Celine Dion, The #15 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Three

 

(Continued from Part Two)

Celine released the Christmas album These Are Special Times (#1 in Canada and the Netherlands and #2 in the U.S.) and the French-language album S'il suffisait d'aimer in 1998.  The former, featuring complex orchestral arrangements, now boasts sales of 12 million copies and includes  Celine's fourth #1 in the U.S.--"I'm Your Angel" (with R. Kelly).

Steve Dollar, in his review of These Are Special Times, opined that Dion was a "vocal Olympian for whom there ain't no mountain—or scale—high enough".    

Celine won a People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Musical Performer and was nominated for Top Billboard 200 Album Artists - Female and Hot 100 Single Sales (for "I'm Your Angel") at the Billboard Music Awards.  "The Prayer", her stunning duet with Andrea Bocelli, was featured in the movie Quest for Camelot and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.

Celine and Andrea were nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the Grammy Awards.

Dion's rise to the top was cemented by pulling off the rare feat of winning both Favorite Pop (Rock) Female Artist and Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist at the American Music Awards.  Precious few of The Top 100 Artists* have ever done that.  Two years after it's release, Let's Talk About Love was still on fire and was nominated in 1999 for Favorite Pop (Rock) Album. 

Celine also gives one of the best performances of the classic reverent song "Oh Holy Night".

Celine appeared in VH1's Divas Live special and was awarded Officer of the Order of Canada.   S'il suffisait d'aimer is now over four million in sales.  Celine had come a long way indeed, and her compilation album All the Way...A Decade of Song in 1999, another universal #1, has gone over nine million in sales in the U.S. and 22 million worldwide.  

Together with her biggest hits, the album also includes seven new songs, led by 

this one, which was written and produced by Andreas Carlsson, Kristian Lundin and Max Martin, who have written a string of hits for Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys and NSync.  "That's The Way It Is", #1 on the AC chart and #6 in America and #5 in Canada and Top 10 in nearly every country in the world.

 

Celine won World Music Awards for World's Best-Selling Female Pop Artist of the Year in 1999 and again in 2000.  The album also features an overdubbed duet with Frank Sinatra on Frank's big hit--"All The Way", which Celine likes to perform in concert.  The recording earned a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

"Then You Look At Me" is the theme for the 1999 movie Bicentennial Man.  James Horner and Will Jennings, who wrote "My Heart Will Go On", also wrote this one for Dion.

By the end of the decade, Celine had topped 100 million in sales, which only a small percentage of artists have done in a career.  "My Heart Will Go On" was included in the Songs of the Century by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.  Dion was nominated for Billboard Music Awards for Top Pop Artists - Female and Top Billboard 200 Artists - Female.   

But Angélil had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer, and Celine to her credit took a break from recording and touring.  In 2001, Celine gave birth to son  René-Charles Dion Angélil and published her autobiography My Story, My Dream in 2001.  She also won another American Music Award for Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist and was nominated for Favorite Pop (Rock) Female Artist for the fourth time.  

 

Dion returned following the 9/11 murders to sing "God Bless America" at the televised benefit concert America:  A Tribute to Heroes.  Of her performance, Billboard's Chuck Taylor wrote: "the performance ... brings to mind what has made her one of the celebrated vocalists of our time: the ability to render emotion that shakes the soul. Affecting, meaningful, and filled with grace, this is a musical reflection to share with all of us still searching for ways to cope."  Dion performed the song again in 2003 before Super Bowl XXXVII in San Diego, California.  

In early 2002, Dion announced what was to be a three-year 600-show deal to appear in a multimedia project called A New Day... at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Celine got the idea after seeing O by Franco Dragone during her hiatus.  Caesar's Palace designed a 4,000-seat area specifically for the show and modelled after the Roman Colosseum.  Dion premiered the show on March 25, 2003.

The lavish show, directed by Dragone and choreographed by Mia Michaels, sold out night after night.  In 2005 alone, she had sold 322,000 tickets and grossed $43.9 million, and the phenomenal success led Celine to extend the contract into 2007.  In 2006, A New Day... was the 6th biggest-selling tour in the U.S.  The monumental show was the most successful residency in history, grossing over $385 million and drawing three million people.  The Live in Las Vegas:  A New Day... DVD was released in 2007.  

 

In 2002, Celine released her first album in three years, the inspirational and personal A New Day Has Come, which debuted at #1 in 17 countries, including the U.S., the U.K., and Canada.  The title song peaked at Canada and Switzerland, and although it topped the Adult chart in the U.S. for a record 21 weeks, it stalled at #22, another of The Top Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*.  The song has sold over one million copies.

 

The album has now sold three million units in the U.S. and 12 million worldwide.  Another of The Top Underrated Songs of the Rock Era* is the vibrant "I'm Alive", also featured on the soundtrack for the animated film Stuart Little 2.  It reached #6 AC and peaked at #2 in Belgium, #4 in Germany, and #7 in Switzerland and France.

 

Dion won an American Music Award for Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist, her third in that category, and she was again nominated for Favorite Pop (Rock) Female Artist.  The single "Have You Ever Been In Love" hit #2 on the AC chart.  It won an ASCAP Award for one of the Most Performed Songs.

 

Louis Biancaniello and Sam Watters teamed up to write "I Surrender".  Biancaniello has written songs for Elton John, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Kelly Clarkson, the O'Jay's, Al Green and Shanice.  Watters was a member of Color Me Badd ("I Swear", "All 4 (sic) Love" and I Adore Mi Amor") and co-wrote many songs with Biancaniello.

Celine performed on VH-1 Divas Live in 2002, which proceeds going to the Save the Music Foundation.  She released the album One Heart in 2003, featuring her great cover of the Cyndi Lauper song "I Drove All Night".

Join us for Part Four of Celine Dion, only on Inside The Rock Era!