New Delhi: Years after stepping away from the spotlight and following a debilitating diagnosis that threatened her career, Canadian singer Céline Dion announced she is ready to perform live again.
In a video shared on social media on her birthday, the 58-year-old described the development as “the best gift” of her life, telling fans she is finally returning after a prolonged and difficult health battle.
“This year, I’m getting the best birthday gift of my life. I’m getting the chance to see you, to perform for you once again,” Dion said.
“I want to let you know that I’m doing great, managing my health, and feeling good. I’m singing again, even doing a little bit of dancing,” she added.
Dion is set to headline a 10 concert residency at the 40,000-capacity Paris La Défense Arena, with shows scheduled beginning 12 September and running through 14 October.
The concerts will mark her first-full-scale return to the stage since March 2020, when she last performed in Newark, New Jersey. Her Courage World Tour, which began in 2019, was first disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The tour was subsequently cancelled after Dion revealed in December 2022 that she had been diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome, a rare autoimmune neurological disorder.
The condition causes progressive muscle stiffness and painful spasms, often affecting the torso, arms and legs, and can severely impact mobility and vocal performance. There is no known cure, though treatment can help manage symptoms, but even so, Dion has described singing under the syndrome as feeling “like somebody is strangling you.”
The extent of Dion’s struggle was detailed in her 2024 documentary I Am: Celine Dion, released on Amazon Prime Video, which offered an intimate look at her condition, including scenes of her experiencing extreme pain and a seizure. Despite the severity of her illness, Dion has consistently expressed a determination to return to performing.
“If I can’t run, I’ll walk. If I can’t walk, I’ll crawl. And I won’t stop,” she said in the film.
She made a brief but widely watched return to the global stage during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, performing Édith Piaf’s ‘Hymne à l’amour’ from the Eiffel Tower as athletes paraded along the Seine River in heavy rain. The performance marked her first live appearance since 2020.
Dion, one of the best-selling music artists of all time, is best known for hits such as ‘My Heart Will Go On’ from the Oscar-winning film Titanic (1997), along with a career spanning decades across pop and ballad genres. Her voice has earned her five Grammy Awards and multiple worldwide accolades, cementing her status as a defining pop‑era vocalist.
Her upcoming Paris residency is being seen as a significant milestone in her recovery and a symbolic return to the stage, as she reconnects with live audiences after years away.
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)