Celine Dion

Though much of her claim to fame is tied to her English-language studio albums, she never abandoned her roots in French music (in fact the majority of her albums are in this language). Her 1996 release “Falling Into You” won album of the year at the Grammys and the following year her hit “My Heart Will Go On” picked up an Academy Award for best original song. It went on to sweep the 1998 Grammys being accoladed with Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television. This song has become immortalized in pop music history and remains an inseparable part of the film “Titanic”. Perhaps her first real breakthrough to the American mainstream was spawned by her performance of the title track of the classic 1991 Disney film “Beauty and the Beast”. The classical thematic tone of the song established the framework for her sound that she is so known for in the United States.

Her music in the French language is by no means overshadowed by her English language releases. After all this was the language in which she first began her pursuit as a singer. In fact her early work impressed manager Rene Angelil so much that he mortgaged his house to provide the funding for her debut album “La voix du bon Dieu”. Angelil remained important to Dion in both her professional and personal life as he acted as her manager and was also her husband.

Dion seemed to get more and more popular with each release and started breaking records with her 1995 album “D’eux”. This album sold over 10 million copies making it the best-selling French album of all time and with 4.4 million copies sold in France it also became the best selling album ever in that country. She is the second best selling female artist in the US only to Mariah Carey and is the best selling Canadian artist of all time.

Though some critics argue that Dion’s sound is uni-dimensional she has proven to expand outside her zone of mechanized, larger than life pop and introduce various forms of world music and different styles of pop music. She delved into more hip-hop and urban oriented territories performing duet with the likes of R. Kelley, Stevie Wonder and Ne-Yo. Her album “Falling into You” sought to reach a broader audience and incorporated more eclectic sounds such as Spanish guitar and African drumming.

Dion has a very large list of musical influences though some of their styles may not be evident in her own music. Artists like Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Doobie Brothers make the list as well as more obvious choices such as Edith Piaf and Cher. Dion has also re-popularized songs from her musical heroes such as Roberta Flack’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and Frank Sinatra “All the Way”. As for those who Dion has influenced the string of names is overbearing. She has inspired everyone form like-minded divas such as Beyonce, Katy Perry and Rihanna, experimental R&B singer Frank Ocean and even indie twee-pop groups like Los Campesinos.