Singing diva Celine Dion, who dropped a bombshell by taking a two-year break at the height of her career, is getting back to work with a new album, a multimillion-dollar Las Vegas performance contract and plans for a second baby.
The French-Canadian star has clinched a three-year deal at Caesar’s Palace, starting in March 2003, to sing five nights a week in a specially-built 4,000-seat replica of the Roman Colosseum, her publicist said Friday.
A new single, “A New Day Has Come,” followed by an album, hits radio stations later this month, and Dion, 33, revealed plans to use a frozen embryo to try for a second child with her manager-husband Rene Angeli in three years time.
“We will definitely give it a try. It doesn’t mean it will work. We’ll see,” Dion told Barbara Walters in an interview to be aired Friday evening on ABC television.
After her success with the theme song from the 1997 blockbuster movie “Titanic” and a clutch of Grammy awards, Dion put her career on hold in late 1999 to try to have a child and to care for Angeli, 60, who had been diagnosed with throat cancer. Their first child, Rene Charles, was conceived through in-vitro fertilization and has just had his first birthday.
“They love each other so much,” Dion told Walters of her son and her husband. “For me to see the two men in my life loving each other like that is the biggest reward.”
The Las Vegas deal means that Dion will be able to combine performing with her family life without the stress of touring.
“I can play with my child all day at home,” she told Walters. “Mommy’s going to leave home around 6 at night and the show will be at 8:30.”
Asked why she had decided to make a comeback now, Dion said, “Because I am happiest now. I think I’m grown up a little more… What do you want me to do after ‘Titanic,’ and after doing the stadiums… I’m good with my nightgown and pajamas at home with Rene Charles, playing with the toys. I feel great.”
