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Celine Dion was born in Charlemagne, a small town near Montreal in Quebec. She is the youngest of fourteen children.
She began singing at a young age and had her first on-stage experience at five when she sang the Ginette Reno song "Le Vieux Baril" at a piano bar owned by her parents.
At age 12 she would meet Rene Angelil - the man who would one day become her husband. Her demo tape of an original song she had co-written with her mother and brother helped land her a management deal in 1981. He soon mortgaged his house to help finance the recording of Dion's first album.
Her mother was a fan of Quebec talk-show host Michel Jasmin and Dion became a guest on his show in 1982. That same year she won the gold medal at the Yamaha World Song Festival with her song
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"Tellement J'ai D'amour Pour Toi" and the coveted Musician's Award for Top Performer.
In 1983, Dion won 4 Felix Awards (the Quebec version of the Juno Award) for 'Best New Artist, 'Best Album' 'Tellement J'ai D'amour Pour Toi', 'Best Female Artist, and 'Best Performance Outside The Province of Quebec'. She was the first Canadian singer to have a platinum record in France where she sold more than 700,000 copies of her single "D'amour Ou D'amitie".
When Pope John Paul II visited Quebec in 1984 Dion was invited to sing for him. She performed "Une Colombe" (from the album "Les Chansons En Or"). Two more Felix awards followed that year with 5 more in 1985.
Noticing the success of her independently released French albums in Quebec, not to mention the growing accolades, CBS Records (aka Sony Music) scooped up the artist in 1986 and her debut, 'Incognito', was released in May 1987.
1988 saw the addition of 4 more Felix awards, a hand full of platinum album awards and first prize win at the Eurovision Song Contest held in Dublin, Ireland where she performed for 600 million viewers worldwide on the awards telecast.
In 1990, the American market opened up to her with her first English language record containing material written by Aldo Nova, Paul Bliss, Tom Keane and David Foster called "Unison" which spawned her first cross-over radio hits "(If There Was) Another Way" and "Where Does My Heart Beat Now". Canada might it a platinum selling disc and she won 2 Juno Awards to show for it.
In 1991 Dion recorded an entire album of music by internationally renowned Quebec songwriter Luc Plamondon called 'Dion Chante Plamondon'. As well, she would win an Oscar for the number one charting song "Beauty And The Beast" as 'Single Of The Year'. At that year's Grammy Awards, Dion's recordings of "Beauty And The Beast" and "If You Ask Me To" were nominated in the same category. "Beauty And The Beast" won the race and gave Dion her first Grammy.
The song was the corner stone of her second English language album, 'Celine Dion', which also featured the charting singles "Love Can Move Mountains", "Water From The Moon", "If You Asked Me To", and "Did You Give Enough Love". The album sold 600,000 copies in Canada and was the start of an unprecedented number of Juno Awards.
Dion racked up another 10 awards in 1992: Juno Awards, Felix Awards, a special award of recognition for her contribution to Canadian culture on the occasion of Canada's 125th Anniversary. She would also receive world recognition when she was given the World Music Award for 'Top Selling Canadian Artist'.
Dion was soon given the dubious distinction of becoming the top selling female recording artist of all time in 1993 which was only underscored by a fistful of recognition for her album 'The Colour Of My Love'.
The album contained another duet which also happened to be the love theme from the movie 'Sleepless In Seattle' called "When I Fall In Love" with Clive Griffin. The album contained a remake of the Air Supply/Jennifer Rush classic "The Power Of Love". The capper of the record was the single "Think Twice" which pushed it and the album into the #1 position for 5 weeks on the British charts - a feat not achieved since The Beatles in 1965. With the single spending an additional two weeks at number it managed to sell past the million mark which made it only the fourth record by a female artist to do so on the British charts.
She would also return to her French language roots with her second album that year called 'D'eux'. The album sold 10 million copies in 1993 alone and accomplished what no one thought possible -- a string of French language singles on the British charts and the most successful selling French language album of all time.
In 1994, more prizes, and Dion married manager Angelil with Michael Jackson in attendance amongst others.
A follow-up English album came in the form of 1996's 'Falling Into You' with songs penned by Dianne Warren and Jim Steinman plus the production of David Foster. The record would sell in excess of 30 millions copies due to the chart topping success from singles such as Eric Carmen's "All By Myself" and "Because You Loved Me" (also featured in the Robert Redford film 'Up Close And Personal'). It has sold 25 million copies worldwide and receive the 'Album Of The Year' Grammy
Not to let a good marketing scheme slip by, Dion released another French album to coincide with her English language album. 'Live A Paris' was released a mere 7 months after 'Falling Into You'. The CD was recorded at the Zenith Theatre in Paris, France for a more modest audience of 6,000.
Dion was set to tour the record when it became apparent she was at the height of her popularity and so, in an unprecedented move, she and Angelil cancelled her 1997 summer tour and re-assembled the same production team from 'Falling Into You' (Jim Steinman, David Foster, et al) with the additional help of producer George Martin, songwriter/producer Corey Hart and songwriters The Bee Gees, and Bryan Adams for 'Let's Talk About Love' (featuring a duet with Barbra Streisand on "Tell Him" and Luciano Pavarotti on "I Hate You Then I Love You") which won 5 more Felix awards in Quebec and has sold an astonishing 23 million copies worldwide to date.
The album also produced the Oscar winning track "My Heart Will Go On" from the monumental soundtrack of the movie 'Titanic'.
In June 1998 Dion swept both categories she was nominated for in the VH1 Viewers Vote Awards. She now holds the title of 'Diva Of The Year' and 'Best Female Artist'.
Currently there is a lawsuit involving several songwriters that Dion and Angelil feel owe them royalties for making hits out of their songs. The songwriters involved are Corey Hart and Bryan Adams, among others.
Vowing to take up to three years off, Dion wrapped up 1999 with the release of two albums, "Au Coeur Du Stade", recorded live at the Stade de France in Paris on June 19 and 20, and "All The Way", a half-hits, half-new collection that featured an electronically recorded "duet" with the late Frank Sinatra on the album's title track. |
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