Crossword Dictionary

CELINE DION 

Céline Dion, in full Céline Marie Claudette Dion, (born March 30, 1968, Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada), French Canadian pop singer, known for her vocal prowess and her passionate showmanship, who achieved international superstardom in the 1990s. Working primarily in the pop ballad tradition, she recorded numerous hit albums in both French and English and was the recipient of several prestigious awards. In 1996, Céline Dion received an award recognising her as the best-selling French language singer in history 

The youngest of 14 children raised in a small town near Montreal, Dion began singing with her musically inclined family when she was five years old. At age 12 she came to the attention of impresario René Angélil—whom she eventually married in 1994—and he launched her career with the album La Voix du bon Dieu (1981; “The Voice of God”). Dion subsequently won an award at the World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo in 1982, and the following year she received the first of many Félix awards (for musicians from Quebec). Also in 1983 she became the first Canadian recipient of a gold record in France.

In 2014–15 Dion took a break from performing to care for her ailing husband, who died in early 2016. During this time she was in the midst of her Las Vegas residency and was recording the French album Encore un soir (2016; “One More Night”), which was released some seven months after René Angélil’s death. Dion was invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1998 and was appointed Companion in 2008. A memoir, Ma vie, mon rêve (My Story, My Dream; with Georges-Hébert Germain), was published in 2000.