Celine Dion talks ahead of Birmingham gig

Celine’s late husband, René Angélil, died last year. But he remains with her every minute of the day as she continues to grieve. The duo were inseparable and she remains permanently in her thoughts.

“I think I will probably grieve for the rest of my life.

“René has prepared me for all my life since I’m 12. I have never met another man in my life, never kissed another man in my life.

“I miss him a lot. I miss him a lot — for my partner, for the man I was embracing, kissing, making love with. My worries, my dreams  . . . ”

Celine says the couple made the best of their last weeks and months together. “No one chooses to be sick.

“Life imposes for you to be sick and you have the option to be strong or not be strong.

“But to be surrounded by the right people helps a lot because, if you know you will die, make the best of it.

“I proved to René that he was there for me and I’m going to be there for him – and I’m still there for him.”

She still speaks to him and asks for advice. And, having sold 250 million records, she still hears his voice.

“He did suffer for three years. A lot.

“I took a year off and I said, ‘My living well is to be with you, it’s not my career. You are my career, you are my life’.

“That’s what a wife does, that’s what a mother does, that’s what a performer does. I took care of him the best way I could.

“We talked a lot and I took notes every day. I had my Post-its and my crayons and my book, and everything he wanted or questioned, or he thought of, I wrote it down.

“I reassured him it was going to be done his way — he chose the songs at his funeral, the way he wanted it, everything to a T. And I respected that.

“I’m extremely proud of my children. Proud of what my husband has prepared me for without knowing. Today I can tell you I am very strong. At one point I showed my children to stand up. Even though they don’t have a Papa anymore, Mama is here. But Papa is in their heart.”

Her husband’s passing has had a profound effect on Celine. It has changed her outlook on life and given her a new apetite to live life fully – and to encourage her children to do likewise.

“It is something that I had no choice to take charge of, that I am proud of – to prepare my children [for] their dad’s passing. And that was a lesson for me, that you never know when things like this strike and you need to take charge. It was a lesson for me, but they’re doing great.”

“It’s best to never wait for tomorrow to do what can be done today.”

She’s a remarkable figure who has sold 250 million records – the second most successful female artist to Madonna.

At the age of 12, Celine recorded a demo tape of a song she had written with her mother. They sent the tape to the manager and producer René Angélil, who handled the career of popular French singer Ginette Reno. After hearing the tape and inviting Celine to perform for him in person, René signed her immediately under the condition that he would have complete control over her career. He mortgaged his own home to finance her debut album, La Voix du bon Dieu (The Voice of God).

By the age of 18, Celine had recorded nine French albums and won numerous Felix and Juno awards (the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy Award). In 1988, she won the Eurovision Song Contest representing Switzerland in Dublin, Ireland, and her performance was broadcast live in countries throughout Europe, the Middle East, Australia and Japan. After this taste of international acclaim, she began looking to the south, and American stardom.

Her real breakthrough into pop music stardom came in 1992, when she recorded the theme to Disney’s hit animated feature Beauty and the Beast, a duet with Peabo Bryson. The song, Beauty and the Beast, made it to number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 and won both a Grammy and an Academy Award.

It was featured on her second English album, Celine Dion, which became her first gold record in the United States and sold more than 12 million copies internationally.

The undeniable success of her self-titled effort, also including the hit If You Asked Me To, which made it to number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the adult contemporary chart, allowed Dion to launch her first headlining tour in the US.

In 1994, Dion happily merged her personal and professional life when she married René, who was 26 years her senior. René and his second wife had divorced in the 1980s, and, around that same time, he and Celine had begun a romantic relationship. Engaged in 1991, the couple tied the knot at Montreal’s Notre Dame Basilica, in an elaborate ceremony that was celebrated throughout Canada.

She also scored a series of international number one hits, including The Power of Love, Think Twice, Because You Loved Me, It’s All Coming Back to Me Now, and, of course, My Heart Will Go On, which featured on the soundtrack to one of the biggest grossing films of all time, Titanic, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.