The health condition of Canadian singer Celine Dion is declining, casting doubt on any potential return for her postponed forty concerts.
Despite the announcement last May that the queen of pop and emotion is working hard to return to the music scene, the "stiff-person syndrome," which affects one in a million and causes pain and stiffness in the body muscles, leaves her last tour titled "Courage" suspended indefinitely, perhaps never to return. Just days ago, her family announced that Celine has chosen to sell her $30 million home in Boston to return to her homeland, Canada, on the recommendation of her medical team.
Celine Dion, born in 1968 in Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada, was not proficient in English and started her singing career early in French, releasing her first album "La Voix du Bon Dieu" in 1981, encouraged by her family known for their remarkable vocal prowess, being the 14th among her siblings. Her parents, Therese Tanguay and Adhemar Dion, saw in her a "gold mine" for their modest family, yet strongly united. Thus, her mother took the first step by launching her daughter onto the first rung of stardom that would lead her to become, years later, the best-selling artist with a record of 200 million copies sold worldwide. Who can forget her timeless voice in the movie "Titanic": "My Heart Will Go On," or in the film "Beauty and the Beast"?
**The Beginning of the Legend**
Celine's family shares the same passion for music. Even her parents and her thirteen siblings gained fame in Montreal as they performed collective songs at the beginning of her artistic journey. At the age of twelve, Celine, distinguishable from her siblings, wrote her first song with the help of her mother and brother Jacques titled: "It Was Only a Dream." Her mother sent the song to the Lebanese-Syrian singer Rene Angelil, who was the manager of Quebec singer Ginette Reno, who was related to the Dion family. Once he heard her voice, he invited her to his office, handed her a pencil, and asked her, "This is your microphone. Now sing as if you are in front of a large audience." Believing in her strong voice, Rene mortgaged his home to fund her first album: "It Was Only a Dream." From that moment, history recorded not just the birth of a legendary singer but a love story that manifested in moving artistic forms.
With the album's global popularity, lyricist Eddy Marnay, who worked with stars including Edith Piaf, Yves Montand, and Barbra Streisand, agreed to write songs for Celine. The first time Marnay heard Celine's voice, he exclaimed: "It's the voice of the good Lord!" This phrase became the title of their first artistic collaboration.
**Medals and Fame**
Celine won a gold medal at the 13th Yamaha World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo in 1982, performing in front of an audience of 115 million TV viewers at just 14 years old. After that, she made her television debut in France on the famous show Champs-Élysées, where the host announced: “This is Celine Dion… Remember this name well.”
**The English Language**
After a year of success, fame, and brilliance, Celine chose to take a break. She stayed away from the public for eighteen months to learn other languages and then released her first album in English titled "Unison," gaining widespread fame in North America and other English-speaking countries. It was the first album produced under her new record label, CBS, which would become Sony Music.
**Conquering the World**
In 1988, Dion won the Eurovision contest before an audience of 600 million TV viewers. That moment marked the beginning of her global expansion. As her career progressed, the singer achieved her American dream thanks to the title song for Disney's "Beauty and the Beast," which won a Grammy Award and an Oscar.
**The Power of Love**
After releasing the song "The Power of Love," Celine announced that her manager Rene was the love of her life. Initially, her family opposed due to the age difference, but they yielded to Celine's determination, who never regretted her relationship with him. On December 17, 1994, Celine married her love in Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal. It was a wedding fit for a princess, as dazzling as it was fantastical.
**The Power of a Dream**
On July 19, 1996, Celine performed "The Power of the Dream" for a television audience of 3.5 billion viewers during the Opening Ceremony of the Atlanta Olympics. This was the ultimate victory: she had now become the most famous female singer on the planet. Five years later, she achieved the most significant role of her life: she gave birth to her first child, Rene-Charles Angelil. Subsequently, her tours spanned South Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Canada, and the United States: five continents, 23 countries, 93 cities, and 3 million spectators.
**Significant Losses**
At the end of 2013, shocking news broke: Rene began battling cancer. After months, Celine announced she was postponing all her engagements to stay close to her husband. She returned home to care for him and their family. He asked her to perform on stage again; he wanted to hear her sing one last time. Thus, Celine resumed her concerts to bid farewell to her husband in 2016. Audiences regarded him as the shadow man who held a significant place in their hearts. Two days after his death, Celine lost her closest brother, Daniel.
**Facing Illness**
Celine's losses, starting from her niece who passed away at 16, to her husband and brother, impacted her mental health, leading her to suffer from a nervous illness that she attempted to overcome by accepting a leading role in her first film titled "Love Again," starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Sam Heughan. Because she had never taken a significant break since the start of her career, releasing more than one album each year, the signs of age accumulated on her face, indicating in May that her body was succumbing to "stiff-person syndrome." She candidly told her audience, "I’m very sorry to disappoint you all once again. I am working hard to rebuild my strength, but touring can be very challenging, and it's not fair for me to continue postponing shows. It breaks my heart; it's better to cancel everything now so that I can be truly ready to return to the stage. I want you all to know, I will not give up... and I can't wait to see you all again."
