Celine Biography

Celine Dion
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Celine Dion


Dion singing "God Bless America" at a May 2, 2002 concert aboard the USS Harry S. Truman.
Background information
Birth name Céline Marie Claudette Dion
Born March 30, 1968 (1968-03-30) (age 39)
Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada
Genre(s) Pop, rock
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter
Years active 1981 – present
Label(s) 550 Music/Epic/SME Records (1986–2004)
Epic/SBMG Records (2004–present)


Céline Marie Claudette Dion OC, OQ, (born March 30, 1968) is a Canadian singer and occasional songwriter and actress.[1][2][3] Born to a large, impoverished family in Charlemagne, Québec, Dion became a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and would-be husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record.[4] In 1990 she released the anglophone album Unison, establishing herself as a viable pop artist in North America and other English speaking areas of the world.[5]

Dion first gained international recognition in the 1980s after she won both the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest.[6][7] After a series of French albums in the early 1980s, she signed on to Sony Records in 1986. Under the guidance of her husband, she achieved worldwide success with several English and French albums, ending the decade as one of the most-successful artists in pop music.[8][9] After releasing over twenty-five albums over two decades, Dion announced a temporary retraction from entertainment in 1999 in order to start a family and spend time with her husband.[10][9] She returned to the music scene in 2002, and a year later, she signed a four-year contract to perform nightly in a five-star theatrical show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas.[11][12]

Dion's music has been influenced by various genres, which range from pop, soul and rock to gospel and classical, and while her releases have often received mixed critical reception, she is renowned for her technically skilled and powerful vocals.[13][14][15] In 2004, after accumulating record sales in excess of 175 million, she was presented with the Chopard Diamond Award from the World Music Awards show for becoming the "Best-selling Female Artist in the World."[16][17] In April 2007 Sony BMG announced that Celine Dion had sold over 200 million albums worldwide.[18]