-------------The Celine Dion Career Timeline-------------

1981
The French songwriter Eddy Marnay wrote for her La voix du bon dieu (The Voice of God). He wrote the music and the lyrics, and introduced her in France. It was the first time that he had created the music for one of his songs. When he heard the demo tape Celine had sent to Rene Angelil, Mr Marnay said "C'est la voix du bon dieu" (It's God's voice), hence the name of the song and the album.
On June 19th, she began her career by a guest appearance on the most watched talk-show in Quebec then, hosted by Michel Jasmin. She sung La voix du bon dieu.
Beginning of December, a Christmas album is also launched, Celine chante Noël (Celine sings Christmas).
1982
She released another album, Tellement j'ai d'amour ... (I have so much love).
A first single was launched in France, patronized by the Pathe-Marconi corporation.
In October, she won in Tokyo the gold medal from the World Popular Song Festival, and the musicians prize as well. She sang Tellement j'ai d'amour pour toi (I have so much love for you), in front of 115 million tv viewers. She represented France, with the song from Eddy Marnay. There were 1907 contestants, and 30 finalists, the finals took place in front of 12,000 people.
When she returned home, she was welcomed at the airport by many fans and the Premier of Quebec (Mr Rene Levesque).
In November, she was part of a special benefit show for Quebecair (an airline company). The 9,000 people in the Forum (in Montreal) gave her an ovation even before she began to sing.
In December, a second single was released in France, D'amour ou d'amitié (Of love or of friendship).
On December 24th, she received from the mayor of Charlemagne, Mr Laurin, a plaque on which we can read (In French on the plaque): "In hommage and recognition to Celine Dion for the great honor that she does to her country, her province and her home town by her high performance in the singing domain and as an International star.
1983
In January, she was chosen to represent Canada as the revilation of the year at the Marche Internation du Disque et de l'Edition musicale (MIDEM, International market of disc and musical edition). With the song D'amour ou d'amitie she triumphed in front of 3,500 professionals in Cannes.
Shortly after that, on January 29th, she made her first appearance at the Champs-Elysees tv show, hosted by Michel Drucker.
In France, she launched the Du soleil au coeur (Some sunshine in the heart) album, and recorded two tv shows: Les jeux de 20:00 and Croque-vacances.
In May, she sang at La Place des Arts (Montreal) with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra for a Cystic fibrosis foundation benefit concert.
End of July, she sang at the International swim-across Lac Saint-Jean.
On July 30th, she gave, in front of 45,000 people at the Lac des Dauphins of Montreal, a performance recorded by the Societe Radio-Canada (SRC, French branch of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), and was broadcasted on September 18th.
The director of Échos-Vedettes (an artistic paper in Quebec), Mr Marc Chatelle publishes the book La naissance d'une étoile (the birth of a star), which is Celine's debuts. This 181-page book has about 100 black and white pictures of Celine.
The song D'amour ou d'amitie exceeded 500,000 sold copies in France and Celine was the first Canadian to merit a gold record in that country. That gold record was presented to her during the annual convention of Pathe-Marconi, on September 1st.
On September 7th, she received her first Quebecer gold record for Tellement j'ai d'amour..., during the Michel Jasmin talk show.
She released a fourth quebecer album, Les chemins de ma maison (The paths of my house).
In France, the single Mon ami m'a quittée (My boyfriend left me) was the third released under the Pathe-Marconi/EMI label.
She was part of the Felix Leclerc Theatre opening gala and she sang Bozo in a remarkable way. Felix Leclerc was the most famous poet in Quebec's history.
At the Association du Disque et de l'Industrie du Spectacle Quebecois (ADISQ, Quebecer Association of the disc and show industry) gala, she won her first 4 awards.
She ended that year by launching another Christmas album, Chants et contes de Noël (Songs and tales about Christmas).
1984
The TVA network (the largest private tv network in Quebec) made a one-hour tv special on her at the beginning of the year.
During the summer, she sang in front of many tens of thousands of people in the Montreal and Quebec City old ports.
A single with the german translations of D'amour ou d'amitie Mon ami m'a quittee was released in Germany, under the title of "Was bedeute ich dir".
At the end of August, she launched the Melanie album.
On September 11th, she sang Une colombe (A dove) in front of the Pope Jean-Paul II, and 65,000 persons who filled the Montreal olympic stadium.
On September 17th in a children's hospital of Montreal (the Sainte-Justine hospital) she launched the Les plus grands succès de Celine Dion (Celine Dion's greatest hits) album. It was sold in the Steinberg supermarkets and part of the profits, a gift from Celine and Steinberg, has been given to the cystic fibrosis foundation.
At the ADISQ gala, she received two more awards.
1984 was also the year the Les oiseaux du bonheur (birds of happiness) album and the single Mon rêve de toujours (My everlasting dream) were released in France.
From November 6th to December 9th, she was the opening act for Patrick Sebastien (a stand up comic and singer), at the Olympia (Paris).
1985
At the beginning of the year, she did a quebecer tour, ending at La Place des Arts of Montreal. Her show on May 31st in this place was recorded and distributed in December as Celine Dion en concert (Celine Dion in concert). It was her first live recording.
She was among the artists who recorded a special song (Les yeux de la faim ... - The Eyes Of The Hunger) to fight starvation in Ethiopia.
At the end of the summer, her 8th quebecer album is released, C'est pour toi (It's for you).
She sings in duet the song Vois comme c'est beau with her sister Claudette, on her sister's album.
On September 10th, Tele-Metropole (head station of the TVA network) broadcasted a tv special for the launching of C'est pour toi.
In October, the single C'est pour vivre was released in France.
In the fall she won 5 Felix awards (given by the ADISQ).
She also participated in movie soundtracks (in French and in English) of a kid movie, Operation Beurre de Pinotte / The Peanut Butter Solution. It was her first occasion to make a videoclip, with the song Listen to the magic man.
1986
Celine took 18 months almost completely off. A change in her looks was necessary to mark the transition from the adolescent to the young woman.
A single was released in France, with 2 new songs: Billy and En amour (In love).
A compilation album was released in Quebec, Les chansons en or (The golden songs) and she had recorded a videoclip for the last song of the album: Fais ce que tu voudras (Do what you'll want).
1987
Celine came back with a look more pop and a big contract with CBS.
On April 2nd, she launched the Incognito album and had a great success with Delivre-moi (set me free), On traverse un miroir (we pass through a mirror), Comme un coeur froid (like a cold heart) and the title song Incognito.
The last single with the Pathe-Marconi/EMI company is released, Je ne veux pas (I don't want).
On September 27th, a 65 minute tv special on SRC is dedicated to her for her return.
La religieuse (The nun) was the first single released in France with her new label, Carrere (owned by CBS).
1988
She received a MetroStar (Metro is a supermarket chain), in the category "Young artist 25 years old or less of the year".
She gave a series of 42 consecutive shows at the Saint-Denis Theatre in Montreal.
Then she flies off to Dublin (Ireland) where she won, on April 30th, in front of 600 millions tv viewers the prestigious Eurovision contest. Representing Switzerland, she won this 33rd edition of the contest with the song Ne partez pas sans moi (don't leave without me), written by the Swiss Nella Martinetti with music from Attila Sereftug.
In France, a compilation album (The best of...) and Incognito were released.
She was, once more, the great winner of the ADISQ gala, with 4 awards.
In Germany, the Vivre (To live) album was released.
1989
That year, Celine prepared her international career, taking English classes (at Berlitz).
She recorded 3 duets: Can't live with you, can't live without you with Billy Newton-Davis (on his Spellbound album), Wishful Thinking with Dan Hill (on his Real Love album) and the theme song of the movie Listen to me, with Warren Wiebe.
1990
She made an important break through in English Canada and in the USA with her Unison album. This album, launched on April 2nd, sold over 600,000 copies in Canada and almost 2 million around the world (it was distributed in 16 countries). It was certified gold in USA (500,000 copies) by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), her first golden record in the USA.
Celine sang twice on the Tonight Show.
In Quebec, the ADISQ gave her the award for the English-speaking singer of the year. In a disagreement about the category, she refused the award.
1991
That year, Celine was approached for recording of the closing song for an animated movie from Steven Spielberg, An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, but the song was never sung by Celine; it eventually was sung by Sheena Easton. Celine's team preferred then to choose Walt Disney and sing the title song to the movie "Beauty and the Beast" with Peabo Bryson over Spielberg (Steven Spielberg's company is a rival of Sony music).
On January 5th, Where does my heart beat now earned a position on the Billboard, where it stayed for 24 weeks, climbing up to the 4th position!, in the Hot 100 single and 35 weeks in the top 50 Hot adult contemporary.
She was invited to present an American Music Award.
On March 9th, she made her debut as a comedian in the tele-series Des fleurs sur la neige (Flowers on the snow) broadcasted by the SRC, in which she had the leading role.
She won awards as the female singer of the year and for the album of the year (Unison) at the Juno Awards gala held in Toronto. Celine was the first Quebecer to win these categories.
In the spring, at the 35th Grammys ceremony, she won with Peabo Bryson a Grammy Award for Beauty and the beast. She was also invited by Sony, along with other winners (among them was Michael Jackson), to a restaurant.
In April, the music tv station Musique Plus (in Quebec, much like MTV), produced a 3-hour special, one year after the Canadian launched of Unison.
Then Celine celebrated her 10 year career with a tour of Quebec and a show (recorded for television) at Montreal's Forum on June 19th.
She recorded with many other artists Voices that care a special song for the US troops during Gulf war.
In the fall, she launched an album dedicated to Luc Plamondon, author of the Starmania opera-rock. Four songs from Starmania are on that album, there are also 4 "old" songs of Plamondon and 4 new ones. The album is called Dion chante Plamondon in Quebec and Des mots qui sonnent in France.
In October she received another Felix and one special prize from L'Union des artistes (Artists guild).
On October 29th, she sang at the Art National Center in Ottawa (capital of Canada), in front of Prince Charles and Lady Diana.
On December 18th, she signed a contract worth 10 million dollars with Sony Music International, back then it was the biggest contract signed by a Canadian artist with that company. The contract was good for 5 albums within the 10 following years (it's now over with the release of "Falling into you", less than 5 years after the beginning of the contract).
1992
On May 14th, Celine received her first World Music Award, in Monte Carlo, as the female Canadian singer who was the best seller.
On March 29th, she received the Juno Award as the female singer of the year.
The day after, on her 24th birthday, Celine sang with Peabo Bryson the song Beauty and the Beast during the Oscar ceremony in Hollywood. The song won an Oscar that same night.
On March 31st, she launched her second album in English, Celine Dion, live at the Tonight Show, with the slogan "Remember the name because you'll never forget the voice".
During the summer, she did an American tour, as the opening act for Michael Bolton.
She received a gold record for her new album in the USA, it was her second gold record in just as many English albums! Later that album will be certified platinum (her first in USA), and the soundtrack of Beauty and the beast will also be platinum.
On July 1st, on Canada Day, she sang at the International Exhibition in Seville (Spain).
In the fall, she did a tour in Australia, in Europe and in Japan.
She participated in a special concert "For our childen", produced in Los Angeles (USA) by the Walt Disney corporation. Profits of that concert had been given to a pediatric foundation against AIDS.
L'ADISQ gave her 2 awards.
She recorded the soundtrack for Tycoon , the English adaptation of Starmania . She gave her voice for Ziggy and Tonight we dance.
The songs Love you blind and Cry just a little were also released this year.
1993
At the beginning of the year, she received the prize of Personality of the year (for 1992), in the Arts and entertainment category, by La Presse, a daily paper in Montreal.
On January 19th, she sang for the President of the United States Mr Bill Clinton, during his "Celebration for youth" investiture gala, at the Kennedy Center in Washington. She sang only one song, (Love can move mountains) and was personally congratulated by the First Lady of the USA (Mrs Hillary Clinton).
On January 27th, at the American Music Awards ceremony, she sang Beauty and the Beast with Peabo Bryson.
On February 2nd, she won with Peabo Bryson, at the 35th Grammy Awards ceremony, an award for Beauty and the Beast. She was invited by Sony at the restaurant after the ceremony with other artists, including Michael Jackson.
On March 20th, she received a special award from Billboard magazine (true bible of music). To commemorate her achievements around the world, the "Billboard International Creative Achievement Award".
The day after, she was crowned queen of the Juno Awards gala. Not only she brilliantly hosted the gala and she sang two songs but she also won 4 awards!
In September, the Disney corporation recorded a 90 minute tv special on Celine, at the Capitole (Quebec City). That special was broadcasted all over North America on the Disney Channel (with about 30 million viewers) in USA and in Canada by the CTV network on December 5th.
At the ADISQ gala, she received 2 more awards to mark her success in English and outside Quebec.
She recorded another duet, for the soundtrack of "Sleepless in Seattle", with Clive Griffen. It was the closing song, When I fall in love.
On November 8th, she launched The Colour of my Love album at the Metropolis (a bar in Montreal).
Sony distributed, in Europe only, a compilation of her first hits, under the title of Les premières annees (The first years).
In December, she recorded a Christmas special for the American NBC network. She sang The Christmas song (we can find this song on the "David Foster Christmas album"). Among the other participants in the special were Julio Iglesias, Natalie Cole and Johnny Mathis.
That year, there was also another duet, with Mario Pelchat, Plus haut que moi (higher than myself), on his album.
1994
At the beginning of the year, Celine began to promote the Hudson Bay company (The Bay), as she had just signed a $500,000 contract with the oldest company in the world. She already had been associated with Chrysler, Simpson's and Diet Coke.
On February 12th, she achieved with The Power of Love, the biggest success ever made by a Canadian artist, staying at #1 of the prestigious Billboard's Hot 100 Singles (all tendencies) for four weeks!. That was the 50th biggest hit of all time.
On February 22nd, she was invited by Michael, to join the tv special on the Jackson family, The Jackson family honors", recorded at the MGM Hotel of Las Vegas and broadcasted on the NBC network.
At the Juno awards, she received the award as the female singer of the year, for the fourth year in a row!
In September, during a series of sold-out shows at the Olympia (in Paris) they recorded, on the 28th and 29th, a second live album. It has been released at the end of the year, under the title Celine à l'Olympia (Celine at the Olympia).
At the ADISQ gala, she won the same award as she did earlier at the Juno's and two additional awards!
That year she recorded again another Christmas song. This time on the A very merry chipmunk, an album with Alvin and the chipmunks, where she sang Petit Papa Noël almost totally in French!
On November 24th, Celine received a diamond album to celebrate over one million copies of The colour of my love album in Canada. She was the first Quebecer to ever received one.
Celine also did two other collaborations that year: on the Kumbaya 1994 and Les enfoires au Grand Rex albums. On Kumbaya 1994 she sang a new song, Send me a lover (also available on the In Between Dances album, of which profits were given to research on breast cancer). On the Les enfoires au Grand Rex she did a live duet with Jean-Jacques Goldman, Là-bas.
1995
Celine received another World Music Award, in Monaco, again for being the best seller for a female Canadian singer.
At the Juno awards, the title of female singer of the year escaped her, but she received 2 other Junos for her The colour of my love album.
She released another album in French, D'eux . That album was written (lyrics and music) and produced by Jean-Jacques Goldman, a great French songwriter.
During the summer, the sales of that album are unbelievable, selling more than 57,000 copies a day in France! In only seven months, D'eux had become the best-selling French-speaking album in history! The records set by this album are VERY impressive: best-selling French-speaking album in Canada and in the world, best-selling album in France (no matter the language), first French-speaking album certified gold in UK, etc...
The huge success of that new album in France forced Sony to produce a new edition of Les premières annees (improved package), and two new compilations as well: Celine Dion Gold and Celine Dion Gold, vol. 2.
At the ADISQ gala, she received 3 awards, related to her latest album, D'eux.
1995 surely marks a record year for Celine. Sony said she was the first artist to be both a best seller in English (with The colour of my love) and in French (in Europe)!
In December, she had huge sales in Japan, this time with The colour of my love. That album was reedited there with the added song To love you more, musical theme of a popular tv drama in Japan, Koibito Yo (My dear lover).
At the end of the year, "Tapestry Revisited", a homage to Carole King was released. Celine sang You make me feel (like a natural woman) (that song was reused for some versions of her following English album, Falling into you).
1996
In its first publication of the year, the French magazine Gala nominates Celine Women of the year, as voted by its readers.
After spending the first two weeks of the year in her West Palm Beach (Florida, USA) house, Celine leaves for Europe... and then begins the awards give away (all desserved of course).
On january 22nd, Celine is made, by the French Minister of Culture, Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. The Minister said Celine was the best ambassador of the French language right now.
She also received a special Félix award for her whole career. The ADISQ president even went to Cannes to give the award to Celine.
Then she gave a few concerts (Marseille, Lyon, 3 nights to Bercy and 2 at Bruxelles), just to keep her voice in shape...
On february 12th, she received 2 Victoires awards (music awards from France), as French-speaking artist of the year and for the song of the year (Pour que tu m'aimes encore).
On february 23rd, she was back in the USA, where she did a private concert for Donald Trump.
At the Juno awards ceremoney, she won only one prize: best-selling French-speaking album in Canada (for the D'Eux album of course).
The first singles from Falling Into You were released on february 19th. In america and in Asia, it was Because you loved me, which is the theme song from the movie Up Close and Personal, with Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer (it's not on the movie soundtrack). Every where else in the world, the song Falling into you, was the first single.
The Falling into you album was released from march 8th to the 19th, everywhere on Earth. There was no official launching, the album was simply put on the shelves. It was among the best sellers in almost all the countries as soon as it was released. In France, it enters at second position, the first place was still occupied by D'Eux!
On march 14th, the song Because You Loved Me reaches the #1 spot on the Billboard's Hot 100 singles, on its 3rd week only!, and stayed there for 6 weeks. That song spent 16 weeks in the top 5! But most importantly, it became the biggest Adult Contemporary (A/C) hit of all times, it was on top for 19 weeks, smashing the previous record of 13 weeks belonging to Mariah Carey and Boz II Men with the song One Sweet Day. Because You Loved Me was the most played song in the USA (#1 in the Airplay chart) for 14 weeks!
From march 18th to april 1st, Celine gave 9 concerts in Australia and New Zealand, for the debut of her Falling Into You world tour.
On march 29th, at the 11th Irish Recorded Music Awards ceremony, she won the prize for best international singer.
On march 30th, the Falling Into You album enters the French Top 50. It enters at 2nd place, since the 1st one is still occupied by D'Eux. That album in addition to having outsold the Jackson's Thriller in France (which had the previous record 2.5M copies sold in France, D'eux sold more than 4M!) established another record... between april 1st 1995 and april 1st 1996, over a 52-week period, D'Eux was at the #1 spot for 44 weeks! The Falling Into You album was the one who kicked D'Eux off the top.
Celine stopped by Montreal to give 3 concerts in april.
Early may, she was at the World Music Awards ceremony, held in Monaco. She received the prize for the canadian artist who had sold the most albums in the world (for 1995).
Having been offered to be part of the Good Morning America show (a national morning program, on the USA on the ABC network), Rene has said something like: "Yes, with pleasure, but since you'll soon be in Quebec for your canadian week, we'll be on the show you'll make from Quebec City". And here came the huge team of Good Morning America, for the may 16th broadcast. They made their show live from the old Quebec City and Celine gave an interview on a balcony from the Chateau Frontenac, and also another one from a stand on the Dufferin terrasse.
From may 21st to june 23rd, Celine gave 22 concerts in Canada, and she was back in december for more extras in Montreal. During these june concerts in Montreal, they made some recordings for the All By Myself video.
In late may, release in England was the single for Because You Loved Me. As they do in UK, they released 2 versions of the single, but the second version immediately received LOTS of attention from fans. It features (in addition to the movie song) the huge British hit Think Twice, the huge Japonese hit To Love You More (first distribution outside Asia) and the song Sola Otra Vez. That last song is a spanish adaptation from All By Myself. With this song, Celine now has recorded in 4 different languages (French, German, English and Spanish - in that order).
Then she flew up to Prague to record the It's All Coming Back To Me Now video. The set is a magnigicient castle and Celine loved making this mini-movie of almost 9 minutes!
On july 19, she sings at the Opening ceremony of the Atlanta Olympic games. She sang The Power Of The Dream, a song written by David Foster, Linda Thompson and Babyface. She had rehearsed the day before in front of 85,000 voluntary workers invited for the occasion, then she sang in front of more than 100,000 people around her, in addition to over 3 and a half billion tv viewers from their homes! Celine said later it was the biggest moment in her career so far. Celine gave away the money she received for the occasion with a little extra (don't know how much exactly) to the canadian team, to support canadian athletes. We can find the song The Power Of The Dream on the single It's All Coming Back To Me Now releases..
On july 23rd, she began her US tour. These 25 concerts ended on august 29th, after she had visited 19 states. She had to postpone the last two concerts scheduled (Portland on august 31st and Seattle on september 1st) because she was sick, these concerts were re-scheduled for late march 1997. She suffered stomach problems caused by tiredness, stress and by eating not totally fresh food.
In august, Paul Anka's Amigos album was released. That album features Spanish adaptations of Anka's hits. These songs are sung in duet with various artists. Celine sings Mejor Decir Adios (It's Hard To Say Goodbye) in Spanish, while Anka sings the verses in English. It's a VERY good song.
On august 23rd and 24th, she gave 2 mini-concerts at the prestigious Ceasar's Palace casino. Rene and the Rock-Detente network (FM radio stations in Quebec) had set up a trip to Las Vegas, allowing 300 quebecers to attend one of these concerts. During one of these concerts, Celine recorded a song (Quand on n'a que l'amour) and a special message for a telethon to get money for the Saguenay people, victims of awful floodings last summer.
The song Send Me A Lover is released again on another benefit compilations. In august, it was released on the album The Power Of The Peace, to celebrate the 50 years of CARA, then in september it was released on the Women for Women 2 compilation, another album to get funds for the research on breast cancer. The song was used as a single (for radios only) to promote that album in the USA.
The For Our Children Too compilation was released in september. It's the sequel of the For Our Children album released in 1992, for the pediatrics AIDS foundation. The second album has 2 songs with Celine. First, the album opens on a wonderful bilingual version of Brahms Lullaby, sung by Celine. Then, at the very end, there's a very good song by David Foster, Love Lights The World, sung by Celine, Peabo Bryson and Color Me Badd.
In september , Celine's European tour began... 44 concerts from september 29th to november 29th, in addition there were also a few programs and interviews now and then. She had visited France, Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Switzerland and United Kingdom.
In late september, an important event happened in Celine's career. We learned that the Falling Into You album had reached the #1 spot on the prestigious Billboard's album chart for the next year (it was #1 for a total of 3 weeks in 1996). That was the first time a Celine album was on top of the Billboard.
In october, a third live album (2nd with Sony) was released: Live à Paris. That albums was recorded at the Zenith concert place.That album features mostly songs from the D'Eux album, the best-selling French-speaking album of all times. In addition to these wonderful songs, it also features the japonese hit To Love You More. A few weeks later, a videotape of these concerts was also made available, without To Love You More, even if a live video exists for this song. Finally, a single was issued, Les Derniers seront les premiers. It's the way Sony found to continue to promote (as a side effect) the D'Eux album.
On october 20th, at the La Presse (daily newspaper in Montreal, Quebec, Canada) excellence gala Celine was put aside by the jury members. They declared her out of competition, because she is too exceptional. Celine had won the title for "Personality of the year - Entertainment" once (in 1992), and she was never nominated "Personality of the year" (above all categories).
On november 1st, Celine wrote a new page in the record book of French music industry (a book that almost belongs to her): she became the very first artist to have 3 of her albums in the French Top 20! That week, Live à Paris entered the chart on top position (her 3rd #1 album in France this year), while Falling Into You (7 months after it entered the chart) was still at the 6th position and D'Eux was still in 16th position (a year and a half after its release)! 1, 6 and 16: a triple-crown for Celine!
Still on november 1st, Celine won a Bambi Awards, for "Best Pop International Artist". That prize was given by The Burda Company, one of the biggest editors (newspapers) in Germany. It was the first time Celine won a prize in that country. Celine was never a big seller in Germany, till very recently. In fact, the Falling Into You album is the first big hit for her. Since its release, that album was always in the Top 15 of the charts (its peak was the 5th position), that's exceptional!
On november 3rd, it's a totally Celine (and Rene) dominated ADISQ (Quebecer musical prizes) ceremony. First, let me remind you that the ADISQ gave Celine a special award in january. On the ceremony evening, Celine won 5 other awards. Of course, she won those almost especially created for her (and she won almost all of those since they were created): "Quebecer artist with the biggest success outside Quebec" and "Quebecer artist with the biggest success in a language other than French". In addition to those, she received the Felix award for "Album of the year - best seller" for the D'Eux album of course, "Concert of the year - singer" for the Quebecer leg of her world tour. and "Female singer of the year". Rene received the award for "Manager of the year" (his 5th time in the last 10 years), and a special homage award. Celine has already won 33 Felix awards so far.
On november 19th, Rene Angelil reached an agreement with Quebecor (Quebec's most important publisher) and Nathalie Jean so the unauthorized biography written by Mrs Jean, and which is already printed, won't be published. According to what we know from that agreement, Rene paid some 30,000 dollars to Mrs Jean for her work and Quebecor would had agreed to give their rights on the book to Rene in exchange for the promise to have the rights for printing and distributing the official biography. That biography is currently in the writing process by Georges-Hebert Germain (the husband of Francine Chaloult, who has been the press attache of Celine since she was 15 years). Mr Germain has written other biographies, including the one on Guy Lafleur (a famous hockey player). The official biography should be out next fall, for the next Montreal books fair and it will be translated in English for international distribution.
La soiree des Enfoires 96 was released and features, among other things, the song Quand on a que l'amour sung by Celine and Mauranne.
Early december, Celine is back on the American continent, and sings All By Myself at the Billboard Music Awards ceremony, where she won nothing, then she did the Tonight Show one more time.
On december 10th, Celine gave a private benefit concert, for the Quebecer Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
On december 17th, she's officially back in Montreal, on the day of their second wedding anniversary. And, as usual when she comes home, she gave a press conference (just before giving the first of 3 concerts in a row)... here are the most important points that came out of that press conference:
Sony announced the sale of 18 million copies of the Falling Into You album for Christmas worldwide, including 8 million in the USA. Celine of course received a diamond record for over one million copies sold in Canada of that same album. She was the first artist to get such a record for 2 consecutive (English-speaking) albums. She was NOT pregnant then, and she will tell us herself as soon as she would be. She's supposed to begin her year off on may 6th, after maybe a last concert in Montreal on may 5th. There would be 4 serious movie projects on the table: One of those is related to the huge French star Gerard Depardieu! The three others come from big american studios. Rene will go to Los Angeles in january to discuss these projects... Rene told us we will see Celine on the big screen in two years. All the big bosses from Sony USA (550 Music) and Sony International came to Montreal to present Celine greetings and plaques. Celine also won a special award from Radio France International (RFI), the "RFI/Conseil francophone de la chanson" award, for having been voted the prefered singer by the listeners of RFI, worldwide. Sony Canada announced that Celine now has an impressive total of 55 platinum records in Canada. That figure is obtained by counting all the platinum ones of course, but also the diamond ones (worth 10x platinum).
Finally, for Christmas, Celine and Rene showed their generosity once again. First, the couple went to Charlemagne (the home town of Celine) and bought Christmas baskets for poor people, and went delivering them themselves! Then Celine gave $100,000 (canadian dollars) to every member of her immediate family (parents and siblings), that makes only 14 of them, so only a $1,400,000! If you add to that a few other goodies and the toys for all her nieces and nephews, her Christmas gift list cost about 2 million Canadian dollars.
Finally, Celine was voted Artist of the year by VH-1 (USA video channel). She was the first to be nominated by popular votes.
1997
The year begins with another award, she receives for a 4th time the Radio Rock Détente award for contributing to the success of that FM radio network (in Quebec).
Celine is also selected as the Artist of the Year by VH-1, an important music video channel in the USA.
Another compilation of Celine's early songs in French is released: C'est pour vivre. This compilation features 6 songs never released in CD format before.
In February, Celine resumes her world tour with 10 concerts in Japan and one in Korea.
On February 23rd, Celine performs in a private concert for His Majesty Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji HASSANAL Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, the Sultan of Brunei, one of the richest people in the world. Every year, for the national holiday, the Sultan invites an international star for a "private" party, where the most famous people from Brunei are invited. A few years ago, the Sultan invited Michael Jackson, and paid him 10 million US dollars for a single concert. We don't know how much Celine received, but I would guess about 10 million.
On February 26, she wins the 2 most important Grammy Awards for her album Falling Into You: Album of the year and Pop album of the year.
On March 9th, she wins 4 more Juno Awards... Best Selling Francophone Album (for Live à Paris), Best Selling Album - Foreign or Domestic (for Falling Into You), Female Vocalist of the Year and International Achievement Award. This last prize was also given to two other Canadians who also dominated the music world: Shania Twain and Alanis Morrissette. With these 4 Juno Awards, Celine catches up to Bryan Adams at 15 awards... the second highest number, Anne Murray is the one with the most Juno Awards with 20.
The National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) holds its national convention in Orlando (FL, USA) and gives 3 awards to Celine: Best-selling Pop recording and Recording of the year awards, (for Falling Into You) in addition to Artist of the year.
From mid-March to late April, Celine tours the US again, visiting 17 cities.
On March 21st, she's on Oprah, with ALL her family (except her sister Claudette).
On March 24th, Celine becomes the first ever to perform twice on the same Oscar night. In addition to singing Because You Loved Me her smash hit single from the Up Close and Personal movie, she sang I Finally Found Someone from the movie The Mirror Has Two Faces (recorded by Barbra Streisand). Ms. Streisand prefered not to perform that night and Natalie Cole was scheduled to sing her song instead. Two days before the Oscar night, Natalie Cole fell ill and Celine was asked if she could do it. She gladly accepted. She was nervous to sing the song of her idol, especially in front of her, but she did an incredible job, Celine proved once again that the greater the pressure, the better she is. Unfortunatly, Babara Streisand had gone to the bathroom and missed Celine's performance.
A few days later, Barbra sends Celine flowers and a note: "I watched the tape afterwards, you sang my song beautifully and I regret I wasn't in the room to hear you, next time let's make one together. I really wish your song would have won, you are a wonderful singer.". That note wasn't left without an answer and Rene called up David Foster to write a song for Celine and Barbra... the result is Tell Him, featured on both Celine's and Barbra's albums to come.
In late March, we learn some information about Celine's new contract... We don't know the details, but we know that the signature bonus is around $100M (Canadian dollars apparently, so about US$75M), it was signed with Sony Music Canada. With this amount, it's without a doubt the biggest contract signed by a Canadian artist. We don't know the duration of the contract (usually in terms of a number of albums to do), but my guess would go for a 5 albums contract.
On April 17th, in Monaco, Celine is the BIG winning star of the World Music Awards ceremony. She wins 3 awards: Best-selling Canadian female singer, Best-selling artist (all categories altogether!) and Best-selling Pop artist. They announced sales of 25 million for 1996, it's the second year in a row Celine sells more than 20 million copies worldwide! During the ceremony, she sings Call the Man with a 30-voice gospel choir.
In early May, she gives 4 extra concerts in Montreal.
On May 21st, Celine does her acting debut on American TV as she appears on the sitcom The Nanny. It's not her first acting however. In 1991, she had the leading role in a mini-series in Quebec: Des Fleurs sur la neige. That mini-series was about the story of an abused child, who in turn begins to abuse her own child. A very hard role to play, but Celine did a good job.
On May 24th, Falling Into You falls off Billboard's top 10, after spending its 59 first consecutive weeks there. It's only the 18th album spending that much time in the top 10, ever! The drop happens 2 weeks after Sony Canada announced the exploitation of the album was over.
Another single, Call The Man is released is some countries, like Australia and England. But it clearly shows it's just a last breath before the album dies... there's not much effort made on the promotion: they used the cover already used for the US edition of All By Myself and they used the Je sais pas video and simply changed the soundtrack!
On May 25th, Rene's mother dies in the evening, at the age of 82.
In late May is a release of a "new" collection of early French songs in Europe: The Collection 1982-1988. I say "new" because it's in fact 2 existing collections that have been put in the same box. Those two CDs are Ne partez pas sans moi (same as Gold) and C'est pour vivre.
In June, Celine tours the biggest stadiums of Europe and sings before huge crowds ranging from 35,000 and 70,000 people to end her 16-month tour around our little planet, after more than 150 concerts on 4 continents.
In July, Celine begins learning golf with a professional golfer and her husband... Of course, she practices at their own golf club: Le Mirage (The Mirage).
On October 7th, "Tell Him" has its first runs on radio waves... This incredible duet is rejected however by non-Adult radio stations. Even if the song is a large Adult Contemporary hit, involving 2 of the best female voices ever, Sony won't release the single in the USA because it's not having a broad enough support to put the song on top of the charts. The song will have a huge success all over the world however, since it will be released all around the world, but USA.
On October 26, Celine is, once again, the big star of the ADISQ gala night. She wins 5 awards: Album of the year, best seller and Album of the year, Pop Rock (for "Live à Paris"), Quebecer artist with the most success outside Quebec, Quebecer artist with the most success in a language other than French and Female singer of the year. Rene leaves out with the award for Manager of the year.
In late October, the song Be The Man is released in Japan. This song is also used on Japanese TV, for a regular series, and there's something very special about that song... it's released in 2 versions: English and Japanese. Japanese is the 5th language in which Celine has recorded and Be The Man is the 12th song Celine has recorded in two languages.
During the fall, many books on Celine were released all around the world. A total of 6 books on Celine were released this fall alone! 4 in French and 2 in English. There's a LARGE difference in seriousness and quality among these books. Half of those books are barely worth the paper they're printed on, the rest are good, but not extraordinary, not even the authorized one, written by Georges-Hébert Germain. None of these should be used as an absolute reference on Celine.
On November 16, the 5th English album of Celine is released: Let's Talk About Love. Before it was even released, Sony announced they had orders for 10M copies worldwide! This is THE most expected album of the fall, all around the world. The sales skyrocketed right at the beginning, and the album quickly tops the charts all around the world, smashing sales records in Canada and other countries. After only 3 weeks in Canada, it's been certified diamond (1,000,000 copies!), and had sold more in Canada than in the USA (a market 10 times bigger!).
On November 18, she's on the Rosie O'Donnell Show. An interesting show... Celine and Rosie talked about Barbra Streisand, who will be Rosie's guest a few days later, and of course about Celine's new album. The day after, Celine appears on Good Morning America.
On November 20th, Celine wins the Amigo Award (in Spain) for the Best international female artist.
On December 1st, Celine sings in London during the ceremonies for the 50th wedding anniversary of Queen Elisabeth II.
On December 19th, the movie Titanic is released and begins to be a huge success. The love theme of that movie, My Heart Will Go on, sung by Celine, is also a huge success all around the globe.
1997 was supposed to be a year off for Celine...
1998
Once again, the year begins by a whirlwind of awards for Celine...
The first is a Golden Globe Award... On January 18th, the song My Heart Will Go On, which is the love theme of the hit movie Titanic, wins the award for Best original song for a drama.
Then, on January 26th, Celine wins her first American Music Award, for Best female Pop/Rock artist.
Another distinction for My Heart Will Go On happens a few days later (January 29th), as the song has shattered the all-time record for the largest radio audience, it was heard by 105,577,700 listeners during the week ending January 27. The previous record was for Donna Lewis' I Love you Always Forever with 101 million, in May 1996. Two weeks later, My Heart Will Go On shatters its own record with 117 million listeners. Let's also remember the 3rd most played song is another Celine song: Because You Loved Me.
On February 25th, Celine sings My Heart Will Go On at the Grammy's. She was supposed to sing Tell Him with Barbra Streisand, but Ms Streisand was sick and didn't attend the ceremony. Celine doesn't win anything this year... but watch out next year.
On March 23rd, Celine sings My Heart Will Go On at the Oscar Night, it's her 3rd presence at the Oscar Night, singing for the 4th time. The song wins the Oscar for Best Original Song. It's the second time a song performed by Celine wins an Oscar, two out of 4, that's an excellent score establishing Celine as a great performer for movie themes.
My Heart Will Go On sets record after record, it can now be considered Celine's biggest hit. Even if it didn't beat the 6 weeks at the top of the Billboard charts of Because You Loved Me, it was on top only for 2 weeks, it's dominating the charts ALL over the world, becoming the first worldwide success for Celine. In the past, Celine has been #1 all over the world, but with different songs in different parts of the world. This is a HUGE success... not only the song is #1 all around the globe, but it's also pulling BOTH the soundtrack and the album keeping them both on top of the charts. It even became the first English song to ever top the Billboard's Latin chart!
Celine contributed to 3 other albums early this year... She first recorded Happy To Meet You for the Elmapalooza CD released to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Sesame Street. It's a funny, colorful song. She also recorded Here, There and Everywhere, a song from the Beatles, for the compilation album My Life of Sir George Martin. The song is very good and, according to many people, it's the best track of the album. Celine also recorded The Prayer for the soundtrack of Quest For Camelot, an animated movie.
Other contributions of Celine include a 30 seconds TV ad for the Callaway golf clubs and she teamed with Morley Candy Makers and the NARAS foundation to sell chocolates. Those chocolates are in shapes of hearts and music notes. The 14 oz box cover is made of the cover of the Let's Talk About Love.
Another compilation of Celine early songs have been released in Europe: C'est pour toi. Yes, the title sounds familiar... it's the same title as an original album released in 1985. The 1998 version of the album is in fact a short version of the double-CD The Collection 1982-1988. Anything for Budde Music to make money with the old catalog of Celine.
On April 5th, Celine gives the last concert of her Falling Into You tour. Since the tour began on March 18th, 1996 she gave 164 concerts in 17 countries, on 4 continents.
On April 30th, Celine is bestowed with the title of Officer of the Order of Quebec. The day after, on May 1st, she received the same distinction from the Order of Canada. Those are the two highest civil distinctions that can be presented to someone. In both, there is still a highest grade in the Order... in Quebec that superior grade is named "Grand Officer" and in Canada it's "Companion". Celine will probably be promoted to the highest grades once she retires, she is still pretty young.
On August 11th, the first single (Zora sourit) of the upcoming French album is released. Playing a lot on radios both in Quebec and in France, it quenches a bit of the thirst for new French songs, while waiting for the album. But the CD single will be released only after the album is out.
On August 21st, in Boston (MA, USA), begins the Let's Talk About Love tour. Celine will tour until late Dec 31, 1999. It's a HUGE tour, in large concert places. The stage is central (first time for Celine) and it's a multi-media heart-shaped stage, with the floor being a huge TV screen covered with millions of pixels.
On September 8th, S'il suffisait d'aimer is released. It's the second album with Jean-Jacques Goldman. This album features Celine singing an engaged song in Zora sourit and a great blues in Tous les blues sont écrits pour toi in addition to great ballads. In their first collaboration Goldman wrote songs for Celine, this time he wrote more in his own style, while letting Celine sing her own unique way, like she has been singing for a long time. Most of the arrangements on that album are simple to let Celine's voice dominate the songs.
Celine did more collaborations this fall. The first one is another duet with Paul Anka, on his Body of Work album. They sing It's Hard to Say Goodbye again, but this time only in English, after their bilingual (English/Spanish) duo from 1996. Celine also sang earlier this year with the Bee Gees and with Luciano Pavarotti, those participations were recorded and then released this fall. Celine sings Immortality with the Bee Gees on the One Night Only CD and I Hate You then I Love You with Luciano Paravotti on Pavarotti and Friends for the children of Liberia. The Bee Gees concert was also put on video. Finally, Celine met with other divas (Gloria Estefan, Aretha Franklin, Shania Twain and Mariah Carey) for a benefit concert named "VH-1 Divas Live", from which was recorded both a CD and a videotape. On this occasion, Celine sings River Deep, Mountain High and My Heart Will Go On on her own and The Reason, You've Got a Friend, A Natural Woman and Testimony with others.
On November 1st, Celine co-hosts the ADISQ ceremony (the Felix Awards). She does a great job. She doesn't win any award however... but René wins the award for Impresario de l'année (Manager of the Year), once again. He has won that award 9 times since 1987.
A few days later another CD is already released... These are Special Times, Celine's first Christmas album in English. She already made 2 in French, in 1981 and 1983, and she also made Christmas songs with the Chipmunks and for the Christmas album of David Foster. That album features great duets with Andrea Bocelli and R. Kelly and 2 songs with Celine's whole family. On this album, Celine sings in English, French, Spanish, Latin, and Italian! That album is a good mix between traditional songs and more recent ones.
Celine plays her own role in the 100th episode of Touched by an Angel, making her second appearance in a US series (after The Nanny, 2 years ago). On November 25th, a one-hour special dedicated to Celine's Christmas album is broadcasted all across US. It's her first US special.
The official biography is released in Europe (in French) in early fall and the Canadian English copy is released in November. A tiny, condensed, version of the official biography is sold through the Avon network. Many other books were released on Celine this year, all over the world, in many many languages.
Celine and Rene announce they will take a break after January 1st, 2000. They are preparing a great goodbye show to take place in Montreal, on December 31st, 1999. Celine will be on stage at the turning of the millinium, ending a night of special celebrations with a big band, etc... They are extremely dedicated to be in Montreal on that special occasion, and they turned down many impressive offers to sing in Las Vegas and in New York City on that night, but the show might be broadcasted in other cities of the world by satellite on huge screens.
Yes, Celine and Rene will take a break. The duration of that break is unknown, even they have no idea how long it will be. They say it will be at least 2 years, maybe 3 or 5. But even if that breaks out the hearts of her fans, they have to realize it's a common thing for top-level stars like Celine to take a few years break. That doesn't mean Celine will never come back. Celine and Rene want to do more things, like a movie, upon their return. I doubt Celine will be able to stay more than 2 years outside showbisness. Next orignal album from Celine will probably be around year 2003.
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