Roy Exum: Her Heart Will Go On

  • Thursday, August 27, 2015
  • Roy Exum
Roy Exum
Roy Exum

Tonight’s a big night in Las Vegas, one of the biggest in quite a while. Celine Dion, truly one of the most magnificent singers of our time, will return to the stage of the Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace after a year’s absence and, if you dare think you can get a seat, it has been sold out for months. Of course, they say in Vegas you can buy anything, but tonight is one of the toughest tickets ever and that’s because there is a bigger reason than Celine’s wonderful voice.

She hardly needs to set foot on a stage and hear an orchestra’s crescendo.

Are you kidding…she’s sold 220 million albums and her checking-account balance hovers around $630 million, but in the few short months ahead, she will sing from her heart. That’s the way her much-beloved husband wants it and she will sing every octave for Rene Angelil.

It’s no secret that Rene, her devoted husband since 1994 and the father of their three children, is slipping away after the savage return of throat cancer. By all accounts, there is no doubt it is terminal. That’s why she abruptly took a sabbatical of sorts a year ago when he admitted he wasn’t feeling well, and ever since then, particularly when doctors were forced to insert a feeding tube, she admits, “It’s been tough."

“You get to hear my story and his story because we’re on TV but people go through these things, and much worse, every day,” she said in one interview. “When I decided to stop the show, it was because of Rene. I was up there shaking my butt, singing ‘Everybody Dance Now,’ and I wasn’t feeling good about that. But now he really wants me there,” she said with peace in her voice, “He’s 100 percent about this and so am I.

“He doesn’t fit in my dress, but, believe me, Rene is with me on that stage,” she smiled easily. “He’s been the leader of my band all of my life. So now it (hacks) him off not to see me all day and be here when I am working. But he wants me to do this, to do the show, to do the interviews. I didn’t want to be here at first,” she told a Daily Mail reporter. “I don’t need it … don’t get me wrong; I love singing for people, but I have priorities. Then again, it was Rene who gave me a gift and this is what he has asked.

“All the grieving…it was during this last year. But now I think I’ve got this…for now. When it hits me, it’s going to hit me, but now my biggest job is telling my husband that we’re fine. I’ll take care of our kids…you’ll just watch us from another spot.”

Celine then added, “I have told him, ‘When you go, you don’t go…I will see you through our children every day.”

In another interview she said, “We’ve talked a whole lot. For instance, I’ll say, ‘You’re scared? I understand. Let’s talk about it.’ And Rene says to me, ‘I want to die in your arms.’ OK, fine. I’ll be there, you’ll die in my arms.”

Even with her positive and somewhat brave front, the great singer knows she will struggle mightily when the end comes. “Even though we have both grieved in the past year, I know there will be some dark moments, particularly with our children, but I am really hopeful the personal philosophy I have tried to develop will let me find the light.

“I feel this: It is important to open your eyes in the morning and look at yourself in the mirror and ask two questions. ‘Are you dead…or do you have a ticket to ride?’ There are just two tickets. If you are alive, have a good day…because today is the most important day of your life.”

Yes, today is the most important day of Celine Dion’s life because tonight, the beautiful Canadian will take the stage at Caesar’s and sing to Rene in one of the sweetest endings between two who deeply love one another there has ever been. Then, in her very own words:

“Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on
Once more you open the door
And you're here in my heart
And my heart will go on and on

“You're here, there's nothing I fear,
And I know that my heart will go on
We'll stay forever this way
You are safe in my heart
And my heart will go on and on.”

-- From the song, “My Heart Will Go On”

royexum@aol.com

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