Celine Dion (part 2)

Yesterday we focused on Celine Dion's career as a teenager. Today our focus will be on Celine Dion's career as an adult.

Dion's 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 10 hit in the UK and her second Top 10 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.

As much as I love Celine, this is my favorite version of the song, by the fabulous Angela Lansbury:

Beauty and the Beast served as the lead single from Dion's 1992 self-titled album, which, like her debut, had a strong Pop-Rock influence combined with elements of Soul and Classical music. Owing to the success of the lead-off single and her collaborations with David Foster and Diane Warren, the album was even more well-received commercially than Unison; it achieved diamond record status in Canada and double platinum in the US. The album's second single If You Asked Me To (a cover of Patti LaBelle's song from the 1989 movie Licence to Kill) became her first #1 single in Canada and peaked at #4 in the US.

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. They began a relationship in 1987, after Angelil and his second wife had divorced, and became engaged in 1991. Eventually, Angélil and Dion married in an extravagant wedding ceremony in December 1994, which was broadcast live on Canadian television.

The Colour of My Love was even more successful than her previous album, selling over 20 million copies worldwide. Its success was driven by lead single The Power Of Love, a #1 hit all over the world.

The original version was a huge #1 in the UK (the best-selling song of 1985) and other countries, but not in the US.

A version by Air Supply was a moderate hit in New Zealand (#21) and Canada (#35).

The great Laura Branigan (gone too soon) was the first to take the song in the US Top 40 (#26 in 1987).

From the same album, Think Twice went to #1 all over Europe, including: Ireland (9 weeks at the top), the UK (7 weeks), Belgium (5 weeks), Netherlands (4 weeks), Norway (4 weeks) and Sweden (4 weeks). It was also successful in Australia reaching #2. Think Twice was certified Platinum and has sold 1,320,000 copies in the UK. It wasn't a hit in the US.

Her next album, D'eux (1995), was in French. Biggest hit off the album (#1 in France and Belgium) was Pour Que Tu M'aimes Encore:

Falling into You (1996), released at the height of her popularity, sold over 32 million copies worldwide. It contained 3 huge hits and as many small ones. First huge hit was an Oscar-nominated song called Because You Loved Me. It was written by Diane Warren and produced by David Foster, and served as the theme song from the 1996 film Up Close & Personal, starring Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer. It lost the Oscar to You Must Love Me from Evita. It was #1 in the US, Canada and Australia.

Because You Loved Me is one of the Dion songs that I love, but my favorite, along with Ziggy, is her next big hit.

It's All Coming Back to Me Now is a power ballad written by Jim Steinman. According to Steinman, the song was inspired by Wuthering Heights, and was an attempt to write "the most passionate, romantic song" he could ever create.

The original version was by a band called Pandora's Box.

Celine's version was more successful, though.

Next big hit was Dion's remake of Eric Carmen's All By Myself.

The following year, however, would hold even greater glory for Dion, with the release of the blockbuster film Titanic (1997), co-starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, for which Dion sang the theme song, My Heart Will Go On. By the time the film had raked in a record-tying 14 Oscar nominations (it won a record-tying 11, including the award for best song), Dion's ballad had become ubiquitous on radio stations around the world.

Included on both the Titanic soundtrack album and Dion's own Let's Talk About Love (1997), My Heart Will Go On propelled to the #1 slot in the US, the UK, Germany, France, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Australia, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Switzerland and sold a combined 50 million records worldwide.

Let's Talk About Love also featured collaborations with the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, the Bee Gees and Bryan Adams. Also this duet with Barbra Streisand:

In 1998 another duet, this time with R. Kelly, made #1 in the US.

S'il Suffisait D'aimer, the title track of her 1998 album, went gold in France and Belgium:

The Prayer (a duet with Andrea Bocelli) was Oscar-nominated for the movie Quest for Camelot. It lost out to the Diva sing-off between Whitney and Mariah from The Prince Of Egypt.

That's the Way It Is was her big hit for 1999:

In the first months of 2000, Dion announced that she was taking time off from her career in order to focus on her family. She and Angelil had been trying to have children for years, and eventually decided to use in vitro fertilization to conceive.

Her efforts were successful, and on January 25, 2001, Dion gave birth to a boy, Rene-Charles. She has revealed in interviews that she had stored another fertilized egg in the fertility clinic and planned someday to give her son a sibling. On October 23, 2010, at age 42, Dion gave birth to twin boys. Angelil, who was diagnosed with skin cancer in 1999, was in remission.

After a two-year hiatus, Celine Dion returned in March 2002 with the album A New Day Has Come, which topped the charts in more than 17 countries. The single of the same title was a big hit.

Celine kept releasing hugely successful albums (every one of them till today has reached multiple platinum status in several parts of the world). Her singles were not so successful anymore: she was now a legacy act.

Her last silver record in France was Je Ne Vous Oublie Pas (2005):

Her last gold record in Canada was Taking Chances (2007):

In August 2014, Dion cancelled all of her shows scheduled through March 22, 2015 to focus on her 72-year-old husband, whose throat cancer returned, and her children. “I want to devote every ounce of my strength and energy to my husband’s healing, and to do so, it’s important for me to dedicate this time to him and to our children,” the singer said in a statement.

On 14 January 2016, Angélil died from complications of cancer. Two days later, Dion's brother, Daniel, died at age 59 of cancer. This, as expected, has greatly affected Celine. We wish her the best.

We close appropriately with her last single, which came out less than a week ago. Recovering is a song written by Pink especially for Celine, in honor of her husband. Here she is, performing the song live for Ellen and her audience.