Celine Dion ‘secretly practicing’ for Vegas comeback

Article content

As she continues to battle Stiff Person Syndrome, Celine Dion is reportedly set to make her live music comeback later this year in Las Vegas.

Article content

Sources tell the U.S. Sun that the 56-year-old Quebecois singer is “secretly practicing for a limited run of shows” around the time of the Las Vegas Formula One grand prix. 

“Celine is coming back to perform,” a Vegas insider tells the outlet. “It is hush hush at the moment, but an announcement is imminent. Celine has signed off on singing again to audiences in November. She has worked incredibly hard to get back to a place where she can sing well and for some period of time. She believes that she is ready to perform for over an hour.”

Article content

The well-placed source goes on to say that Dion has been inspired to return to the stage because of her “desire” to be back in front her fans.

“She never gave up and has been working in secret for months on her vocal strength and control,” they say. “It started out as small sessions with her musicians at her home and has now grown into being able to sing a number of songs in a row to a standard she feels excited and content with.”

Article content

Article content

Dion revealed she had been diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome in an Instagram video in December 2022, after she announced she was cancelling her upcoming tour.

“Unfortunately, these spasms affect every aspect of my daily life … sometimes causing difficulties when I walk and not allowing me to use my vocal cords to sing the way I’m used to,” she told fans at the time.

Symptoms of the affliction mimic the characteristics of other ailments such as Parkinson’s Disease or multiple sclerosis. The muscle spasms associated with SPS sometimes appear out of the blue and can be triggered by loud noise or emotional distress, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

The muscle spasms can be severe enough to affect mobility and cause a patient to fall. As it progresses, the disease makes if more difficult to walk and falls can become more frequent.

Article content

After suffering from symptoms for over a decade, the All By Myself singer said her busy work schedule prevented her from pausing to break and figure out what was going on with her health.

Last month, Dion, who last performed live in March 2020, detailed her struggle with the illness and her battle to return to the stage in the Prime Video documentary I Am: Celine Dion.

With the world shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic in the early part of 2020, and her tour plans delayed, Dion began investigating a variety of health issues that had plagued her for over a decade. The problems had progressively affected her singing voice and her mobility.

“There were moments where I cheated and tapped on the microphone like it was the microphone’s fault,” Dion says in the film, explaining how she concealed her illness from fans. Eventually, she started to medicate herself, taking copious amounts of Valium to go onstage every night. “I needed medicine to function. One more pill, two more pills, five more pills. Too many pills. The show must go on,” Dion says. “I don’t want to sound dramatic, but I could have died.”

Article content

One harrowing scene showed Dion in the midst of a 10-minute long seizure. The film’s director, Irene Taylor, told Postmedia in an interview that she didn’t know the severity of the six-time Grammy winner’s illness when they started filming.

“I did not realize Celine Dion was sick when we started making the film,” Taylor said. “Shortly after we started filming, I found out that she was sick. At that time, (her illness) didn’t have a name and she was going through an excruciating time trying to figure out what the problem was … I was shocked at how sick she was.”

But as she promoted her documentary, Dion hinted at an onstage return. It would be the ultimate ending in a comeback story that’s still being written.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Play Video

“If I can’t run, I’ll walk. If I can’t walk, I’ll crawl,” Dion says of her drive to return to the stage in the film. “But I won’t stop. I won’t stop.” 

Article content

Still, a second source tells the Sun that although a November return at Resorts World on the Vegas strip is being eyed, nothing is set in stone.

“There is some caution that if she is not ready for that then early 2025 will still be an option, because they want to make sure she and her medical advisors are 100% happy,” the insider tells the publication. “This syndrome is not something which obeys people’s schedules and plans and could flare up at any point. So this is a reality everyone has to live with.”

[email protected]

Article content