Celine Dion was born in March 30th, 1968 in Charlemagne (a small town 30 
miles east of Montreal, Quebec, Canada) and is the youngest of 14 
children. She comes from a musically talented family: Her mom played the 
violin and her father played the accordion. Her brothers and sisters used 
to sing and help serving tables at the piano bar in the city.

She sang for the first time at the age of 5 at her parents. piano bar. At 
the age of 12, she wrote her first song 'Ce N'etait Qu'un Reve' , with the 
help of her mother and brother. At that time, she told her mom that she 
wanted to sing so Therese contacted Rene Angelil, a very famous manager in 
Montreal, who cried when he listened to her voice for the first time. In 
order to pay for her first two albums, he mortgaged his house.

Celine began to receive recognition for her talent in 1982, winning the 
Gold Medal at the Yamaha World Song Festival in Tokyo singing for 115 
million spectators and beating 1907 candidates, along with the coveted 
Musician's Award for Top Performer.

In 1983, she became the first Canadian ever to achieve a Gold Record in 
France. In 1984, she won 2 felix awards.

At 18, and after a Michael Jackson performance on TV, Celine's dream 
matured into becoming an international star of similar caliber and asked 
her manager for help. He obliged with an agressive 18 months image remake 
plan that included a significant physical transformation (hair, eyebrows, 
teeth,..), english classes,....By the time this was over,  Celine Dion had 
literally transformed  herself from a gifted pre-adolescent into an 
international superstar.

By 1988, Celine had established a strong name for herself in her native 
province of Quebec, where she was enjoying superstar status, receiving 
numerous Felix Awards and racking up platinum albums.

The 1990 her Unison album took her internationally with a Golden Record 
in the USA and earnt her an ADISQ Award winner as 'English Singer of The 
Year'. She also got a Juno Awards for Female Vocalist Of The Year and 
Album Of The Year, and received the Platinum Ticket for the tour 'Celine 
Dion'.

Celine's international breakthrough came shortly afterwards when she 
recorded the title track for the soundtrack to the animated Disney hit 
movie 'Beauty and the Beast'. The song went to number one and garnered an 
Academy Award and a Grammy Award.

Celine then sang for Prince Charles and Princess Diana and signed a 
10-million dollars contract with Sony Music for 5 albums in 10 years.

In 1994, with 'The Power of Love', Celine reached the top in the Hot 100 
singles charts for 4 weeks: The 50th success of all time. She also won the 
Juno Award as Best Female Vocalist, as well as a Grammy Award for 
Sleepless in Seattle.

During this time there were also important developments in Dion  personal life.
Celine became romantically involved with her manager, Rene. 
Fearful that her fans would find the 26-year difference in their ages unsettling, 
she kept the relationship a secret for several years. It was in November 
1994 when Celine disclosed for the first time her love for Rene. Their 
marriage took place on December 17th, 1994.

She recorded six albums between 1992 and 1996, capped by  her album 'Falling 
Into You' which won her  Grammys for both Album of the Year and Best Pop Album.

In 1996, she was asked to perform at the opening ceremonies of the Atlanta 
Olympics.

In 1997, the album 'Let's Talk About Love' was released and included duets 
with other great artists like Barbara Streisand, Bee Gees, Luciano 
Pavarotti, and Carole King.

In 1999, Celine went on a world tour 
performing more than 100 concerts all over the world!

In April 2000, Celine announced that Rene has been hospitalized in Dallas 
for a short time because of a squamous cell carcinoma metastatic to his 
neck, but he's doing well day after day. For this reason she postpones 
some concert dates asking her fans for support and understanding. While 
the disease responded well to treatment and went into remission, the 
illness was a wake-up call for Dion, who decided to put a new emphasis on 
her family life and announced a temporary retirement so that she could 
spend more time at home and have a child. After undergoing fertility 
treatments, she gave birth to a son in January 2001.

Celine has used her talents to further the cause of the Canadian Cystic 
Fibrosis Foundation. In fact, one of Celine's most emotional songs ('Vole' 
from the 'D'eux' album, later translated into English as the song 'Fly' 
part of the 'Falling Into You' album) is a touching memorial to her niece, 
Karine, who was taken from her by this disease.

A new peak in Celine's spectacular career was reached when she released 
her new album 'A New Day Has Come' on March 2002, which ended her two-year 
hiatus. The album debuted at number one in over 17 countries, and was 
accompanied by a full-scale media blitz.

On March 25, 2003, Celine started  a three year 600 multimedia show 
contract with SONY covering 5 nights a week in a custom-built 4000-seat 
theatre. This was followed shortly by her album 'One Heart'.  That live 
Las Vegas show was documented on the summer 2004 release 'New Day: Live in 
Las Vegas', which was followed a few months later by 'Miracle, a 
collection of family songs' designed as a  book/CD combo  project between 
Dion and photographer Anne Geddes.