Céline Marie Claudette Dion (OC OQ) (born March 30, 1968) is a Canadian Grammy and Juno award winning pop singer and occasional songwriter.[1] Born to a large, impoverished family in Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion became a young star in francophone Canada after her manager and future husband, René Angélil, mortgaged his home to finance her first record. She later gained recognition in parts of Europe and Asia after she won both the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest.
In 1990 Dion established a foothold in the anglophone music market with the release of Unison, published by Epic Records. During the 1990s, she achieved worldwide fame and success with several English and French records, of which her most successful were Falling into You (1996), and "My Heart Will Go On" (1998) the theme to the 1997 film Titanic. In 1999 she announced a break from entertainment in order to focus on her husband, who was diagnosed with throat cancer.
Three years later, Dion returned to the music scene with the release of A New Day Has Come. By 2004 she had accumulated record sales of 175 million, and was presented with the Chopard Diamond Award from the World Music Awards show for becoming the Best-selling Female Artist in the World.[2] As of 2003, Dion has performed nightly in her show A New Day... at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, under a contract that extends through December 2007. Dion's music has been influenced by various genres, which range from pop and rock to gospel and classical, and she is noted for her technically skilled and powerful vocals.[3]
The youngest of fourteen children born to Adhémar Dion and Thérèse Tanguay, Céline Dion was raised a Roman Catholic in a poverty-stricken— but happy— home in Charlemagne, a small town about thirty miles from Montreal. Music had always been a part of the family: she grew up singing with her siblings in her parents' small piano bar, 'Le Vieux Baril.' From an early age, Dion had dreamed of being a performer. In a 1994 interview with People magazine, she recalled, "I missed my family and my home, but I don't regret having lost my adolescence. I had one dream: I wanted to be a singer." [4]
At age twelve Dion collaborated with her mother and her brother Jacques to compose her first song, "Ce N'Était Qu'un Rêve" ("It Was Only a Dream"). Her brother Michel sent the recording to music manager René Angélil, whose name he discovered on the back of a Ginette Reno album. Angélil was brought to tears by Dion's voice and decided to make her a star. He mortgaged his home to fund her first record, "La Voix du Bon Dieu" (a play on words "The Voice of God/The Road to God," 1981), which became a local number-one record and made Dion an instant star in Quebec. Her popularity spread to other parts of the world when she competed in the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo, Japan, and won the musician's award for "Top Performer" as well as the gold medal for "Best Song" with "Tellement J'Ai d'Amour Pour Toi" ("I Have So Much Love for You"). By 1983 in addition to becoming the first Canadian artist to receive a gold record in France for the single "D'Amour Ou d'Amitié" ("Of Love or of Friendship"), Dion had also won several Félix awards, including "Best Female performer" and "Discovery of the year." Further success in Europe, Asia, and Australia came when Dion represented Switzerland in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi" ("Don't Go Without Me") and won the contest in Dublin, Ireland. However, American success was yet to come, partly because she was exclusively a francophone artist.
At eighteen, after seeing a Michael Jackson performance, Dion told Angélil that she wanted to be a star like Jackson.[5] Though confident in her talent, Angelil realized that her image needed to be changed in order for her to be marketed worldwide. Dion withdrew from the spotlight for a number of months, during which she underwent a physical makeover. Finally, Dion was sent to the École Berlitz School in 1989 to polish her English and interviewing skills. This marked the start of her anglophone career.
[edit] Music and recording career
[edit] 1990–1992: Career breakthrough
Dion's earlier work consisted of strong rock music influences.A year after she had learned English, Dion made her debut into the anglophone market with Unison (1990). She incorporated the help of many established musicians, including Vito Luprano and Canadian producer David Foster. The album was largely influenced by 1980s soft rock music that was suited for the adult contemporary radio format. Unison hit the right notes with critics: Jim Faber of Entertainment Weekly wrote that Dion's vocals were "tastefully unadorned," and that she never attempted to "bring off styles that are beyond her."[6] Stephen Erlewine of All Music Guide declared it as "a fine, sophisticated American debut."[7] Singles from the album included "(If There Was) Any Other Way," "The Last to Know," "Unison," and "Where Does My Heart Beat Now," a mid-tempo soft-rock ballad which featured an electric guitar. The latter became her first single to chart on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number four. The album established Dion as a rising singer in the United States, and across Continental Europe and Asia. In 1991, Dion was also a soloist in "Voices That Care," a tribute to American troops fighting in Operation Desert Storm.
While Dion was experiencing rising success in the U.S., her French fans in Canada criticized her for neglecting them. At the Felix Awards show, after winning "English Artist of the Year," she tried to reconnect with her French fans by openly refusing the award. She asserted that she was — and would always be— a French, not an English, artist.[8][9]
Audio samples:
"Where Does My Heart Beat Now" (1990) (file info) — play in browser (beta)
"Where Does My Heart Beat Now", Dion's first North American hit, was comprised of 1980s soft rock. (Note the prominence of the electric guitar). It contrasts with the style of subsequent efforts.
"Beauty And The Beast"(1991) (file info) — play in browser (beta)
"Beauty And The Beast" was largely influenced by classical music, which became a key feature of Dion's later work.
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Dion's real international breakthrough came when she paired with Peabo Bryson to record the title track to Disney's animated film Beauty and the Beast (1991). The song captured a musical style that Dion would utilize in the future: sweeping, classically influenced ballads with soft instrumentation. Both a critical and commercial hit, the song became her second U.S. top ten single, and won the Academy Award for Best Song, and the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. "Beauty and the Beast" was featured on Dion's 1992 eponymous album, which, like her debut, had a strong rock influence combined with elements of soul and classical music. Owing to the success of the lead-off single and her collaboration with Foster and Diane Warren, the album was as well received as Unison. Other singles that achieved moderate success included "If You Asked Me To" (a cover of Patti LaBelle's song from the 1989 movie Licence to Kill) which peaked at number four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, the gospel-tinged "Love Can Move Mountains," and "Nothing Broken but My Heart." As with Dion's earlier releases, the album had an overtone of love.
By 1992 Unison, Céline Dion and media appearances had propelled Dion to superstardom in the North America. She had achieved one of her main objectives: wedging her way into the anglophone market and achieving fame. Apart from her rising success, there were also changes in Dion's personal life, as Angélil, who was twenty-six years her senior, made the transition from manager to lover. However, the relationship was kept a secret as they both feared that the public would find their relations inappropriate.
[edit] 1993–1995: Popularity established
"Think Twice" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
"Think Twice" became a major hit in the UK and established her as a success across Europe.
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In 1993, Dion publicly indicated her feelings for her manager by declaring him "The colour of [her] love" in the dedication section of her third anglophone album The Colour of My Love. However, instead of criticizing their relationship as Dion had feared, fans embraced the couple. Eventually, Angélil and Dion married in an extravagant wedding ceremony in December 1994.
As it was dedicated to her manager, the album's motif focused on love and romance. The album spawned Dion's first U.S. number-one single "The Power of Love" (a remake of Jennifer Rush's 1985 hit). However, subsequent singles such as "When I Fall in Love" (a duet with Clive Griffin), "Misled", and "Think Twice" failed to reach the top twenty on the Billboard charts. The album proved more successful in Europe, and in particular the United Kingdom, where both the album and "Think Twice" simultaneously occupied the top of the respective British charts for five consecutive weeks. "Think Twice," which remained at number one for seven weeks, went on to become the fourth single by a female artist to sell in excess of one million copies in the UK.[10]
The video for "Next Plane Out" depicts Dion and her lover on the beach in the sunset. It started a trend of typical and clichéd love ballads, lyrics and videos.Dion kept to her French roots, and continued to release many francophone recordings between each English record: Dion Chante Plamondon (1991); À l'Olympia (1994), a live album that was recorded during one of Dion's concerts at the Olympia Theatre in Paris; and D'eux (1995 — also known as The French Album in the United States), which would go on to become the best-selling French album of all time. As these albums were in French, the worldwide commercial success was limited. However, Dion's francophone fans embraced each release, and generally, they achieved more credibility than her anglophone works.
The mid-1990s was a transitional period for Dion's musical style, as she slowly moved away from strong rock influences and transitioned into a more pop and soul style (though the electric guitar remained a central part of her music). Her songs began with more delicate melodies that used softer instrumentations, and built up to strong climaxes, over which her vocals could be displayed. This new sound received mixed reviews from critics, with Arion Berger of Entertainment Weekly accusing her of preferring vocal acrobatics over dynamics and embarking on a trend of uninspiring, "crowd-pleasing ballads."[11] Resultantly, she earned frequent comparisons to artists such as Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey.[12] There were also signs that her work was becoming more clichéd: critically, The Colour of My Love was not consistent with earlier works. However, while critical praise declined, Dion's releases performed increasingly well on the international charts, and in 1996 she won the World Music Award for "World’s Best-selling Canadian Female Recording Artist of the Year" — a title she had earned twice before. By the mid-1990s, she had established herself as one of the best-selling artists in the world, among female performers such as Carey and Houston.
[edit] 1996–1999: Worldwide commercial success
Audio samples:
"It's All Coming Back to Me Now" (1996) (file info) — play in browser (beta)
A remake of Jim Steinman's "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" combined elements of both soft-rock and classical music.
"Falling into You" (1996) (file info) — play in browser (beta)
The slow-tempo title track was noted for its considerable use of percussion instruments and the saxophone.
"Call the Man" (1996) (file info) — play in browser (beta)
One of the final tracks on the album, "Call the Man" features a choir chanting and humming in an African language.
Problems playing the files? See media help.
Falling into You (1996), Dion's fourth anglophone album, presented the singer at the height of her popularity, and showed a further progression of her music. In an attempt to reach a wider audience, the album combined many elements such as ornate orchestral frills and African chanting), and instruments like the violin, Spanish guitar, trombone, the cavaquinho, and saxophone created a new sound.[13] The singles encompassed a variety of musical styles. The title track and "River Deep, Mountain High" (a Tina Turner cover) made prominent use of percussion instruments; "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" (a remake of Jim Steinman's song) and a remake of Eric Carmen's "All by Myself" kept their soft-rock atmosphere, but were combined with the classical sound of the piano; and "Because You Loved Me," written by Diane Warren, was a maudlin ballad that served as the theme to the 1996 film Up Close & Personal. The song spent two weeks at number one in Canada and six weeks at number one in the United States.
Falling into You was met with generally favorable reviews. While Dan Leroy wrote that it was not very different from her previous work,[14] and Stephen Holden of The New York Times and Elysa Gardner of Los Angeles Times wrote that the album was formulaic,[15][16]other critics such as Chuck Eddy, Erlewine and Daniel Durchholz lavished the album as "compelling," "passionate," "stylish," "elegant," and "remarkably well-crafted."[17][13] Falling Into You became Dion's most critically and commercially successful album: it topped the charts in many countries and became one of the best-selling albums of all time.[18] It also won Grammy Awards for Best Pop Album, and the academy's highest honor Album of the Year. Dion's status on the world stage was further solidified when she was asked to perform "The Power of the Dream" at the opening ceremonies of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. In March 1996 Dion launched the Falling into You Tour in support of her new album, giving concerts around the world for over a year.
Dion followed Falling into You with Let's Talk About Love (1997), which she publicized as its sequel. The recording process took place in London, New York City, and Los Angeles, and featured a host of special guests, such as Barbra Streisand on "Tell Him"; the Bee Gees on "Immortality"; and world-renowned tenor Luciano Pavarotti on "I Hate You Then I Love You." Other musicians included Carole King, Sir George Martin, and Jamaican singer Diana King, who added a reggae tinge to "Treat Her Like a Lady." As the name suggests, the album had the same theme as Dion's preceding albums—"love." However, emphasis was also placed on "brotherly love" with "Where Is the Love" and "Let's Talk About Love." The most successful single from the album became the classically influenced ballad "My Heart Will Go On," which was composed by James Horner, and produced by Horner and Walter Afanasieff. Serving as the love theme for the 1997 blockbuster film Titanic, the song topped the charts in many countries across the world, and has become Dion's signature song. In support of her album, Dion embarked on the Let's Talk About Love Tour between 1998 and 1999, which received mixed reviews.
Dion ended the 1990s with two more successful albums: the Christmas album, These Are Special Times (1998), and All the Way... A Decade of Song (1999). On These Are Special Times, Dion had a hand in writing some of the material. The album was her most classically influenced yet, with orchestral arrangements found on virtually every track. "I'm Your Angel," a duet with R. Kelly, became Dion's fourth and final U.S. number one single, and another hit single across the world. All the Way... A Decade of Song was a compilation of her most successful hits coupled with seven new songs, including the leadoff single "That's the Way It Is," a cover of Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," and "All the Way," a duet with Frank Sinatra.
"My Heart Will Go On" became one of the decade's biggest hits, winning four Grammy awards including Record and Song of the Year. Audio sample (help·info)By the end of the 1990s Céline Dion had sold over 100 million albums worldwide, and had won a slew of industry awards. Her status as one of the biggest divas of contemporary music was further solidified when she was asked to perform on VH1's Divas Live special in 1998, with superstars Aretha Franklin, Gloria Estefan, Shania Twain, and Mariah Carey. That year she also received two of the highest honors from her home country: "Officer of the Order of Canada for Outstanding Contribution to the World of Contemporary Music" and "Officer of the National Order of Quebec." A year later she was inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame, and was honoured with a star on Canada's Walk of Fame.[19] She also won the Grammy awards for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance" and the most coveted "Record of the Year" for "My Heart Will Go On" (the song won four awards, but two were presented to the songwriters).
Compared to her debut, both the quality and sound of Dion's music had also changed significantly. The soft-rock influences on her earlier releases were no longer prominent; they were replaced by more soul/adult contemporary styles. However, the theme of "love" remained in all her releases, and this led to many critics dismissing her work as banal. [20] In a scathing review of Let's Talk About Love, Rob O'Connor wrote:
“ What never ceases to amaze me is how the trite-est, most cliché-ridden music often takes an assembly-line of lauded music industry professionals to perfect... Sinking ships are what I imagine as this tune ["My Heart Will Go On"] plows onward of four-plus minutes, and this album feels as if were never to end. Is it no wonder why I have such fears of going to the dentist? [21] ”
Dion was also criticized for some of her remakes and duets: "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and "All the Way" were described as disastrous and "creepy" by Allison Stewart of The Chicago Tribune and Erlwine of All Music Guide.[22] Even though she was still praised for her vocal abilities (Elysa Gardner of L.A Times called her voice a "technical marvel,")[23] the much favored vocal restraint heard on her early releases had also waned, and Steve Dollar, in reviewing These Are Special Times wrote that Dion was a "vocal Olympian for whom there ain't no mountain—or scale—high enough."[24]
[edit] 2000–2002: Career break
After releasing and promoting thirteen albums during the 1990s, Dion felt that she needed to settle down, and announced on her final album, All the Way... A Decade of Song, that she had experienced many things and needed to take a step back and enjoy life. Angélil's diagnosis with throat cancer also prompted her to retire. After undergoing fertility treatments, she gave birth to a son, René-Charles Dion Angélil, on January 25, 2001.
While on break, Dion was unable to escape the spotlight. In late 2002, the National Enquirer published a false story about the singer. Brandishing a picture of Dion and her husband, the magazine misquoted Dion, printing the headline: "Céline — 'I'm Pregnant With Twins!'" Dion later sued the magazine for over twenty million dollars. The editors of the Enquirer printed an apology and a full retraction to Dion in the next issue, and donated money to the American Cancer Society in honor of Dion and her husband.
Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Dion returned to the music scene and in a televised performance sang "God Bless America" at the benefit concert America: A Tribute to Heroes. Chuck Taylor of Billboard wrote that "the performance... brings to mind what has made her one of the celebrated vocalists of our time: the ability to render emotion that shakes the soul. Affecting, meaningful, and fille
Biography for
Céline Dion
advertisement Birth name
Celine Marie Claudette Dion
Height
5' 7½" (1.71 m)
Mini biography
Hailing from the small town of Charlemagne, Québec, Céline Dion has become one of the all-time greatest singers. Céline was born in 1968, the youngest of 14 children. Early in childhood, she sang with her siblings in a small club owned by her parents. From these early experiences, Céline gained the know-how to performing live. At the age of 12, Dion composed a song in her native French and sent it to a record company, where it garnered the attention of René Angélil, a respected manager. Angélil believed in Céline so much that he actually mortgaged his house in order to finance her debut album. Already very popular and successful internationally, Céline burst onto the U.S. stage when she recorded the theme song to Disney's hit Beauty and the Beast (1991). The song garnered a Grammy and an Oscar, and from this point Céline has brought forth hit after hit. Her 'Falling Into You' album, released in 1996, became the best-selling album of that year, selling more than 25 million copies worldwide. In 1999, Dion took a hiatus in order to begin a family. She returned to the spotlight in 2002, releasing yet another hit album. Starting in 2003, Céline began a three-year commitment to perform in an arena built for her in Las Vegas.
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