Date uploaded: 2017-07-05 09:15:33

Archive date: Fri, 24 Dec 2021 22:51:47 GMT

In the minutes before her show at the AccorHotels Arena at Bercy, Celine Dion is presented with an award by the French division of Sony for her 2016 francophone release Encore un soir. Dion thanks the clutch of executives assembled avec champagne and macaroons in the green room (hell, this is Paris after all) and reminds them quietly that this award means even so much more because the recording was her first without Rene and made during the most raw and difficult of times. Now it is a "diamond," meaning it has sold over 500k in France. Actually it has sold over 800k, and this is at a time when, hello, NO ONE BUYS RECORDS ANYMORE. Except for people in France who adore Celine, that is, nearly 20k of which are soon singing along—every lyric, every song—to their beloved diva. For a stadium show it is an extremely personal affair—everyone cries!—and never more so than when Dion's three sons make an appearance, via projection, during her cover of Michael Jackson's Black or White. Rene-Charles, aged 16, raps the King of Pop's spoken word bits, and when he is finished the twins, Nelson and Eddy, make a smiling cameo. Her children are not in the business--"I am not that kind of mother"--but they travel with her on tour and share some of her passions. Rene-Charles loves music and shoes ("the apple did not fall far from the tree") and, like her, habitually over-packs. On this tour he has brought 70 pairs of sneakers. The 6-year-old twins Nelson and Eddy love to dress up, as kids do, and recently asked to have their hair cut and styled like James Brown. Yes, that James Brown. Tres difficile! Fun fact: It was Nelson and Eddy's love of Disney-era Zendaya that made Celine aware of the stylish teen star. She then clocked Z's picture on the red carpet and in magazines. So she googled "who is Zendaya's stylist," as one does, and found Law Roach. Yes, that actually happened. #CelineTakesCouture Photographed by @denisetruscello