1968–1989: Early life and career beginnings On 30 March 1968, Dion was born in
Charlemagne, Quebec, northeast of Montreal, the youngest of 14 children of
Thérèse (, 1927–2020), a homemaker, and Adhémar Dion (1923–2003), a butcher, both of
French Canadian heritage. Dion grew up wearing hand-me-downs and sharing a bed with several sisters. As a baby, she slept in a drawer instead of a crib to save money. She was bullied at school and called "Vampire" due to her teeth and skinny frame. Dion was raised
Roman Catholic in a poor but, by her own account, happy home in Charlemagne. Music had always been a major part of the Dion family, and she was named after the song "
Céline", which French singer
Hugues Aufray had recorded two years before her birth. On 13 August 1973, she performed publicly for the first time at her brother Michel's wedding, singing
Christine Charbonneau's "Du fil, des aiguilles et du coton". She continued to perform with her siblings in her parents' small
piano bar called
Le Vieux Baril, "The Old Barrel". She suffered a number of accidents as a young child, including an incident at five years old when she was struck by a car as her father and brother Clément looked on. She was hospitalized briefly with a concussion. From an early age, she had dreamed of being a performer. In a 1994 interview with
People, she recalled, "I missed my family and my home, but I don't regret having lost my adolescence. I had one dream: I wanted to be a singer." As a child in Quebec, Dion participated in Girl Guide programs as a member of
Girl Guides of Canada. At age 12, she collaborated with her mother and her brother Jacques to write and compose her first song, "
Ce n'était qu'un rêve", whose title translates as "It Was Only a Dream" or "Nothing But A Dream". Michel sent the recording to music manager
René Angélil, whose name he discovered on the back of a
Ginette Reno album. Angélil was moved to tears by Dion's voice and decided to make her a star. Further success came when she represented
Switzerland in the
1988 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "
Ne partez pas sans moi" and won the contest by a close margin in
Dublin. At age 18, after seeing a
Michael Jackson performance, Dion told Angélil she wanted to be a star like Jackson. Though confident in her talent, Angélil realized her image needed to be changed for her to be marketed worldwide. In 1989, during a concert on the
Incognito tournée, she injured her voice. She consulted the
otorhinolaryngologist William Gould, who gave her an ultimatum: have immediate surgery on her
vocal cords or do not utilize them at all for three weeks.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of
AllMusic declared it "a fine, sophisticated American debut". Singles from the album included "
(If There Was) Any Other Way", "
The Last to Know", "
Unison", and "
Where Does My Heart Beat Now", a mid-tempo soft-rock ballad made prominent use of the electric guitar. The latter became her first top-ten hit on the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number four. In 1991, Dion was a featured soloist on "
Voices That Care", a tribute to American troops fighting in
Operation Desert Storm. Her real international breakthrough came when she
duetted with
Peabo Bryson on the
title track to
Disney's animated film
Beauty and the Beast (1991). It became her first top-ten hit in the UK and her second top-ten hit in the US. The song earned its songwriters an
Academy Award for
Best Song and gave Dion her first
Grammy Award for
Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. By 1992,
Unison,
Celine Dion, and numerous high-profile media appearances had propelled Dion to superstardom in North America. She had achieved one of her main objectives: wedging her way into the Anglophone market and achieving fame. However, while she was experiencing rising success in the U.S., her French fans in Canada criticized her for neglecting them. She would later rebuff these criticisms at the 1991
Félix Awards show, where, after winning "English Artist of the Year", she openly declined the award. She asserted she was—and would always be—a French, not an English, artist. Indeed, she speaks English with a noticeable
Quebec French accent to this day. Apart from her commercial success, there were also changes in her personal life, as Angélil, who was 26 years her senior, transitioned from manager to lover. However, the relationship was kept a secret as they both feared the public would find it inappropriate.
1993–1995: The Colour of My Love and ''D'eux'' In 1993, Dion announced her feelings for her manager by declaring him "the colour of [her] love" in the dedication section of her third English-language album
The Colour of My Love. However, instead of criticizing their relationship as she had feared, fans embraced the couple. As with most of her catalogue,
The Colour of My Love had overarching themes of love and romance. It became her most successful record up to point, selling more than six million copies in the US, two million in Canada, and peaking at No. 1 in many countries. The album also spawned Dion's first US, Canadian, and Australian No. 1 single "
The Power of Love" (a remake of
Jennifer Rush's 1985 hit), which would become her
signature hit in various nations until she reached new career heights in the late 1990s. while its parent album was certified five-times platinum for two million copies sold. Dion kept to her French roots and continued to release many Francophone recordings between each English record. Generally, they achieved more credibility than her English-language works. The single reached the top ten in the UK and Ireland, a rare accomplishment for a French song. "Je sais pas", the second single off the album, reached No. 1 on the French Singles Chart as well and was certified Silver there. During the mid-1990s and onward, Dion's albums were generally constructed on the basis of melodramatic soft rock ballads, with sprinklings of up-tempo pop and rare forays into other genres. She collaborated with writers and producers such as
Jim Steinman and David Foster, who helped her to develop a signature sound. While critical reviews fluctuated, her releases performed increasingly well on the international charts, and in 1996, she won the
World Music Award for "World's Best-selling Female Recording Artist of the Year" for the third time. By the mid-1990s, she had established herself as one of the
best-selling artists in the world.
1996–1999: Falling into You, ''Let's Talk About Love, and S'il suffisait d'aimer'' In the five years since her debut English language album in 1990,
Billboard stated she had already sold 40 million albums worldwide.
Falling into You (1996), Dion's fourth English-language album, presented Dion at the height of her popularity and showed a further progression of her music. The singles encompassed a variety of musical styles. The title track "
Falling into You" and "
River Deep – Mountain High" (a
Tina Turner cover) made prominent use of percussion instruments; "
It's All Coming Back to Me Now" (produced by its writer, Jim Steinman) and a remake of
Eric Carmen's "
All by Myself" maintained a soft-rock atmosphere, combined with the classical sound of the piano; and the No. 1 single "
Because You Loved Me", which was written by Diane Warren, was a pop ballad served as the theme to the 1996 film
Up Close and Personal. with Stephen Holden of
The New York Times and Natalie Nichols of the
Los Angeles Times writing the album was "formulaic", other critics, such as Chuck Eddy of
Entertainment Weekly, Stephen Thomas Erlewine, and Daniel Durchholz, lavished the album as "compelling", "passionate", "stylish", "elegant", and "remarkably well-crafted".
Falling into You became Dion's most critically and commercially successful album, topping the charts in many countries and becoming one of the best-selling albums. In 2013,
CBC Music ranked
Falling into You 33rd in their list of the 100 greatest Canadian albums ever. In the United States, the album reached No. 1, and was later certified 12× Platinum for over 12 million copies shipped. In Canada, the album was certified diamond for over one million copies shipped. The
IFPI certified
Falling into You 9× Platinum, an accolade has been given to only two other albums, with one of the two being Dion's own album, ''
Let's Talk About Love''. The album also won
Grammy Awards for
Best Pop Album and the academy's highest honour,
Album of the Year. In March 1996, she launched the
Falling into You Tour in support of her new album, performing concerts around the world for over a year. In July 1996, she performed "
The Power of the Dream" at the
1996 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. '', 1998 She followed
Falling into You with ''
Let's Talk About Love'' (1997), which was publicized as its sequel. The recording process took place in London, New York City, and Los Angeles, and featured a host of special guests, such as
Barbra Streisand on "
Tell Him"; the
Bee Gees on "
Immortality"; and
tenor Luciano Pavarotti on "
I Hate You Then I Love You". Other musicians included
Carole King,
George Martin,
Bryan Adams and Jamaican singer
Diana King, who added a
reggae tinge to "
Treat Her Like a Lady". ''Let's Talk About Love'' was another major success, reaching No. 1 all over the world, attaining platinum status in twenty-four sales territories, and becoming the fastest selling album of her career. In the United States, the album topped the chart in its seventh week of release, and was later certified 11× Platinum in the U.S. for over 11 million copies shipped. In Canada, the album sold 230,212 copies in its first week of release, which remains a record. It was eventually certified diamond in Canada for over one million copies shipped. The most successful single from the album was the classically influenced ballad "
My Heart Will Go On", which was written and composed by
James Horner and
Will Jennings, and produced by Horner and
Walter Afanasieff. Horner and Jennings won the
Academy Award and
Golden Globe for
Best Original Song, while Dion herself garnered two Grammy Awards for
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and the most coveted,
Record of the Year, (the song itself won four awards, but two were presented to the songwriters). "My Heart Will Go On" and "Think Twice" made her the only female artist in the UK to have two singles to sell more than a million copies. In support of her album, she embarked on the
Let's Talk About Love Tour between 1998 and 1999. Dion ended the 1990s with three more extremely successful albums: the
Christmas album These Are Special Times (1998), the French-language album, ''
S'il suffisait d'aimer, and the compilation album All the Way... A Decade of Song (1999). On These Are Special Times'', she co-wrote the song "Don't Save It All for Christmas Day" along with
Ric Wake and Peter Zizzo. The album was her most classically influenced yet, with orchestral arrangements found on virtually every track. The album featured the single "
I'm Your Angel" (a duet with
R. Kelly), which became her fourth US No. 1 single, and a smash hit across the world. The album's second single "
The Prayer" (a duet with
Andrea Bocelli) served as the soundtrack of the 1998 film
Quest for Camelot and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.
All the Way... A Decade of Song drew together her most successful hits coupled with seven new songs, including the lead-off single "
That's the Way It Is", a cover of
Roberta Flack's "
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", and "
All the Way", a duet with
Frank Sinatra. It also topped the charts in the UK, Canada, and Australia. Her last French-language studio album of the 1990s, ''S'il suffisait d'aimer'', was very successful as well, topping the charts in every major French-speaking country, including France, Switzerland, the Wallonia region of Belgium, and Canada. By the end of the 1990s, Dion had sold more than 130 million records worldwide, and had won a slew of industry awards. Her status as one of the music industry's biggest pop divas was further solidified when she was asked to perform on
VH1's
Divas Live special in 1998, with superstars
Aretha Franklin,
Gloria Estefan,
Shania Twain, and
Mariah Carey. That year, she also received two of the highest Canadian honours: "Officer of the
Order of Canada for Outstanding Contribution to the World of Contemporary Music" Starting from the mid-1990s, the
pop rock influence more noticeable in her earlier releases was replaced by a more mature feel. Other critics, like Elysa Gardner and Jose F. Promis, praised her voice during this period, describing it as a "technical marvel". Steve Dollar, in his review of
These Are Special Times, opined Dion was a "vocal Olympian for whom there ain't no mountain—or scale—high enough".
2000–2003: Hiatus, A New Day Has Come, One Heart, and 1 fille & 4 types After releasing and promoting thirteen albums during the 1990s, Dion stated she needed to settle down, and announced on her latest album
All the Way... A Decade of Song, she needed to take a step back from the spotlight and enjoy life. Angélil's diagnosis with
esophageal cancer also prompted her to hiatus. While on break, she was unable to escape the spotlight. In 2000, the
National Enquirer published a false story about Dion. Brandishing a picture of Dion and her husband, the magazine misquoted her, printing the headline, "Celine — 'I'm Pregnant With Twins!'" She sued the magazine for more than $20million. The editors printed an apology and a full retraction in the next issue, and donated money to the
American Cancer Society in honour of her and her husband. A year after the incident, after undergoing fertility treatments, she gave birth to a son, René-Charles Dion Angélil, on 25 January 2001, in Florida. Following the
11 September attacks, Dion returned to the music scene, and in a televised performance sang "
God Bless America" at the benefit concert
America: A Tribute to Heroes. Chuck Taylor of
Billboard wrote, "the performance ... brings to mind what has made her one of the celebrated vocalists of our time: the ability to render emotion that shakes the soul. Affecting, meaningful, and filled with grace, this is a musical reflection to share with all of us still searching for ways to cope." She performed it again in 2003 during pregame festivities for
Super Bowl XXXVII in
Qualcomm Stadium. In December 2001, she published her autobiography,
My Story, My Dream, which chronicled her rags-to-riches story. Dion ended her three-year sabbatical from the music industry with the aptly titled album
A New Day Has Come, released in March 2002. The album was her most personal yet, with songs focusing on her motherhood and maturation as a woman such as "
A New Day Has Come", and "
Goodbye's (The Saddest Word)". She stated: "Becoming a mother makes you a grown-up."
A New Day Has Come debuted at No. 1 in more than 17 countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada. In the United States, the album debuted at No. 1 on the
Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 527,000 copies; marking her first No. 1 debut on the chart, as well as the highest debut sales week of her career in the U.S. It was eventually certified 3× Platinum in the United States, and 6× Platinum in Canada. While the album was commercially successful, critical reviews suggested it was "forgettable" and the lyrics were "lifeless". Both Rob Sheffield of
Rolling Stone, and Ken Tucker of
Entertainment Weekly, stated Dion's music had not developed much during her break, and classed her material as trite and mediocre. Sal Cinquemani of
Slant Magazine called the album "a lengthy collection of drippy, gooey pop fluffer-nutter". The first single off the album,
A New Day Has Come peaked at No.22 on the
Billboard Hot 100 charts, being an airplay-only release. On the
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks, however, the song spent 21 consecutive weeks at No. 1, breaking the record for the longest span at the top. The previous record holders were
Phil Collins' ''
You'll Be in My Heart'' and Dion's own
Because You Loved Me, both of which lasted nineteen weeks at No. 1. The album's next single, "
I'm Alive", was featured on the soundtrack for
Stuart Little 2 (2002), and was ranked number 2 on the
European Hot 100 Singles, and number 6 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks in the United States. During 2002, she performed for many benefit concerts, including her second appearance on VH1 Divas Live, a concert to benefit the VH1 Save The Music Foundation, alongside
Cher,
Anastacia,
Dixie Chicks,
Mary J. Blige,
Whitney Houston,
Cyndi Lauper,
Shakira, and
Stevie Nicks. In conjunction with an endorsement deal with
Chrysler, she released
One Heart (2003), an album representing her appreciation for life. The album largely consisted of pop and dance music—a deviation from the soaring, melodramatic ballads, for which she had been known. Although the album achieved moderate success,
One Heart was met with mixed criticism, and words such as "predictable" and "banal" appeared even in the most lenient reviews. A cover of the 1989 Cyndi Lauper hit "
I Drove All Night", released to launch her advertising campaign with Chrysler, incorporated elements of dance-pop and rock and roll. The advertising deal was met with criticism, with some stating Dion was trying to cater to her sponsors. After
One Heart, she released her next English-language studio album,
Miracle (2004).
Miracle was a multimedia project conceived by Dion and Australian photographer
Anne Geddes and had a theme centring on babies and motherhood. The album was filled with lullabies and other songs of maternal love and inspiration, including covers of
Louis Armstrong's "
What a Wonderful World" and
John Lennon's "
Beautiful Boy". The reviews for
Miracle were mixed. Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the album three of out five stars, stating, "The worst you can say about the record is that there are no surprises, but the audience for this record doesn't want surprises; they want comfort, whether it arrives in polished music or artsy photos of newborns, and Miracle provides both, which makes it appealing for those expectant or new mothers in Dion's audience." Chuck Arnold of
People, however, labelled the album as excessively sentimental, while Nancy Miller of
Entertainment Weekly opined that "the whole earth-mama act is just opportunism, reborn".
Miracle debuted at No. 4 on the
Billboard 200 chart and No. 1 in Canada and was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA. The francophone album (
1 Girl & 4 Guys), released in October 2003, fared better than her previous two releases and showed her trying to distance herself from the "diva" image. She recruited Jean-Jacques Goldman,
Gildas Arzel, Eric Benzi, and Jacques Veneruso, with whom she had previously worked on two of her best-selling French albums ''
S'il suffisait d'aimer and D'eux''. Labeled "the album of pleasure" by Dion herself, the album cover showed her in a simple and relaxed manner, contrary to the choreographed poses usually found on her album covers. The album achieved widespread commercial success in France, Canada, and Belgium where it reached No. 1. In France, the album debuted at No. 1 and was later certified 2× platinum after selling over 700,000 copies. Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote Dion's vocals were "back at top of their game" and she was "getting back to pop basics and performing at a level unheard in a while". Though her albums were commercially successful, they did not achieve the sales or the reception of her previous works. Her songs received less airplay as radio became less embracing of balladeers like Dion, Carey, and Houston, and was focused on more up-tempo,
urban/
hip-hop songs. By 2004, Dion had accumulated sales of more than 175 million albums worldwide and received the Chopard Diamond Award from the World Music Awards for her achievements. According to the official World Music Awards website, the award is rare; it is "not presented every year" and an artist can be presented with the award only for selling "over 100 million albums during their career".
2003–2007: A New Day... residency In early 2002, Dion announced a three-year, 600-show contract to appear five nights a week in an entertainment extravaganza,
A New Day..., at
the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. This move was generally seen as risky, but journalist Miriam Nunzio wrote it was "one of the smartest business decisions in years by any major recording artist". Dion conceived the show after seeing
O by
Franco Dragone during her break from recording, and it premiered on 25 March 2003, in a 4,000-seat arena specifically designed for her show and modelled after the Roman Colosseum. The show, directed by Dragone and choreographed by
Mia Michaels, was a combination of dance, music, and visual effects. It included Dion performing her biggest hits against an array of dancers and special effects. Reviewer Mike Weatherford felt that, at first, Dion was not as relaxed as she should be, and at times, it was hard to find her among the excessive stage ornamentation and dancers. However, he noted the show had become more enjoyable over the course of its run, because of her improved stage-presence and simplified costumes. Ticket prices averaged US $135.33. According to
Pollstar, Dion sold 322,000 tickets and grossed US $43.9 million in the first half of 2005, and by July 2005, she had sold out 315 out of 384 shows. By the end of 2005, she grossed more than US $76 million, placing sixth on ''Billboard's Money Makers list for 2005''. Because of the show's success, her contract was extended into 2007 for an undisclosed sum. On 5 January 2007, it was announced the show would end on 15 December 2007, with tickets for the period after October 2007 having gone on sale from 1 March. According to
Billboard, A New Day... is the most successful residency, grossing over US$385 million ($ million in dollars) and drawing nearly three million people to 717 shows. The
Live in Las Vegas: A New Day... DVD was released on 10 December 2007, in Europe and the following day in North America.
2007–2010: ''D'elles, Taking Chances'', and Taking Chances Tour On 21 May 2007, Dion released the French-language album ''
D'elles (About Them)
, which debuted at the top of the Canadian album charts, selling 72,200 copies in its first week. It marked her tenth No. 1 album in the SoundScan era, and her eighth debut at the top position. In Canada, the album has been certified 2× platinum, and within the first month had already shipped half a million units worldwide. D'Elles'' also reached No. 1 in France and Belgium. The first single "
Et s'il n'en restait qu'une (je serais celle-là)" (meaning "And If There Was Only One Woman Left (I Would Be That One)") debuted at the top of the French singles chart a month earlier. Later in same year, she released the English album
Taking Chances on 12 November in Europe, and 13 November in North America. Her first English studio album since 2003's
One Heart, it featured pop, R&B, and rock inspired music. For this album, she collaborated with
John Shanks and ex-
Evanescence guitarist
Ben Moody, as well as
Kristian Lundin,
Peer Åström,
Linda Perry, Japanese singer
Yuna Ito, and R&B singer and songwriter
Ne-Yo. Dion stated, "I think this album represents a positive evolution in my career ... I'm feeling strong, maybe a little gutsier than in the past, and just as passionate about music and life as I ever was." She launched her year-long global
Taking Chances Tour on 14 February 2008 in South Africa, performing 132 dates in stadiums and arenas across 5 continents. The Taking Chances Tour was a great success in the United States, reaching the No. 1 spot on the
Billboard Boxscore, having sold out every concert in the U.S. and Canada. In addition, she appeared on
Idol Gives Back for a second year in a row. Dion was nominated for six
Juno Awards in 2008, adding to her 53 previous nominations (an all-time record). Her nominations included Artist of the Year, Pop Album of the Year (for
Taking Chances), Francophone Album of the Year (for ''D'elles
) and Album of the Year (for both Taking Chances
and D'elles
). The following year, she was nominated for 3 Juno Awards including the Fan Choice Award, Song of the Year (for "Taking Chances"), and Music DVD of the Year (for Live in Las Vegas: A New Day...'') " during her
Taking Chances Tour in Montreal in August 2008 On 22 August 2008, Dion presented a free outdoor concert, mostly in French, on the
Plains of Abraham, for the
400th anniversary of Quebec City. The celebration gathered approximately 490,000 people. The concert, called
Céline sur les Plaines, was released on DVD on 11 November 2008, in Quebec and was released on 20 May 2009, in France. Late October 2008 saw the worldwide release of a comprehensive English-language greatest hits album,
My Love: Essential Collection. In May 2009, Dion was named the 20th best-selling artist of the decade and the second-best-selling female artist of the decade in the United States, selling an estimated 17.57 million copies of her albums there since 2000. In June 2009,
Forbes reported she earned $100 million during 2008. In December 2009, Pollstar announced she was the
highest-grossing solo live music act in North America of the decade, second overall behind only the
Dave Matthews Band. She grossed $522.2 million during the decade, a large portion of the sum coming from her five-year residency at Caesars Palace. The largest haul came from ticket sales, totalling $522.2 million. A public
online survey asked responders to vote for whom they believe deserved the above-mentioned accolade. The documentary shows behind-the-scenes footage of her both onstage and offstage, along with footage of her with her family as they travelled the world with her. The distributor is the
Sony Pictures subsidiary,
Hot Ticket. At the
52nd Grammy Awards in February 2010, Dion joined
Carrie Underwood,
Usher,
Jennifer Hudson, and
Smokey Robinson to perform the song "
Earth Song" during the 3-D Michael Jackson tribute. Furthermore, in a May 2010
Harris Poll, Dion was named the most popular musician in the United States, ahead of
U2,
Elvis Presley, and
The Beatles while factoring in gender, political affiliations, geographic region of residence, and income. Specifically, she was the most popular musician in the female demographic, as well as among all Democrats, those who live in the eastern United States and southern United States, and those who have incomes between US$35k and US$74.9k. In September 2010, she released the single "
Voler", a duet with French singer
Michel Sardou. The song was later included on Sardou's album. In addition, it was announced in October 2010 that Dion wrote and composed a new song for Canadian singer
Marc Dupré; this song is entitled "Entre deux mondes".
2011–2014: Celine, Sans attendre, and Loved Me Back to Life In an interview with
People published in February 2010, Dion announced she would be returning to Caesars Palace for
Celine, a three-year residency for seventy shows a year, beginning 15 March 2011. She stated the show will feature, "all the songs from my repertoire people want to hear" and will contain a selection of music from classic Hollywood films. In 2018,
Billboard stated her residency
Celine is the second most successful residency. By the end of 2011, Dion has sold 331,000 albums (despite not releasing any studio album since 2007) and 956,000 digital tracks in the United States. For a record sixth time, she performed at the
83rd Academy Awards, where she sang the song "Smile", as part of the ceremony's "In Memoriam" segment. On 4 September, she appeared on the 2011 MDA Labor Telethon Event and presented a prerecorded performance of "
Open Arms" from her new Las Vegas show. On 1 October 2011, the OWN Network premiered a documentary on Dion's life, detailing the months before, during and after her pregnancy, to the makings of her new Las Vegas Show, called, "Celine: 3 Boys and a New Show". The documentary became the second highest rated show on TV OWN Canada. In October, FlightNetwork.com conducted a poll asking 780 participants which celebrity they would most like to sit next to on an airplane. Dion was the top favourite, with 23.7% of the vote. Also, in September, she released the 14th perfume from her
Celine Dion Parfums Collection, called "Signature". On 15 September, she made an appearance at the
free concert of Andrea Bocelli in Central Park. In 2012, she performed at the 16th Jazz and Blues Festival in Jamaica. In October 2012, Sony Music Entertainment released
The Best of Celine Dion & David Foster in Asia. She began recording songs for her next English and French albums during April and May 2012. The French-language album,
Sans attendre was released on 2 November 2012, and was a smash success in all French-speaking territories, especially in France where it achieved diamond status. The English-language album was postponed to 1 November 2013. Titled
Loved Me Back to Life, it included collaborations with an exceptional team of songwriters and producers, including duets with
Ne-Yo and
Stevie Wonder. The lead single, "
Loved Me Back to Life" was released on 3 September 2013. Dion embarked on the
Sans attendre Tour in November 2013 and performed in Belgium and France. "
Breakaway", "
Incredible" and "
Water and a Flame" were chosen as next singles. In June 2013, Dion co-produced the show titled "
Voices" by
Véronic DiCaire at Bally's Hotel & Casino's Jubilee Theatre and was presented 145 times up until 2015.
2014–2021: Husband's death, Encore un soir, Courage, and return to Vegas On 13 August 2014, Dion announced the indefinite postponement of all her show business activities, including her concert residency at Caesars Palace, and the cancellation of her
Asia Tour, because of the worsening of her husband's health after he underwent the removal of a cancerous tumor in December 2013. However, on 20 March 2015, she announced she would be returning to the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in late August 2015. On 14 January 2016, she cancelled the rest of the January performances due to her husband's and her brother's deaths from cancer. Dion resumed the residency on 23 February to a sold-out crowd and rave reviews. in 2017 In October 2015, Dion announced on social media she had begun working on a new French album, posting a photo by the side of Algerian singer
Zaho. Dion's French single, "
Encore un soir", was released on 24 May 2016. On 20 May, she released a cover of
Queen's song "
The Show Must Go On", featuring
Lindsey Stirling on violin. She performed "The Show Must Go On" at the
2016 Billboard Music Awards on 22 May, and received the
Billboard Icon Award (presented to her by her son, René-Charles) in recognition of her career spanning over three decades. Dion's new French album,
Encore un soir, was released on 26 August 2016. It features fifteen tracks performed in French and, according to Dion, has a personal choice of the songs – more uplifting lyrics were chosen.
Encore un soir topped the charts in France, Canada, Belgium and Switzerland, and was certified Diamond in France, 2× Platinum in Canada and Platinum in Belgium and Switzerland. It has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide. In
2016 and
2017, Dion toured Europe and Canada with two sold-out concert tours. On 9 September 2016, she released "
Recovering", a song written for her by
Pink after Angélil died in January 2016. Dion also recorded "
How Does a Moment Last Forever" for the
Beauty and the Beast: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, released in March 2017. Her compilation,
Un peu de nous, topped the chart in France in July and August 2017. in 2018 On 3 May 2018, she released the single "
Ashes" from the film
Deadpool 2. The remix version of the song topped the U.S.
Dance Club Songs chart in July 2018. From June to August 2018, she
toured the Asia-Pacific region and grossed $56.5 million from 22 shows. On 24 September 2018, she announced the end of her Las Vegas residency
Celine, with the final date set for 8 June 2019. She then started working on a new English album. In January 2019, she performed "
A Change Is Gonna Come" at
Aretha Franklin's tribute concert, 'Aretha! A Grammy Celebration for the Queen of Soul', which was broadcast in March 2019. Also in March 2019, she was one of 11 singers from Quebec, alongside
Ginette Reno,
Diane Dufresne,
Isabelle Boulay,
Luce Dufault,
Louise Forestier,
Laurence Jalbert,
Catherine Major,
Ariane Moffatt,
Marie Denise Pelletier, and
Marie-Élaine Thibert, who participated in a
supergroup recording of
Renée Claude's 1971 single "
Tu trouveras la paix" after Claude's diagnosis with
Alzheimer's disease was announced. On 3 April 2019, during a Facebook Live event, Dion announced her 2019/2020
Courage World Tour, beginning in Quebec City on 18 September 2019. She also announced a new English-language
album of the same name, released in November 2019.
Courage debuted at number one on the US
Billboard 200 dated 30 November 2019, earning Dion her first US number-one album in 17 years, having last topped the chart with
A New Day Has Come (2002). It is her fifth US number-one album, and earned 113,000 album-equivalent units, including 109,000 pure album sales. On 18 September 2019, Dion released three songs, "
Lying Down", "
Courage", and "
Imperfections" from her upcoming album,
Courage. On 26 February 2020, Dion released two songs as exclusive
Spotify singles: an acoustic version of Imperfections, and a cover of
Chris Isaak's "
Wicked Game". Isaak joined Dion and sang vocals on the track. On 10 June 2020, Dion announced her
Courage World Tour will kick off again in 2021, after the tour was postponed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. On 21 May 2021, it was announced Dion would return to Las Vegas, in November of the same year, for a limited-run installment of ten dates in collaboration with
Resorts World Las Vegas.
Billboard listed Dion as the third top paid musician of 2020 (second by female artist), with total of earnings of $17.5 million. Dion contributed vocals to the song "Superwoman" on
Diane Warren's 2021 album
Diane Warren: The Cave Sessions Vol. 1.
2022–present: Illness, acting debut and Paris Olympics On 15 January 2022, Dion canceled her North American tour dates because of severe muscle spasms. On 8 December, she announced she had been diagnosed with
stiff-person syndrome, a rare neurological disease. She said the disease affected every aspect of her life, making it difficult to walk, and affected her vocal cords. All her tour dates were cancelled. In 2023, Dion starred as herself in
Love Again, her first acting appearance in a feature film. She also recorded five new songs for
the soundtrack, released on 12 May; the first single, "
Love Again", premiered on 13 April. "
Set My Heart on Fire (I'm Alive x And the Beat Goes On)", by
Majestic and the Jammin Kid, also includes Dion as a lead credit. The single debuted at number 6 on the
UK Singles Downloads Chart. On 25 June 2024,
Amazon MGM Studios released a documentary about Dion's life with stiff-person syndrome,
I Am: Celine Dion. The
I Am: Celine Dion soundtrack was released on 21 June. On 26 July, Dion sang "
Hymne à l'amour" from the
Eiffel Tower to conclude the
2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. It was her first public performance in four years. Reviewing the ceremony,
The Guardian wrote that Dion's performance was an "undaunted, beatific return", with "the gusto of someone who, by her own admission, longs to resume touring more than her fans". On 13 November, Dion walked the runway at the
1000 Seasons of Elie Saab fashion show in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where she performed "I'm Alive" and "The Power of Love". On 13 May 2025, Dion appeared in a video message during the first semifinal of the
Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in
Basel, Switzerland, before a tribute performance of her Eurovision-winning song "Ne partez pas sans moi" by former Eurovision entrants. Dion canceled a planned guest performance in that year's Eurovision final due to her illness. On 25 July, the Swedish DJ and producer
Sebastian Ingrosso released the single "A New Day", with Dion, a remix of her 2002 single "
A New Day Has Come". On 30 March 2026, Dion announced the concert residency
Celine Dion Paris 2026, scheduled for the
Paris La Défense Arena in Paris. It comprises 16 shows between 12 September and 17 October 2026. More than nine million fans entered a lottery for early access to tickets, and all dates sold out within hours. On 17 April, Dion released "
Dansons", written by
Jean-Jacques Goldman, her first original French song in a decade and her first recording following her diagnosis. == Artistry ==