Let's Talk About Celine 
Celine Dion was born on March 30th, 1968, in the tiny French-Canadian town of Charlemagne, Quebec, to proud parents Adhmar, a butcher, and Therese, a homemaker. Celine was the baby of the Dion family, the youngest of 14 children! In fact, her next oldest siblings, twins Paul and Pauline, are a whole six years older. Celine grew up in a small, narrow house with the entire Dion clan. There wasn't a lot of room, but there was always plenty of love and music -two of Celine's favorite things- to go around. The Dions were a musical group. They all played instruments or sang. Adhmar actually owned a piano bar. This is where Celine began to get publically noticed for her vocal talents, at a very young age. People would call in advance just to see if "the little girl" would be performing that night.
It was at the age of 12 that things in the musical sense for Celine began to turn serious. Celine had always wanted to be a singer. From the time she was very small, she kept herself occupied entertaining her family, especially at mealtimes. Through her childhood singing had always been just a pastime, but now that she was getting older, her natural talent was growing more and more obvious. Celine's mother told her that if she was going to sing, she was going to do it professionally. Celine, with the aid of a cassette recorder and an original song written by her mother, recorded her first real demo. It was sent off to Rene Angelil, a well-known Canadian producer. The first time Rene listened to the 12 year-old belting out It Was Only A Dream, he was completely taken over by the power of Celine's young voice. He brought her into the studio for a trial, and again, she blew everyone away. This shy, pre-teenage girl had been blessed with a gift from God.
Rene signed Celine. They began working almost imediately. Within a few very short years, Celine was on top of the Canadian music charts. In 1982 Celine was presented with the gold medal at the Yamaha World Song Festival in Tokyo. At age 14, Celine became the first Canadian to receive a gold record in France for her single D'Amour Ou D'Amite. As the young Dion spoke only French, her crowd was dedicated, but small. Rene and Celine knew that the only way to further themselves in the business was to make their way into the American mainstream. The only problem was that Celine never spoke a word of English. So, after taking some time off to makeover Celine, which included haircutting and teeth-capping, Rene enrolled Celine in a crash course in English. She was able to realease her first English album, Unison, in September of 1990. Americans fell in love with Celine's romantic lyrics and stunning five-octave voice. Where Does My Heart Beat Now?, a single from Unison made it all the way to the Top 5. After that, it was all smooth sailing. Celine's international was taking off full speed ahead. But at the same time, her personal life was on a downfall. Celine, who is today the matron for the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, was very close to her niece Karine, who was born with the lung disease. In 1993, Karine was confined to her bed, not able to breathe or swallow properly. She passed away in Celine's arms.
After the heartbreak of losing Karine, Celine was at a loss for happiness. But that would soon change. In secrecy from the media, afraid of a backlash because of the large age difference and Rene's former marriage, Celine and manager Rene had fallen in love. Since Celine was 20 years old they had been having special feelings for each other. It was okay to keep quiet about the relationship for awhile, but both Celine and Rene were growing anxious with each passing day. Celine was definitely in love, and she wanted to scream it to the whole world, but she and Rene couldn't even kiss or hold hands in public. Finally, in the liner notes of 1993's The Colour of My Love, Celine confessed her love for Rene loud and clear. One year later, on December 17, 1994, Celine and Rene were married at the Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal. It was a fairy-tale wedding broadcast live across Canadian television. Celine felt this part of her life was now complete, but as a perfectionist, her music career still had a long way to go.
In 1997, after an endless string of Top 40 hits, Celine won two Grammys. Both were for Falling Into You.
