Since the early 1980s, Celine Dion has been a driving force in the music industry. Covering her entire biography and career would take a long time, as she has been a superstar for decades, with her rise to fame seen in the 1990s.
In the early 2000s, Celine and her husband and manager, Rene Angelil, decided it was time to revitalize the singer’s career and go in a different direction. Instead of major tours where she would travel around the world, the plan was to team up with a casino. Plans for a Las Vegas residency were made in 2003, with the casino of choice being Caesars Palace. Celine would begin her residency at The Colosseum on June 8, 2003, and it would forever cement her in history books and boost the potential for other celebrities to host residencies in Sin City as well!
Not One, but Two Residencies
Celine stayed at The Colosseum from 2003 to 2007 with her show A New Day. She brought in record ticket sales, with everyone in Las Vegas wanting to see her show. The second show, Celine, started in 2011 and ran until 2019. In total, both shows brought over $681 million in box office sales, with more than 4.5 million tickets purchased.
The two shows are the highest-grossing and selling Las Vegas residencies of all time. The second show was perhaps her most lucrative, earning over $296 million in 427 shows. During the last leg of the show, when everyone knew it would be over soon, Celine sold $18.9 million in tickets. At that time, she reached the number two spot on the Hot Tours list in 2019.
A Storied Career
Celine Dion is considered one of the best singers of all time, and her record and residency sales support this. In the 1990s, Celine made her mark on the Billboard charts with three number-one albums and four number-one Billboard Hot 100 singles.
In 1997, she won a Grammy for her album Falling Into You and was the number five artist on the Billboard list for the 1990s. Towards the 2000s, appreciation for Celine waned, and she had to find a new career path. Once she began focusing on live tours, she began reaping the rewards. She saw a solid tour run from 1990 to 1999, earning over $77 million, but the real earnings came from her Las Vegas residency.
The long-running shows in Las Vegas helped revive Celine’s career and paved the way for other artists to be successful in Sin City. Today, several artists enjoy successful shows in Nevada, including Adele, Carrie Underwood, Shania Twain, Mariah Carey, Lady Gaga, and Janet Jackson.
Celine is now known as the Queen Celine due to her impressive run in Las Vegas and all she has accomplished as a residency maven. Celebrities like Adele have thanked Celine for her contributions and talked about how much her career path has inspired them in their endeavors.
Dealing with Health Issues
Today, Celine Dion is still singing, despite her rare public appearances. She sang during the 2024 Olympic opening ceremony, and her performance received rave reviews. Celine is currently dealing with a health condition known as stiff-person syndrome (SPS), which is a rare neurological disorder.
The condition leads to muscle spasms and rigidity, which makes it difficult for her to sing. Stress and loud noises can trigger muscle spasms in the limbs and torso at times. The spasms can be severe and cause a person to fall down and hurt themselves.
Celine is using her condition as a way to bring light to the rare disorder and has set a goal to raise money and awareness for SPS to try and find a cure. She is utilizing medication, physical therapy, and help from experts to deal day to day with the side effects of the neurological condition.
A new documentary, I Am: Celine Dion, by Irene Taylor, sheds light on how she is dealing with the condition and how it has changed her life. Celine is working on a new show in Las Vegas, and hopefully, she will be back on the stage soon, delivering amazing performances and showcasing why she is known as the Queen of Las Vegas.
