15 Things You Didn’t Know about Celine Dion

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Celine Dion is one of the most amazing singers of our generation. She has been singing since she was a little girl, and she will forever be remembered for her beautiful voice. Her raw talent is enough to stop us all in our tracks and make us stop to hear what her beautiful voice has to say to us. Perhaps her most famous song is the title track from the “Titanic” soundtrack “My heart will go on,” but she’s so much more than just a singer from a hit movie. She’s a woman who knows loss, love, motherhood, hard work and dedication. She is someone who will go down in history books as one of the most prolific, most famous and most successful singers of all time. We all know her. We all love her. She is Celine Dion; the woman with the voice of an angel.  Here are some things you might not know about her:

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She’s the youngest of 14 children

Celine Dion was born in Canada as the youngest in her family. She has 13 older siblings. Her family is apparently very much as talented as she is, and her parents made the decision to tour the country with all their kids after forming a singing group. Of all the siblings, Dion is the one with the most famous and most notable voices. She made them successful and was able to extend her talent into a solo career that is decades long and more successful than most any other singer in the world.

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She met her husband when she was 12

When she was just a little girl of 12, her family sent a tape to a man by the name of Rene Angelil. He was a music manager, and Celine Dion’s family knew that she had the talent to become a famous singer. They sent her demo singing solo to him. He was famous for handling the career of another very famous French singer, and her family thought that he could help her make something of herself and further her career.

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Rene Angelil signed her on one condition

When she was 12 and he heard her solo tape. Rene Angelil decided that he would sign this young girl. However, he had one stipulation; he wanted complete control over her career and she and her family had no say. He mortgaged his house to pay for her to become famous knowing that she had something seriously amazing about her. Thankfully for him and his own personal finances, he was right about her talent and her skill and she did become one of the most famous singers in the world.

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She and her husband had a big age difference

Not only did Rene Angelil become Celine Dion’s manager when she was 12, he became her love interest when she was a little girl, too. He was 38 when they met – that made him 26 when she was born. They both denied that they ever had a romantic relationship until she was 18. They were engaged when she was 19 and married a few years later. The age difference was a problem for some, but not for so many others who got to know them and realized that their love story was one that was quite real.

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She didn’t record an English album until 1990

Celine Dion was born in Quebec and she is French Canadian. She and her family were very used to singing in French, and that was how she became famous. When Rene Angelil decided to sign her as a little girl to sing for his label, she was a French singer. She did not sing in English at all. It was 1990 before she sang her first album in English, and it was a massive success that allowed her more international fame than she’d ever experienced at that point in her career.

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She has a restaurant

Around the time that Celine Dion decided to record her first English album, she also made the decision to go ahead and open up a chain restaurant in Canada. It’s called Nickels and she opened it in 1990. She later decided that she would move onto other areas in Canada, and now she has some restaurants by the same name in Ontario as well. She’s had a lot of success with that, but most people have no idea that she is not just a singer but a restaurant owner. She’s a smart business woman with many ideas.

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She’s a Disney singer

Even though she did release an English album in 1990, it wasn’t as big a hit as her subsequent albums. It was 1992 when she was asked to sing the title track to a very famous Disney movie that she became really famous. She sang the song for Beauty and the Beast, and it’s what made people learn who she really was. The song was one of the most beautiful in the world, and she is very famous for making the song her own and turning it into something so famous.

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She’s younger than her stepson

Celine Dion’s late husband, Rene Angelil, had a son from a previous relationship when he met and married Celine Dion. She is actually three months younger than her stepson, but there is no rumor of any strife or issue between she and her stepson. In fact, those who know the family state that they get along quite well and have never had any issues stemming from the fact that there is such an age difference between her and her late husband.

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She struggled with fertility

In 2000, Celine Dion announced to her fans that she was taking a break from music for a while. She and her husband had been trying to have a baby for some time, but they were unsuccessful. After many years and many failed attempts at getting pregnant, she made the decision to undergo IVF to have a baby. She was able to eventually go on and have a son and then several years later give birth to twin sons, all through the help of IVF and her fertility doctors.

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Her net worth

Celine Dion is one of the most famous and most successful singers in the world. Over the course of her career, which spans many decades, she’s been able to amass a fortune that is quite substantial. Her net worth is an estimated $630 million. She has restaurants, a Las Vegas residency and so much more that she works for, maintains and actually has turned into gold. She and her late husband spent much time working very hard to ensure that their future needs would be sufficiently met and that they would be able to handle all that life threw at them as they moved forward, and her net worth shows their success.

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She loves shoes

Most women love shoes. Even those who don’t love shoes love shoes at least a little bit. Celine Dion is like many women; shoes are her weakness. It’s her belief that a beautiful pair of shoes can change the entire world and make everything seem that much better, and that much more beautiful. With more than a half million dollars to her name, it’s no wonder she has a closet with more than 500 pair of high-end designer shoes to choose from. She has many shoes that were made specifically for her and have not even been offered to the public, which is a woman’s dream come true.

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She named her twins after famous men

When Celine Dion and her late husband Rene Angelil welcomed their twin boys several years ago, they chose to name them after men they admire. One of the little boys goes by the name Eddy, which is after Eddy Marnay, the producer of Dion’s first five records. She felt she owed him so much for all he did for her, and so she named a child after him. The other little boy is Nelson, after Nelson Mandela, whom the couple felt was one of the most important men in history. They believed in giving their children meaningful names, and so that’s what they did.

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She’s sold more than 220 million albums

Every day this number changes a bit as it goes up and gets higher. She is one of the most successful recording artists of all time, and she continues to put forth effort and time in to her music. She was given the Chopard Diamond Award back in 2004 as she was the best-selling female artist of all time at that point in her career. With decades behind her and many successful albums to her name, it comes as no surprise to anyone that she has so much success and so much to offer.

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She loves to sing other people’s music

Many artists are a bit uncomfortable with the idea of singing music that belongs to others, but not Celine Dion. She actually finds a great deal of enjoyment in the art of singings songs once performed by others so that she can put her own spin on them and make them hers. She is always very respectful of other artists and their talents, and she is quick to compliment them on their lovely music and their style. She never tries to emulate another artist, but she always puts her own beautiful spin onto their music through her own.

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She donated more than $1 million to Hurricane Katrina victims

When the devastating storm rocked the south more than a decade ago, Celine Dion was one of the first celebrities to step up and donate money to help rebuild the city and to help the people of New Orleans recover. She once cried on national television as she discussed how unhappy she was at the efforts being made by the United States to help the victims and the city, and she said she was willing to do whatever it took to help these people recover from the devastation that they endured.

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Written by Tiffany Raiford

Tiffany Raiford is a lifelong Floridian, wife to my high school sweetheart and mother of four littles (two girls and boy/girl twins...no, they are not identical and yes, I'm sure). My kids love to whine, so I love to wine. My loves include nap time, bed time, date night, travel and evenings and weekends when my husband is home because he handles all diaper changes.