eline ion
The Story Behind The Star...
As told by: Jacinda Brunette

The story behind one of the world's best know singers is easy to come by. Everybody know's a little bit about Celine Dion. Even people that don't know anything else, know she sang the 'Titanic' song. I would like to share my version of Celine's biography with you. The information I'm going to give you comes from many sources. Some of this information, you may already know. I hope you get the chance to pick up something new and have a little fun reading through the information.

Celine was born in a little town called Charlemange, Quebec, Canda on March 30, 1968. Now I'm sure most people don't know where Charlemange is, so I've taken the time to find it for everyone. Charlemange is the little spot on the Map where the big red star is. It's really not very far from Montreal. Charlemange, Quebec is about the same size as my home town of around 6,000 people. Celine has described Charlemange as a beautiful little town not far from Montreal. She has said it was a great place to grow up.

Celine started singing for her family at a very young age. Her older brothers and sisters would dress her up in little costumes and plop her on the kitchen table where she would perform and entertain for them. Her first chance at entertaining for a larger group was when she sang a song at her brother's wedding at the age of five. The picture shown here is of Celine at age six. By the time she was twelve, her mind was made up. A singer was what she wanted to be and was determined to do. Her mother accepted her daughters choice and planned to help her succeed. Celine, her mother, and her brother Jaques worked together at creating a song for Celine to sing. The song was called Ce n'était qu'un rêve/It was only a dream. The song can be found only on Celine's very first album La voix du Bon Dieu. The tape was wrapped in a red ribbon and sent to Mr. Angelil. After a couple of days and no word from Rene, Michel called and asked him to listen to the tape. He told Rene he knew that he hadn't listened to the tape because he never called back. Rene listened to the tape right then with Michel on the phone. He was so moved by the strength and power in Celine's young voice, it brought a tear to his eye. Soon after that day, Rene met with Celine in person. He did everything in his power to make sure Celine would become known. At first, people thought Rene was crazy to sign someone so young. To believe so much in this little girl. To mortgage his house to finance her first two albums. As you can see, all his hard work has payed off. They're both very very rich!!

General information on Celine...

Celine's Story, en Francais...

La plus jeune d'une famille de 14 enfants, Céline est née le 30 mars 1968, dans la ville de Charlemagne, sur la rive Nord du fleuve Saint-Laurent, à la pointe Est de l'île de Montréal.

Elle doit son prénom à une chanson (Céline, chantée par Hugues Aufray et écrite en 1966 par Vline Buggy) que sa mère chantait alors qu'elle était enceinte.

Elle a grandi entourée par la musique. Dans Le Vieux Baril (un restaurant piano-bar dans sa ville natale qui appartenait à ses parents) les enfants faisaient à tour de rôle soit le service aux tables, soit de la chanson. La famille tenait régulièrement des séances d'improvisation musicale (jam sessions), avec son père Adhémar jouant de l'accordéon et sa mère Thérèse au violon. La famille passait ses temps libres à chanter et à jouer de différents instruments de musique, car dans cette famille, tout le monde est musicien.

Elle est pour la première fois montée sur une table pour chanter une pièce de Ginette Reno à l'âge de 5 ans! À cinq ans et demi (18 août 1973), elle chanta la chanson Du fil, des aiguilles et du coton au mariage de son frère Michel. Bientôt, des citadins planifient leurs soirées pour venir écouter «la p'tite québécoise».

À 12 ans, Céline annonce à sa mère qu'elle ne peut imaginer faire autre carrière que celle de chanteuse. Thérèse, reconnaissant le talent de sa fille, écrit une chanson pour elle. Ce n'était qu'un rêve fut enregistrée sur une bande démo et envoyée à René Angélil, un gérant connu de Montréal. Il demanda à l'entendre en personne.

Il fut impressionné et ému par la force et le contrôle de cette jeune voix. Il avait les larmes aux yeux en écoutant Céline chanter, et accepta de travailler avec elle. Il hypothéqua sa maison afin de financer l'enregistrement des deux premiers disques de Céline. Depuis, René gère la carrière de Céline et il l'a mené au sommet des palmarès du monde entier.

En décembre 90, elle lance avec d'autres associés les restaurants Nickel's.

Le 2 mai 93, la nièce de Céline, Karine Ménard (fille de sa soeur Liette), âgée de 16 ans décède. Karine était atteinte de fibrose kystique et était la porte-parole de la fondation québécoise de cette maladie depuis bien des années. Céline porte aussi le flambeau en faisant très souvent de la promotion pour la fondation.

Lors de la sortie de son album The colour of my love, en novembre 94, Céline annonce à toute la planète qui est l'homme de sa vie.

Le 17 décembre 94, elle se marie avec René Angélil son agent, de 26 ans son aîné. Ce fut il va s'en dire l'événement de l'année au Canada dans le domaine artistique.

An Interesting Celine Note...

Celine has alway's loved children! Even after she had gotten into some trouble at the age of five, she still enjoys seeing small children and infants. When Celine was five years old, she was out side playing in her front yard one afternoon. She spotted a baby stroller across the street and proceeded over to investigate. She loved playing with babies. At that time, a large truck was backing out of an alley onto the main street. The lady across the street yelled for Celine to stop. Celine in a panic for not obeying her mother froze. The truck driver, not seeing the small child, backed right into her. Celine's brother Michael, who knew Celine was playing outside, came out to see what all the excitement was about. Shocked at the site of his youngest sister laying unconcious in the middle of the road, he ran over and scooped her up into his arms. Celine was unconcious for days, with a multiple scull fractures and was never supposed to fully recover. I think we're all glad that she did.

So, would you like to see the Dion Family?

Okay, here's the Fam. Alright starting with the top row from left to right, we have: Michel, Jacques, Daniel and Paul. In the middle: Denise, Liette, Louise, Pauline, Ghislaine, Linda, Manon, Clement and Claudette. Of course the bottom row contains Celine at dead center and her parents Therese and Adhemar at her sides. This picture was taken a few years ago. I have a much more recent one farther down that comes from Celine's "These are Special Times" album. Celine has always felt very loved and "spoiled" by her family. She said once that she feels like the center of a flower because she knows that all of the 'petals' will be gone before her.

Here is another picture of Celine and her family. This picture can be found in the cover booklet of Celine's Christmas album "These are Special Times." In this album, Celine and her family sing two songs together including the ever popular, "Feliz Navidad." You may have also seen Celine and her family perform the song on Celine's Holiday TV special which aired on CBS and VH1. Celine's "These are special Times" album is the first Christmas album Celine recorded with Sony Music Canada. It's also her first Christmas album to be released in the US. Her first Christmas album was done the same year she recorded her first album. It was Rene's plan to release the two albums together. Her second Christmas album was release about 14 years ago. I think it was a good time to release a new one. I love Christmas music!

Next Up... Married Life...

This is a picture of Celine and her handsome husband and personal manager, Rene Angelil. I don't know exactly when this picture was taken, but judging from Celine's outfit and hair style I would guess at her Live A Paris concert. If any of you have the video of this concert, you would probably agree with me. Celine is wearing a shiny body suit and she has a short brushed back kind of hair style in this video. If you don't have this video, buy it! It's around $20-$30 USD.

Now, how about a little personal information on Rene. Nobody really talks about him much. Celine and Rene themselves, don't really talk about their relationship. Because of that, there have been rumors that they are having some trouble. Celine always seems to drop in a quick note about how happy in love she is here and there. Just enough to get people to leave her alone. Then again many people believe Celine is anorexic, Rene is just using her, and she really isn't as nice as people see her as. Of course people are also saying Celine's idole Barbara Streisend had an affair with President Clinton. But hey, you have to have rumors! What else would people read about in the tabloids? So, now here's a little information on Rene...

ReneDoesn't Rene look great all dressed up? When Celine and Rene were dating, people would always ask Celine if she was seeing anyone. She would come right out and tell her interviewer that she feels people already know everything about her except for her personal life. She liked keeping that a secret in hopes that they would respect the fact that she just didn't want to talk about it. She would admit that yes she did have a boyfriend and was very happy, but that was all. Once They finally got married, boy did they get alot of grief from Rene's ex-wives. Celine was in the tabloids all over because she was being called a home wrecker. This was one of the reasons Celine and Rene kept their relationship a secret. They didn't want Celine to be thought of as a "Lolita."

This is a picture of Celine on the big day. Celine and Rene had so much already, that rather than receiving gifts for their wedding, they received charitable donations. The wedding itself was beautiful. I saw parts of the video on 'Oprah'. Celine's whole family was on the show that day. I don't know if any of you saw it, but it made you really see how caring Celine is. Unlike some other celebrities, Celine come from the heart and doesn't put on a nice girl act. It's truly the way she is. At the end of the show, the family sang a song that they used to sing together at home. Everyone sat in a group, with Celine in the middle. Instead of hogging all the attention like some people would, Celine nelt down on the floor next to her parents and made sure the whole group was included. Of all of the shows and interviews I've seen of Celine, this edition of "Oprah" with Celine and her family, was my favorite.

Celine has always wanted one thing in life more than anything in the entire world... A BABY!! Celine has told people a number of times that she would give up everything to have a baby. Some people have told her that she should take some time off to start a family. A recent poll showed 86% siding with Celine to take some time off. However, the demand for Celine these days is so high, the companies don't want to let her go. They figure she can sell now while she's big and take time off later. I kind of disagree with Celine's record companies. I don't want to see Celine end up as a sell out. Too much of something good gets boring. I'm not saying I don't think Celine is great, because I do. She's my hero, my idol, my favorite person in the whole world... I love her. I just think, in general, people will get tired of Celine if they keep pushing her to much. I personally feel that if Celine takes some time off, or at least slows down, it would be the best thing for her. Anyone that can bring a smile to the entire world should be able to be completely happy themselves. They should do whatever it takes to make Celine as happy as she's made everyone else.

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This Celine Dion Page was created my Jacinda Hodge. Copying of any information or graphics for use on the web is strictly prohibited. Last Updated October 1999.