Celine Dion has cemented herself as one of the music industry’s most powerful artists over the years.
Born the 14th child to parents Thérèse and Adhémar Dion in Quebec, Canada, Celine grew up with music from a young age and wrote her first song at the age of 12, according to her official website. The song, titled “Ce n’était qu’un rêve,” caught the attention of talent manager René Angélil, whom she would later go on to marry in 1994. (Angélil died in 2016 at age 73 after a battle with throat cancer.)
But years before the famous couple tied the knot, the “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” singer continued to grow her career by singing on TV shows and at festivals, including performing for Pope John Paul II at Montréal’s Olympic Stadium in 1984. Celine even won the famous Eurovision song competition in 1988.
1990 marked a turning point in her budding career with the release of her first English-language album, Unison, which earned Celine her first top-10 single with the song “Where Does My Heart Beat Now.” After releasing one of her most famous collabs, “Beauty and the Beast,” with Peabo Bryson in 1991, she scored her first Grammy award for the Disney title track in 1993. The hit also won the award for Best Original Song at the 1992 Oscars.
Celine found herself with another hit song in 1993 with “The Power of Love” off her album The Colour of My Love, which was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 1995 Grammys.
The “Because You Loved Me” singer continued to cement her icon status throughout the late ‘90s, taking home numerous awards for her 1996 alum Falling Into You — including two 1997 Grammys for Album of the Year and Best Pop Album — in addition to winning Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 1999 Grammys for her Oscar-winning song from the film Titanic, “My Heart Will Go On.”
In addition to releasing 27 studio albums and hundreds of songs over the past several decades, she also became a mother to three boys, welcoming son René-Charles and twins Nelson and Eddy in 2001 and 2010, respectively. Not to mention, she also became a Las Vegas staple, performing at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace over the course of 16 nonconsecutive years with two separate residencies.
In December 2022, the musician revealed that she had been diagnosed with the “very rare neurological disorder” called stiff-person syndrome.
Scroll down for a look back at Celine’s life and career: