The Transformation Of Celine Dion From Childhood To 53

The pride of Canada, Celine Dion continues to amaze multiple generations, including younger fans, with her powerful voice. Fellow Canadian Drake respectfully bowed down once when meeting her backstage. Drake reportedly told the singer that he would get a tattoo of her face on his ribs (via Metro). Though flattered, Dion told iHeartRadio that she would rather Drake write her love letters and not get the tattoo. It's easy to see why Drake and others are so infatuated with Dion, who has been a dominant figure in the music industry for decades. 

In 2016, she earned the Icon award at the Billboard Music Awards. The win came at a tragic time in Dion's life; the singer delivered an acceptance speech in tears and vowed that "the show must go on," both for the ceremony and her personal life. Fittingly, Dion then performed Queen's "The Show Must Go On," showcasing her incredible voice and strength.  

From a young age, Dion overcame obstacles and tragedies to continually record gorgeous songs. Of course, the most consistent part of her career has always been her inimitable voice that can bring fans to tears. As Rolling Stone noted, hers is one of "the greatest, most versatile voices in history." From the time before she could even sing, to her days selling out arenas around the world, this is the transformation of Celine Dion from childhood to age 53.

When Celine Dion was a young girl, her father Adhémar "worked as a butcher, supporting the family of 16 on $165 a week," CNN reported. Especially with so many children in the family, the Dions lived a very modest life and had to make sacrifices. For example, Adhémar walked to work just to save the bus fare, and the family was "so poor that after dinner, they would flip the plates over to have dessert." But none of this deterred the famous singer's natural abilities, and she used the dining room table as a stage when she was only 2. Her brother Michel booked a 5-year-old Celine to sing at his wedding.

Looking back on her performance at the ceremony, Celine Dion remembered singing a couple songs for the bride and groom. More than just a nice moment for her siblings, the gig would end up inspiring the young girl. "When I started to feel the love and the warmth of the audience, it got me," Celine recalled to CNN. As a result, she remembered thinking, "This is what I want to do all my life. I want to be a singer." In fact, the star became so enamored with singing that she lost interest in most everything else. She would sing and stay up late enough to miss school, which her mother Thérèse noticed. "When I did go to school I was always dreaming and singing in my head," Celine admitted to People.

In 1980, Celine Dion's mother helped her young girl become a star. She co-wrote a song called "It Was Only A Dream" for 12-year-old Dion to perform, per CNN. It was a family effort because Dion and her brother Jacques also co-wrote the tune "Ce n'était qu'un rêve," the singer explained on Instagram. Dion's mom went even further and sent a tape of her daughter singing the tune to the Québec-based music manager René Angélil, who was so impressed that he invited Dion to perform in person. Supposedly, Angélil handed Dion a pencil and said, "Here's your microphone. Now sing as though you were in front of a sold-out audience," according to Dion's official biography. "While I was singing he started to cry," Dion told People about showcasing her skills to Angélil.

As a result, the music-manager believed in Dion so much that he "mortgaged his house to finance her first album." When she was 13 years old, Dion made her debut with the album "La voix du Bon Dieu" or "The Voice of God" in English, she remembered on Facebook. To promote herself as a new artist, Dion traveled with Angélil and her mom around the world. "I missed my family and my home, but I don't regret having lost my adolescence," Dion explained to People. In her mind, it was all worth it because "I had one dream: I wanted to be a singer."

Usually unknown to Americans, the Eurovision Song Contest has been a long-running and prestigious competition that showcases some of the brightest new musical acts in the world. Abba famously won Eurovision in 1974 thanks to their song "Waterloo," BBC reported. The band Måneskin won for Italy in 2021.

Though she is Canadian, Dion represented Switzerland at the 1988 Eurovision contest held that year in Dublin, Ireland. "It was a very strange adventure for me," Dion remembered about the experience on "The Jonathan Ross Show." In front of 600 million viewers tuning in, Dion won, as recapped on her official biography. The victory was also lucrative for her manager René Angélil. Dion said on the "The Jonathan Ross Show" that Angélil bet "a lot of money" on her to win the contest. "I felt like I was a horse and I really needed to win that race," she joked.

The night of her Eurovision win was also a turning point for Dion romantically. Around the age of 20, she shared her first kiss with Angélil (via CNN). "The hugs just became better, and his kisses moved across my cheek," Dion told People. Around this time, Dion also tried her skills at acting. She appeared in the TV series "Des fleurs sur la neige" as one of two siblings who overcame a difficult childhood.

One of her most iconic songs, "The Power of Love," was an instant success for Celine Dion. The track became her first number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and stayed on top for four weeks in 1994. That same year, Dion had another major milestone in her personal life when she married her longtime manager René Angélil. At the time of their wedding, Dion was 26 years old and 26 years younger than her husband. 

The two were engaged in 1991 and turned their high-profile wedding into quite the spectacle. Dion and Angélil were married at the Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal, and the ceremony was broadcast on Canadian television, Vogue recapped. For the special day, Dion wore a stunning, "voluminous wedding dress designed by Mirella and Steve Gentile adorned with a 6-meter-long train, whose lace and crystals would have required 1000 hours of work. The whole thing was accompanied by a mythical headdress made of 2000 Swarovski crystals weighing more than 3 kilos."

The following year, Dion showed that married life didn't slow down her musical success. She released the French record "D'eux," which was literally called "The French Album" in the United States. Dion showed off her range and enlisted singer-songwriter Jean-Jacques Goldman for the project, including the rocking song "J'irai où tu iras." "D'eux" was a smash hit and became "the biggest-selling French album in history, selling 10 million copies around the world," according to Dion's official biography.

James Cameron's 1997 masterpiece "Titanic" concludes with one of the most iconic movie songs ever, "My Heart will Go On." But the track almost never made it to the big screen because Cameron was against the idea of having a pop song at the end of his film. Behind the scenes, the composers created the song with Celine Dion's booming voice and tried to convince the director. The song's creator, James Horner, "said that he carried the tape in his pocket for four weeks, waiting for the moment when he caught Cameron in an unusually good mood," Vogue recapped.

Also, Dion's husband René Angélil convinced the song's creators to have Dion on the track. She told Billboard, "I wanted to choke my husband. Because I didn't want to do it!" Despite not feeling her best on her trip to the recording studio, Dion still showed up. "I thought, 'Sing the song, then get the heck out of there,'" she said. But the song, of course, perfectly complemented the film, which went on to be the highest-grossing film ever until 2010 (when "Avatar" took its spot). The radio version of the song then won the 1998 Grammy Awards for record of the year and best female pop vocal performance.

In 2017, Dion performed the song on its 20th anniversary at the Billboard Music Awards. Wearing a white Stéphane Rolland haute couture dress while standing underneath a stunning chandelier, Dion shook the room with her show-stopping voice, The Atlantic reported.

Prior to the birth of her first son, Celine Dion explained that she hoped for more children. During an interview on Québec's TVA television network, the singer said a New York fertility clinic had another fertilized in vitro embryo of hers, so she was hoping her upcoming son would have a "twin" (via ABC News). This came true quite literally during her second pregnancy when Dion announced that she was having twin boys. In a briefly scary moment, Dion was admitted to a hospital leading up to her delivery, Billboard reported. Fortunately, the singer then gave birth in October 2010 to her twins, per People. Her sons, Nelson and Eddy, had a Las Vegas baptism 10 days prior to their mother's next gig (per Dion's official biography).

This started her second residency at the famous Caesars Palace casino. Between the first and second residencies, Dion reportedly attracted 4.5 million people to her shows (via The Hollywood Reporter). Her impressive star power in the city led the way for performers like Adele and Britney Spears to later have their own Las Vegas residences. Cementing her status among other great performers in Vegas history, like Elvis Presley and the Rat Pack, Dion concluded her residency in a truly memorable fashion. Her final show concluded with "an epic finale that delivered a 20-song, hit-studded set that didn't just pull at heartstrings, but gently unraveled them," per The Hollywood Reporter.

Two days after Celine Dion's husband René Angélil died, her older brother Daniel, "the eighth of 14 Dion children," died from cancer (via The Guardian). In the aftermath of the two losses, Dion turned to an unexpected source to help heal her wounds. She started a handbag line and took a huge interest in extravagant fashion. ​​"It's amazing how a little bit of fantasy can alter our moods," she told People. "I've always loved fashion, from as far back as I can remember. But as everyone knows, I've gone through some extremely difficult times in recent years, and I suppose that I'm spreading my wings a little bit more these days and doing so with the help of beautiful clothing and accessories," she said. 

Dion already had a career of amazing looks, including her iconic Dior backwards white tuxedo by John Galliano, which she wore at the 1999 Oscars. The look was shocking and "it was avant-garde at the time" because most women would wear dresses instead of pants to award shows, Dion told People. Fortunately, the singer kept this spirit of progressive and surprising outfit choices later in her career. In 2019, Dion was a true fashionista as she went to many couture and fashion weeks shows throughout the year. She donned outfits from the biggest names in fashion — Alexandre Vauthier, Valentino, and a stunning Oscar de la Renta dress at the famous Met Gala in New York City (via Harper's Bazaar).