Celine Dion

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Céline Marie Claudette Dion, OC OQ (born March 30, 1968 in Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada) is a Canadian Grammy and Juno award winning pop singer and occasional songwriter. Born to a large, impoverished family in Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion became a young star in francophone Canada after her manager and future husband, René Angélil, mortgaged his home to finance her first record. She later gained recognition in parts of Europe and Asia after she won both the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest.
In 1990 Dion established a foothold in the anglophone music market with the release of Unison, published by Epic Records. During the 1990s, she achieved worldwide fame and success with several English and French records, of which her most successful were Falling into You (1996), and "My Heart Will Go On" (1998) the theme to the 1997 film Titanic. In 1999 she announced a break from entertainment in order to focus on her husband, who was diagnosed with throat cancer.
Three years later, Dion returned to the music scene with the release of A New Day Has Come. By 2004 she had accumulated record sales of 175 million, and was presented with the Chopard Diamond Award from the World Music Awards show for becoming the Best-selling Female Artist in the World. As of 2003, Dion has performed nightly in her show A New Day... at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, under a contract that extends through December 2007. Dion's music has been influenced by various genres, which range from pop and rock to gospel and classical, and she is noted for her technically skilled and powerful vocals.

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The youngest of fourteen children born to Adhémar Dion and Thérèse Tanguay, Céline Dion was raised a Roman Catholic in a poverty-stricken but happy home in Charlemagne, a small town about thirty miles from Montreal. She grew up singing with her siblings in her parents' small piano bar, 'Le Vieux Baril,' and had always dreamed of being a performer: in a 1994 interview with People magazine, she recalled, "I missed my family and my home, but I don't regret having lost my adolescence. I had one dream: I wanted to be a singer."
At age twelve Dion collaborated with her mother and her brother Jacques to compose her first song, "Ce N'Était Qu'un Rêve" ("It Was Only a Dream"). Her brother Michel sent the recording to music manager René Angélil, whose name he discovered on the back of a Ginette Reno album. Angélil was brought to tears by Dion's voice and decided to make her a star. He mortgaged his home to fund her first record, "La Voix du Bon Dieu" (a play on words "The Voice of God/The Road to God," 1981), which became a local number-one record and made Dion an instant star in Quebec. Her popularity spread to other parts of the world when she competed in the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo, Japan, and won the musician's award for "Top Performer" as well as the gold medal for "Best Song" with "Tellement J'Ai d'Amour Pour Toi" ("I Have So Much Love for You"). By 1983 in addition to becoming the first Canadian artist to receive a gold record in France for the single "D'Amour Ou d'Amitié" ("Of Love or of Friendship"), Dion had also won several Félix awards, including "Best Female performer" and "Discovery of the year." Further success in Europe, Asia, and Australia came when Dion represented Switzerland in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi" ("Don't Go Without Me") and won the contest in Dublin, Ireland. However, American success was yet to come, partly because she was exclusively a francophone artist.
At eighteen, after seeing a Michael Jackson performance, Dion told Angélil that she wanted to be a star like Jackson. Though confident in her talent, Angelil realized that her image needed to be changed in order for her to be marketed worldwide. Dion withdrew from the spotlight for a number of months, during which she underwent a physical makeover. Finally, Dion was sent to the École Berlitz School in 1989 to polish her English and interviewing skills. This marked the start of her anglophone career.

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1990–1992: Career breakthrough

A year after she learned English, Dion made an attempt at breaking into the anglophone market with Unison (1990). She incorporated the help of many established musicians, including Canadian producer David Foster and Vito Luprano. The album was largely influenced by 1980s soft rock that was fit for the adult contemporary radio format. Unison hit the right notes with critics: Jim Faber of Entertainment Weekly wrote that Dion's vocals were "tastefully unadorned," and that she never attempted to "bring off styles that are beyond her." Stephen Erlewine of All Music Guide declared it as "a fine, sophisticated American debut." Singles from the album included "(If There Was) Any Other Way," "The Last to Know," "Unison," and "Where Does My Heart Beat Now," a mid-tempo soft-rock ballad which featured an electric guitar. The latter became her first single to chart on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number four. The album established Dion as a rising singer in the United States, and across Continental Europe and Asia. In 1991, Dion was also a soloist in "Voices That Care", a tribute to American troops fighting in Operation Desert Storm; the single reached number 11 in the U.S.
While Dion was experiencing rising success in the U.S., her French fans in Canada criticized her for neglecting them. At the Felix Awards show, after winning "English Artist of the Year," she tried to reconnect with her French fans by refusing the award on the ground that she was — and will always be — a French, and not an English, artist.
Dion's real international breakthrough came when she paired with Peabo Bryson to record the title track to Disney's animated film Beauty and the Beast (1991). The song captured a musical style that Dion would utilize in the future: sweeping, classically influenced ballads with soft instrumentation. Both a critical and commercial hit, the song became her second U.S. top ten single, and won the Academy Award for Best Song, and the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. "Beauty and the Beast" was featured on Dion's 1992 eponymous album, which, like her debut, had a strong rock influence combined with elements of soul and classical music. Owing to the success of the lead-off single and her collaboration with Foster and Diane Warren, the album was as well received as Unison. Other singles that achieved moderate success included "If You Asked Me To" (a cover of Patti LaBelle's song from the 1989 movie Licence to Kill) which peaked at number four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, the gospel-tinged "Love Can Move Mountains," and "Nothing Broken but My Heart." As with Dion's earlier releases, the album had an overtone of love.
By 1992, Unison, Céline Dion and media appearances had propelled Dion to superstardom in the North America. She had achieved one of her main objectives: wedging her way into the anglophone market and achieving fame. Apart from her rising success, there were also changes in Dion's personal life, as Angélil made the transition from manager to lover. However, the relationship was kept a secret as they both feared that the public would find the twenty-six-year difference between their ages incongruous.
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1993–1995: Popularity established

In 1993, Dion publicly indicated her feelings for her manager by declaring him "the colour of her love" in the dedication section of her third anglophone album The Colour of My Love. However, instead of criticizing their relationship as Dion had feared, fans embraced the couple. Eventually, Angélil and Dion married in an extravagant wedding ceremony in December 1994.
As it was dedicated to her manager, the album's motif focused on love and romance. The album spawned Dion's first U.S. number-one single "The Power of Love" (a remake of Jennifer Rush's 1985 hit). However, subsequent singles such as "When I Fall in Love" (a duet with Clive Griffin), "Misled", and "Think Twice" failed to reach the top twenty on the Billboard charts. The album proved more successful in Europe, and in particular the United Kingdom, where both the album and "Think Twice" simultaneously occupied the top of the respective British charts for five consecutive weeks. "Think Twice," which remained at number one for seven weeks, went on to become the fourth single by a female artist to sell in excess of one million copies in the UK.
Dion kept to her French roots, and continued to release many Francophone recordings between each English record: Dion Chante Plamondon (1991); À l'Olympia (1994), a live album that was recorded during one of Dion's concerts at the Olympia Theatre in Paris; and D'eux (1995 — also known as The French Album in the United States), which would go on to become the best-selling French album of all time. As these albums were in French, the worldwide commercial success was limited. However, Dion's Francophone fans embraced each release, and generally, they achieved more credibility than her anglophone works.
The mid-1990s was a transitional period for Dion's musical style, as she slowly moved away from strong rock influences and transitioned into a more pop and soul style (though the electric guitar remained a central part of her music.) Her songs began with more delicate melodies that used softer instrumentations, and built up to strong climaxes, over which her vocals could be displayed. This new sound received mixed reviews from critics, with Arion Berger of Entertainment Weekly accusing her of preferring vocal acrobatics over dynamics, and embarking on a trend of uninspiring, "crowd-pleasing ballads." Resultantly, she earned frequent comparisons to artists such as Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. There were also signs that her work was becoming more clichéd: critically, The Colour of My Love was not consistent with earlier works. However, while critical praise declined, Dion's releases performed increasingly well on the international charts, and in 1996, she won the World Music Award for "World’s Best-Selling Canadian Female Recording Artist of the Year" — a title she had earned twice before. By the mid-1990s, she had established herself as one of the best-selling artists in the world, among female performers such as Carey and Houston.
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1996–1999: Worldwide commercial success

Falling into You (1996) presented Dion at the height of her popularity, and showed a further progression of her music. In an attempt to reach a wider audience, the album combined many elements (ornate orchestral frills and African chanting), and instruments like the violin, Spanish guitar, trombone, the cavaquinho, and saxophone created a new sound. The singles encompassed a variety of musical styles: the title track and "River Deep, Mountain High" (a Tina Turner cover) made prominent use of percussion instruments; "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" (a remake of Jim Steinman's song) and a remake of Eric Carmen's "All by Myself" kept their soft-rock atmosphere, but were combined with the classical sound of the piano; and "Because You Loved Me," written by Diane Warren, was a maudlin ballad that served as the theme to the 1996 film Up Close & Personal. The song spent two weeks at number one in Canada and six weeks at number one in the United States.
Falling into You was met with generally favorable reviews. While Dan Leroy wrote that it was not very different from her previous work, and Stephen Holden of The New York Times and Elysa Gardner of Los Angeles Times wrote that the album was formulaic, other critics such as Chuck Eddy, Erlewine and Daniel Durchholz lavished the album as "compelling," "passionate," "stylish," "elegant," and "remarkably well-crafted." Falling Into You became Dion's most critically and commercially successful album: it topped the charts in many countries and became one of the best-selling albums of all time. It also won Grammy Awards for Best Pop Album, and the academy's highest honor Album of the Year. Dion's status on the world stage was further solidified when she was asked to perform "The Power of the Dream" at the opening ceremonies of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. In March 1996, Céline launched the Falling into You Tour in support of her new album, giving concerts around the world for over a year.
Dion followed Falling into You with Let's Talk About Love (1997), which she publicized as its sequel. The recording process took place in London, New York City, and Los Angeles, and featured a host of special guests: Barbra Streisand on "Tell Him;" the Bee Gees on "Immortality;" and world-renowned tenor Luciano Pavarotti on "I Hate You Then I Love You." Other musicians included Carole King, Sir George Martin, and Jamaican singer Diana King, who added a reggae tinge to "Treat Her Like a Lady." As the name suggests, the album had the same theme as Dion's preceding albums: "love." However, emphasis was also placed on "brotherly love" with "Where Is the Love" and "Let's Talk About Love". The most successful single from the album became the classically influenced ballad "My Heart Will Go On," which was composed by James Horner, and produced by Horner and Walter Afanasieff. Serving as the love theme for the 1997 blockbuster film Titanic, the song topped the charts in many countries across the world, and has become Dion's signature song. In support of her album, Dion embarked on the Let's Talk About Love Tour between 1998 and 1999, including shows with magician/comedian Jamie Porter. Comments were mostly favorable, but much focus was placed on her on-stage movements, which often consisted of chest-pounding, backward bending, and other flashy movements. While some people found these bombastic and even silly, others simply saw it as another extension of Dion's commanding stage presence.
Dion ended the 1990s with two more successful albums: the Christmas album, These Are Special Times (1998), and All the Way... A Decade of Song (1999). On These Are Special Times, Dion had a hand in writing some of the material. The album was her most classically influenced yet, with orchestral arrangements found on all tracks. "I'm Your Angel," a duet with R. Kelly, became Dion's fourth and final U.S. number one single, and another hit single across the world. All the Way... A Decade of Song was a compilation of her most successful hits coupled with seven new songs, including the leadoff single "That's the Way It Is," a cover of Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," and "All the Way," a duet with Frank Sinatra.
By the end of the 1990s Céline Dion had sold nearly 140 million albums worldwide, and had won a slew of industry awards. Her status as one of the biggest divas of contemporary music was further solidified when she was asked to perform on VH1's Divas Live special in 1998, with superstars Aretha Franklin, Gloria Estefan, Shania Twain, and Mariah Carey. That year she also received two of the highest honors from her home country: "Officer of the Order of Canada for Outstanding Contribution to the World of Contemporary Music" and "Officer of the National Order of Quebec." A year later she was inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame, and was honoured with a star on Canada's Walk of Fame. She also won the Grammy awards for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance" and the most coveted "Record of the Year" for "My Heart Will Go On" (the song won four awards, but two were presented to the songwriters).
Compared to her debut, both the quality and sound of Dion's music had also changed significantly. The soft-rock influences on her earlier releases were no longer prominent; they were replaced by more soul/adult contemporary styles. However, the theme of "love" remained in all her releases, and this led to many critics dismissing her work as banal. In a scathing review of Let's Talk About Love, Rob O'Connor wrote:
“ What never ceases to amaze me is how the trite-est, most cliché-ridden music often takes an assembly-line of lauded music industry professionals to perfect... Sinking ships are what I imagine as this tune "My Heart Will Go On" plows onward of four-plus minutes, and this album feels as if were never to end. Is it no wonder why I have such fears of going to the dentist?" ”
Dion was also criticized for some of her remakes and duets: "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and "All the Way" were described as disastrous and "creepy" by Allison Stewart of The Chicago Tribune and Erlwine of All Music Guide. Even though she was still praised for her vocal abilities (Gardner of L.A Times called her voice a "technical marvel,") the much favored vocal restraint heard on her early releases had also waned, and Steve Dollar, in reviewing These Are Special Times wrote that Dion was a "vocal Olympian for whom there ain't no mountain—or scale—high enough."

2000–2002: Career break

After releasing and promoting thirteen albums during the 1990s, Dion felt that she needed to settle down, and announced on her final album, All the Way... A Decade of Song, that she had experienced many things and needed to take a step back and enjoy life. Angélil's diagnosis with throat cancer also prompted her to retire. After undergoing fertility treatments, she gave birth to a son, René-Charles Dion Angélil, on January 25, 2001.
While on break, Dion was unable to escape the spotlight. In late 2002, the National Enquirer published a false story about the singer. Brandishing a picture of Dion and her husband, the magazine misquoted Dion, printing the headline: "Céline — 'I'm Pregnant With Twins!'" Dion later sued the magazine for over twenty million dollars. The editors of the Enquirer printed an apology and a full retraction to Dion in the next issue, and donated money to the American Cancer Society in honor of Dion and her husband.
Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Dion returned to the music scene and in a televised performance sang "God Bless America" at the benefit concert America: A Tribute to Heroes. Chuck Taylor of Billboard wrote that "the performance... brings to mind what has made her one of the celebrated vocalists of our time: the ability to render emotion that shakes the soul. Affecting, meaningful, and filled with grace, this is a musical reflection to share with all of us still searching for ways to cope."

2002–2003: Return to music

Dion's aptly titled A New Day Has Come, released in March 2002, ended her two-year break from the music industry. The theme of the album was "new beginnings," and even though it did not incorporate many genres, a few dance-pop tunes ("I'm Alive" and "Sorry for Love") could be found among a throng of adult contemporary tracks. Shania Twain and Chantal Kreviazuk also appeared on the album and sang backing vocals. The album established a more mature side of Dion with the songs "A New Day Has Come," "Nature Boy" and "Goodbye's (The Saddest Word)." This change was as a result of her new-found maternal responsibilities, because, in her own words, "becoming a mother makes you a grown-up." A New Day Has Come restarted her commercial success as it topped the charts in most countries. The album featured the title track, "A New Day Has Come," and a cover of Etta James's "At Last." A CBS television concert helped to promote the album, during which Dion performed with Destiny's Child and Brian McKnight. While the album achieved success, critical comments suggested that it was "forgettable" and the lyrics were "lifeless." Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone magazine wrote that Dion's music had not matured and that she still suffered from mediocre vocal talent. Sal Cinquemani of Slant magazine called the album "a lengthy collection of drippy, gooey pop fluffer-nutter."
Drawing inspiration from personal experiences, Dion released One Heart (2003), an album that encapsulated her appreciation for the joys of life. The album largely consisted of dance music — a deviation from the soaring, melodramatic ballads, for which she had once been given mixed reception. Although it achieved moderate success, One Heart hinted that Dion was unable to overcome the creative wall that she had hit, and words such as "predictable" and "banal" appeared even in the most lenient reviews. A cover of Roy Orbison's "I Drove All Night," released to launch her new advertising campaign with Chrysler, incorporated dance-pop and rock and roll and was called reminiscent of Cher's 1980s work, but it was dismissed as Dion trying to please her sponsors.
By the mid 2000s Dion's music had changed to the point where her releases possessed maternal overtones: Miracle (2004), a multimedia project conceived by Dion and photographer Anne Geddes, had a theme centering on babies and motherhood. The album was saturated with lullabies and other songs of maternal love and inspiration, the two most popular being covers of Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" and John Lennon's "Beautiful Boy." The reviews for Miracle were generally weak: while Charles Taylor of Billboard magazine wrote that the single "Beautiful Boy" was "an unexpected gem" and called Dion "a timeless, enormously versatile artist," Nancy Miller of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "the whole earth-mama act is just opportunism."
The Francophone album 1 Fille & 4 Types (1 Girl & 4 Guys, 2003), fared better than her first two comebacks, and showed Dion trying to distance herself from the "diva" image. She recruited Jean-Jacques Goldman, Gildas Arzel, Eric Benzi, and Jacques Veneruso, with whom she had previously worked on S'il Suffisait d'Aimer and D'eux to help. The album's musical theme was fun and relaxation, and Dion herself has referred to it as "the album of pleasure." The cover showed Dion in a simple and relaxed manner, a contrast to the choreographed poses usually found on her album covers. The album achieved relative critical success: reviewer Stephen Erlwine of "All Music Guide" wrote that Dion was "getting back to pop basics and performing at a level unheard in a while."
Though her albums were relatively successful, signs of a decline began to appear in the poorer critical reception of The Collector's Series Volume One (2000), A New Day Has Come (2002), and One Heart (2003). The mass appeal of Dion's later works had declined due to the nature of the themes. Her songs received less airplay as radio became less embracing of balladeers like Dion, Carey and Houston, and now focused on more up-tempo, R&B/Hip-hop songs. However, by 2005 Dion had accumulated sales of over 175 million records, and received the Chopard Diamond World Music award for becoming the best-selling female artist in the world.

2003–present: A New Day... Live in Las Vegas

In early 2002, Dion announced a three-year, 600-show contract to appear five nights a week in an entertainment extravaganza, A New Day..., at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. This move was seen as "one of the smartest business decisions in years by any major recording artist" given the poor performance of her current releases.
She conceived the idea for the show after seeing O by Dragone early in her break from recording, and began on March 25, 2003, in a 4000-seat arena designed for her show. The show, put together by Franco Dragone, is a combination of dance, music, and visual effects. It includes Dion performing her biggest hits against an array of dancers and special effects.
Reviewer Mike Weatherford felt that, at first, Dion was not as relaxed as she should be, and at times, it was hard to find the singer among the excessive stage ornamentations and dancers. However, he noted that the show has become more enjoyable, due to Dion's improved stage-presence and simpler costumes. The show has also been well-received by audiences, despite the complaints of expensive tickets; the show has sold out almost every night since its 2003 opening. According to Pollstar, Dion had sold 322,000 tickets and grossed $43.9 million in the first half of 2005, and by July 2005, she had sold out 315 out of 384 shows. By the end of 2005, Dion grossed over $76 million, placing sixth on Billboard's Money Makers list for 2005. Because of the show's success, Dion's contract was extended into 2007 for an undisclosed sum. On January 5, 2007 it was announced that the show would be ending in December 2007, with ticket for the period after October 2007 going on sale from March 1
In 2005, Dion released her first comprehensive greatest hits album in French, On Ne Change Pas, which features three new songs, including a duet with Il Divo called "I Believe in You". A New Day... was the 6th biggest selling tour in America in 2006.
In February 2007, Dion made her latest contribution to a tribute album, the song "I Knew I Loved You" (based on a theme from Once Upon a Time in America), the centerpiece track on the CD We All Love Ennio Morricone. She went on to perform this song at the 2007 Academy Awards to honor Ennio Morricone.
Dion's next French language album D'Elles is scheduled to be released on May 21, 2007 in Europe and Brazil. It will be released in Canada the following day. The first single "Et S'il N'en Restait Qu'une (Je Serais Celle-là)" premiered on the radio in Francophone countries on February 14, 2007. Dion is also working on a new English album to be released in October 2007.
During an interview on the 2007 Academy Awards red carpet with Ryan Seacrest for E!, Seacrest asked Dion about her plans after her show ends. Dion advised her "intention was to have a short rest and a possible tour of the world" before going on to have another baby.

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Élise Duguay - backing vocals Julie LeBlanc - backing vocals Barnev Valsaint - backing vocals Terry Bradford - backing vocals Claude "Mégo" Lemay - piano, music director André Coutu - guitar Paul Picard - percussion Yves Frulla - keyboards Dominique Messier - drums Marc Langis - bass

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Dion is one of pop music's most respected singers, and her vocal talents and expansive, coloratura soprano vocal range has influenced the singing styles of others such as Jessica Simpson and Christina Aguilera. In MTV's "22 Greatest Voices in Music" countdown, she placed ninth (sixth for a female), and she was also placed fourth in Cove Magazine's list of "The 100 Outstanding Pop Vocalists." In MuchMoreMusic's "Top 20 Divine Divas" program Dion ranked at number three, behind Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. They also described her voice as "one of the most powerful vocal workouts ever to be recorded."
While industry officials note her for her vocal talents, Dion was often the subject of media ridicule, and was frequently impersonated on shows like MADtv, Saturday Night Live and South Park for her Quebecois accent, as well as her conservative nature and on-stage movements. She is also heavily mocked in her home country of Canada on popular shows Royal Canadian Air Farce and This Hour Has 22 Minutes. However, Dion seems unabashed by media ridicule: "I'm flattered when they take the time to impersonate you," she says. "I think it's a good sign." She even invited Ana Gasteyer, who parodied her on SNL, to appear on stage during one of her performances.
Dion is rarely the center of media controversies. However, in 2005, following the Hurricane Katrina disaster, she appeared on Larry King Live and tearfully criticized U.S. President George W. Bush regarding the Iraq War and his slow response in aiding the victims of Hurricane Katrina: "How come it's so easy to send planes in another country, to kill everyone in a second, to destroy lives? We need to be there right now to rescue the rest of the people." She later claimed, "When I do interviews with Larry King or the big TV shows like that, they put you on the spot, which is very difficult. I do have an opinion, but I'm a singer. I'm not a politician."

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Dion became an entrepreneur with the establishment of her franchise restaurant "Nickels" in 1990. She has since divested her interests in the chain and was no longer affiliated with Nickels as of 1997. She also has a range of eyewear and a line of perfume, manufactured by Coty, Inc.. In October 2004, Canada's national air carrier Air Canada hired Dion as part of the new promotional campaign as the airline unveiled new in-flight service products and new aircraft livery. "You and I," the theme song sung by Dion, was written by an advertising executive working for Air Canada.
Dion has actively supported many charity organizations worldwide. She has promoted the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CCFF) since 1982 and became the foundation's National Celebrity Patron in 1993. She has an emotional attachment to the foundation; her niece Karine succumbed to the disease at the age of sixteen. In 2003, Dion joined a number of other celebrities, athletes and politicians including Josh Groban and Yolanda Adams to support "World Children's Day", a global fundraising effort sponsored by McDonald's. The effort raised money from over 100 countries and benefited many orphanages and children's health organizations. Dion has also been a major supporter of the T.J. Martell Foundation, the Diana Princess Of Wales Memorial Fund, and many health and education campaigns.
Dion has donated proceeds from selected performances of her Las Vegas show to various charitable causes.