Superstar Celine Dion flew a round-trip flight of 6,000 miles within 12 hours between Boston, where her husband, Rene Angelil, is hospitalized for life-saving cancer treatment, and Las Vegas to fulfill a promise to sing with Andrea Bocelli at our 19th Annual “Power of Love” gala for Keep Memory Alive on Saturday night at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
“I wouldn’t let anybody down after making the promise,” she told me in an exclusive backstage interview after her sound-check rehearsal with Andrea minutes after she had landed here at McCarran International Airport. “Rene wanted me to be here. He’s fighting and working really hard. The reality is hard, but we have the ticket to live today. Today, we’re alive, and we’re going for it.”
Celine paid all the expenses of gas and crew for the flight as a donation to the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health fundraiser. Her flight was a poignant act of courage and bravery.
On Saturday morning, she was at Rene’s hospital bedside, and he urged her to “go sing your best in Las Vegas.” Mid-afternoon, she landed at McCarran, and a limousine sped her to MGM Grand Garden Arena. She rehearsed in a simple brown-and-white blouse and jean skirt.
At 10 p.m., she was backstage in an elegant, black, floor-length gown. Celine chatted with actress Sharon Stone (“Basic Instinct,” “Casino”), who had just introduced Andrea to the 1,500 dinner guests. Our thanks to Denise Truscello for the intimate photo gallery onstage and backstage at the “Power of Love” gala.
Andrea invited her to join him onstage for their duet of “The Prayer.” As they finished the sensational and highly emotional song, thousands of rose petals showered on the teary-eyed crowd and stars onstage. Sharon carried Andrea’s 3-year-old daughter Virginia to him as Celine and he acknowledged the cheers and standing ovation.
After posing for photographs backstage with the Bocelli family and Sharon, Celine changed, and her waiting limousine took her back to the jet ready for takeoff from McCarran. On Sunday morning after the red-eye flight, she was safely back at Rene’s hospital bedside.
Here’s our conversation. It was emotional and teary. Sentences didn’t quite get finished, and a couple of times our hands reached out to strengthen each other.
This reunion with Andrea Bocelli is very special.
It’s been a long time since we’ve sung together, but it doesn’t feel like the time passed because it’s memorable. I’m not saying this pretentiously. You sometimes create a reunion, a friendship, and it’s special. You do a lot of things in show business, you encounter a lot of people, you do lots, as you know.
But some of the duets are memorable, and sharing what you love with somebody who knows beyond what I do, the classical part of the music, and that takes a special talent who wants to sing with a pop singer and who does this so friendly, so professionally.
I thought singing with him once was a gift of life; singing with him again was a privilege — and now our friendship because time after time it still happens.
Did it click immediately today?
Instantly. Like I said, the time from last time did not pass. That’s special. I told him, “OK, we’ve got “The Prayer,” and I don’t think we can hit better than that because “The Prayer” is so beautiful.
Everybody in the arena was crying. You were even tearing up.
It’s a wonderful song. Sometimes the meaning of it has more importance. Sometimes you think you receive a song, and sometimes you think you’re singing a moment that’s going to last forever.
And of course at this moment with Rene’s fight, this is a very precious song with additional meaning?
It is a very special song and precious. Rene is fighting very hard, and he’s a trooper. I’m amazed; I’ve always been because I married him. I know he could support and create a career for me, but as my husband and the father of my children, he’s done so much more.
And you said he was proud of you and wanted you to come today.
He wants me to be here. He wants me strong, he wants me back, he wants to see me again. Before he goes, he wants me to make sure that …
Is that a reality now?
He’s fighting, he’s fighting, and he’s working really hard.
And you are, too?
Yes. We’re not sleeping, we’re working on the health, we see doctors, we have treatments. It’s hard, the reality is hard, but we have the ticket to live today. We’re not dead; we’re living. Today, we’re alive, and we’re going for it.
And you’re still going for it to reopen at Caesars Palace on Aug. 27.
That’s right. Tonight, though, I’m only thinking for tonight. I’m living a day at a time, but I’m going to be ready, as well, Aug. 27. I can’t wait.
It’s going to be hard, it’s going to be emotional because I know that the type of career and friendship I’ve had with the fans, if I may say, is beyond music. I think they will be there for me.
When the curtain opens, I don’t know how strong I will be that night.
It will be as emotional as you get when singing “Ne Quitte Pas (Don’t Leave Me)”?
Probably.
A long, 6,000-mile, round-trip journey in less than a day. It shows your love for Las Vegas, shows your love for Andrea, shows your love for Keep Memory Alive.
And shows my love for my husband because he wanted me to be here. That was the first OK for me to come because I would have stayed with him for sure all my life, but he wanted me to be here, and because I love Andrea, and I think it’s a wonderful benefit.
We can’t thank you enough for coming, and we admire you, we love you. You are brave and courageous. Please give our love to Rene, and tell him he is in our prayers.
Thank you.
