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Celine Dion

, Singer
Celine Dion
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  • Born: 30 March 1968
  • Birthplace: Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada
  • Best Known As: Singer of "My Heart Will Go On," the theme from Titanic

Céline Dion has made a career of singing emotional, no-holds-barred pop ballads like "My Heart Will Go On," her Grammy-winning theme to the movie Titanic. The youngest in a musical family from rural Quebec, Dion started her singing career early. As a teenager, she was already a popular recording artist in Japan and Europe. Dion's duet with Peabo Bryson on the Disney song "Beauty and the Beast" catapulted her to international fame. It was followed by the albums "The Colour of My Love" (1993) and "Deux" (1995). In 1996 the Grammy-winning album "Falling Into You" cemented her reputation for sultry love ballads. In 1998 she reached perhaps the peak of her popularity: her album Let's Talk About Love was released along with "My Heart Will Go On," the soaring theme to James Cameron's Oscar-winning romantic drama Titanic (starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet). After a few years of self-imposed semi-retirement, Dion began a nearly five-year run in A New Day, her own show at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas; Dion did 717 performances of the show from 2003-2007.

Dion married her manager, Rene Angelil, in December of 1994; he is 25 years her senior... After a much-publicized pregnancy, Dion gave birth to a son, Rene Charles, on 25 January 2001... Céline has had good musical fortune at the movies, with hits from Disney's animated Beauty and the Beast (1991), the 1993 comedy Sleepless in Seattle and Titanic... According to the A New Day site at Caesar's Palace, Dion has sold over 175 million albums during her career.

 
 
Artist: Celine Dion
Celine Dion

Born:
Mar 30, 1968 in Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada

Representative Songs:

"My Heart Will Go On," "Beauty and the Beast," "Because You Loved Me"

Representative Albums:

All the Way: A Decade of Song, Power of Love, Let's Talk About Love

Similar Artists:

Influences:

Followers:

Performed Songs By:

Luc Plamondon, Romano Musumarra, Germain Gauthier, Mary Susan Applegate, Eddy Marnay, J.P. Lang, Peter Zizzo, Candy Derouge, Gunther Mende, Diane Warren, Peter Sinfield, Alan Menken, Will Jennings, Andy Hill, Jean-Jacques Goldman, Phil Galdston, Richard Cocciante, Michel Berger, Eric Benzi, Howard Ashman, R. Kelly, James Horner, Jim Steinman, Carole Bayer Sager, David Foster, Mel Tormé, Jennifer Rush, Aldo Nova

Worked With:

Walter Afanasieff, Rick Wake, Dave Reitzas, Michael Landau, Skyler Jett, Humberto Gatica, Felipe Elgueta, Jeff Bova, Michael Thompson
  • Genre: Rock
  • Active: '90s, 2000s
  • Instrument: Vocals

Biography

Rising from humble beginnings in the small town of Charlemagne, Quebec, Celine Dion became one of the biggest international stars in pop music history, selling more than 100 million albums worldwide. The youngest in Adhemar and Therese Dion's family of 14 children, Dion grew up in an environment full of the inherent chaos and material austerity that comes with such a large working-class family. However, the Dion household was also one filled with love for children and music, and her parents and siblings were important figures in the early development of her singing career. Celine Dion began singing in her parents' piano bar when she was just five years old. By the age of 12 she had written one of her first songs, "Ce N'etait Qu'un Rêve" ("It Was Only a Dream"), which she recorded with the help of her mother and brother and shipped off to a manager named Rene Angelil, whose name they found on the back of an album by Ginette Reno, a popular Francophone singer. After weeks with no response from Angelil, Celine's brother Michel phoned him and said, "I know you haven't listened to the tape, because if you had, you would've called right away." Angelil dug up the tape and called the family back the same day to set up a meeting with Celine. When the 12-year-old performed in his office in Montreal, Angelil cried and set in motion the process of making her a Quebecois, and later international star. He mortgaged his house to pay for her first two albums, producing a local number one single. In 1983 she became the first Canadian to have a gold record in France and she won a gold medal at the Yamaha songwriting competition in Japan. Her worldwide reputation was in the making, but success in the United States was not yet forthcoming.

When she was 18, Dion saw Michael Jackson performing on television and told Angelil that she wanted to be a star like him. Angelil's response was to order her to take 18 months off to remake her image. Dion underwent a physical transformation, cutting her hair, plucking her eyebrows, and having her teeth capped to cover up the incisors that had caused a Quebec humor magazine to dub her "Canine Dion." She was also sent off to English school to polish the language that would help her to break into the American market. When she emerged from this process, she had made an amazing transformation from teen star to adult chanteuse.

The payoff came almost immediately. Her 1990 breakthrough album, Unison, was released in the U.S. by Epic Records and produced several hit songs, but it was her duet with Peabo Bryson on the theme song of Disney's Beauty and the Beast that was her true breakthrough. The song reached number one on the pop charts and won both a Grammy and an Academy award. "Beauty and the Beast" was also featured on her second English album, 1992's Celine Dion, which launched another Top Ten American hit with "If You Asked Me To," while spawning two additional Top 40 singles, "Nothing Broken But My Heart" and "Love Can Move Mountains."

During this time there were also important developments in Dion's personal life. In 1988 Angelil crossed the line from manager to romantic partner when he kissed Dion one night after a show in Dublin. Fearful that fans would find the 26-year difference in their ages unsettling, the couple kept their relationship a secret for several years. But their 1994 wedding in Montreal's Notre Dame Basilica was celebrated not only by the 250 invited guests, but by millions of fans worldwide.

One of the hardest working stars in show business, Dion continued to record and perform on a schedule that would kill most people. She recorded six albums between 1992 and 1996, when her album Falling Into You took her to a new level of stardom. The recording was a runaway hit, winning Grammys for both Album of the Year and Best Pop Album. 1996 also brought her another honor; she was asked to perform at the opening ceremonies of the Atlanta Olympics. Dion's longest tenure on the pop charts would come the following year, however, when she recorded "My Heart Will Go On," the theme song for James Cameron's blockbuster movie Titanic. "My Heart Will Go On" became omnipresent on the radio as Titanic fever swept the world and when it was featured on her album Let's Talk About Love it helped propel that recording to the top of the charts. By then, Dion had the power to gather a supporting cast of stars and the album contained an amazing collection of artists, including Barbra Streisand, Luciano Pavarotti, and the Bee Gees. The album would win a host of awards and bring Dion a whole new world of fans.

Her appearance on VH1's Divas Live special with Aretha Franklin, Gloria Estefan, Mariah Carey, and Shania Twain proved popular as well and helped solidify Dion's position amongst not only current female pop singers but historical greats like Franklin. The continuing popularity of her recordings and live performances made her 1999 sabbatical seem like a tragedy to her fans, but Dion needed a break after more than a decade and a half of breakneck pace. In 1999, her husband Angelil was diagnosed with throat cancer. While the disease responded well to treatment and went into remission, the illness was a wake-up call for Dion, who decided to put a new emphasis on her family life and announced a temporary retirement so that she could spend more time at home and have a child. After undergoing fertility treatments, she gave birth to a son in January2001. The Collector's Series…Volume One was released during Dion's hiatus; it featured many of her best-loved songs, as well as a Spanish-language version of "All By Myself".

Dion returned to the public eye in a big way in March 2002 with A New Day Has Come. The album debuted at number one in over 17 countries, and was accompanied by a full-scale media blitz. But Dion's greatest challenge was yet to come.

Despite millions of albums sold, the adoration of fans worldwide, and the validation of her peers, Dion's success was still hampered by image problems that had dogged her since the days of "Canine Dion." While many Americans adored her, just as many snickered at her Quebecois heritage and the relative the unorthodoxy of her marriage. There was also the issue of her relevancy to lucrative audiences existing outside of her pop vocal constituency. To combat these issues, Dion and her management made a series of bold moves that attempted to solidify her career, and ensure its continuity as the singer entered her middle 30s.

In early 2002, Dion announced a three-year, 600-show contract to appear five nights a week in an entertainment extravaganza at Caesers Palace, Las Vegas called A New Day. The production would take place in a custom-built, 4000-seat theatre and would feature Dion as the centerpiece of a multimedia program designed and orchestrated by Franco Dragone, the Belgian theatre impresario behind the modern circus phenomenon Cirque Du Soleil. The project united Dion, her label Sony Music, Drangone's production company Creations du Dragon, Caesars parent Park Place Entertainment, and promoter Concerts West in a landmark, multi-million dollar alliance that hinged on Dion's ability to put fans in seats five nights a week for three years. In conjunction with the rollout of A New Day was an endorsement deal with German automaker DaimlerChryslter AG worth additional millions. The campaign placed Dion in a series of stylish, black-and-white advertisements promoting the stylish allure of Chrysler's line of upscale automobiles. The performer also recorded a brand-new song to accompany the spots. Debuting in early 2003, the campaign dovetailed into the March release of One Heart, Dion's first album since 2001's A New Day Has Come, which in turn heralded the opening of A New Day on March 25, 2003. That live Las Vegas show was documented on the summer 2004 release New Day: Live in Las Vegas, which was followed a few months later by Miracle, a collection of family songs designed as a tandem book/CD project between Dion and photographer Anne Geddes. The 2CD compilation On Ne Change Pas appeared in 2005 featuring her most popular French language songs and a new collaboration with the operatic pop vocal foursome Il Divo, "I Believe in You (Je Crois en Toi)". A new French language album, D'Elles, arrived in May of 2007 and debuted at the top of the Canadian album chart. ~ Stacia Proefrock, All Music Guide
 
Actor:

Celine Dion

  • Born: Mar 30, 1968 in Quebec, Canada
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '90s-2000s
  • Major Genres: Music
  • Career Highlights: In My Life, New France, Celine Dion: All the Way...A Decade of Song and Video
  • First Major Screen Credit: In My Life (1998)

Biography

Top-selling Canadian chanteuse Celine Dion may have a handful of appearances in music documentaries to her credit, including George Martin's Beatles cover project In My Life (1998), but she is better known cinematically as the voice of several enormously popular movie ballads. She sang the Oscar-winning theme of Disney's animated hit Beauty and the Beast (1991) with Peabo Bryson and her rendition of "Because You Loved Me" for Up Close & Personal (1996) became a bestseller. Dion's career as movie vocalist hit a record-breaking apex when composer James Horner enlisted her to sing the kind of love ballad director James Cameron had expressly nixed for his romance disaster epic Titanic (1997). Cameron relented when he heard the result and Dion's performance of eventual Best Song Oscar-winner "My Heart Will Go On" became as king-size a hit as Cameron's blockbuster film in 1998 (and eclipsed her vocalizing for the animated Quest for Camelot (1998)). Dion took a career hiatus in 1999 to start a family with her husband/manager. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

 
Quotes By: Celine Dion

Quotes:

"Its the moment you think you can't that you realize you can."

 
Wikipedia: Celine Dion
Celine Dion
Céline_Dion-AFR.JPG
Background information
Birth name Céline Marie Claudette Dion
Born March 30 1968 (1968--) (age 39)
Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada
Genre(s) Pop, rock
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter
Years active 1981 – present
Label(s) Epic, Columbia (1986-present)
Website www.celinedion.com

Céline Marie Claudette Dion OC, OQ, (born March 30, 1968) is a Canadian singer and occasional songwriter and actress.[1][2][3] Born to a large, impoverished family in Charlemagne, Québec, Dion became a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and would-be husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record.[4] In 1990 she released the anglophone album Unison, establishing herself as a viable pop artist in North America and other English speaking areas of the world.[5]

Dion first gained international recognition in the 1980s after she won both the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest.[6][7] After a series of French albums in the early 1980s, she signed on to Sony Records in 1986. Under the guidance of her husband, she achieved worldwide success with several English and French albums, ending the decade as one of the most-successful artists in pop music.[8][9] After releasing over twenty-five albums over two decades, Dion announced a temporary retraction from entertainment in 1999 in order to start a family and spend time with her husband.[10][9] She returned to the music scene in 2002, and a year later, she signed a four-year contract to perform nightly in a five-star theatrical show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas.[11][12]

Dion's music has been influenced by various genres, which range from pop, soul and rock to gospel and classical, and while her releases have often received mixed critical reception, she is renowned for her technically skilled and powerful vocals.[13][14][15] In 2004, after accumulating record sales in excess of 175 million, she was presented with the Chopard Diamond Award from the World Music Awards show for becoming the "Best-selling Female Artist in the World."[16][17] In April 2007 Sony BMG announced that Celine Dion had sold over 200 million albums worldwide.[18]

Life and music career

Childhood and early beginnings

Dion's performance at the Yamaha World Popular Song Festival won her the gold medal as well as the award for being the top performer.
Enlarge
Dion's performance at the Yamaha World Popular Song Festival won her the gold medal as well as the award for being the top performer.

The youngest of fourteen children born to Adhémar Dion and Thérèse Tanguay, Céline Dion was raised a Roman Catholic in a poverty-stricken, but, by her own account, happy, home in Charlemagne.[19][9] Music had always been a part of the family, as she grew up singing with her siblings in her parents' small piano bar called 'Le Vieux Baril.' From an early age Dion had dreamed of being a performer;[13] 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."[20]

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").[19] Her brother Michel sent the recording to music manager René Angélil, whose name he discovered on the back of a Ginette Reno album.[4] Angélil was moved to tears by Dion's voice, and decided to make her a star.[19] 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").[4] 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."[11][4] 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.[21]

At eighteen, after seeing a Michael Jackson performance, Dion told Angélil that she wanted to be a star like Jackson.[22] Though confident in her talent, Angelil realized that her image needed to be changed in order for her to be marketed worldwide.[19] Dion receded from the spotlight for a number of months, during which she underwent a physical makeover, and was sent to the École Berlitz School in 1989 to polish her English language.[5] This marked the start of her Anglophone music career. According to an episode of VH-1's Behind The Music, she learned English in just three months.

1990–1992: Career breakthrough

A year after she had learned English, Dion made her debut into the Anglophone market with Unison (1990).[4] She incorporated the help of many established musicians, including Vito Luprano and Canadian producer David Foster.[13] The album was largely influenced by 1980s soft rock music that quickly found a niche within 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."[23] Stephen Erlewine of All Music Guide declared it as, "a fine, sophisticated American debut."[24] 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 made prominent use of the 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.

Audio samples:
  • "Where Does My Heart Beat Now" (1990)
    noicon
    "Where Does My Heart Beat Now", Dion's first North American hit, was comprised of 1980s soft rock. (Note the prominence of the electric guitar). It contrasts with the style of subsequent efforts.
    "Beauty and the Beast"(1991)
    noicon
    "Beauty and the Beast" was largely influenced by classical music, which became a key feature of Dion's later work.
  • Problems playing the files? See media help.

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).[6] 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.[13] "Beauty and the Beast" was featured on Dion's 1992 self-titled 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 North America. She had achieved one of her main objectives: wedging her way into the Anglophone market and achieving fame.[21] However, while she was experiencing rising success in the U.S., her French fans in Canada criticized her for neglecting them.[25][13] She would later regain her fan base at the Felix Awards show, where, after winning "English Artist of the Year," she openly refused to accept the award. She asserted that she was — and would always be— a French, not an English, artist.[26][5] Apart from her commercial success, there were also changes in Dion's personal life, as Angélil, who was twenty-six years her senior, transited from manager to lover. However, the relationship was kept a secret as they both feared that the public would find their relations inappropriate.[27]

1993–1995: Popularity established

In 1993 Dion announced 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.[13] Eventually, Angélil and Dion married in an extravagant wedding ceremony in December 1994, which was broadcast live on Canadian television.

As it was dedicated to her manager, the album's motif focused on love and romance.[28] It became her most successful record up to that point, selling over six million copies in the U.S., two million in Canada, and peaking at number-one in many countries. The album also spawned Dion's first U.S., Canadian, and Australian number-one single "The Power of Love" (a remake of Jennifer Rush's 1985 hit), which would become her signature hit until she reached new career heights in the late 1990s.[21] Subsequent singles, such as "When I Fall in Love," a duet with Clive Griffin, and "Misled" failed to reach the upper tier of the pop charts in the U.S., but were moderately successful in Canada. The Colour of My Love also became Dion's first bona fide hit in Europe, and in particular the United Kingdom. Both the album and the single "Think Twice" simultaneously occupied the top of the British charts for five consecutive weeks. "Think Twice," which remained at number one for seven weeks, eventually became the fourth single by a female artist to sell in excess of one million copies in the U.K.,[29] while the album was eventually certified five-times platinum for two-million copies sold.

Dion kept to her French roots and continued to release many Francophone recordings between each English record.[30] These included 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.[30] As these albums were in French, the worldwide commercial success was limited. However, Dion's Francophone fans embraced each release,[31] and generally, they achieved more credibility than her Anglophone works.[25]

The mid-1990s was a transitional period for Dion's musical style, as she slowly diverged 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.[32] 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."[33] Resultantly, she earned frequent comparisons to artists such as Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey.[34] There were also signs that her work was becoming more clichéd: critically, The Colour of My Love was not consistent with earlier works.[35][28] 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" for the third time. 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.[36]

1996–1999: Worldwide commercial success

Audio samples:
  • "Falling into You" (1996)
    noicon
    The slow-tempo title track was noted for its considerable use of percussion instruments and the saxophone.
    "Call the Man" (1996)
    noicon
    One of the final tracks on the album, "Call the Man" features a choir chanting and humming in an African language.
    "I Don't Know" (1996)
    noicon
    Falling into You contained outlandish musical effects, as epitomized by the single "I Don't Know."
  • Problems playing the files? See media help.

Falling into You (1996), Dion's fourth Anglophone album, presented the singer at the height of her popularity, and showed a further progression of her music.[27] In an attempt to reach a wider audience, the album combined many elements, such as ornate orchestral frills, African chanting, and outlandish musical effects. Additionally, instruments like the violin, Spanish guitar, trombone, the cavaquinho, and saxophone created a new sound.[37] The singles encompassed a variety of musical styles. The title track "Falling into You" 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 the number-one single "Because You Loved Me," which was written by Diane Warren, was a maudlin ballad that served as the theme to the 1996 film Up Close & Personal.[36] Falling into You garnered career-best reviews for Dion. While Dan Leroy wrote that it was not very different from her previous work,[38] and Stephen Holden of The New York Times and Natalie Nichols of Los Angeles Times wrote that the album was formulaic,[39][40] other critics such as Chuck Eddy of Entertainment Weekly, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AMG, and Daniel Durchholz lavished the album as "compelling," "passionate," "stylish," "elegant," and "remarkably well-crafted."[41][37] 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.[42] It also won Grammy Awards for Best Pop Album, and the academy's highest honor Album of the Year.[43] 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.[44] In March 1996, Dion 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 was publicized as its sequel.[32] The recording process took place in London, New York City, and Los Angeles, and featured a host of special guests, such as Barbra Streisand on "Tell Him"; the Bee Gees on "Immortality"; and world-renowned tenor Luciano Pavarotti on "I Hate You Then I Love You."[27][45] Other musicians included Carole King, Sir George Martin, and Jamaican singer Diana King, who added a reggae tinge to "Treat Her Like a Lady."[46] 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."[45] 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.[43] Serving as the love theme for the 1997 blockbuster film Titanic, the song topped the charts in many countries across the world, and became Dion's signature song.[47] In support of her album, Dion embarked on the Let's Talk About Love Tour between 1998 and 1999, which received mixed reviews.

Dion ended the 1990s with two more successful albums— the Christmas album These Are Special Times (1998), and the compilation album All the Way... A Decade of Song (1999).[8] On These Are Special Times, Dion became more involved in the writing process. The album was her most classically influenced yet, with orchestral arrangements found on virtually every track.[48] "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 drew together her most successful hits coupled with seven new songs, including the lead off 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.[8]

By the end of the 1990s, Celine Dion had sold over 100 million albums worldwide, and had won a slew of industry awards.[8] 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."[30] 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.[49] 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).[50]

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.[51] 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?[52]

Dion was also criticized for some of her remakes and duets. "The First Time Ever I Saw Your F