Céline Dion Biography

NAME: Celine Dion

OCCUPATION: Singer

BIRTH DATE: March 30, 1968 (Age: 43)

PLACE OF BIRTH: Quebec, Canada

ZODIAC SIGN: Aries

Céline was born in 1968, the youngest of 14 children. Early in childhood, she sang with her siblings in a small club owned by her parents. From these early experiences, Céline gained the know-how to performing live. At the age of 12, Dion composed a song in her native French and sent it to a record company, where it garnered the attention of René Angélil, a respected manager. Angélil believed in Céline so much that he actually mortgaged his house in order to finance her debut album. Already very popular and successful internationally, Céline burst onto the U.S. stage when she recorded the theme song to Disney's hit Beauty and the Beast (1991).

Dion received the National Order of Quebec, her province's highest honor, in April 1998. Later that year, she appeared alongside Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey, Gloria Estefan, and Shania Twain on the high-profile televised concert Divas Live (1998) on VH-1. While touring relentlessly and recording several albums (including S'il Suffisait d'Aimer and a holiday album, These Are Special Times), Dion was well rewarded at the Billboard Music Awards in late 1998, where she won six awards including Album Artist of the Year and Album of the Year for Let's Talk About Love. Her extensive 14-country tour, which had begun in the summer of 1998, culminated in a gala concert in Montreal on December 31, 1999, in honor of the new millennium.

After a two-year hiatus, Dion returned in March 2002 with A New Day Has Come, which topped the charts in over 17 countries. A year later, she began a much-hyped 36-month engagement at Caesars Palace, the famous Las Vegas hotel and casino. Dion simultaneously released the album One Heart, which did not fair as strongly as its predecessor.

Dion returned to creating French-language albums with 2003's 1 Fille & 4 Types. Partnering with photographer Anne Geddes, she had a hit with the children's music album Miracle: A Celebration of New Life (2004). In 2007, Dion released two albums. Taking Chances nearly reached the top of the pop album charts, and D'Elles was another French-language recording.