After months of silence, when Celine Dion revealed on Instagram with a defeated look that her already modified 2023 European tour was being postponed again due to a serious health problem, the news had the effect of ‘a bomb. His very disabling stiff person syndrome prevents him from singing, if not from walking. In Quebec, the Twittersphere, the cultural community and the political class sent him a thousand wishes. Many other messages came from elsewhere. No one knows if she will ever come back on stage. A doubt is raised. In addition to the anguish of putting her career on hold, the singer remains responsible for a mega-company in her name which takes the hit.
An international star born in Quebec participates in our little story, willingly or by force, with his glory and his misfortunes. Celine Dion has been crowned queen of pop on a planetary scale. It caresses the collective ego, also raising a wind of sympathy at a time when the icon is tottering.
Without me being one of her fans, the diva of Charlemagne will have crossed my path over the decades. Her performance in front of Pope John Paul II when she sang to him A dove at the Olympic Stadium was unmissable. Even the youngest caught up with this moment on YouTube. As at the Oscars for his interpretation of My Life Will Go Onexit from titanic shipwrecked, a song she soon grew tired of singing. Everywhere, in fact, without looking for her voice, I heard her on radio and TV. And abroad, facing the inevitable question: “Are you Celine Dion’s compatriot?” What effect does it have? “Uh!” It depends. »
People are too quick to award the pure wool Quebecer certificate to fervent admirers of our house stars. Everyone is entitled to their musical preferences without having to beat their necks for not being madly Celinian. His chest and his repertoire cannot resonate in the hearts of all. Tastes and colors, we do not discuss, assures the adage, even if nobody, of course, takes it into account. One can bow to this breathtaking career and feel compassion for Celine’s misfortunes while sometimes feeling overwhelmed by the magnitude of her wave.
At the top of a Tokyo discotheque, soaring from a transistor in the middle of a Balinese rice field, in the United States in all the shopping centers like full billboards in Las Vegas, in France, at home, in the film Aline by Valérie Lemercier, she arose in front of me in voice, head to toe or figuratively. And the adventures of her marriages with René Angélil (including the Lebanese-Syrian version in Las Vegas, called the camels), her pregnancies, the genesis of her triumphs, Mama Dion’s recipes, her houses, her entire family, the mourning of her mentor husband, his hair-raising forays into the world of fashion; all this and more echoed through the media could not make her forget. Not to mention the biographies of the singer and her entourage. Moreover, if her manager husband was entitled to a state funeral (and not Jean Lapointe), it was undoubtedly because of the light projected on him by his famous wife. Otherwise, understand who can…
Beyond the extent of her vocal range, Celine Dion’s professionalism impresses, as does her respect for the public. The lady has always remained straight as an i. Without hitting the headlines with delusions of alcohol or other substances, without collecting boyfriends, loving a single man, dead or alive, without denying her family, but covering it with her generosity, she leads a very wise life in the turbulent world of the rich and famous. All while feeding the gossip machine. A real tour de force! Because many media people invent the details of a life for lack of knowing them. the star system is not that funny. Ask Meghan and Harry, who ride the fascination with the British crown in their dull, highly paid Netflix series while advocating the joys of anonymity. Nevertheless, living in the spotlight without respite must be an ordeal that no fortune or privilege can compensate for. Try to imagine just to see. Every day, every day, every day with the paparazzi on the heels and the tabloids burning for your emotions and your butt. It would drive anyone crazy, even royalty. Yes, the golden couple had it under the palace chandeliers. No, that was no reason to bring the violins out on screen.
The fact remains that, for her part, our national Céline has retained her dignity in the midst of the great media circus. We respect her for that too. And less emotional than die-hard fans, her wayward-eared compatriots also know that an angel passes when a diva falters.