Céline Dion sang live during Olympics opening ceremony, unlike Lady Gaga: report

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It’s no secret Céline Dion’s performance from the Eiffel Tower during the rain-soaked opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics has won universal acclaim.

But now a report from a French TV station has revealed Dion’s performance was also inspirational and heroic for another reason: she sang live against the advice of the event’s musical director and amid concerns about her health, given she was diagnosed in 2022 with a rare autoimmune condition called Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS), which can make singing extremely difficult.

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It was Dion’s first live performance in over year — with hundreds of millions of people watching worldwide.

“While Lady Gaga and Aya Nakamura had pre-recorded their performances at the Olympic opening ceremony in case of technical glitches, the event’s musical director Victor Le Masne disclosed the Quebec artist wished to ‘really sing’,” according to a report on BFM TV.

Interviewed on the TV show Weekend Direct, Le Masne said he fell under the spell of Dion’s charm immediately, describing her as “magnetic.” But he and artistic director Thomas Jolly did have concerns, Le Masne confessed.

“It was the health challenge right to the end,” Le Manse said, adding they had secretly rehearsed from the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower at 3 a.m. the night before.

When the moment came, Dion stood next to a pianist in a haute-couture gown glittering with thousands of pearls against the inky blackness of the night — and she sang a flawless version of Edith Piaf’s Hymne à l’amour. Her eyes grew teary near the song’s finale as she thrust her right hand in the air under the five illuminated Olympic rings.

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In the end, at age 56, Dion’s soaring mezzo soprano voice remained intact, and the song’s lyric gained new meaning during the performance, especially the lines:

“Tant que mon corps frémira sous tes mains
Peu m’importent les problèmes
Mon amour puisque tu m’aimes”

(“As long as my body trembles under your hands
I don’t care about problems
My love, because you love me”)

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Celebrities gushed after Dion’s performance, with singer Kelly Clarkson remarking “in my field, she is the gold winner for vocal athletes.” And while the New York Times opined in a headline the “Opening Ceremony Misses the Boat” — alluding to the fact it was held on the Seine — everyone was in agreement Dion was simply dazzling.

“This neurological disorder can affect anyone at any age,” said Dr. Andrew McKeon, a Mayo Clinic neurologist and expert in autoimmune neurology and movement disorders.

“More commonly, it affects women, usually starting in the 40s or 50s. More than 50 per cent of patients have a coexisting non-neurological autoimmune disease, such as Type 1 diabetes or autoimmune thyroid disease.”

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