Celine Dion

Genre: Pop

Céline Dion, born on March 30, 1968 in Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada, is one of Canada's brightest stars. She is the youngest of 14 siblings, all of which are musically gifted. Her parents, who were musicians too, operated a small club in Céline's hometown. On weekends her family would show off their musical talents to the local population. Since she was five she would preform with her siblings, on stage, and it was during these preformances that she would not only learn basic vocal skills, but it was here that she discovered her love for the show.

At the age of twelve she wrote a french song with her mother and her brother that would ultimately change the course of her life. This song found it's way to René Angélil (Céline's present day husband and manager). After hearing Céline's voice René Angélil was breath taken. He was so breath taken he was determined to make Céline's voice recognized world wide. He went so far as to morgage his house just to finance Céline's first CD.

In 1982 Céline began to receive recognition for her work, winning the Gold Medal at the Yamaha World Song Festival in Tokyo. She also won the coveted Musician's Award for Top Performer. In 1983 she made another first, she was the first Canadian to receive a Gold Record in France. Céline's streak of recognition had just begun!

By 1988, Céline was enjoying her superstar status, having received many Felix awards and she was racking up the platinum albums. In the same year Céline won the Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin, Ireland. During which she preformed live in front of a huge television audience of 600 million viewers, located in Europe, the Middle East, Australia, and the USSR.

Céline's major international breakthrough came when she recorded the unforgettable title theme to Beauty And The Beast with Peabo Bryson. The song went straight to the top, giving Céline Dion a Grammy Award and an Academy Award. Beauty And The Beast was a cornerstone to her second english album, simply titled Celine Dion (the first album was Unison). The album had four more hit singles, Love Can Move Moutains, Water From the Moon, If You Asked Me To, and Did You Give Enough Love. In Canada Celine Dion (the album) went six times platinum. The album also paved the way for an awesome set of Juno Awards.

Around this time the Céline Dion snowball was rolling at lightning speed in the United Kingdom (UK). British fans adored the song Think Twice a ballad on The Colour of my Love. For five weeks in a row the album and the song were at number one. A feat not repeated since 1965 with the Beatles. Think Twice remained at number one for two more weeks, surpassing then million dollar mark, to become only the fourth million-selling single ever in the UK by a female artist.

With Céline's the album D'eux, Céline Dion, who started her singing career in the small town of Charlemagne (30 miles east of Montréal), had done what everyone thought to be impossable: she introduced french music to the upper reaches of the British Charts. The world as a whole had finally accepted Céline Dion.

Céline Dion has crossed land and sea with her music, crossing all barriers, including that of language, with her electrifing voice. With her breakneck pace of recording, video shoots, touring and appearing on TV shows and awards specials, it seems like Celine has time for little else. This is far from the truth, at least when it comes to one important cause that's close to Céline Dion's heart. Celine has used her talents to further cause of the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. She went so far as to sing a song, one of her most Fly), as a memorial to her niece, Karine, who who died by this disease.

Released in March of 1996, Falling Into You became the best selling album released that year; topped the charts in 11 countries, and was voted Album of the Year and Best Pop Album in the 39th annual Grammy Awards. The album to date, has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide.

Céline Dion has released many discs in her career, each of them producing never forgetable smash hits. Looking back on all of this, some of us just can't help but think "Shouldn't we have seen this coming?"

Biography by: Tom Nobbe
Submitted On : 09.29.01



Works Cited and Consulted

Céline Online
All Things Céline