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Celine Dion Delivers Show-Stopping Performance From the Eiffel Tower at the 2024 Paris Olympics

The performance of Édith Piaf's "Hymne A L'Amour" marks the Canadian icon's long-awaited on-stage comeback.

Céline Dion en una función especial del documental "I Am: Celine Dion" en Nueva York, el 17 de junio de 2024 en el Alice Tully Hall.

Céline Dion en una función especial del documental "I Am: Celine Dion" en Nueva York, el 17 de junio de 2024 en el Alice Tully Hall.

Kristina Bumphrey

After rumors that Celine Dion would be returning to the stage at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the iconic chanteuse delivered a jaw-dropping performance at the games’ opening ceremony on Friday (July 26).

The superstar performed an emotional rendition of Édith Piaf’s “Hymne A L’Amour” from the Eiffel Tower, which was sparkling and lit with the Olympic rings. Accompanied by a piano and rocking a stunning white gown, the singer delivered her effortlessly flawless vocals as she belted the lyrics to the 1950 track, which translates to “The Hymn of Love.”


The performance marks Dion’s first since she cancelled the dates on her North American Courage world tour before revealing she is fighting Stiff Person Syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that causes severe muscle spasms.

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Dion previously seeded hope for her return to the stage in her recent Prime Video doc I Am: Celine Dion, in which she said of her determination to perform again: “If I can’t run, I’ll walk. If I can’t walk, I’ll crawl… I won’t stop.” She was also spotted earlier this week greeting fans in Paris outside Royal Monceau hotel near the Champs-Élysées.

It’s hardly her first time on the Olympic stage. She previously performed “The Power of the Dream” at the opening ceremony for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Elsewhere in the ceremony, the Olympic cauldron was lit following a months-long torch relay, in which Snoop Dogg, BTS’ Jin and Pharrell Williams participated. Earlier in the day, Lady Gaga took the stage to perform a cabaret-style rendition of the French-language “Mon Truc en Plume” (“My Thing With Feathers”) in a minutes-long, highly choreographed routine.

This article was first published by Billboard U.S.

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Bill Gilliland

Bill Gilliland

FYI

Obituaries: Toronto Record Label Pioneer Bill Gilliland, Global Music Trailblazer Dan Storper of Putumayo

This week we also acknowledge the passing of Sugar Hill Records owner Barry Poss, and top U.S. booking agent Dave Shapiro and former drummer Daniel Williams, who both died in a tragic plane crash.

Bill (William) Gilliland, a Toronto record label head, producer and music entrepreneur, died on May 17, at age 88.

An official death notice called him "a visionary force in Canadian music. A true architect of the country’s music landscape, Bill’s career spanned more than four decades, shaping the sounds of generations and launching the careers of many iconic artists."

Gilliland first made a mark with Arc Records, a subsidiary of Arc Sound Company Ltd. that was established in Toronto in 1958 by Philip G. Anderson. Gilliland and Anderson co-founded Arc Records in 1959 and purchased the Precision Pressing Co. in 1961. Under the direction of Anderson, its president, and vice president Gilliland, Arc Records entered into a contract with US Hit Records and released a series of pop singles albums under the name Hit Parade (1963–64) that specialized in regional artists and tribute albums.

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