Celine Dion is a Canadian singer who has received numerous awards and nominations. At age twelve, she began her career as a Francophone artist in her home country and released her debut single "Ce n'était qu'un rêve" in 1981, a song she wrote with her mother Thérèse and brother Jacques. In 1982, she competed at the Yamaha World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo and won the musician's award for "Top Performer". The following year, she became the first Canadian to receive a Gold record in France for the single "D'amour ou d'amitié" and won her first Félix Award for Newcomer of the Year. Further success came when she won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1988, representing Switzerland.
Dion sought to expand her audience to the Anglophone market and released her English-language debut album, Unison (1990), winning the Juno Award for Album of the Year. Her profile increased following the 1991 Disney duet "Beauty and the Beast", which earned her a Record of the Year nomination and her first Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group, while her 1992 self-titled album was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Following this, The Colour of My Love was released in 1993 and won her second Juno Award for Album of the Year. Meanwhile, two of its singles, "When I Fall in Love" and "The Power of Love", were nominated for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 36th and 37th Grammy Awards, respectively. Dion released D'eux in 1995; its success earned her the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and established her as the best-selling French-language artist in history.
Dion then released Falling into You (1996) to critical acclaim and global success, winning the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and Best Pop Album. The album also garnered her several honors, including VH1's Artist of the Year, the Bambi Award for Top International Pop Star of the Year, and the World Music Award for World's Overall Best-Selling Recording Artist. In 1997, Dion recorded "My Heart Will Go On", the theme for the film Titanic and supported her follow-up album Let's Talk About Love. The song earned her Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 41st Grammy Awards. Additionally, the album won her six Billboard Music Awards—including Top Billboard 200 Album Artist and Hot Adult Contemporary Artist—along with American Music Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist and Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist, and the World Music Award for World's Best-Selling Pop Artist.
Her collaborations with artists, including "Tell Him" with Barbra Streisand, "I'm Your Angel", "The Prayer" with Andrea Bocelli, and "All the Way" with Frank Sinatra, were each nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. Dion returned to music after a two-year hiatus with A New Day Has Come (2002) and One Heart (2003), winning consecutive American Music Awards for Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist. She received her first songwriting recognitions from the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) for her compositions for Marc Dupré in 2006 and 2012. Continuing this success, each of her subsequent studio album releases until her most recent, Courage (2019), received a nomination for the Juno Award for Album of the Year—extending her Guinness World Record to 75 total nominations in her career.
Dion was given the Chopard Diamond Award in 2004 as the best-selling female recording artist in history at that time. She was voted third in VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Music in 2002 while Consequence included her on their "100 Best Vocalists of All Time" list. In 2007, Falling into You was included on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Definitive 200 list. Dion was also awarded the honorary Legion of Honor by President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008 and was elevated to the Companion of the Order of Canada in 2013. She has received honorary doctorates from Université Laval (2008) and Berklee College of Music (2021).
Awards and nominations