Celine Dion makes musical comeback at Paris Olympics with serenade on Eiffel Tower

MALLIKA SEN, Associated Press

15 minutes ago

Celine Dion performs in Paris, France, during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

PARIS (AP) — Celine Dion made a triumphant comeback on Friday with a very public performance, closing the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics from the Eiffel Tower.

Nearly two years after revealing her diagnosis of stiff person syndrome, Dion sang Edith Piaf’s “Hymne à l’amour” (“Hymn to Love”) as the finale of the roughly four-hour spectacle. Her performance had been announced for weeks, but organizers and Dion’s representatives refused to confirm whether she would perform.

On a page dedicated to Dior’s contributions to the opening ceremony, the media guide referred to “a world star, for a purely grandiose, exquisitely brilliant finale.”

Dion had not been seen on stage since 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic forced her tour to be postponed until 2022. That tour was ultimately postponed due to her diagnosis.

The rare neurological disorder causes stiff muscles and painful spasms, affecting Dion’s ability to walk and sing. In June, at the premiere of the documentary “I Am: Celine Dion,” she told The Associated Press that returning would require therapy, “physical, mental, emotional, vocal.”

“That’s why it’s taking a while. But definitely why we’re doing this, because I’m back a little bit,” she said at the time.

Even before the documentary’s release, Dion had already taken steps toward a comeback. In February, she made a surprise appearance at the Grammy Awards, where she presented the final award of the evening to a standing ovation.

For Friday’s performance, Dion’s pearl outfit was indeed designed by Dior. Speaking on French television, the director of the Paris Organizing Committee for Ceremony Design and Costumes, Daphne Bürki, recalled Dion’s excitement for the opportunity.

“When we called Celine Dion a year ago, she immediately said yes,” said Bürki.

Dion isn’t actually French — the French-Canadian is from Quebec — but she has strong ties to the country and the Olympics. Dion’s native language is French, and she’s dominated the charts in France and other French-speaking countries. (She also won the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest with a French-language song … representing Switzerland.) And early in her English-language career — before “My Heart Will Go On” from “Titanic” — she was asked to sing “The Power of The Dream,” the theme song for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Dion’s song choice also evoked a sports connection: Piaf wrote it about her lover, boxer Marcel Cerdan. Cerdan died in a plane crash shortly after she wrote the song.

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Associated Press reporters Sylvie Corbet, Jerome Pugmire and Samuel Petrequin contributed.

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For more coverage of the Paris Olympics, visit https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games.