Celine Dion performs last show at Caesars
LAS VEGAS - Celine Dion called it a wrap at Caesars Palace, acknowledging in her final show that pregnancy and poor early reviews almost sank her titanic five-year engagement.
While the show was still in development in 2000, Dion, 39, became pregnant and told husband-manager Rene Angelil she did not want to continue.
“I had a life for the first time,” the French-Canadian chanteuse said in a video before her 717th show. “I knew then that I wanted to have more success as a mother than a singer.”
But Angelil told her that too much money and too many people were involved. Not only would the Colosseum cost $95 million to build, her initial three-year, $100 million contract broke records for a live entertainer.
So she pushed on, fighting through initial bad reviews to make it five years of filling a 4,100-seat arena.
Since opening in March 2003, Dion’s show, “A New Day … ” grossed more than $400 million and was seen by nearly 3 million fans. Dion said one fan had seen her Las Vegas show more than 100 times. Tickets for the final show were for sale on EBay for as much as $1,899.
Last month, Dion released “Taking Chances” her first English-language album in four years, and she sang the title song on the album during the extra-long finale. The album was most recently the 12th best-selling in the U.S., according to Billboard magazine.
“Tomorrow morning, it will be back to reality and back to (being) mommy,” Dion told reporters after the show.
Posted on December 17th, 2007 by Pod Boy
Filed under: Music News




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