ebook img

Celine: The Authorized Biography PDF

471 Pages·1998·8.19 MB·English
Save to my drive
Quick download
Download
Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.

Preview Celine: The Authorized Biography

Celine This page intentionally left blank Celine The Authorized Biography of Celine Dion Georges-Hebert Germain Translated by David Homel and Fred Reed DUNDURN PRESS TORONTO ' OXFORD Copyright © Georges-Hebert Germain, Celine Dion and Rene Angelil, 1998 Copyright © Dundurn Press Limited, 1998, for the Canadian edition. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press Limited. Permission to photocopy should be requested from the Canadian Reprography Collective. Design: Scott Reid PrintenTranscontinental Printing Inc. Cover photograph courtesy Sony Music Canada Photographer: Michael Thompson Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Germain, Georges-Hebert, 1944- Celine: the authorized biography of Celine Dion Translation of: Celine ISBN 1-55002-318-7 1. Dion, Celine. 2. Singers — Quebec (Province) — Biography. I. Title ML420.D592G37213 1998 782.42164'092 C98-932235-1 1 2 3 4 5 BJ 02 01 00 99 98 We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the support of the Ontario AftS Council and the Book Publishing IttduStfy Development Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage. Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credit in subsequent editions. Printed and bound in Canada. Printed on recycled paper. Thanks to Sylvain Beauregard and his web site: Passion Celine Dion — http://www.celine-dion.net Dundurn Press Dundurn Press Dundurn Press 8 Market Street 73 Lime Walk 2250 Military Road Suite 200 Headington, Oxford Tonawanda, NY Toronto, Ontario, Canada England U.S.A. 14150 M5E 1M6 OX3 7AD Contents Foreword 9 New York, April 12, 1997: The First Sigh 11 Chapter One: A Family Affair 16 Paris, September 22, 1996: Departure 19 Chapter Two: The Pleasures of Love 23 Geneva, November 1, 1996: The World from Above 28 Chapter Three: The Dion Tribe 33 Seoul, February 21, 1997: The Press Conference 41 Chapter Four: The Angelil Clan 45 Frankfort, October 16, 1996: The Hotel 54 Chapter Five: The Man Who Loved Gambling 57 Dublin, June 12, 1997: To the Stadium 62 Chapter Six: Loser Takes All 66 Fukuoka, February 11, 1997: Onstage 69 Chapter Seven: A Lesson Well Learned 72 Stockholm, October 25, 1996: Sound Check 76 Chapter Eight: The First Skirmishes 80 Brussels, June 20, 1997: The Crowd 85 Chapter Nine: It Was Only a Dream 88 Cardiff, November 11, 1996: The Canteen 97 ChapterTen: The Voice of Heaven 101 Berlin, June 24, 1997: The Daily Constitutional 108 Chapter Eleven: Bound for Glory Ill Bandar Seri Begawan, February 23, 1997: Prelude to the Stage 114 Chapter Twelve: Great Beginnings 118 Copenhagen, June 22, 1997: Vocal Gymnastics I 126 Chapter Thirteen: In the Land of the Rising Sun 129 Sydney, March 24, 1996: Vocal Gymnastics II 134 Chapter Fourteen: On a French Roller Coaster 137 Portland, March 29, 1996: Vocal Gymnastics III 144 Chapter Fifteen: The Dove Takes Flight 147 London, November 29, 1996: In the Dressing Room 155 Chapter Sixteen: The First Fan 159 Sheffield, November 13, 1996: Stage Fright 171 Chapter Seventeen: A Beautiful Stranger 173 Milan, October 30, 1996: Backstage Games 184 Chapter Eighteen: The Sound Barrier 188 West Palm Beach, March 12, 1997: The Show 196 Chapter Nineteen: A Rising Star 200 Nimes, October 4, 1996: The Concert Hall 210 Chapter Twenty: First Stirrings 212 Zurich, June 26, 1997: The Ovation 224 Chapter Twenty-One: Little White Lies 228 Chicago, August 11, 1996: Her Song 234 Chapter Twenty-Two: A Key Man 236 Perth, March 18, 1996: The Monologue 240 Chapter Twenty-Three: The Rumor Mill 243 Manchester, November 14, 1996: The Bodyguard 248 Chapter Twenty-Four: The Battle of Quebec 251 Los Angeles, March 25, 1997: The Duet 262 Chapter Twenty-Five: Born in the USA 264 Melbourne, March 23, 1996: A New Song 272 Chapter Twenty-Six: Conquering Canada 275 Hiroshima, February 10, 1997: The Video 290 Chapter Twenty-Seven: Beauty and the Beast 294 Toronto, June 23, 1996: When a Song Fades 301 Chapter Twenty-Eight: You Can Always Count on Love 303 Memphis, March 15, 1997: Walking with the King 321 Chapter Twenty-Nine: True Love Revealed 323 Las Vegas, August 23, 1996: Love Song 332 Chapter Thirty: Leave it to Chance 337 Montreal, December 17, 1996: Her People 341 Chapter Thirty-One: Words that Sing 345 New Orleans, March 16, 1997: The Band 354 Chapter Thirty-Two: Like a Fairy Tale 357 Detroit, August 8, 1996: The Chorus 362 Chapter Thirty-Three: What Price Friendship? 364 Boston, July 23, 1996: Encore 370 Chapter Thirty-Four: ATouch of Eccentricity 373 Hamburg, October 21, 1996: The Gift 381 Chapter Thirty-Five: The Price of Victory 383 Zurich, June 26, 1997: On the Run 395 Chapter Thirty-Six: Northern Lights 397 Epilogue 419 Dreams are a second life. — Gerard de Nerval It was only a dream But so beautiful it came true. — Therese Tanguay-Dion For Therese Tanguay-Dion, who first believed in this fairy tale Forewords T his is the portrait of a young woman — free, independent, loving, physically and mentally stable, strong but bending. I know what she's like. I lived in her immediate entourage for over a year and spent hours talking with her, just the two of us, about everything: her loves, her sorrows, her happiness and how she's made so many other people happy. As I write this, I know she's as happy as anyone can possibly be. People who think she's unhappy, intimidated, ill, suffering from fatigue, anorexia or bulimia, oppressed by a possessive, authoritarian, jealous husband, are wrong. They haven't seen, they don't know, they can't know. We project our fears and dreams and fantasies onto celebrities. That's only natural. We say to ourselves, "If I were in her shoes, I'd crack up, I'd die of fear. Stage fright would just kill me." And we decide, wrongly, that these stars must be cracking up too, and dying of fear. But Celine Dion isn't cracking up. She can face enormous pressure. She loves stage fright and stress. Ambition drives her on. Not other people's ambition, but her own — her dreams that her impresario, the man of her life, Rene Angelil, helps her fulfill. In return, she's his lucky star, his passion, the love of his life. It's true that for many years, he made all the decisions. If he hadn't, nothing would have happened. He found her other artists whom he 9

Description:
Simply entitled Celine, this is the long-awaited, authorized biography of Celine Dion, the rags-to-riches story of a woman who has become the leading recording artist in the world. First published in French in Quebec in December 1997, Celine has sold in excess of 120,000 copies in Quebec alone. A Fr
See more

The list of books you might like

Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.