Celine Dion celebrates 1,000th show: ‘We were against all odds’
When superstar singer Celine Dion steps onto the stage at The Colosseum in Caesars Palace on Saturday night, she will set an extraordinary record for a one-woman show marking 1,000 performances. It is a major milestone in Las Vegas entertainment history.
In an exclusive, wide-ranging and candid interview, the 48-year-old Canadian who has sold more than 220 million albums worldwide (making her the top-selling female artist in history) and calls Lake Las Vegas home, reflected on the following:
Her decision to move here; how she wanted to cancel the initial Caesars contract; the illness when she never wanted to sing again; how she’s facing life without the guidance of her manager and husband, the late Rene Angelil; and how she will grieve for him for the rest of her life.
Rene died Jan. 14 at age 73 after a long battle with throat and brain cancer. Here’s a YouTube video of our tribute to him a few weeks later at The Colosseum. Rene was the only man Celine has known for 36 years, but we discussed if there would come a time for a new man in her life.
Celine’s arrival in Las Vegas for the March 25, 2003, production of the Franco Dragone-directed A NEW DAY started the successful wave of resident mega-star headliners in The Entertainment Capital of the World.
It began two years earlier when Celine went to see Cirque du Soleil’s O at The Bellagio, met the cast afterward and complimented Franco in a follow-up note. He responded with the suggestion of cooperating on a show for Celine and Rene.
Critics and naysayers ridiculed the contract among Celine, AEG Concerts West and Caesars Palace. They said that she would never sell 4,000 seats night after night, but her three-year contract went on to become a five-year run, grossing more than $400 million with 3 million concert-goers, making it one of the most successful in music history.
Celine returned to Las Vegas on March 15, 2011, for the opening night of her current show, CELINE. She’s still selling out performances and defying disbelievers. Now 5 1/2 years later, she hits the magic mark of 1,000 shows at The Colosseum during the 50th anniversary of Caesars Palace. It simply had to be where we would start our conversation:
Does it even seem like 1,000 shows?
It depends how I feel. Sometimes it feels like 1,000 shows when I see my kids grow so much, but sometimes it feels definitely not 1,000. I’m not quite sure what makes the difference. Some days its feels like 1,000 and I’ve been here forever, but I don’t count the numbers. None of the statistics. I don’t count the money, I don’t count the number of fans, I don’t count the years because if I start counting, I’m going to lose the essentials of the meaning of life itself.
So I’m not here to count — just to count on the people that I work with to bring me to the best level I can reach. I count on them to give me the professional approach. But to be honest with you, when you say 1,000, I have to say that, yes, I am very impressed. I don’t know other words to use. I cannot believe that a while back feels like yesterday at this moment when we stuck with it. We were against all odds. The Titanic was about to sink again.
So far so good, but we can do it a third time if we have to. Some people believed in that dream and others didn’t at first. I’m still here 1,000 shows later, so to be honest with you it’s amazing, but I don’t want to sound pretentious. I was going to be here for three weeks, and now 13 years later I’m still here.
You’re obviously happy about that? You’re still going strong, and it validated the gamble you and Rene took?
I’m happy, absolutely. It has given me as an artist an opportunity to grow as an artist, to have been directed by Franco Dragone to enter A NEW DAY as a visual, to present it to my fans and to even experience myself differently onstage with a visual theatrical production, which was very different for me.
Plus a big, big orchestra, which is so uplifting and adrenaline rushing for me to feel the support and the talent behind me helping me to deliver the best show possible. To bring the fans at every show to the level of expectations that they might have. Night after night, we give the best of ourselves. That’s the only way to go. It’s only when we have two days off, we’re like, “Oh, it feels so good.” But, no, we cannot believe that we’ve done 1,000 shows.
When Rene, Franco and John Meglen from AEG sat down with you in Florida and proposed an extraordinary commitment to 270 shows a year, did you think it completely crazy compared to the 70 or so shows you now perform?
With A NEW DAY 15 years ago, I didn’t because I was very much in love. I’m still in love with my husband. So nothing was crazy. I was very excited, although, actually, I did not understand at one point it was 200-something shows a year. Then I got sick. We were canceling more shows than we hoped for. It’s not something you want because it’s way more difficult to cancel than to do lots of shows.
I felt like I was letting my fans down. I did not know what I was getting myself into, but I trusted Rene, trusted everybody. Trust is one of the things I have in my life. I go hard, I jump in the pool, they tested the pool, the weather, the temperature, and they put water in the pool. So I jumped, and I never questioned it.
Then when I was pregnant and my first son, Rene-Charles, was born, I cried in Rene’s arms and said, “You need to cancel the future shows, the commitment. I cannot leave my son. I did not want to sing again — ever — because I found motherhood, and that was like, “This is what life is all about.”
He looked at me. I was looking so desperate. I could not talk, so how could I sing? I was so afraid to lose a moment with my son, but they all stuck with the project, and as time passed, everything took its place, and I felt good again knowing that I wouldn’t miss anything. A mother can work and be a mother. It was possible. But, at the time, it was my first experience as a mother, and I didn’t believe that it was possible to be a mom and artist at the same time.
So I’m glad that Rene said to me that we will not cancel a project that’s not even started yet: “Let’s give it a try, and if it’s not happening, we will stop.” We could afford to say, “We don’t need to this, and let’s not do it.” He only wanted my happiness, and if I’m not happy night after night onstage, the person that’s going to feel the worst was him, me, the baby, and I would not be the best as an artist onstage for my fans. It would have been a no-win situation for everybody.
They were giving me so much money, I needed to be a top-shape performer. So to make a long story short, everything calmed down, I moved to Las Vegas, got a house, and I understood very quickly that for a few hours I could be a mother and also come back onstage as an artist. It is a part of me that needs to be there. It’s a comfort zone, and I could still come home to my son.
My sister was there for me, and she reacted exactly like me. She’s the second mother, I love her so much, we’re like twins. I realized that I could have both. The only thing that would change along the way was the number of shows. I had to cut back, but the people around me are thoroughly professional. They understood that.
They knew we were selling out and we had a success, but at the same time, “She’s going to die. We’re killing her.” They didn’t want to kill me with work, so they realized that 165 shows a year was going to be enough. I finished my five years with 165, roughly, shows a year, which is still a lot. Then I went on a world tour right away back to back. It was another vision, another experience, another emotion.
I didn’t feel like, “Oh my god, I’m going onstage again, I’m tired.” I was excited and Rene-Charles was with us. It was wonderful to tour the world and get all that knowledge just as if I was going to school with my son. We all learned about life and different ways of living, to bring my son to South Africa, for example, and for him to see how fortunate we were.
It was just wonderful for me as an artist to say, “I’ll see you later, honey, I love you.” To have him come with me on tour and see how lucky we are was wonderful. We came back home and had the twins. I took a little break never thinking Caesars Palace would want me again after five years. I was very flattered, but we all knew that we couldn’t repeat the same show. We had to have something new, something different, but what?
So, here I am very, very, very pregnant rehearsing a new show with the help of Ken Ehrlich, who was the visionary with Rene to help us put a show together that makes sense. After giving birth to twins, I was extremely tired because I had a son to get ready and take to school in the morning, twins to daycare and, between that, drive an hour to the studio, rehearse, test the microphone, the sound man, this microphone, not this microphone, this song, not this song.
And my hormones were still very big, so singing I was crying to every song. I was like, “OK, calm down here!” So, anyway, we rehearse the show and go back home to motherhood, but, three months after giving birth to twins and gaining 65 pounds or so, I was in a corset, a white dress or new designs or old couture. I never diet, never exercise, there was no time, and I never had a diet in my life. I did here and there, but there was no time at that point.
They had to push my breasts where they could be in the right place at the right moment. How could we hide the excess of the pregnancy without looking like we were hiding it and so I could breathe and still sing. They all did it extremely professional, but when, not to get into details, you’re very active and you’re breast feeding, you lose the weight way faster, so it did help me regain my regular weight quicker than I expected.
Between you and me, I wouldn’t have worried about wearing a kaftan at that point. I would have found the right one and it would have shined and it would have worked. We got back onstage, and we’re still here. As I said, I don’t count and I’m amazed because sometimes I think that they’re going to come to me and say that we’ve had enough of you and we have to move on to somebody else.
However, we’re more than sold out. There are nights where I think that people will jump off the balcony, it’s so packed. I don’t want to sound pretentious, but it’s like this weight of huge responsibility and worry has shifted.
Why do you think that?
First of all, I think that at this age, I feel fortunate, but not only that — what it is exactly, I’m not quite sure. Is it people because I always sell out, the fans are always there, and I hope that doesn’t sound pretentious because I never take them for granted. I was always more than music and a song for them. They felt that we knew each other like a sister, like a friend. They said I helped them so much with our songs.
I’m not going to tell you my life. You know it. My life has been such an open book. I lost Rene, and they felt for me. They want to be supporters like they’ve always been, and they feel like I need that support. Maybe that’s why I feel strong, and maybe that’s why I want to keep going. I feel their energy. I feel like they know me. I feel like I could tell them everything. I feel like the love is there more than ever.
The love is definitely there from them for you, and the love is definitely there for them from you. Both ways. Both directions.
No question about that. That’s my life. The longevity of the career. When I talk to them, they really want to know more about me. It’s beyond a show. The love is there night after night. It’s beyond music, it’s beyond a song. It’s love. I really think they love me, if I may say that, and I hope it’s not pretentious.
I do love them because 30-something years later, there’s still very much a mutual respect for my fans. As an artist, you still want to do this for the fans, for AEG, for Caesars Palace, for the Colosseum because it gives me the opportunity to still be the best artist possible and evolve with time. We’re still evolving, and we have still more to go here.
We are already talking about an English album. I’m going to record one. I just finished the new French album. I did the summer mini-tour in Europe and Canada. We had a ball. I started to receive new English songs, and the first one is from Pink. That’s a great start. I’m going to record an English album.
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.
You’re at Caesars until 2019 per the current contract, but they tell me that you can stay as long as you wish.
I don’t know if they want me to stay as long as I want, but no matter where I am, if I go on tour, if I come back and do a couple months of shows here, a couple of months there, I don’t have to have a contract with a company to sing. It’s possible that in three months, they can come and say, “We want to thank you for all these years, thank you so much. It was great. Goodnight.”
They don’t owe me anything. They gave me what they committed to themselves. I feel comfortable to say the same thing in return. I gave my whole self every night. Night after night. Whatever happens to me 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. They will have to make decisions.
On my side, as long as I’m well oriented and I’m with my own people, I can go anywhere because my love and passion of the singing, I can do it anywhere. It will be up to them to decide if they want me here or not, and I will respect their decision because they fought for Rene, for me. They believed in us, and I will always be very thankful whether it ends or continues. They did what they said they were going to do.
I think it will continue for quite a time, the most remarkable story ever told in show business. You built The Colosseum. It’s your other home.
The dressing room is really like a home for me because we build it together. I put the sofas there. The curtains and the mirrors are a little part of my life. But whether I need to rebuild another dressing room someplace else, it’s just not even important to me. It’s like growing up as an artist and I want the people that I’m with to grow, as well. Whether it’s to be with me or not with me, I think we wish each other what’s best for both of us on both sides.
It’s been a tough and difficult year, but may I ask you, how strong are you at the moment?
I feel very, very strong, but I have to tell you that the grieving of Rene is going to be for the rest of my life. But the strength and the dealing with it is at the right place. I don’t have ups and downs, which is great because my kids don’t have ups and downs. They feel me so centered and well balanced that the boat is not shaking. The Titanic is not sinking, honey.
How are the three boys? Are they strong, too, for you?
My three boys are great. It’s my balance. It’s what I believe in; they are my gravity, the center of my universe. Each day starts with love, and when I go to bed at night, when I wake up in the morning. At home I’m in my pj’s — I have to look a little more glam as an artist — but, under the glam, the mother will always be there.
I will always remember when I was expecting my first child. Some people hope for a boy and some people hope for a girl, and obviously the main thing is we all hope for a healthy child. But, I have to tell you, I did hope for a girl. Because, I said, “Who am I going to give all my beautiful gifts that I’ve received through all the years? And all the things that I have collected and all my outfits and all my dresses? I need a little princess.”
When we found out that it was a boy, Rene said, “I’m so happy.” And I looked at him and I said, “Well, you have both with previous marriages, so why you are happy that I have a boy?” “Because,” he said, “I know that he’s going to take such good care of you.” Well, I have the proof today. Rene’s no longer here, but Rene-Charles is helping me. Rene was right again. I did not have a girl, but now I have three boys, and I’m very happy.
Maybe you’ll adopt a little girl? Maybe you’ll fall in love again?
Hey, adoption is possible. A lot of people have adopted children. For me, I’m 48 years old, so everything is open. I’m not there yet, though. I don’t know if I can sing in love again. Today, no. I can say that. I’m not. My heart is already taken. And for how long, maybe for the rest of my life. If not, you’ll find out. You will call me. I’ll tell you about it.
Whatever happens in the future, you will always have an extraordinary bond with this remarkable man.
Absolutely. He’s still there. I still talk to him. I close my eyes onstage, and he’s there beside me. We speak to him, we talk about him every single day, and he’s singing with me every night. We still live with each other, but in a different way.
