On July 10, 1982, Celine Dion went to France to record her new album Tellement j’ai d’amour…. This was the first time Celine visited Paris. She was photographed in front of the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe among other places in the city. They were also photographed in the restaurant “Chez Guy et Dodo” on the rue Cadet in the 9th district.
While 1982 was indeed the year she first set foot in the city that would become her second home, her most famous “first” of that year was her international debut at the Yamaha World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo, which took place later that October. However, her arrival in Paris in the summer of 1982 was the true beginning of her conquest of France.
In July 1982, a 14-year-old Céline arrived in Paris for a promotional tour arranged by her manager (and future husband), René Angélil. She made her very first appearance on French television on the iconic show Champs-Élysées, hosted by Michel Drucker. Drucker famously recalled that Angélil had begged him to listen to “this kid from Quebec,” and after hearing her sing, Drucker predicted she would be a superstar.
It was during this period that she began promoting the song “D’amour ou d’amitié.” By early 1983, she became the first Canadian artist to be certified Gold in France for that single, selling over 500,000 copies.
In various biographies, Céline has recalled being overwhelmed by the scale of Paris compared to her small hometown of Charlemagne. She often mentions how René took her to see the Eiffel Tower and the Champs-Élysées for the first time during this specific summer trip.
It’s a beautiful moment to look back on, before the 250 million albums sold and the sold-out stadiums, she was just a teenager with a suitcase and a voice that the French public was about to fall in love with.
0 comments:
Post a Comment