Two years ago, Canadian pop singer Celine Dion announced that she was taking a break from her career. During the time away, she got some much-needed rest, focused on her personal life and gave birth to her first child. Celine is now back with a new CD that marks her first English-language studio album since 1997.
Celine Dion has been out of the public eye for the past two years. But she’s back, and her fans have responded with much delight. Celine’s new CD, A New Day Has Come, sold more than 527,000 copies its first week in U.S. record stores to debut at Number One on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart. That marks the first time in her career she’s debuted at the top of the chart.
Now 34, the superstar launched her career in her native Canada in 1981. Celine’s first English-language album was released in 1991. Worldwide sales of her 18 French and eight English-language albums total more than 130 million copies.
Celine was at the peak of her success when she insisted it was time to take a long break from her 20-year career. She said, “the last two years have been among the best of my life.”
But, Celine admits she was eager to get back into the studio. “I couldn’t wait to go back into the recording studio,” she said. “And, I loved the songs that people wrote for me on this album. Those songs became even closer to me because, the fact that I took two years off, they wrote songs for me that were even closer to my emotions. I had things to talk about. I had things to sing about. It was a fun adventure, no pressure, relaxed, smooth, powerful but controlled. I really had a wonderful time. And to see my friends again, it was great.”
Celine also recorded two pop standards for A New Day Has Come; the Etta James classic “At Last” and Nat “King” Cole’s “Nature Boy.”
Celine will not tour in support of her new album, but she recently performed songs from “A New Day Has Come” on her nationally-televised special. The show will air globally in the coming weeks.
In March 2003, Celine will begin a 600-show, three-year engagement at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. The show will take place at a state-of-the art venue called Caesar’s Palace Coliseum, which is currently under construction.
Celine says she’s thrilled to have been given the opportunity to perform for millions of fans while balancing her family life. “I’m able to be excited about going every night and doing a show that I’m going to look forward to, a visual show. Every song will be like an adventure, like an experience. But, of course, it’s going to be a big thing that my son will be home every night also and I won’t have to worry. So, of course it’s a big plus,” she said.
Celine promoted her new album on North American television through appearances on morning shows, and nighttime news and talk programs. She’s now making similar appearances throughout Europe and the United Kingdom.
