The name Celine Dion should have exclamation points affixed at the end — the singer is that well-known for piercing the highest of vocal registers.
With her first appearance in Atlanta in almost a decade this weekend, we're taking note of some of the high notes of the 40-year-old's career, as well as the questionable occurrences, on down to that Kris Kross moment at the Academy Awards.
• When an 18-year-old Dion tells music manager René Angélil that she wants to be a star like Michael Jackson, he reportedly has her take 18 months off for an extensive makeover that includes cutting her hair and having her canine teeth capped.
• The words "backwards jacket" just don't do justice to the disaster that is her red carpet outfit at the 1999 Oscars.
• The $240 Dion charges for some seats on her 2008 tour ranks as one of the Top 10 most expensive tickets of the year (at No. 6), according to Ticketmaster Entertainment. (In case you're wondering, Madonna is No. 1 with a $378 ticket.)
• After seven years of success outside the United States, her 1990 duet with Atlantan Peabo Bryson — the theme from "Beauty and the Beast" — not only provides her breakthrough stateside, but wins her a Grammy and an Academy Award.
• A theme song proves to be the winning formula again in 1997, when her "Titanic" single "My Heart Will Go On" debuts atop Billboard's pop chart and spends 10 weeks on the pop airplay chart — her longest stay on that listing to date.
• After Caesars Palace builds a $95 million theater for her "A New Day" show, Dion begins a three-year run in the 4,100-seat venue in 2003. Reports estimate she will earn $45 million to $100 million (including a percentage of the sales in the gift shop, where fans can buy $3,400 handbags, $325 charm bracelets and $98 Judith Jack-designed brooches).
• Since 1990, Dion has sold more than 200 million albums worldwide.
• In 1994 she marries manager René Angélil — whom she first met when she performed in his office when she was 12. (There is a 26-year difference in their ages.)
• In 2007 on an "American Idol" special Dion and the late Elvis Presley "perform" his hit single "If I Can Dream" (thanks to the magic of computer wizardry).
• In 2008 Comedy Central's "Best Week Ever" notes that Dion's 7-year-old son has Fabio-like locks because he has never wanted a haircut, "just like he's never asked for candy and never requested that his mom just stop. For five seconds, just stop."
Celine Dion. 8 p.m. Saturday at Philips Arena, 1 Philips Drive. Tickets: $49.50-$187 at Ticketmaster, 404-249-6400 or www.ticketmaster.com.
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