Celine Dion has died. Celine Dion gave her first big interview after her husband's death

Celine Marie Claudette Dion is a Canadian singer who became a star in her teens. The performer sings in both her native French and English. Dion is considered to be the most successful French-speaking musician, and Dion's album D'eux is the world's best-selling non-English studio recording.

Celine was born in the Canadian province of Quebec into a large family. The singer's parents, Adhémar Dion and Teresa Tangue, had 14 children, of whom the future world star was the youngest.

Interestingly, Celine is distantly related to many North American stars. For example, she shares common ancestors with the actor, singer and Queen of Pop.

Music entered the girl’s life literally from birth. Not only did the family constantly listen to religious gospel songs, but they named Dion after the then fashionable composition “Celine” from the repertoire of the singer Hugues Aufrais.

She started performing at the age of five. The first time Celine sang a song was at the wedding of her older brother Michel, and it was not a funny children's gift at all, but a full-fledged number. Soon, together with his brothers and sisters, Dion begins to work professionally in bars and clubs.

When the girl was 12 years old, she wrote her first original composition, Ce n’était qu’un rêve, which, with the help of her brother, ended up with music manager Rene Angelil. The man was so inspired by the voice of the young talent that he mortgaged his house and used all the money to promote the aspiring singer.

Interestingly, as a teenager, Celine Dion wanted to imitate the American, but at the insistence of her manager, she still found her own niche in music. And to conquer English-speaking countries, the girl studied at the Berlitz language school.

By the way, due to the fact that the singer is virtually self-taught, it later turned out that she was using her vocal cords incorrectly. In 1989, there was even a question about ending his career due to a sore throat and loss of voice. During the new tour in support of the latest album Incognito, the singer completely lost her voice. It turned out that the girl was overloading her vocal cords.

Dion was threatened with surgery, but she found another way: she didn’t speak at all for about a month, and then consolidated the achieved result by learning to control her voice. Celine took a sabbatical and studied the art of vocals with William Riley in order to continue to properly load the ligaments.

Music

Celine Dion's first professional composition was La voix du bon Dieu, which topped the local charts and turned the young singer into a Quebec star. A year later, another song, Tellement j’ai d’amour pour toi, sounded not only in Canada, but also in France and Japan.

A year later, the singer went on tour with a series of concerts “Les chemins de ma maison tournée”.

The singer's popularity grew. During this period, Celine Dion received a number of Felix awards, including Best Female Performer and Discovery of the Year.

With the hit "D" amour ou d "amitié, Celine Dion became the first Canadian to top the French charts. And the victory at Eurovision 1988, where the girl represented Switzerland with the hit song Ne partez pas sans moi, allowed the girl to say that Central Europe had been conquered. English-speaking countries are next in line.

To ensure her popularity in the world of English-language music, the girl decided to undergo dental surgery to improve the artist’s appearance.

After completing a course in the British language, the singer records her first album with English lyrics - Unison. The song from this record, Where Does My Heart Beat Now, became a big hit in the United States. They started talking about Dion even more when she performed the lyrical composition Beauty and the Beast, which became the soundtrack to the animated film “Beauty and the Beast.”

The biggest commercial album of the 90s was The Color of My Love. The songs The Power of Love, Think Twice, and later To Love You More are heard on radio stations around the world. The next album, Falling into You, gave fans of the Canadian singer new wonderful compositions, and All by Myself and It's All Coming Back to Me Now entered the category of incorruptible ones. But Celine Dion's main calling card, of course, is the soundtrack to the Oscar-winning drama - the ballad My Heart Will Go On.

Of the subsequent songs, it is worth noting I"m Your Angel, That"s the Way It Is, Because You Loved Me, Taking Chances, I Drove All Night and Alone. The entire work of Celine Dion, whose style deviates from standard pop music, is permeated with sentimentality and is full of feelings and soulfulness. The main themes of Celine Dion's songs remained the theme of poverty and awakening spirituality, and after the singer herself had children, the motif of the connection between mother and child was also added to these themes.

Celine Dion publishes albums in French and English, and with the advent of various Internet services, the singer has come to new platforms. So, Celine Dion runs a channel on YouTube, where both official clips for a number of compositions and simply video messages from the star to fans are posted. Celine is also present in “ Instagram", on this platform the singer has more than 2 million subscribers.

Personal life

Celine Dion met her future husband when she was 12 years old and he was already 38. It was the man who made her a global star - manager Rene Angelil. The romantic relationship of the future spouses began, of course, much later - in 1988, and a few years later the engagement was announced.

The singer was afraid that fans would not take such a union well, but they supported the choice of their favorite, and the marriage did not affect Dion’s popularity. Celine and Rene's wedding took place on December 17, 1994 at Notre Dame Cathedral in Montreal. The celebration looked extravagant, and was even broadcast live on Canadian television.

Celine Dion could not get pregnant for several years and, for the sake of the happiness of motherhood, underwent two special operations that improved her chances of conceiving. The first son of the Canadian singer was born in 2001 and received the name Rene-Charles Angélil, and 9 years later twin brothers were born within one minute of each other. The parents gave these boys names in honor of famous people - composer Eddie Marne and the former president of South Africa.

The singer lived happily with her husband until the man’s death from cancer in January 2016. René Angélil battled laryngeal cancer for 20 years. The man underwent his first operation to remove the tumor back in 1999. This procedure allowed the man to forget about the disease for a while.

A relapse occurred in 2013. Angélil continued treatment and underwent another operation, but this did not help. The disease confined the man to bed. Celine Dion left the stage during this period in order to devote more time to her husband. But in 2015, Rene himself persuaded his wife to resume her musical career and enter into a major contract with a recording studio.

Discography

1981 - La voix du bon Dieu
1990 - Unison
1993 - The Color of My Love
1997 - Let's Talk About Love
2002 - A New Day Has Come
2007 - D'elles
2007 - Taking Chances
2012 - Sans attendre
2013 - Loved Me Back to Life
2016 - Encore un soir

0 10 October 2016, 13:30

Rene Angelil and Celine Dion

Less than a year has passed since Celine Dion lost her husband and manager in one person - in January 2016, Rene Angelil, after a long battle with cancer. The singer still confesses her love to him and considers herself a married woman.

In a fresh interview with CBS after her performance in Las Vegas, Celine admitted that Rene was the only man in her life whom she loved and for whom she generally had strong feelings. Moreover, this is the only man she kissed.
It was very difficult for all of us to survive his death - for me and for our children, it was especially difficult to see how he was fading away, how he was leaving us.

In this sense, his death was in some way a relief, because at once it put an end to the many years of suffering of my closest, dearest, most beloved person - the only man I kissed in my life, the only man I loved. To the surprise of the presenter, the singer replied:

Yes, I have never kissed anyone in my life except my husband. He was my soulmate. My partner in everything, and together we were one. So when his many years of suffering ended, no matter how hard it was for me without him, I told myself that this was better for him, because he deserved peace.

Whether she will fall in love in the future, Celine does not know - now her heart is occupied by Rene:

I love! I love. Love him!

- the singer admits.

I am still in love with him, my heart is completely occupied by him. What about a man's love? I have the love of my children, the love of my fans, the people I work with. So my life is not devoid of love.

The singer Sia has a song that says: “When I go to bed, I imagine that I’m going to bed with you.” So when I go to bed, I imagine going to bed with him. And I go up on stage with him. And anyway: I'm still married to him.

Let us remember that the singer met her husband and manager Rene Angélil in 1980, when she sent him her demo recording. Celine at that time was only 12 years old, and he was 38. They started dating in 1987, got married seven years later - in 1994, and then lived in love and harmony until Rene’s death on January 14 of this year.

Celine Marie Claudette Dion was born on March 30, 1968 in Charlemagne, a suburb of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to Adhémar Dion, a butcher, and Thérèse Dion, a housewife. Celine is the youngest of Therese and Adhémar's 14 children. In interviews, Dion repeatedly said that her family lived poorly, but happily. Music has always played an important role in the lives of Adhemar and Therese: they named their youngest daughter after the song "Celine" by the French singer Hugues Aufray, which was released in 1966.

Celine Dion gave her first performance at the age of five: on August 11, 1973, at the wedding of her older brother Michel, the girl performed the song “Du fil des aiguilles et du coton” by French-Canadian singer Christine Charbonnet. Celine really liked the singing, and subsequently she regularly performed with her brothers and sisters at the piano bar "Le Vieux Baril", which was owned by their parents.

Dion composed her first song, “Ce n”tait qu”un rve,” which translated means “It was just a dream,” at the age of 12, in collaboration with her mother and brother Jacques. Another brother of the future star, Michel, handed over the recording of the song to music producer Rene Angelil. The man was touched by the voice and talent of young Celine Dion and decided to make her a star at all costs. When Angelil and Dion met, the producer was 38 years old, and the aspiring singer was 12. Over the years, professional cooperation grew into a romance: in 1988, Rene and Celine announced that they were dating, in 1991 they got engaged, and in 1994 - wedding.

Under the leadership of Rene Angelil, an unknown girl from a large family turned into an international star. In 1981, the song “La voix du bon Die” was released, making 13-year-old Celine Dion a star in Quebec and then in other cities around the world. In 1983, Dion became the first Canadian performer to receive a French gold record (for the song "D" amour ou d "amiti"), and in 1988 she won the prestigious Eurovision song contest, which was held in the capital of Ireland, Dublin. The song “Ne partez pas sans moi” brought her victory; Celine represented Switzerland at Eurovision.

European success made the young singer want to try her luck in the United States of America. Rene Angélil supported the aspirations of her ward and took the necessary measures to ensure that Celine established herself on the American stage and also gained world fame. For some time, Dion stopped recording songs and giving concerts - she underwent several cosmetic surgeries to improve her appearance, and also mastered the English language perfectly.

In 1989, Celine lost her voice during a music tour. On the advice of otolaryngologist William Gould, she did not strain her vocal cords for three weeks. Subsequently, vocal teacher William Riley retrained Dion to use her voice - before that she had done it incorrectly.

The singer's first English-language album, "Unison" (1990), was well received by music experts and listeners. Celine Dion quickly gained popularity in the United States, and her songs became hits. The first breakthrough in her career was marked by the composition "Beauty and the Beast", which became the main theme of the animated film "Beauty and the Beast" (1991). Dion performed the song in a duet with singer Peabo Bryson and together with him won the prestigious Grammy Award in the category “Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.” "Beauty and the Beast" also received an Oscar for Best Original Song.

Celine Dion's most recognizable song was another soundtrack - the lyrical ballad "My Heart Will Go On", which was the main love theme of James Cameron's film hit "Titanic" (1997). The composition received Golden Globe and Oscar awards, and its performer secured her status as one of the best and most recognizable singers in the world. Over her long musical career, Celine Dion has released 15 French-language and 11 English-language albums. Since 1983, she has been on 15 concert tours; on September 18, 2019, the singer’s 16th tour, the Courage World Tour, starts.

Best of the day

Celine and producer René Angélil tied the knot on December 17, 1994 at Notre-Dame Cathedral, Montreal. For several years, the singer could not get pregnant, which is why in 2000 she went to a New York reproductive medicine clinic. In vitro fertilization, which increases the chances of conception, gave a positive result: on January 25, 2001, Rene and Celine had a son, Rene-Charles Angelil. On October 23, 2010, the singer became the mother of twins Eddie and Nelson Angelil. The boys received their names in honor of Dion's favorite composer Eddie Marne and South African politician Nelson Mandela, respectively.

The love story of Rene Angelil and Celine Dion is unique. A man who is 26 years older than Celine recognized her when she was little and was married to her for 22 years. Rene had been battling esophageal cancer for a long time. When he received a disappointing diagnosis in the early 2000s, Dion temporarily suspended her musical career in order to spend more time with her husband. On January 14, 2016, Rene Angélil died at his home in Las Vegas after a years-long battle with the disease. Two days later, on January 16, one of the singer’s older brothers, Daniel, also died of cancer.

The tragic events did not break Celine Dion: she continues to release songs, record albums, shoot videos, give concerts and go on tours. On August 26, 2016, the singer’s French-language album “Encore un soir” was released, and the release of an English-language collection of Celine’s songs called “Courage” is planned for November 2019.

On January 14, 2016, the husband and producer of Canadian singer Celine Dion, Rene Angélil, died at his home in Los Angeles. The couple was together for almost 30 years.

The love story of Celine Dion and her husband

The couple met when Celine was only 12 years old, but her future husband was already 38. The girl, with the help of her mother, recorded her voice on tape and sent it to the producer, whose name and address Teresa Dion (Celine’s mother) found on the back of one of the musical disks. Rene drew attention to the enormous singing talent and invited the girl to work with him. To find funds for Celine Dion's first professional recording, he had to mortgage his house.

The relationship between the singer and producer began only 7 years later, by which time Rene was still not free. However, he soon announced his divorce. At first, Celine Dion and Rene Angelil hid their relationship from the public, as they were afraid that the singer’s fans would not understand and accept such a union, because the age difference was very large. However, everything secret sooner or later becomes clear, and they still found out about the novel.

Four years after the start of the relationship, the couple announces... The wedding of Rene Angelil and Celine Dion took place on December 17, 1994.

The happiness of family life lasted for several years, and the couple even renewed their vows in 2000, but soon misfortune befell Celine and Rene. Then Rene Angelil was first diagnosed. And even at that time, Celine Dion could have lost her husband. In order to remain close to her husband, the singer announced the end of her concert activities; she herself looked after Rene. He underwent surgery, which turned out to be quite successful, and the disease subsided for a long time.

After such a terrible illness, relative calm came, and Celine and Rene even managed to become parents twice, although it was not too easy. To do this, the singer had to resort to the help of doctors and undergo an IVF procedure. But all efforts were successful, and in 2001 Rene Charles was born, and nine years later - in 2010 - the twins Nelson and Eddie.

Death of Celine Dion's husband

However, in 2013 it became known that Celine Dion's husband was again sick with cancer. He suffered a relapse of the disease, which seemed to have subsided. Just as Celine announced the cessation of concert performances several years ago, she hoped that her love and care would help her overcome her terrible illness again.

But this did not happen, and on January 14, 2016, at the age of 73, Rene Angelil, Celine Dion’s husband, died. A message about this appeared on the star’s page on one of the social networks, along with a request to respect the singer’s personal life and the feelings of her family and not cause too much excitement around this news. As it became clear later, Celine Dion’s husband died in their home in Los Angeles in the arms of his wife and in the presence of his closest relatives. In recent days, he could not feed on his own, and the singer had to feed him several times a day using a special tube. Rene was only a few days shy of his 74th birthday.

And almost immediately, just two days after the news that Celine Dion’s husband died of cancer, it became known that another serious tragedy had occurred in the singer’s family: her older brother had died. The cause of death was also cancer of the larynx, tongue and brain. Due to preparations for her husband's funeral, Celine Dion was unable to attend the farewell to her brother, but the singer's older sister (and Celine Dion has 13 brothers and sisters in total) and her mother were always with him.

1980

Acquaintance

Celine was only 12 when she first saw her future husband

Celine was only 12 years old when she first saw Rene. He, a famous and influential music manager, noticed the girl’s outstanding musical talent. “I came to his office and started singing. I was only 12. From then on we started working together,” Dion later recalled.

1987

The beginning of the novel

Seven years after they met, a spark ran between the singer and her manager: despite the 26-year age difference, they realized that they could not live without each other. Four years later - in 1991 - the lovers announced their engagement.

1994

Wedding in Montreal (Canada)

The couple's wedding took place in Canada

A beautiful and magnificent wedding took place in Canada, the home country of the bride and groom. Marriage to 26-year-old Dion became the third in Angelil’s life. “It’s no surprise that we got married. We have the same dreams. We love the same things. We respect each other,” the singer told reporters a year after the wedding. At that time, the couple, by the way, already had difficult days associated with Rene’s health problems: in 1992, he had a heart attack. However, everything worked out.

1999

Renee was diagnosed with throat cancer

When the couple learned of the terrible diagnosis, the singer immediately took a two-year break from her career to be with her husband. Rene went through two operations and chemotherapy, all this time Celine supported him. “When something like this happens, you feel like you've been grabbed and hit. But I felt strong because I said to myself: “Rene needs me - perhaps for the first time in my life,” Dion said.

2000

Healing and another wedding

The treatment worked, and doctors announced that Angélil no longer had cancer. The couple decided to celebrate this event by reciting their wedding vows - this time not in Canada, but in Las Vegas.

2001-2009

The birth of the first child and a lot of happiness

Celine and Rene's first child was born in 2001

In January 2001, Celine gave birth to a son, Rene-Charles. The baby became the first child for the singer and the fourth for her husband, who also had children from previous marriages. In the 2000s, the couple seemed to be going through a truly happy period: raising their son, working, regular appearances, during which photographers “caught” their joyful faces...

2010

Birth of twins

The new decade brought Celine and Rene even more joy: their twins Eddie and Nelson were born.

2013

...cancer again

In 2013, Rene was diagnosed with cancer again.

The news that Rene’s cancer had returned came as a bolt from the blue for the loving couple. Celine and her husband were crushed by this news. “I went into the dressing room and saw Rene somehow broken and shocked. I asked what happened, and he sat down and said, “The doctor just called. “I have cancer again,” recalled Celine Dion. Angelil underwent another operation - and the singer was again close to her loved one, canceling all concerts and tours.