25 random things about Celine Dion

 

Aidin Vaziri, Chronicle Pop Music Critic

 

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Celine Dion has been singing her heart out for audiences ... Celine Dion performing in her show "A New Day" at Caesars...

 

As Celine Dion prepares to return to the Bay Area for a Friday concert in San Jose, we take inspiration from the "25 Random Things About Me" lists that are exploding across Facebook and offer some little-known facts about Canada's favorite goblet-shattering pop juggernaut.

 

1. Everything changed on March 30, 1968. That's the day Celine Dion was born, the youngest of 14 children in Charlemagne, Quebec, a small town outside of Montreal.

 

2. Her first word was most likely "Heaaaaaaaaaaart!" :lol:

 

3. Named after the song "Céline," which was released by French singer Hugues Aufray two years before she was born, Dion clearly had no choice but to become a singer herself.

 

4. Her family owned a piano bar called Le Vieux Baril, where Dion and her siblings would regularly perform.

 

5. Sadly, the family never formed a band called the Dion 14.

 

6. When she was 12, Dion wrote and recorded her first song, "Ce N'était Qu'un Rêve" (It Was Only a Dream). Her brother Michel Dondalinger Dion sent a copy to her future manager, René Angélil, after seeing his name on the back of an album by Francophone singer Ginette Reno. [song written by her mother !! not by herself].

 

7. When Angélil didn't respond, Celine's brother left the music executive a message saying, "I know you haven't listened to the tape, because if you had, you would've called right away."

 

8. Angélil was moved to tears when he finally did call, and a 12-year-old Celine auditioned in his office. He promptly mortgaged his house to pay for the making of her first record, 1981's "La Voix du Bon Dieu."

 

9. Before Dion became an international star, Angélil pulled her out of the spotlight to give her a head-to-toe makeover that included extensive dental work and a spell at École Berlitz to sharpen her English skills.

 

10. The investment paid off: Dion has sold more than 200 million albums worldwide.

 

11. Better yet, she married Angélil in 1994, despite a 26-year age difference.

 

12. On Dec. 31, 1999, Dion was supposed to play her last concert before dedicating herself to family life. The birth of her son, René-Charles Dion Angélil, on Jan. 25, 2001, notwithstanding, that didn't work out so well.

 

13. Three years later, she returned to the stage, signing a three-year, 600-show contract at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas.

 

14. She ended up staying five years.

 

15. She loves singing other people's songs. Some of Dion's most famous covers include Cyndi Lauper's "I Drove All Night," Eric Carmen's "All by Myself" and John Lennon's "Beautiful Boy."

 

16. In 2004, Dion got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A year earlier, she received a star on the lesser-known Canadian Walk of Fame.

 

17. "My Heart Will Go On," the love theme for the 1997 blockbuster film "Titanic," is Dion's most popular song.

 

18. It's not the only song that reveals her continuing fascination with cardiology, though. Other Dion songs include "Where Does My Heart Beat Now," "Map to My Heart" and "One Heart."

 

19. In fact, you can call her Dr. Dion. Last year, the singer received an honorary doctorate in music from the Université Laval in Quebec City.

 

20. Barbra Streisand. Michael Jackson. Luciano Pavarotti. Aretha Franklin. These are just some of the people who have been stupid enough or foolish enough to sing with Dion. :o Rude :o

 

21. Dion cares. She not only donated $1 million to the victims of Hurricane Katrina but she also appeared on "Larry King Live" to fight back tears and rip the U.S. government. "There are people still there waiting to be rescued," she said. "To me, it is not acceptable. How can it be so easy to send planes in another country to kill everyone in a second and destroy lives? We need to serve our country."

 

22. She also helped raise $1 million for the victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami.

 

23. Oh, and there was the $100,000 she donated to relief efforts after the 2008 earthquake in China's Sichuan Province.

 

24. After the National Enquirer published a false story claiming Dion was pregnant with twins, she sued the magazine for more than $20 million, making it print a retraction and donate the money to the American Cancer Society.

 

25. So, you see, regardless of what you may have thought, Celine Dion actually has a heart.

 

Bonus: Do yourself a favor: Go on YouTube and search: "Celine Dion Is Amazing."

cool, thanks suus :)