Biography

Céline Marie Claudette Dion  born 30 March 1968 is a Canadian singer. Referred to as the “Queen of Power Ballads”, she is noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals. Her music has incorporated genres such as pop, rock, R&B, gospel, and classical music. Her recordings have been mainly in English and French, although she has also sung in Spanish, Italian, German, Latin, Japanese, and Chinese.

Born into a large family in Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion was discovered by her future manager and husband René Angélil and emerged as a teen star in her home country with a series of French-language albums during the 1980s. She gained international recognition by winning the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest, where she represented Switzerland with “Ne partez pas sans moi”. Her debut English-language album, Unison (1990), established her as a viable pop artist primarily in North America and several English-speaking markets, while The Colour of My Love (1993) gave her global superstardom. Dion continued her success throughout the 1990s with several of the bestselling English-language albums in history, such as Falling into You (1996) and Let’s Talk About Love (1997), which were certified diamond in the US with more than 30 million sales worldwide each. She also released a series of international number-one hits, including “The Power of Love”, “Think Twice”, “Because You Loved Me”, “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now”, “I’m Your Angel”, “That’s the Way It Is”, “I’m Alive” and her signature song “My Heart Will Go On”, the theme for the 1997 film Titanic, which solidified her popularity.

Dion continued releasing French-language albums between each English record; D’eux (1995) became the best-selling French-language album of all time, while S’il suffisait d’aimer (1998), Sans attendre (2012), and Encore un soir (2016), were all certified diamond in France. During the 2000s, she built her reputation as a successful live performer with A New Day… on the Las Vegas Strip (2003–07), the highest-grossing concert residency of all time, and the Taking Chances World Tour (2008–09), one of the highest-grossing concert tours of the 2000s.

She has been regarded by several magazines as one of the greatest singers in music. With record sales of estimated at 200 million worldwide, she is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, the best-selling French-language artist, and one of the best-selling recording artists of all time. In 2003, she was honoured by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) for selling over 50 million albums in Europe. Seven of her albums have sold at least 10 million copies worldwide, the second-most among women in history. She has won five Grammy Awards, achieved two Honorary Doctorates in Music degree from Berklee College of Music and Université Laval. Billboard named her the “Queen of Adult Contemporary” for having the most number-one adult contemporary songs for a female artist. Dion is also the sixth all-time best-performing female soloist in Billboard 200 history. At the end of 2009, Dion was recognized by the Los Angeles Times as that decade’s top-earning artist, with combined album sales and concert revenue exceeding $747 million

Legacy

Dion is regarded as one of pop music’s most influential vocalists. She has been referred to as the “Priestess of Pop”. Ed Christman from Billboard called Dion the “Queen of Pop”. Her music and vocal styling, alongside that of Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, have been said to shape how the bulk of modern female pop vocalists sing. These three artists have been widely credited with reviving the power ballad, and in doing so reshaping the adult contemporary radio format, making it one of the most popular formats of the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2002, Billboard named her as the “Best-selling contemporary female artist in history”.

According to producer, musician, and former American Idol judge Randy Jackson, Dion, Houston, and Carey are the voices of the modern era. Music critic and Dion biographer Carl Wilson notes that her “fame and influence is also renewed and expressed regularly these days by American Idol, the largest mass musical phenomenon of the past decade, where Celine’s stood solidly in its pantheon of singers for young people to emulate”. Many contestants on the countless televised talent competitions that have risen at the turn of the millennium often emulate Dion, Houston and Carey and cite them as idols. MTV also praised Dion by saying: “Céline Dion was better than almost anyone at capitalizing on pop’s ability to articulate feelings in sensational, over-the-top ways.”

Numerous artists have either mentioned Dion as a major influence or as one of their favourite singers including: Britney Spears, Rihanna, Adele, Josh Groban, Delta Goodrem, Leona Lewis, Jennifer Hudson, Vanessa Hudgens, Kelly Clarkson, Perrie Edwards, Loren Allred, Brazilian singer Wanessa Camargo, Ariana Grande, Sam Smith, Frank Ocean, Ava Max, Charlotte Cardin, and V (from BTS) among many others. Country singer Martina McBride is widely heralded by the press as the Celine Dion of Country music.

Many artists have also praised Dion’s voice, singing ability or expressed an interest in working with her including Met Opera conductor and musical director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Beyoncé, Carlos Santana, Elton John, OneRepublic, Coldplay, Sharon Osbourne, Nicole Scherzinger, Ne-Yo, Carole King, Barbra Streisand, Luciano Pavarotti, Bee Gees, Sir George Martin, Justin Bieber, Jean-Jacques Goldman, Drake and Cher.

Timbaland stated “Celine has such a beautiful, mesmerizing voice. She is so talented. I think we could create something that is a classic like she is already.” Josh Groban remarked “She’s a powerhouse. In this day and age, when more and more studio-produced, tiny-tiny voices are being rewarded … she has this extraordinary instrument.” According to Diane Warren, “Celine is the best singer by far of her generation”, an opinion shared by Quincy Jones, Tommy Mottola, and David Foster. Moreover, Shania Twain and Jennifer Lopez have praised her dynamic stage presence, with Jennifer Lopez commenting on American Idol: “Celine gets on stage, she owns the stage, she runs all over that stage, she stops that stage.” Leona Lewis is also a huge fan of Céline Dion saying “Celine is someone I aspire to be like in every way. “Gosh – I can’t wait. I’m in the middle of picking out dresses at the moment. Celine is definitely one of my heroes. She is amazing.” American singer and actress Lea Michelle said that she listened to Céline Dion’s music while in the process of making her sophomore album ‘Places’ and cited her as one of her vocal influences.

Godmother of Soul Patti LaBelle called Dion as one of the greatest singers ever. Pop singer Kelly Clarkson also praised Dion’s vocal ability saying: “she has two sets of lungs when she sings.” and also called her the most gifted vocalist on the planet.

Dion holds the Guinness World Record for the most Juno Awards won for Album Of The Year (tied with Michael Buble & Arcade Fire). She won 3 out of the 13 nominations she received in the category throughout her career. Dion is the 3rd most decorated artist in Juno Awards history, winning 20 out of the 75 total nominations ever, becoming the most nominated artist in the awards history as well.

In January 2023, CNN reported that her exclusion from Rolling Stone’s list of the 200 greatest singers of all time sparked outrage.