Celine Dion was born on March 30th 1968, in Charlemagne Quebec. The youngest of fourteen children in a highly musical family, Celine gave her first public performance of traditional French-Canadian songs at age five. A demo tape she recorded at age twelve reached a Quebec music entrepreneur, Rene Angelil, who later mortgaged his house to finance the recording of her debut album. In 1982, Dion won the gold medal at the Yamaha World Song Festival in Tokyo. In 1983, she became the first Canadian to receive a gold record in France when her single, 'D'amour ou d'amitie', sold over 700,000 copies. In 1988, she won the prestigious Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin.
By September, 1990 and the release of "Unison"- her first English-language album- Celine Dion had collected four platinum albums in Canada. A bold declaration of musical independence, "Unison" earned the singer her break-through US hit with the Top 5 single 'Where Does My Heart Beat Now'.
On March 3, 1991 Celine Dion was named Female Vocalist Of The Year and "Unison" Album Of The Year in the Juno Awards, the Canadian equivalent of the Grammy Awards- the first time in Juno history that a French-Canadian artist had taken top honours in these categories. Celine celebrated her tenth anniversary in show business with a sold-out Canadian tour, including a concert with symphony orchestra at the 16,000-seat Montreal Forum and a command performance in Ottawa for Prince Charles and Princess Diana of Great Britian.
Sony Music released "Dion chante Plamondon" in March,1991. In this French-language collection, Celine Dion, interpreted the words of renown French-Canadian songwriter Luc Plamondon.
The singer's self-titled second English-language album was issued in April, 1992. "Celine Dion" received an auspicious sendoff on March 30, when Celine's recording (with Peabo Bryson) of the theme from the Disney animated feature "Beauty And The Beast" won the Academy Award for Best Song Written For A Motion Picture or Television. Celine and Peabo performed 'Beauty And The Beast' on the Oscar telecast- while on the very same night, Dion was again named Female Vocalist Of The Year in the Juno Awards.
"Celine Dion" remained on the Billboard Pop Albums charts for the next year, producing four hit singles: 'Beauty And The Beast' (#9), 'If You Asked Me To' (#4), 'Nothing Broken But My Heart' (#29), and 'Love Can Move Mountains' (#36). On July 13, 1992 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, the singer began her first US concert tour, supporting Michael Bolton. Celine's performance, wrote The Hollywood Reporter, "had headliner written all over it... Dion showed the style and grace of a seasoned pro, while still retaining her youthful enthusiasm."
On February 25, 1993, 'Beauty And The Beast' was named Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal in the 35th Annual Grammy Awards. In March, Celine Dion won four Juno Awards--including Female Vocalist Of The Year for a third consecutive year and named Single Of The Year for 'Beauty And The Beast'--and hosted the nationally televised ceremony from O'Keefe Centre in Toronto. In April, Celine made a triumphant concert tour of Canada, including five sold-out performances at the Montreal Forum.
Entering the Hot 100 in July, 1993, the romantic standard 'When I Fall In Love' became another hit duet for Celine Dion, now paired with the English singer Clive Griffin. Released as a single, 'When I Fall In Love' became the driving radio force behind triple-platinum sales of the Epic Soundtrax album "Sleepless In Seattle", and was later nominated for a Grammy Award as Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal.
Celine's next album, "The Colour Of My Love" was released in November, 1993. By February 1994, the album's first single 'The Power Of Love' had been #1 on the Hot 100 for four straight weeks, and both album and single were certified gold. In April, 'The Power Of Love' single was certified platinum; "The Colour Of My Love", double platinum. The album has since been certified triple Platinum in the US. Beginning June 8 in Dallas, Celine joined Michael Bolton for a second hugely successful summer concert tour of North America; later that month, 'Misled' became her first single to reach #1 on Billboard Dance chart. On December 17, 1994, Celine Dion and Rene Angelil were married at Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal, Canada.
On January 6, 1995 'The Power Of Love' was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in the 37th Annual Grammy Awards. Later that month 'Think Twice' rose to #1 on the UK national singles chart. To date, Celine is the only female artist ever to top the UK single and album charts for five consecutive weeks, and one of only four female artists in the UK music history to sell more than one million copies for a single. 'Think Twice' went on to become a huge hit across Europe and Australia. The album sold over 4 million copies in Europe and reached 8 times platinum in Australia.
In Japan, where "The Colour Of My Love" has sold over one million copies, Celine Dion became the country's top-selling foreign artist and the first non-Japanese performer in 12 years to reach Number One on the national single chart. In her native Canada, where the album has sold 1.4 million copies, Celine Dion was the biggest-selling artist of 1995.
Celine's 1995 French-language collection, "D'eux" (titled "The French Album" for US release), written and produced by Jean-Jacques Goldman, has sold more than 5 million copies worldwide. This total includes 3 million copies in France alone, 500,000 copies in Canada, and 200,000 copies in the UK, where "D'eux" became the first French-language album ever to be certified gold. Today "D'eux" is the best-selling French-language album of all time; in France, it is the best-selling album ever, in any language. In January 1996, the French government awarded Celine Dion its prestigious Medal of Arts in recognition of her status as the best-selling French-language artist in history. In February 1996 Celine was presented with two 'Victoires de la musique' awards in France (Best Song of the Year- Pour que tu m'aimes encore- and Best Francophone Artist).
Celine's 1995 European tour, which touched down in eleven countries, comprised 42 sold-out concerts--most in arenas of 14,000 or more capacity. In Paris alone, Celine sold out a total of nine shows.
Perhaps Celine's crowning achievement took place during the Opening Ceremonies at the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta on July 19, 1996. In front of a television audience of 3.5 billion people, Celine performed the opening ceremonies anthem entitled 'The Power Of The Dream'. This glorious tribute to the athletes which was written by David Foster, Kenny 'Babyface' Edmonds, and Linda Thompson became the signature song of the Games.
But for Celine Dion, there were still new creative worlds to conquer. Her next album, "Falling Into You" was a giant step in a remarkable career: revealing the full range of Celine's interpretive skills, from the lilting reggae-rock of 'Make You Happy' to the towering pop-gospel of 'Declaration Of Love'. Of course, no Celine Dion album would be complete without such impassioned ballads as 'Because You Loved Me' and her cover of Eric Carmen's 1975 hit, 'All By Myself'.
'It's All Coming Back To Me Now' is one of the three tracks produced by the legendary Jim Steinman, with background vocals arranged by Todd Rundgren. Another Steinman/Dion collaboration is a high-energy rendition of the Tina Turner classic 'River Deep, Mountain High'. The third Steinman-produced track 'Call The Man' is a beautiful and touching song of lost love featuring the peerless acoustic guitar work of Epic labelmate Ottmar Liebert.
'Because You Loved Me' was the premiere single, in North America and Japan. This mocing and memorable song was written by Diane Warren, the composer of more than 25 Top 10 singles and of such Celine Dion hits as 'If You Asked Me To', 'Love Can Move Mountains', and 'Nothing Broken But My Heart'. It was produced by David Foster, with whom the singer has worked on every album since her 1990 English-language debut "Unison".
'Because You Loved Me' is the theme from the Touchstone film "Up Close And Personal", starring Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer, which was released throughout the world in 1996.
The album's title track 'Falling Into You', the premiere single in all countries outside of North America and Japan, is another example of Celine's diversity as she delivers a smooth and sultry performance of this Billy Steinberg, Rick Nowels, Marie Claire D'Ubaldo composition.
Since it's release in March of 1996, "Falling Into You" has confirmed Celine's stature as one of the world's premiere pop superstars. The album has remained in the top ten of every major territory and reached the #1 position in several key markets including the UK, Australia, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Sweden, Holland, and most notably the US. Fuelled by Celine's sold-out worldwide tour which began in March of 1996 and continued through April 1997, "Falling Into You" has eclipsed all previous sales and award achievements in this singer's remarkable career.
At the 39th annual Grammy Awards, held in Los Angeles in February 1997, "Falling Into You" won Best Pop Album and Album Of The Year. In addition, "Because You Loved Me" was voted Best Song Written Specifically For A Motion Picture Or For Television.
November 18, 1997 marked the release of Celine's newest and most ambitious project to date, "Let's Talk About Love". This album is a stunning achievement in collaboration by some of the music industry's most established and enduring professionals. The song 'Tell Him', finally gave Celine the chance to sing a duet with her longtime idol, Barbra Streisand. This album also features the efforts of such Greats as Luciano Pavarotti, Carole King, the Bee Gees, and Sir George Martin. In its first month of release, "Let's Talk About Love" sold more than twelve million copies globally, proving that Celine's soaring vocals and irresistible spirit continue to captivate fans worldwide.
James Cameron's historic film, "Titanic" opened in theatres on December 19, 1997 and in just a few short months became the highest-grossing film of all time. Celine had the honour of being closely associated with this blockbuster film, singing its haunting and ethereal theme song, "My Heart Will Go On". "Titanic" went on to receive the Oscar for Best Picture at the 1997 Academy Awards, along with a slew of other awards. 'My Heart Will Go On', passionately performed by Celine at the Awards Presentation, justifiably won in the Best Original Song category, becoming the crowning touch of another unforgettable year for Celine.
Celine Dion released a new album in December, 1998, titled "These Are Special Times". It's a selection of christmas tunes including a duet with R. Kelly, "I'm Your Angel".
On January 10, 1998, Celine Dion won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Artist. She beat out Shania Twain and Reba McEntire, who are also very talented singers.
