory of her late husband. She added,
"He's always within me."
However, with her new lease on life and her new independence,
she's been able to forge her own exciting new path as a fashion icon, a business woman,
and, of course, a singing superstar. One thing's crystal clear — Celine Dion isn't
anywhere near done yet, and we're sure to see a whole lot more of her in the future.
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