About Céline Dion

Céline Marie Claudette Dion (born March 30, 1968 in Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada) is a Canadian singer. Born to a large impoverished family, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record. 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. Dion had first gained international recognition in the 1980s by winning both the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest.Following a series of French albums in the early 1980s, she signed on to CBS Records Canada in 1986. During the 1990s, with the help of Angélil, she achieved worldwide fame after signing with Epic Records and releasing several English albums along with additional French albums, becoming one of the most successful artists in pop music history. However, in 1999 at the height of her success, Dion announced a temporary retirement from entertainment in order to start a family and spend time with her husband, who had been diagnosed with cancer.She returned to the top of pop music in 2002 and signed a three-year (later extended to almost five years) contract to perform nightly in a five-star theatrical show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. Celine took the stage for her final performance of A New Day... on December 15, 2007. The spectacular Las Vegas show that had been seen by nearly 3 million fans at 717 performances since its premier in March 2003 had come to an end. But Celine was about to embark on a new adventure: her brand new Taking Chances World Tour! After performing in 25 countries during the Taking Chances World Tour which ended in February 2009 (one year after it began) she took another 2 year hiatus, focusing on expanding her family. After 6 in-vitro tries she gave birth to twin boys Nelson and Eddy in October 2010. In the meantime she announced her return to Vegas, her new show simply named "Celine" premiered on March 15th 2011 to spectacular reviews by media and audience. Dion's music has been influenced by genres ranging from rock and R&B to gospel and classical. While her releases have often received mixed critical reception, she is renowned for her technically skilled and powerful vocals. Dion is the best selling Canadian artist of all time; and her album D'eux is the best selling francophone album of all time. In 2004, after surpassing 175 million in album sales worldwide, she was presented with the Chopard Diamond Award at the World Music Awards for becoming the best selling female artist of all time. According to Sony Music, Dion has sold over 200 million albums, worldwide.