The voice of a generation. Celine Dion has cemented herself as one of the music industry’s most powerful artists over the years.
Born the 14th child to parents Thérèse and Adhémar Dion in Quebec, Canada, Celine grew up with music from a young age and wrote her first song at the age of 12, according to her official website. The song, titled “Ce n’était qu’un rêve,” caught the attention of talent manager René Angélil, whom she would later go on to marry in 1994.
But years before the famous couple tied the knot, the “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” singer continued to grow her career by singing on TV shows and at festivals, including performing for Pope John Paul II at Montréal’s Olympic Stadium in 1984. Celine even won the famous Eurovision song competition in 1988.
1990 marked a turning point in her budding career with the release of her first English-language album, Unison, which earned Celine her first top-10 single with the song “Where Does My Heart Beat Now.” After releasing one of her most famous collabs, “Beauty and the Beast,” with Peabo Bryson in 1991, she scored her first Grammy award for the Disney title track in 1993. The hit also won the award for Best Original Song at the 1992 Oscars.
Celine found herself with another hit song in 1993 with “The Power of Love” off her album The Colour of My Love, which was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 1995 Grammys. One year later, she and Angélil tied the knot in Montréal.
The “Because You Loved Me” singer continued to cement her icon status throughout the late ‘90s, taking home numerous awards for her 1996 alum Falling Into You — including two 1997 Grammys for Album of the Year and Best Pop Album — in addition to winning Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 1999 Grammys for her Oscar-winning song from the film Titanic, “My Heart Will Go On.”
In addition to releasing 27 studio albums and hundreds of songs over the past several decades, she also became a mother to three boys, welcoming son René-Charles and twins Nelson and Eddy in 2001 and 2010, respectively. Not to mention, she also became a Las Vegas staple, performing at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace over the course of 16 nonconsecutive years with two separate residencies.
Us Weekly confirmed in January 2016, that Angélil had passed away at the age of 73 after battling throat cancer. “René wanted to die in my arms,” Celine told Paris Match magazine in a May 2016 interview. She was onstage at one of her Vegas residency shows at the time her husband passed after falling out of bed. “He must have wanted to get and he fell on the floor,” she added.
Celine paid tribute to her late husband on the 5th anniversary of his death in 2021 by sharing a sweet snap of the two of them holding hands via Instagram. “René, it’s been 5 years already … There’s not one day that we don’t think about you,” she captioned the post. “We’re reaching out to you now more than ever, to guide us, protect us, and continue to watch over us. And we pray that you’ll shine your love on the entire world, to all those at this very moment, who are facing incredibly difficult times. You are in our hearts and in our lives forever. We love you, Celine, René-Charles, Nelson and Eddy xx …”
In December 2022, the musician revealed that she had been diagnosed with the “very rare neurological disorder” called stiff-person syndrome. “I’ve been dealing with problems with my health for a long time and it’s been really difficult for me to face these challenges and to talk about everything that I’ve been going through,” she announced in an emotional Instagram video.
Celine explained that the disorder affects “something like one in a million people,” She continued: “I have a great team of doctors working alongside me to help me get better and my precious children, who are supporting me and giving me hope. I’m working hard with my sports medicine therapist every day to build back my strength and my ability to perform again, but I have to admit it’s been a struggle.”
Scroll down for a look back at Celine’s life and career:
