Celine Marie Claudette Dion was born in March 1968 in Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada, the youngest of 14 children born to Adhemar Dion and Therese Tanguay, both of French Canadian descent. Music had always been a part of the family (Dion was named after the song "Celine", recorded in 1966 by French singer Hugues Aufray), and Dion grew up singing with her siblings in her parents' small piano bar (called 'Le Vieux Baril’). At the age of 12, Dion collaborated with her mother and brother Jacques to compose her first song, "Ce N'était Qu'un Rêve" ("It Was Only a Dream"). Her brother Michel sent the recording to music manager Rene Angelil, whose name he discovered on the back of a Ginette Reno album. Angelil, moved to tears by Dion’s voice, mortgaged his home to fund her first record, “La Voix Du Bon Dieu” (a play on words "The Voice of God/The Way of God") in 1981, which became a number 1 record in Quebec. Dion competed in the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo, Japan, winning the musician's award for "Top Performer" as well as the gold medal for "Best Song" with "Tellement J'ai D'amour Pour Toi" ("I Have So Much Love for You"). By 1983, in addition to becoming the first Canadian artist to achieve a gold record in France for the single "D'amour Ou D'amitié" ("Of Love or of Friendship"), Dion had also won several Felix Awards, including "Best Female Performer" and "Discovery of the Year". Further success in Europe, Asia, and Australia came when Dion won the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi" ("Don't Go Without Me"), representing Switzerland.

At 18, Dion was sent to the École Berlitz to improve her English, and made her debut in the English language market with “Unison” in 1990, incorporating the help of musicians such as Vito Luprano, and Canadian producer David Foster. Singles from the album included "(If There Was) Any Other Way", "The Last to Know", and "Where Does My Heart Beat Now", which became her first Top 10 single on the US Billboard Hot 100 (peaking at number 4), and made number 6 in Canada. In 1991, Dion was a soloist in "Voices That Care", a tribute to US troops fighting in Operation Desert Storm in Iraq, and also released the French language album “Dion Chante Plamondon”, which consisted mostly of covers, but included 4 new songs, "Des Mots Qui Sonnent", "Je Danse Dans Ma Tête", "Quelqu'un Que J'aime, Quelqu'un Qui M'aime" and "L'amour Existe Encore". The single "Un Garcon Pas Comme Les Autres (Ziggy)" reached number 2 in France, achieving gold certification, and the album was certified gold in Quebec on the day of its release. It was originally released in Canada and France, but achieved an international release in 1994, her first French language album to do so. It has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide. Later in 1991, Dion dueted with Peabo Bryson on the title track to Disney's animated film “Beauty and the Beast”, a song which became her second US Top 10 single, first UK Top 10 single, made number 2 in Canada, and won an Academy Award for “Best Song”, and a Grammy Award for “Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal”. The song also featured on her self titled album, released in 1992 (which was again worked on by David Foster, and also Diane Warren), along with "If You Asked Me To" (a cover of Patti LaBelle's song from the 1989 movie “Licence to Kill”) which peaked at number 4 in the US, and number 3 in Canada, "Love Can Move Mountains", and "Nothing Broken But My Heart". That year, at the Felix Award show, Dion won "English Artist of the Year", but openly refused to accept the award, asserting that she was, and would always be a French, and not an English, artist.

In 1993, Dion released her third English language LP, “The Colour of My Love”, which sold over 6 million copies in the US, 2 million in Canada, 2 million in the UK, and topped the charts in many countries. The album produced the US, Canadian, and Australian number 1 single "The Power of Love" (a remake of Jennifer Rush's 1985 hit), and also included "When I Fall in Love", a duet with Clive Griffin, which achieved moderate success in the US and Canada, and was nominated for 2 Grammy Awards, “Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal”, and “Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s)” (which it won, the award going to composers David Foster and Jeremy Lubbock). Another single from the album, “Think Twice”, topped the UK chart for 7 weeks (with “The Colour of My Love” simultaneously topping the UK Album chart for 5 of those weeks), eventually becoming the 4th single ever by a female artist to sell more than 1 million copies in the UK. In 1994, Dion released “A l’Olympia”, a live, French language album recorded during one of her concerts at the Olympia Theatre in Paris – the single "Calling You" was released from the album, peaking at number 75 in France. “D'eux” (also known as “The French Album” in the US), was released in 1995, written and produced by Jean-Jacques Goldman, and became one of the best selling French language albums of all time. The single "Pour Que Tu M'aimes Encore" reached number 1 in France, remaining for 12 weeks, and also reached the Top 10 in the UK and Ireland, a rare accomplishment for a French song. Second single "Je Sais Pas" also reached number 1 in France. These songs would later become "If That's What It Takes" and "I Don't Know" on Dion's next English language album, 1996’s ”Falling Into You”. This album also contained the UK Top 5 and US and Canadian number 1 single "Because You Loved Me", which was written by Diane Warren and was the theme to the 1996 film “Up Close & Personal”. ”Falling Into You” topped the charts in many countries, and won Grammy Awards for “Best Pop Album”, and “Album of the Year”.

Celine Dion followed ”Falling Into You” with “Let's Talk About Love” in 1997, which featured Barbra Streisand on "Tell Him" (Top 5 in the UK and France), the Bee Gees on "Immortality" (UK Top 5), and Luciano Pavarotti on "I Hate You Then I Love You". The most successful single from the album, "My Heart Will Go On", was composed by James Horner, and served as the theme to the 1997 movie “Titanic” – it topped the charts across the world, and, along with “Think Twice" (1993), made Dion the only female artist to have 2 singles to sell more than 1 million copies in the UK. The song also won Grammy awards for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance" and "Record of the Year".

In 1998, Celine Dion received 2 of the highest honours from her home country - "Officer of the Order of Canada for Outstanding Contribution to the World of Contemporary Music", and "Officer of the National Order of Quebec". Towards the end of the year, she also released the Christmas album “These Are Special Times”, on which she co-wrote the song “Don't Save It All For Christmas Day” with Ric Wake and Peter Zizzo, and dueted with R. Kelly on "I'm Your Angel", which became her 4th US number 1 single, and made number 3 in the UK. 1999 saw her inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame, honoured with a star on Canada's Walk of Fame, and also release the compilation “All the Way... A Decade of Song”, which brought together her most successful hits, along with 7 new songs, including "That's the Way It Is", a cover of Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", and "All The Way", a duet with Frank Sinatra.

After a 3 year break, March 2002 saw the release of “A New Day Has Come”, which debuted at number 1 on the US Billboard 200, selling 558,000 copies in its first week, and topped the charts in 17 other countries. The following year, Dion released “One Heart”, an album which mostly consisted of dance music, achieving moderate success, and including a cover of Cyndi Lauper’s 1989 hit "I Drove All Night", which topped the Canadian charts (and was released to launch Dion’s new advertising campaign with Chrysler). Also in 2003, Dion recruited Jean-Jacques Goldman, Gildas Arzel, Eric Benzi, and Jacques Veneruso to record “1 Fille & 4 Types” (“1 Girl and 4 Guys), which achieved success in Canada, Belgium, and France (where it reached number 1), selling over 700,000 copies. In January 2004, Celine Dion received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and later that year, she released “Miracle”, a multimedia project produced with photographer Anne Geddes that had a theme centering on babies and motherhood, the 2 most popular tracks being covers of Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" and John Lennon's "Beautiful Boy".

In early 2002, Celine Dion had announced a 3 year, 600 show contract to appear 5 nights a week in “A New Day…”, at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. She had the idea for the show after seeing “O” by Franco Dragone. In March 2003, in a 4,000 seat arena designed for the show, “A New Day…”, put together by Dragone, choreographed by Mia Michaels, and including Dion performing her biggest hits against an array of dancers and special effects, began. By the end of 2005, the show had grossed more than US$76 million, and was then extended, becoming the 6th biggest selling tour in the US in 2006, and in December 2007, a “Live in Las Vegas - A New Day...” DVD was released.

Celine Dion released the French language album, “D'elles” (“About Them”) in May 2007, and it debuted at the top of the Canadian album charts, selling over 72,000 copies in its first week. It also reached number 1 in France and Belgium, and sold over 500,000 copies worldwide in it’s first week. The single, "Et S'il N'en Restait Qu'une (Je Serais Celle-la)" ("And If Only One Woman Stayed (I Would be That One)") also topped the French chart on debut. Later in 2007, she released the English language album “Taking Chances”, on which she collaborated with John Shanks, ex-Evanescence guitarist Ben Moody, Kristian Lundin, Peer Astrom, Linda Perry, Japanese singer Yuna Ito, and R&B singer-songwriter Ne-Yo. In May 2008, Dion received France's highest award, the Legion d'honneur, and in August 2008, she presented a free outdoor concert, exclusively in French, on the Plains of Abraham, in Quebec City, Canada, for the 400th anniversary of Quebec City (footage of the concert was released on DVD in November 2008 in Quebec and in May 2009 in France). In October 2008, Dion released an English greatest hits album called “My Love: Essential Collection” (which is also available in a 2 disc edition, called “My Love: Ultimate Essential Collection”), which topped the charts in Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands, and France, reached number 8 in the US, number 5 in the UK, and number 2 in Canada.

Celine Dion is the best selling Canadian artist of all time, and her album “D'eux” is the best selling French language album of all time. In 2004, after surpassing 175 million in album sales worldwide, she was presented with the Chopard Diamond Award at the World Music Awards for becoming the best selling female artist of all time, and in May 2009, she was named the 20th best selling artist, and 2nd best selling female artist, of the decade in the US, selling an estimated 17.5 million albums. Celine Dion has sold over 200 million albums worldwide.