Celine Dion hires Cirque du Soleil founder; Shania Twain is named ‘Artist of a Lifetime’
What is Celine Dion planning? Are changes ahead for her current run of shows at The Colosseum in Caesars Palace? What will she do if there is an exit from Las Vegas? Those questions and many more were raised this morning from Las Vegas to Montreal when her manager, Aldo Giampaolo, revealed that they have signed on a founder of Cirque du Soleil to act as an artistic advisor to the superstar singer.
Gilles Ste-Croix, 65, retired from Cirque last year after launching the French-Canadian troupe with Guy Laliberte in 1984. He is much respected here on the Strip for being the creative director of MYSTERE at T.I., O at The Bellagio and THE BEATLES LOVE at The Mirage. Gilles, who has started a children’s circus in the beachfront village of San Pancho, Mexico, will develop artistic concepts for Celine and create resources to produce them.
In a statement from Canada for Celine’s company Feeling Productions, Aldo said: “I admire his audacity, his flair and his ability. His approach, experience and extensive world network of contacts make him a valuable ally for Celine. We are very pleased that he is joining our team.”
“This is an exciting challenge to take on,” said Gilles. “It is an honor for me to work with Celine, a unique artist with an exceptional voice and unlimited potential. I eagerly accepted the invitation.”
My extensive and exclusive interview with Celine will appear in Friday Neon of the Las Vegas Review-Journal ahead of her record-breaking 1,000th performance at The Colosseum on Saturday night. Celine talked about changes to her life since the death in January of her husband and manager Rene Angelil and confirmed that her current Caesars contract runs through 2019.
Celine told me: “We’re still evolving, and we have still more to go here. I don’t know what the future holds for me, but I am the leader with my team and with my family for the rest of my life, and I still want to do that even more than ever before because I don’t need to prove myself anymore. I’m doing it for fun. I’m doing this for love. I have a great time.
“I’ll do it tomorrow and all the tomorrows after that. No matter where I am, if I have to tour, if I come back and do a couple months of shows here, a couple of months there in two years from now, I’m not quite sure. If it’s here, it’s here. If it’s someplace else, it’s someplace else. I can go anywhere because my love and passion of the singing, I can do it anywhere.”
‘Artist of a Lifetime’
Former Colosseum headliner Shania Twain will be the first female to receive the prestigious “Artist of a Lifetime” award when CMT ARTISTS OF THE YEAR premieres from Nashville on Oct. 20. Kenny Rogers and Merle Haggard are previous recipients. The seventh-annual, 90-minute show celebrate five country stars as top artists of the year.
They are Carrie Underwood, Chris Stapleton, Florida Georgia Line, Luke Bryan (who officially announced Monday a Dec. 30 concert at MGM Grand Garden Arena; he announced it the evening before as the headliner of the final Night 3 of the 2016 Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival at Las Vegas Village) and Thomas Rhett.
Shania, a five-time Grammy Award winner, remains the top-selling female country artist of all time, while Celine is the bestselling female artist of all time.
