The Mark of the Greatness of Celine Dion: Courage and Devotion - Essay Example

Celine Dion: a Woman to Admire The life of a musical artist can be a tempestuous one. Those blessed with musical talent are oftentimes tormented with emotional issues, personal instability and at times severe immaturity. On occasion, however, giftedness is bestowed on an individual with extraordinary amounts of courage, perseverance and profound depths of emotional expression. Such a person is Celine Dion. Her emotional expression was likely forged in the glaring dichotomies of her formative years. She was reared in a financially challenged family of aspiring musicians who owned a small piano bar in her native city of Quebec. The youngest of fourteen children, her name came from a song of the same title by French singer Hugues Aufray. She cut her teeth singing with her siblings in her parent’s modest establishment. Even among her siblings her voice stood out as especially beautiful. At the age of twelve her parents, Adhémar Dion and Thérèse Tanguay, along with her brother Jacques, sent a recording of her voice to renowned musical producer René Angélil. So impressed was the veteran manager with her voice that he vowed to make her a star. He mortgaged his home in order to finance her first album, entitled La voix du bon Dieu (The Voice of the Good God) in 1981. It became an instant hit in Quebec, with two of its tracks hitting the charts in Quebec. It ultimately sold in excess of 100,000 copies. The same year Rene released a second compilation of her songs, including several Christmas melodies. It was titled Céline Dion Chante Noël (Celine Dion with Christmas Songs). This collection proved even more popular than her first effort, with sales in excess of 150,000. Her early success was due not only to native talent and a supportive family, but a single-minded drive that emerged within her at an early age. “I dont regret having lost my adolescence,” she revealed in a 1994 interview. “I had one dream: I wanted to be a singer." This passion for her vocation is one of Celine’s most defining and admirable qualities. It would sustain her as she not only climbed to the heights of the musical world but also as she faced later personal issues. These personal issues centered around her affair with her manager, René Angélil. Twenty six years her senior, she reported falling in love with him at the tender age of twelve. At the time he was married to his second wife, but divorce followed, which confirmed in the teenage Celine’s mind that she and Rene was destined to be together. At the age of nineteen they became lovers. This proved to be both her greatest source of happiness as well as a guarded secret that she and Rene both dreaded would find its way into the papers. By the strictures of the time a relationship between two persons of such disparate ages would have been scandalous enough to derail her budding career. ("Can Pops Puppet Master" 48) For years she endured the emotional pain that compliance with these strictures caused her, until at last in 1993 she announced to the worlds that Rene was her beloved. To the couple’s delight and surprise, her fans embraced the revelation, and the pair were wed in a lavish ceremony in December of the following year. (Hyland 18) The revelation’s wonderful reception vindicated Celine’s devotion to another of her most admirable qualities: her courage and devotion to follow the gentle voice of her heart. This same trait would cause her to later endure another great struggle: to bear children of her own. Years before bearing children became a priority for her, she had another monumental task set before her. After seeing Michael Jackson perform in 1986 she determined that she too would ascend to the heights of musical fame and be a celebrity of renown. This lofty goal meant myriad challenges for her, both internal as well as external. Rene’s keen eye for marketing told him that, while Celine was immensely talented, her image would need polishing in order to appeal to the tastes of the masses. In the late 1980s she underwent dental surgery for aesthetic purposes, and also went to the École Berlitz to become adept in English. A crisis point was reached in 1989 when she injured her vocal cords while on tour. Her doctor gave her two options: either surgery on her throat or three weeks of total vocal rest. Eschewing the prospect of going under the knife, she chose the latter, viewing it as a sabbatical for music during which she could hone her skills from a technical viewpoint. After a near month of self-imposed silence she sought the guidance of voice coach William Riley, who instructed her in singing techniques that would avoid the causes of the trauma. Trauma is something that visits every person. Whether an individual is crushed by it or uses it to spur them on to greater achievements is a key test of their character. Celine chose the latter course, which is another reason to admire her. The course we choose in life can lead to abject failure, stirring success or any number of things in between. In Celine’s case the 1990s proved to be successful indeed. (Bristow) The first year of that decade saw the release of her first English album, Unison. A song from that album entitled Where Does my Heart Beat Now made it to number four on the billboard 100, securing for Celine a place in the world of pop. In 1991 she was a soloist on an album titled Voices That Care, a recording devoted to American troops serving in Operation Desert Storm. That same year saw the breakthrough that would catapult her to worldwide acclaim. She partnered with megastar Peabo Bryson in singing the theme song to the Disney hit film Beauty and the Beast. Suddenly her name was known in households across the globe. The period through 1992 saw the release of a self-titled album and singles that climbed the charts at a meteoric pace, including If You Ask Me To, Love Can Move Mountains and Nothing Broken but my Heart. She gained great renown in America and Britain, sailing form one commercial triumph after another throughout the 1990s. Perhaps her finest moment came when she sang the song My Heart Will Go On in 1997. The theme song of the massive international hit Titanic, it led to her winning a pair of Grammys that same year. (Clinton 12) The Grammys led to the English speaking world toasted Celine’s name. But her French fans soon became disillusioned with her, fearing she was abandoning her francophone roots and “selling out.” She proved her integrity in 1992, however, when, at the Felix Awards, she was offered the title “English Artist of the Year.” She declined it, announcing to the world that she was and forever would be a French musician. Worldly success carries with it many perils that have bedeviled souls unable to handle temptation. The celebrity press is rife with tales of stars spiraling downward due to drug abuse, rampant sexual expression and run ins with the legal authorities. Not only did Celine fail to succumb to any of these, she also resisted what was perhaps the greatest temptation of all. She refused to compromise her essential self for the sake of money. For this she is to be greatly admired. Money, or the love of it, is said to be the root of all evil. Celine’s heart was never consumed by the lust for lucre, though. Her life revolved around her love for singing and for Rene. Nonetheless, for many years there was an equally potent yearning that caused her great anguish when it appeared it would forever be beyond her grasp. She wanted desperately to be not only a wife but also the mother of Rene’s children. The couple tried for many years to conceive, only be rewarded with failure. This became publicly known, and led to the scandalous tabloid National Enquirer publishing a fallacious story in 2000 that claimed she was pregnant with twins, a lie that spread throughout the world. (Lines 3) Rightfully enraged, she sued the magazine, forcing them to issue a retraction and an apology. Maternity was her ultimate reward, though, when in 2001 she gave birth to a son, René-Charles Dion Angélil, on January 25, 2001, in Florida. She immediately took time off to devote to her family. ("Hes My Tiny Miracle;" 3) Perseverance through trial is always difficult, especially when made especially bitter by the cruelty of others. Celine endured and achieved yet another goal throughout such terrible experiences, which is another reason to admire her. Perseverance, integrity, ambition, drive, talent: each of things in and of itself is admirable. When combined in one magnificent individual they are the mark of greatness. Celine Dion has demonstrated that she possesses all of the aforementioned qualities and many more. For all of these reasons she is indeed most admirable. Works Cited Bristow, Jason. "Symbolic Tokenism in Canada-U.S. Cultural Sector Trade Relations." Canadian-American Public Policy (2003): 1+. Questia. Web. 17 Sept. 2011. "Can Pops Puppet Master Save Celine from Self Destruction? Dilemma for Svengali Who Turned a Girl into a Star - and Made Her His Wife." The Mail on Sunday (London, England) 27 Oct. 1996: 48. Questia. Web. 17 Sept. 2011. Clinton, Kate. "The Year of That Woman." The Progressive May 1998: 12. Questia. Web. 17 Sept. 2011. "Hes My Tiny Miracle; CELINES JOY OVER BABY SHE WAITED 6 YEARS FOR." The Mirror (London, England) 28 Feb. 2001: 3. Questia. Web. 17 Sept. 2011. Hyland, Ian. "Why Wont People Accept My Marriage Is Happy?; CELINE DION TALKS TO IAN HYLAND ABOUT HER HUSBAND, HER ABANDONED BID TO HAVE A BABY AND HER NEW PASSION.GOLF." Sunday Mirror (London, England) 25 Oct. 1998: 18. Questia. Web. 17 Sept. 2011. Lines, Andy. "CELINE DION TO HAVE TEST-TUBE TWINS; Doctors Give Singer Chance to Have the Babies of Her Dreams." Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland) 21 Jan. 2000: 3. Questia. Web. 17 Sept. 2011. Read More