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After the Eurovision fame: Céline Dion

After the Eurovision Fame 1988 Switzerland Eurovision Song Contest.

In 1988, Céline Dion represented Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest.
She won with the song “Ne Partez Pas sans moi”, which marked her breakthrough in Europe

Early life and Career

Céline Marie Claudette Dion was born on March 30, 1968, in Charlemagne, Canada, as the youngest of 14 children. At the age of 12, she came into contact with music producer and artist manager René Angéli, who was very  impressed by her talent. He chose to mortgage his house to finance her career. In 1981 she released her first album: “La Voix du bon Dieu”. This made her a star in Quebec. During the following years, Dion released several albums of French chansons. Her first Pop album, “Incognito” was released in 1987.

After the Eurovision Fame

After winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 1988, she worked on her first English-language album; “Unison”, which was published in 1990. In addition to her growing fame in Europe, her recordlabel ambitioned to break through in the United States. And it worked!
The single “Where Does My Heart Beat Now” reached the top 5 of the US Billboard Hot 100 and the album achieved platinum status.

At the end of 1993 “The Colour Of My Love”, Dion’s third English Album was presented to the world. In North America, the first single “The Power of Love” (originally recorded by Jennifer Rush) was an unparalleled success. The single spent weeks at No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100. In Europe, the single “Think Twice” achieved great success. The album gave Dion her definitive breakthrough in almost every country in the world.

Still going French

Despite all the success of her English works;  she remained a Canadian with French roots. Therefore she decided to make a temporary foray into the basics:  In 1994, Jean-Jacques Goldman wrote 12 French songs for the singer that ended up on the album “D’Eux”, which came out  in early ’95,  containing the hit “Pour que tu m’aimes encore”. The album went on to become the best-selling French-language album of all time, with 9 million copies sold worldwide.

First Olympic appearance

Her participation in the opening ceremony of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta was watched by 3.5 billion people on TV. At the end of 1997 the next English-language album “Let’s Talk About Love” was released, which was recorded in London, Los Angeles and New York.
Artists such as Barbra Streisand, Luciano Pavarotti, Bee Gees, Carole King, George Martin and Diana King contributed to several songs. “Tell Him”, a duet by Dion and Streisand, was the first hit single from the record. “My Heart Will Go On”, another single and also the title song of the feature film Titanic, became an unprecedented success. It is Dion’s best-selling single ever, and reached number 1 all over the world in no time. The song also earned Dion numerous awards, such as an Academy Award and some Grammys. She sold 31 million copies of this album worldwide, and it is therefore Celine’s 2nd best-selling album of her career.

Break en come-back

In 1999, after years of performing, Dion felt it was time to take a break and focus more on family and friends, and she really wanted to be a mother. With a number of concerts, she temporarily ended her period of success. During that period, Dion’s husband René was diagnosed with cancer, from which he recovered.
On January 25, 2001, Dion gave birth to a son, René-Charles Dion-Angélil, in Florida.
In 2002 she returned to the spotlight and released several albums, both in French and English.

Las Vegas and worldtour

With the release of the album “A New Day Has Come” in 2002, it was announced that the singer would have her own show at Ceasars Palace in Las Vegas from 2003.
On February 14, 2008, Dion embarked on a world tour, performing outside of Las Vegas for the first time since 1999. The tour stretched from Canada to Japan to South Africa.
Céline came back to Caesar’s Palace in 2011 with the plan to do 70 shows a year. The premiere was on March 15, 2011

In August 2014, Dion cancelled all her planned concerts and announced that she would stop singing immediately. This was because she wanted to take care of her sick husband.
René Angélil passed away on 16 January 2016.

On September 18, 2019, she started her world tour “Courage World Tour, It was her first world tour in over a decade. In December 2022, Dion announced, after years of speculation about her appearance and health, that she suffers from the rare neurological disorder “stiff-person syndrome”. This affects her singing voice. She therefore cancelled the continuation of her Courage World Tour, which she had previously interrupted due to the corona pandemic.

Another Olympic appearance

During the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, she sang “Hymne à l’amour” (Édith Piaf) from the Eiffel Tower. This performance is seen as her spectacularly acclaimed comeback after four years of not performing as a singer.
We are curious to see what more we can expect from her.

 

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Blast from the past

Blast from the past: Austria 1976

We know a lot about Eurovision and we want to share this knowledge with you! Therefore we’d like to bring you a blast from the past. Today, we go back to 1976, when Waterloo and Robinson represented Austria with the song My Little World.   Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest Austria started participating in 1957. Their first victory came in 1966, when Udo Jürgens won with Merci Cherie. It was his third consecutive participation. After that, Austria did not make it to the top-3 again for decades. In 2014 this changed, when Conchita Wurst gained the trophy with her Rise Like a Phoenix. In 2018 there was another top-3 place for Austria: Cesár Sampson even won the jury voting with Nobody But You. With Teya and Salena (Who The Hell Is Edgar?) last year and Kaleen (We Will Rave) this year, Austria reached the final. Almost returning My Little World was, as far as we know, selected internally. But in 2004, Waterloo and Robinson took part in the national selection again. Their song You Can Change the World was 2nd. After the national competition, Waterloo and Robinson, sued the winning group Tie Break. They said that the song Du Bist was too long (over three minutes) and copied the song Für Dich by German singer Yvonne Catterfield. However, the lawsuit was rejected for legal reasons. ORF, the TV broadcaster, said that the small time over the limit wasn’t enough to disqualify the song and promised to shorten it to three minutes for the Eurovision Song Contest. So no return at Eurovision for Waterloo and Robinson. Waterloo and Robinson Waterloo & Robinson is a pop music duo from Austria. The group consists of Hans Kreuzmayr (Waterloo) and Josef Krassnitzer (Robinson). Beginning Hans and Josef met in 1969 when Hans was looking for someone to help design displays for his boutique. Both were already playing in local bands. They decided to make music together. At their early shows, they were called The Edward Brothers. In 1971, they entered a music competition and came in third place with their song Du Kannst Sehen (a song about a blind girl). After that, they had hits with songs like Lili’s Haus, Baby Blue (their first big hit in Europe), and Hollywood, a worldwide hit. In 1974, Baby Blue and Hollywood took turns being number 1 and 2 on the Ö3 chart. Eurovision and Wild Land The duo represented Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1976. They finished in 5th place with their song My Little World. In 1978, they filmed a movie called Wild Land in Kenya, and they also released an album with the same name. Germany Their popularity grew in Germany, but in Austria, their songs didn’t get as much attention. In 1979, they released Do You Remember Marianne, which became a hit in Germany but not in Austria. They appeared on many popular TV shows in Germany but started having disagreements due to their declining success in Austria. This led to their split in 1981. After the split After the split, Waterloo continued his solo career with songs like Im Land das Ewigkeit Heißt and other hits. Robinson also released some solo music and helped produce music for young artists, but he stayed out of the spotlight. Waterloo took part in the Austrian national selections for Eurovision twice as a soloist: in 1983 and in 1990. After about ten years, they tried working together again and performed concerts in 1989 and 1990. They both kept doing solo projects as well. Robinson went on an “Unplugged Tour,” and Waterloo spent time on a Native American reservation in North America. This experience influenced his later music, and he released albums with Native American themes like Tales of the Sun, Moon and Stars, Apaches’ Land, and Indio. While promoting Indio, Waterloo was playing Winnetou at a festival, where he met his current wife, Andrea. Nowadays Their concerts now include both their old hits from the 1970s and newer songs with Native American influences. In 2002, they released a new version of the Opus hit Live Is Life, which became a hit in Austria. In 2004, they placed second in the Austrian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with their song You Can Change the World. Waterloo released a solo CD in 2005 for his 60th birthday, and a Christmas CD in 2006. Robinson also worked on solo projects during this time. They were still touring together at that point. In 2007, they decided to focus only on their solo work for live shows. In 2015, they reunited for a short time to perform at special events and on TV for the Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Vienna. My Little World My Little World is a song performed by the Austrian pop duo Waterloo & Robinson. The song was composed by Gerhard Heinz, who is known for his work in film scores and pop music, while the lyrics were written by Peter Orthofer. The track was selected to represent Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1976. At Eurovision, which was held in The Hague, The Netherlands, My Little World was performed as Austria’s entry. The duo delivered a heartfelt and melodic performance that resonated with both the jury and the audience. The song, with its catchy tune and reflective lyrics, stood out during the competition. Ultimately, My Little World scored 80 points in the contest and finished in 5th place, a strong result for Austria. The song was well-received and helped further establish Waterloo & Robinson’s career both in Austria and internationally. Their Eurovision appearance cemented their reputation as one of the country’s leading pop acts during the 1970s.     Share

Share
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Blast from the past
Martijn

Blast from the past: Austria 1976

We know a lot about Eurovision and we want to share this knowledge with you! Therefore we’d like to bring you a blast from the past. Today, we go back to 1976, when Waterloo and Robinson represented Austria with the song My Little World.   Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest Austria started participating in 1957. Their first victory came in 1966, when Udo Jürgens won with Merci Cherie. It was his third consecutive participation. After that, Austria did not make it to the top-3 again for decades. In 2014 this changed, when Conchita Wurst gained the trophy with her Rise Like a Phoenix. In 2018 there was another top-3 place for Austria: Cesár Sampson even won the jury voting with Nobody But You. With Teya and Salena (Who The Hell Is Edgar?) last year and Kaleen (We Will Rave) this year, Austria reached the final. Almost returning My Little World was, as far as we know, selected internally. But in 2004, Waterloo and Robinson took part in the national selection again. Their song You Can Change the World was 2nd. After the national competition, Waterloo and Robinson, sued the winning group Tie Break. They said that the song Du Bist was too long (over three minutes) and copied the song Für Dich by German singer Yvonne Catterfield. However, the lawsuit was rejected for legal reasons. ORF, the TV broadcaster, said that the small time over the limit wasn’t enough to disqualify the song and promised to shorten it to three minutes for the Eurovision Song Contest. So no return at Eurovision for Waterloo and Robinson. Waterloo and Robinson Waterloo & Robinson is a pop music duo from Austria. The group consists of Hans Kreuzmayr (Waterloo) and Josef Krassnitzer (Robinson). Beginning Hans and Josef met in 1969 when Hans was looking for someone to help design displays for his boutique. Both were already playing in local bands. They decided to make music together. At their early shows, they were called The Edward Brothers. In 1971, they entered a music competition and came in third place with their song Du Kannst Sehen (a song about a blind girl). After that, they had hits with songs like Lili’s Haus, Baby Blue (their first big hit in Europe), and Hollywood, a worldwide hit. In 1974, Baby Blue and Hollywood took turns being number 1 and 2 on the Ö3 chart. Eurovision and Wild Land The duo represented Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1976. They finished in 5th place with their song My Little World. In 1978, they filmed a movie called Wild Land in Kenya, and they also released an album with the same name. Germany Their popularity grew in Germany, but in Austria, their songs didn’t get as much attention. In 1979, they released Do You Remember Marianne, which became a hit in Germany but not in Austria. They appeared on many popular TV shows in Germany but started having disagreements due to their declining success in Austria. This led to their split in 1981. After the split After the split, Waterloo continued his solo career with songs like Im Land das Ewigkeit Heißt and other hits. Robinson also released some solo music and helped produce music for young artists, but he stayed out of the spotlight. Waterloo took part in the Austrian national selections for Eurovision twice as a soloist: in 1983 and in 1990. After about ten years, they tried working together again and performed concerts in 1989 and 1990. They both kept doing solo projects as well. Robinson went on an “Unplugged Tour,” and Waterloo spent time on a Native American reservation in North America. This experience influenced his later music, and he released albums with Native American themes like Tales of the Sun, Moon and Stars, Apaches’ Land, and Indio. While promoting Indio, Waterloo was playing Winnetou at a festival, where he met his current wife, Andrea. Nowadays Their concerts now include both their old hits from the 1970s and newer songs with Native American influences. In 2002, they released a new version of the Opus hit Live Is Life, which became a hit in Austria. In 2004, they placed second in the Austrian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with their song You Can Change the World. Waterloo released a solo CD in 2005 for his 60th birthday, and a Christmas CD in 2006. Robinson also worked on solo projects during this time. They were still touring together at that point. In 2007, they decided to focus only on their solo work for live shows. In 2015, they reunited for a short time to perform at special events and on TV for the Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Vienna. My Little World My Little World is a song performed by the Austrian pop duo Waterloo & Robinson. The song was composed by Gerhard Heinz, who is known for his work in film scores and pop music, while the lyrics were written by Peter Orthofer. The track was selected to represent Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1976. At Eurovision, which was held in The Hague, The Netherlands, My Little World was performed as Austria’s entry. The duo delivered a heartfelt and melodic performance that resonated with both the jury and the audience. The song, with its catchy tune and reflective lyrics, stood out during the competition. Ultimately, My Little World scored 80 points in the contest and finished in 5th place, a strong result for Austria. The song was well-received and helped further establish Waterloo & Robinson’s career both in Austria and internationally. Their Eurovision appearance cemented their reputation as one of the country’s leading pop acts during the 1970s.     Share

Share
Read More »