Celine Dion

CELINE DION. Canadian singer and businesswoman. She emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband Rene Angelil mortgaged his home to finance her first record. She first gained international recognition by winning the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest representing Switzerland. During the 1990s, she achieved worldwide fame after releasing several English albums along with additional French albums. Her albums, Falling Into You (1996) and Lets Talk About Love (1997), were both certified diamond in the US. She also scored a series of international No1 hits, including ; The Power of Love / Think Twice / Because You Loved Me / It's all Coming Back to Me Now / My Heart Will Go On and I'm Your Angel. However, in 1999 at the height of her success, she announced a hiatus from entertainment to start a family and spend time with her husband, who had been diagnosed with cancer. She returned to the top of pop music in 2002 and signed to perform nightly in A New Day. While her releases have often received mixed critical reception, she is regarded as one of pop music's most influential voices. She has won five Grammy Awards and is the second best-selling female artist in the US with record sales of over 200 million copies worldwide.