Cheesy, bombastic, insincere. All three words have been used to describe megastar Celine Dion. One of the most successful singers- male or female- of all time, Dion has copped her fair share of criticism from critics and the greater public. Labelled uncool and cold, there has been books and studies dedicated to delving into the life of Celine Dion to see why she has such a big following. Love or hate her, what is undeniable is that she can sing. A fact, along with the 'new' Celine, that audiences began to see in the wake of her husband, Rene Angelil’s illness and subsequent death.
Born in March of 1968 in Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada, Celine was the youngest child of 14. Growing up in a musical family, Celine toured Canada as an infant, watching her parents perform under the name ‘Dion’s Family’. By age 5, Celine would perform to a rapturous audience in her parent’s piano bar. It was undeniable that this little girl could seriously sing.
With the help of her mother and brother, Celine, at the age of 12 recorded a demo tape. It wasn’t just to be Celine’s break, it was for the entire family. At first, they had trouble getting into studio doors, but that was all to change when the family made contact with Rene Angelil. Angelil was famous at the time for handling the career of a popular French singer and was highly sought after by established artists.
A young Celine Dion
Source: Maddox
Call it fate, the universe conspiring or credit Angelil’s undeniable business acumen, but Angelil knew that this girl was special and put forward a conditional deal to Celine and her family. Mortgaging his home to finance Celine’s debut album in exchange for complete control over the young singer’s career was the first step in creating the superstar that exists today.
With Rene’s financial backing and industry knowledge, Celine entered the 1988 Eurovision competition in Dublin. The crowd was taken by the woman with the slight frame, the curly hair and the big pipes. Crowned the winner, Celine achieved international acclaim and was on the rise in the music industry. Except, there was one thing she was yet to achieve- American stardom.
Two years later, along with the help of mega-producer David Foster, Celine released her 9th album- the first in English (by the age of 18 Dion had already recorded 8 albums in French). Spawning hits like Unison and Where Does My Heart Beat Now, one million copies were sold worldwide, and the American market were finally starting to learn the name Celine Dion.
Despite the success of the Unison album, nothing could compare to the attention and acclaim that would come two years later in 1992. The song Beauty and the Beast, from the animated Disney movie of the same name would earn Celine a Grammy and Academy Award. The song would also set up her second English language self-titled album to sell 12 million international copies and be awarded gold status in the US.
Celine Dion performing at Eurovision
Source: Eurovision Song Contest Wiki
From there Celine’s career knew no other trajectory but upwards, in 1993 alone she boasted a headlining tour, a top selling album and a number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The Colour of My Love album was filled with romantic power ballads, that signature big voice that reached into the depths of one’s soul and the first indication that there was something romantic happening with Rene Angelil.
While the faith that Rene showed in Celine is to this day touching, their relationship would prove to be a source of much contention for the greater public. Angelil, 26 years older than Celine, was seen as predatory and creepy. In an attempt to protect herself and their new relationship, Celine offered little to no detail about Rene and their life together. However, there was no winning as the public took this as a sign of the singer being cold. A fact many critics would use against her throughout her career.
Their marriage in 1994 was celebrated by the Canadian public, but the Americans could be felt rolling their eyes and suppressing cutting remarks. Celine was the girl with the big voice, the svelte figure, the strange fashion sense and the old husband. Combined, it made following her music an act that wasn’t understood and was terribly uncool.
Celine Dion pictured with her husband, Rene Angelil
Source: AOL website
Continuing to defy public opinion, Celine released the Falling Into You album to critical acclaim and earned two Grammy awards- album of the year (something not even Beyoncé has won) and best pop album. It took fans one listen to a track entitled Because You Loved Me and they were hooked. The raw emotions in the lyrics, the profound insight and meaning. These lyrics could only be sung by Celine’s lyric soprano voice. A voice, which can hit three octaves and three notes, while not uncommon, finds its magic (and its uniqueness) in Celine’s ability to hold a note for 15 seconds without wavering in pitch.
By 1997 Celine’s career was filled with many accolades and high points, but something was to come along and put all of that to shame- an offer to record a movie theme song. However, the lyrics to this song didn’t quite work for Celine. She had a singer’s intuition and it was telling her that this wasn’t right. However, her Let’s Talk About Love album needed another track and time was becoming scarce. Rene suggested she sing the song for the album and worry about the movie later on. Thankfully for the calming presence of Rene the world has a little song called My Heart Will Go On. A song that sold over 50 million copies worldwide and became known as the theme song to one of the saddest stories in movie history- the Titanic.
Arguably at the peak of her career, Celine decided to take a break from fame and music to focus on her desire to start a family in 2000. Caring for a sick husband and undergoing fertility treatments and procedures to conceive their first child, Celine didn’t return to the spotlight until 2002 with an album to end all albums- A New Day Has Come. A chart topper in more than 17 countries, it seemed that Celine was returning without missing a beat. However, this period of time would prove a real turning point in her career for other reasons.
Artwork cover for the single My Heart Will Go On
Source: YouTube
In the face of her husband’s skin cancer diagnosis, the greater public started to see a new side of Celine. Criticised for appearing cold, calculated and bland, Celine took down her consummate professional façade and piece by piece started to let people in. When speaking about Rene, it was evident how profound her love for her older husband was. In the wake of becoming a mother to Rene-Charles in January of 2001, motherhood highlighted another side to Celine that illuminated how multi-dimensional she was. She could no longer be criticised for being cold and the fact that people saw her as generally uncool was also on its way to changing as she began to demonstrate her sense of humour.
A career that undoubtedly had reached the pinnacle was soon going to redefine what it meant to be on top. In 2003 it was announced that Celine Dion had signed a 36-month, 45-million-dollar deal to perform at Caesars Palace. Not only was she going to have a Las Vegas residency, Celine was going to have a venue purpose built for her to perform in. To this day, Celine still performs in Las Vegas to sold out and adoring crowds. Her show is the definition of elegance and excellence and exhibits designer wardrobes and state of the art backdrops. Crowned the most successful Las Vegas residency of all time, it was time for critics and the general public to accept Celine as a musical force and join the fan base.
Mocked for singing in multiple languages, ridiculed for her love of high notes and overly emotional ballads and laughed at for her fashion sense (or lack thereof) the Vegas residency rang in a new era for Celine. An era of adoration, love and admiration for her immense talent and enduring presence.
An era that bolstered her through the death of Rene Angelil in January of 2016. An era that supported her return to the stage mere months after losing the only man she had ever loved. An era that sees Celine sell out a tour of the Asia-Pacific regions in mere minutes. An era that sees her rightfully crowned one of the best voices in the history of music.
Celine Dion wearing outfit number one during her tour of the Asia-Pacific
Source: YouTube
As trends do, they often change, and this is exactly what happened with Celine Dion. In the wake of shifting perception, it became cool to love Celine Dion. Openly stating that one sheds tears during My Heart Will Go On will earn a chorus of me too and how true. Announcing the acquisition of tickets to her Vegas residency became enviable and the lack of diction and love of a good ballad that characterised Celine as annoying, became her shining quality.
Celine is not just unique, she is also true to herself- a quality in the entertainment industry worthy of much respect. And respect was what she received in abundance as the lights in Rod Laver Arena dimmed on Tuesday night and a single spotlight revealed a silhouette slowly making their way to the front of the stage. Quietly singing the opening words to the Power of Love before bursting into full Celine mode, the song served as a fitting opening number and an ode to an Australian audience who were her unwavering supporters. The power of Australia’s love for Ms Dion was felt as middle-aged women either screamed with delight or broke out into tears at the sight of Dion, centre stage, donning the hand movements that were once labelled silly- but are now iconic- clad in a gold two-piece suit clearly enjoying herself.
The theme of enjoyment lasted all concert long as the audience was quite literally putty in her hands. If Celine wanted to launch into an 8-minute run down of how the song Ashes came to be on Deadpool 2’s soundtrack, the audience listened intently. If one of the greatest singers who ever lived wants to stop a song with only two lines left and have the audience sing it back to her, then of course they were obliging.
Dion in the midst of a dance move- previously criticised- that has become iconic
Source: Rukkle
Most singers today can get away with coming on tour without the vocal goods because there are always elements of distraction evident in the modern-day tour. P!nk uses acrobatics and the likes of Katy Perry and Taylor Swift employ perfectly choreographed dance moves. For them there is always something to hide behind, with Celine she only has her voice, there is nothing and no one else to hide behind and let me tell you, it never fails.
Listening to Celine sings lyrics like “you were my strength when I was weak… I lost my faith, you gave it back to me, you said no star was out of reach” can only be described as a transformative experience. Lyrics that so powerfully and beautifully reflect life hit right in the core of a person’s humanity and their emotions. To be able to express love and life the way she does and then be able to sing like an angel ascending to heaven is a feat that should be celebrated.
It was physically and emotionally evident that Celine was giving her all to the performance. In times where she quite openly shed tears during lyrics about enduring love, the audience stood in their seats and screamed the lyrics for her and seemingly provided Celine with the energy and strength to continue on.
Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool and Celine Dion in the Ashes film clip
Source: Stereo Gum
Hit followed hit and each time the songs were executed so flawlessly that the audience couldn’t help but be in awe of the woman that was standing in front of them. The voice remarkable, the passion undeniable and the love of the stage palpable.
As the iconic opening chords to My Heart Will Go On filled the arena, the crowd stood in unison to see a living legend perform a legendary song. As the final words were sung the crowd began their salute. Clapping, screaming, crying, jumping up and down, it didn’t matter how they were going to do it, they just knew they needed more of Celine. With the sound reaching deafening levels and the need for more reverberating throughout the arena, Celine turned on her heels and came back for one more encore. Any notion that this woman could have once been deemed cold and one dimensional seemed laughable as she covered her face with profound astonishment and appreciation that one crowd could love her so much. It was a moment that could penetrate even the coldest of hearts.
Taking a moment to revel in the love, Celine had one more gift for an audience that waited for two decades to see her performing live again- a cover of Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling in Love. It was a fitting end to a concert filled with so much love.
Gone are the days of criticising Queen Celine, we are finally in the era where she is untouchable. An era where the fact that she has sold 250 million albums isn’t a question of bizarre taste, but a testament to her enduring artistry and the unflappable power of that once in a generation voice.
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