Celine-Marie Claudette Dionne, is a Canadian singer and businesswoman. Born into a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dionne emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband Rene-Angèle mortgaged his home to finance her first record. Dionne first gained international recognition in the 1980s by winning both the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest where she represented Switzerland. Following a series of French albums during the 1980s, she signed on to epic records in the United States. In 1990, Dionne released her debut English-language album, Unison, establishing herself as a viable pop artist in North America and other English-speaking areas of the world. During the 1990s, with the help of Angèle, she achieved worldwide fame after releasing several English albums along with additional French albums. Her albums, Falling Into You, 1996, and Let's Talk About Love, 1997, were both certified diamond in the US Wildeux, 1995, became the best-selling French-language album of all time. She also scored a series of international number-one hits, including Nothing Broken But My Heart, The Power of Love, Think Twice, Because You Loved Me, It's All Coming Back to Me Now, My Heart Will Go On, and I'm Your Angel. However, in 1999 at the height of her success, Dionne announced a hiatus from entertainment to start a family and spend time with her husband, who had been diagnosed with cancer. She returned to the top of pop music in 2002 and signed to perform nightly in A New Day. 2003-07, a five-star theatrical show at the Coliseum at Caesars Palace, Paradise, Nevada. It became the most successful residency show of all time, grossing US $385 million. Dionne's music has been influenced by genres ranging from rock and rand B to gospel and classical. Her recordings are mainly in French and English, although she also sings in Spanish, Italian, German, Latin, Japanese, and Mandarin Chinese. While her releases have often received mixed critical reception, she is regarded as one of pop music's most influential voices. Dionne has won five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year. She is the second best-selling female artist in the US during the Nielsen SoundScan era. In 2003, Dionne was honoured by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, IFPI, for selling over 50 million albums in Europe. Dionne remains the best-selling Canadian artist and one of the best-selling artists of all time with record sales of over 200 million copies worldwide. Life and Career 1968-1989, early life and career beginnings Dionne was born in Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada, the youngest of 14 children of Therese, Nétangue, a homemaker, and Adhemar Dionne, a butcher, both of French-Canadian descent. Dionne was raised a Roman Catholic in a poverty stricken, but, by her own account, happy home in Charlemagne. Music had always been a major part of the Dionne family, indeed, Dionne herself was named after the song Céline, which French singer Hugues-Aufres had recorded two years before her own birth. On August 13, 1973, at the age of five, the young Céline made her first public appearance at her brother Michel's wedding, where she performed Christine Charbonneau's song du Phil d'Aiguille's E.T. du Côte-en. Thereafter, she continued to perform with her siblings in her parent's small piano bar called L.E. View Burrill, the Old Barrel. From an early age, Dionne had dreamed of being a performer. In a 1994 interview with People magazine, she recalled, �I missed my family and my home, but I don't regret having lost my adolescence. I had one dream, I wanted to be a singer.� Dionne at the age of 18. At age 12, Dionne collaborated with her mother and her brother Jacques to write and compose her first song, Céline Tatouane Reveille, whose title translates as �It was only a dream or nothing but a dream.� Her brother, Michel Dionne, sent the recording to music manager Rene Angelo, whose name he discovered on the back of a Jeanette Reno album. Angelo was moved to tears by Dionne's voice and decided to make her a star.In 1981, he mortgaged his home to fund her first record, L'Avoie Audu Bon Dieu, which later became a local number one hit and made Dionne an instant star in Quebec. Her popularity spread to other parts of the world when she competed in the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo, Japan, and won the Musicians Award for top performer as well as the gold medal for best song with Telemante J.A.I. D'Amour Portoy. By 1983, in addition to becoming the first Canadian artist to receive a gold record in France for the single D'Amour Au D'Amity, of love or of friendship, Dionne had also won several Felix Awards, including Best Female Performer and Discovery of the Year. But further success came when Dionne represented Switzerland in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest with the song N.E. Partezpa sans moi and won the contest by a close margin in Dublin, Ireland. At 18, after seeing a Michael Jackson performance, Dionne told Angelo that she wanted to be a star like Jackson. Though confident in her talent, Angelo realised that her image needed to be changed in order for her to be marketed worldwide.Dionne receded from the spotlight for a number of months, during which she underwent dental surgery to improve her appearance, and was sent to the École Burlitz in 1989 to polish her English. In 1989, during a concert on the Incognito tour, Dionne injured her voice. She consulted the otorhinolaryngologist William Gould, who gave her an ultimatum, have immediate surgery on her vocal cords or do not utilise them at all for three weeks.Dionne chose the latter and underwent vocal training with William Riley. 1990 – 1992, Unison, Dionne Chante Plamondon and Celine Dionne. Two years after she learned English, Dionne made her debut into the Anglophone market with Unison, 1990, the lead single having originally been recorded by Laura Branigan.She incorporated the help of many established musicians, including Vito Luprino and Canadian producer David Foster.The album was largely influenced by 1980s soft rock music that quickly found a niche within the adult contemporary radio format. Unison also hit the right notes with critics, Jim Fauber of Entertainment Weekly wrote that Dionne's vocals were tastefully unadorned, and that she never attempted to bring off styles that are beyond her. Stephen Earl Wine of All Music declared it as a fine, sophisticated American debut. Singles from the album included, If There Was, Any Other Way, The Last To Know, Unison, and Where Does My Heart Beat Now, a mid-tempo soft rock ballad which made prominent use of the electric guitar. The latter became her first top ten hit on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number four. In 1991, Dionne was a featured soloist in Voices That Care, a tribute to American troops fighting in Operation Desert Storm. Dionne's real international breakthrough came when she duet with Peebo Bryson on the title track to Disney's animated film Beauty and the Beast, 1991. It became her first top ten hit in the UK and her second top ten hit in the US. The song earned its songwriters an Academy Award for Best Song and gave Dionne her first Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a duo or group with vocal. Beauty and the Beast served as the lead single from Dionne's 1992 self-titled album, which, like her debut, had a strong pop rock influence combined with elements of soul and classical music. Owing to the success of the lead-off single and her collaborations with David Foster and Diane Warren, the album was even more well received commercially than Unison, it received Diamond Record in Canada and Double Platinum in the US. The album's second single, If You Asked Me To, a cover of Patti LaBelle's song from the 1989 movie License to Kill, became her first number-one single in Canada and peaked at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100. Also during this time, Dionne released the francophone album Dionne Chante Plomondon. The album consisted mostly of covers, but featured four new songs, De Moe's Quixsonant, J.E. Donne's Danse Matette, Quellequan K.J.A.M.A., Quellequan K.M.A. and L'Amour Existe Encore. It was originally released in Canada and France during the 1991-1992 period, then later received an international release in 1994, the first French Celine Dionne album to do so. Un Garçonne Pacum Laotre, Ziggy, became a smash hit in France, reaching number two and being certified gold. In Quebec, the album was certified gold the day it was released. By 1992, Unison, Celine Dionne, and numerous high-profile media appearances had propelled Dionne to superstardom in North America. She had achieved one of her main objectives, wedging her way into the anglophone market and achieving fame. However, while she was experiencing rising success in the US, her French fans in Canada criticized her for neglecting them.She would later rebuff these criticisms at the 1991 Felix Awards show, where, after winning English artist of the year, she openly refused to accept the award. She asserted that she was and would always be a French, not an English, artist.Apart from her commercial success, there were also changes in Dionne's personal life, as Angelo, who was 26 years her senior, transitioned from manager to lover. However, the relationship was kept a secret as they both feared that the public would find their relations inappropriate. 1993-1995, The Color of My Love and Dieux In 1993, Dionne announced her feelings for her manager by declaring him the color of her love in the dedication section of her third English language album The Color of My Love. However, instead of criticizing their relationship as Dionne had feared, fans embraced the couple.Eventually, Angelo and Dionne married in an extravagant wedding ceremony in December 1994, which was broadcast live on Canadian television. As with most of her catalogue, The Color of My Love had overriding themes of love and romance. It became her most successful record up to that point, selling more than six million copies in the US, two million in Canada, and peaking at number one in many countries. The album also spawned Dionne's first US, Canadian, and Australian number one single The Power of Love, a remake of Jennifer Rush's 1985 hit, which would become her signature hit until she reached new career heights in the late 1990s.The single When I Fall in Love, a duet with Clive Griffin, achieved moderate success on the US and Canadian charts and was nominated for two Grammy awards, winning one. The Color of My Love also became Dionne's first major hit in Europe, particularly in the United Kingdom. Both the album and the single Think Twice simultaneously occupied the top of the British charts for five consecutive weeks. Think Twice, which remained at number one for seven weeks, eventually became the fourth single by a female artist to sell in excess of one million copies in the UK while the album was eventually certified five times platinum for two million copies sold. Dionne kept to her French roots and continued to release many francophone recordings between each English record. Generally, they achieved more credibility than her English language works.She released AL Olympia, a live album that was recorded during one of Dionne's concerts at the Paris Olympia in 1994. It had one promotional single, a live version of Calling You, which peaked at 75 on the French singles chart. She also recorded a bilingual version of Petit Papa Noël with Alvin and the Chipmunks for the 1994 holiday album A Very Merry Chipmunk. D'Yooks, also known as the French album in the United States, was released in 1995, and it would go on to become the best-selling French language album of all time. The album was mostly written and produced by Jean-Jacques Goldman, and amassed huge success with the singles Poor K2 MMA's Encore and J.E.Saispa. Poor K2 MMA's Encore reached number one in France and stayed at the top position for 12 weeks. It was later certified platinum in France. The single also reached the top 10 in the UK and Ireland, a rare accomplishment for a French song. The second single off the album, J.E.Saispa, reached number one on the French singles chart as well and was certified silver there. These songs would later become if that's what it takes and I don't know on Dion's next English album, Falling Into You. During the mid-1990s and onward, Dion's albums were generally constructed on the basis of melodramatic soft rock ballads, with sprinklings of uptempo pop and rare forays into other genres. She collaborated with many renowned writers and producers such as Jim Steinman and David Foster, who helped her to develop a signature sound. While critical reviews fluctuated, Dion's releases performed increasingly well on the international charts, and in 1996, she won the World Music Award for World's Best-Selling Female Recording Artist of the Year for the third time. By the mid-1990s, she had established herself as one of the best-selling artists in the world. 1996-1999, Falling Into You, Let's Talk About Love and S.I.L. Sufazate D.A. Mayer. Falling Into You, 1996, Dion's fourth English-language album, presented the singer at the height of her popularity and showed a further progression of her music. In an attempt to reach a wider audience, the album combined many elements, such as complex orchestral sounds, African chanting, and elaborate musical effects. Additionally, instruments like the violin, Spanish guitar, trombone, the cavacoin ho, and saxophone created a new sound. The singles encompassed a variety of musical styles. The title track Falling Into You and River Deep Mountain High, a Tina Turner cover, made prominent use of percussion instruments, it's all coming back to me now, produced by its writer Jim Steinman, and a remake of Eric Carmans all by myself maintained a soft rock atmosphere, combined with the classical sound of the piano, and the number one single Because You Loved Me, which was written by Diane Warren, was a pop ballad that served as the theme to the 1996 film Up Close and Personal. Falling Into You garnered career-best reviews for Dion. While Dan LaRoy wrote that it was not very different from her previous work, and Stephen Holden of The New York Times and Natalie Nichols of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the album was formulaic, other critics, such as Chuck Eddie of Entertainment Weekly, Stephen Thomas Earl Wine of AMG, and Daniel Durchhals, lavished the album as compelling, passionate, stylish, elegant, and remarkably well-crafted. Falling Into You became Dion's most critically and commercially successful album, it topped the charts in many countries and became one of the best-selling albums of all time. In 2013, CBC Music ranked Falling Into You 33rd in their list of the 100 greatest Canadian albums ever. In the United States, the album reached number one, and was later certified 11 times platinum for over 11 million copies shipped. In Canada, the album was certified Diamond for over one million copies shipped. The IFPI certified Falling Into You 9 times platinum, an accolade that has been given to only two other albums in history, with one of the two being Dion's own album, Let's Talk About Love. The album also won Grammy Awards for Best Pop Album and the Academy's highest-honour album of the year. Dion's status on the world stage was further solidified when she was asked to perform The Power of the Dream at the opening ceremonies of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. In March 1996, Dion launched the Falling Into You tour in support of her new album, giving concerts around the world for over a year. Dion followed Falling Into You with Let's Talk About Love, 1997, which was publicised as its sequel. The recording process took place in London, New York City, and Los Angeles, and featured a host of special guests, such as Barbara Streisand on Tell Him, The Bee Gees on Immortality, and Tenor Luciano Pavarotti on I Hate You Then I Love You. Other musicians included Carol King, Sir George Martin, Brian Adams, and Jamaican singer Diana King, who added a reggae tinge to treat her like a lady. As with Falling Into You, Let's Talk About Love was a major success for Dion, reaching no-and-nbsp, one all over the world, attaining platinum status in 24 sales territories, and becoming the fastest-selling album of her career. In the United States, the album topped the chart in its seventh week of release, and was later certified 10 times platinum in the U.S. for over 10 million copies shipped. In Canada, the album sold 230,212 copies in its first week of release, which remains a record. It was eventually certified Diamond in Canada for over one million copies shipped. The most successful single from the album was the classically influenced ballad My Heart Will Go On, which was written and composed by James Horner and Will Jennings, and produced by Horner and Walter Afanasioff.Serving as the love theme for the 1997 blockbuster film Titanic, the song topped the charts across the world, and became Dion's signature song, as well as winning the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Song. The song also garnered Dion two Grammy Awards for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and the most coveted record of the year, the song itself won four awards, but two were presented to the songwriters. My Heart Will Go On and Think Twice made her the only female artist in the UK to have two singles to sell more than a million copies. In support of her album, Dion embarked on the Let's Talk About Love tour between 1998 and 1999. Dion ended the 1990s with three more extremely successful albums, the Christmas album These Are Special Times, 1998, the French language album, S.I.L.Sophazette de Maire, and the compilation album All the Way. A Decade of Song, 1999. On These Are Special Times, Dion Sio wrote the song Don't Save It All for Christmas Day along with Rick Wake and Peter Zizzo. The album was her most classically influenced yet, with orchestral arrangements found on virtually every track. The album featured the single I'm Your Angel, a duet with R. Kelly, which became Dion's fourth U.S. number one single, and a smash hit across the world. The album's second single The Prayer, a duet with Andrea Bacelli served as the soundtrack of the 1998 film Quest for Camelot and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. All the Way. A Decade of Song drew together her most successful hits coupled with seven new songs, including the lead-off single That's the Way It Is, a cover of Roberta Flax The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, and All the Way, a duet with Frank Sinatra All the Way became one of the best-selling compilation albums of all time, reaching number one in the United States for three weeks. The album was later certified 7X Platinum in the U.S. for 7 million copies shipped. It also topped the charts in the U.K., Canada, and Australia. Her last French-language studio album of the 1990s, S.I.L. Sufazette de Maire, was very successful as well, topping the charts in every major French-speaking country, including France, Switzerland, Belgium, Wallonia and Canada. In France, the album was certified Diamond, selling 1.5 and NBSP, million copies. By the end of the 1990s, Dion had sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, and had won a slew of industry awards. Her status as one of the music industry's biggest pop divas was further solidified when she was asked to perform on VH1's Divas Live Special in 1998, with superstars Aretha Franklin, Gloria Estefan, Shania Twain and Mariah Carey. That year, she also received two of the highest honours from her home country, Officer of the Order of Canada for Outstanding Contribution to the World of Contemporary Music and the Officer of the National Order of Quebec. A year later, she was inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame, and was honoured with a star on Canada's Walk of Fame. Starting from the mid-90s, the pop-rock influence that was more noticeable in her earlier releases, was replaced by a more mature field.Additionally, the recurring theme of love dominated most of her releases, which led to some critics dismissing her music as banal. Other critics, like Alyssa Gardner and Jose F. Promies, praised her voice during this period, describing it as a technical marvel. Steve Dollar, in his review of These Are Special Times, opined that Dion was a vocal Olympian for whom there ain't no mountain or scale high enough. 2000-2003, hiatus, a new day has come, one heart and one fee and four types. After releasing and promoting 13 albums during the 1990s, Dion stated that she needed to settle down, and announced on her latest album All the Way. A decade of song, that she needed to take a step back from the spotlight and enjoy life.Angelo's diagnosis with throat cancer also prompted her to hiatus. While on break, Dion was unable to escape the spotlight. In 2000, the National Enquirer published a false story about the singer. Brandishing a picture of Dion and her husband, the magazine misquoted Dion, printing the headline, Selenian Dnbsp, I'm pregnant with twins. Dion later sued the magazine for more than $20 million. The editors of the Enquirer printed an apology and a full retraction to Dion in the next issue, and donated money to the American Cancer Society in honor of Dion and her husband. A year after the incident, after undergoing fertility treatments, Dion gave birth to a son, Renee Charles Dion Angelo, on January 25, 2001, in Florida. Following the September 11 attacks, Dion returned to the music scene, and in a televised performance saying God bless America at the Benefit Concert America, a tribute to heroes. Chuck Taylor of Billboard wrote, The performance Ian Dnbsp, brings to mind what has made her one of the celebrated vocalists of our time, the ability to render emotion that shakes the soul. Affecting, meaningful, and filled with grace, this is a musical reflection to share with all of us still searching for ways to cope. Dion performed it again in 2003 during pre-game festivities for Super Bowl XXXVI in San Diego. In December 2001, Dion published her autobiography, My Story, My Dream which chronicled her rags to riches story. Dion ended her three-year sabbatical from the music industry with the aptly titled album A New Day Has Come, released in March 2002. The album was Dion's most personal yet, with songs focusing on her motherhood and maturation as a woman such as A New Day Has Come, and goodbyes, the saddest word.  She stated, A New Day Has Come, for Renee, for me, is the baby. It has everything to do with the babby and Dnbsp. That song A New Day Has Come represents very well the mood I'm feeling right now. It represents the whole album. A New Day Has Come debuted it at No and Dnbsp, one in over 17 countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada. In the United States, the album debuted at No and Dnbsp, one on the Billboard 200, with first week sales of 527,000 copies, marking her first No and Dnbsp, one debut on the chart, as well as the highest debut sales week of her career in the U.S. It was eventually certified three times platinum in the United States, and six times platinum in Canada. Dion performing God Bless America with members of the band of the U.S. Air Force Reserve, 2002. While the album was commercially successful, critical reviews suggested that it was forgettable and the lyrics were lifeless. Both Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone magazine, and Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly, stated that Dion's music had not developed much during her break, and classed her material as trite and mediocre. Sal Chinquimani of Slant magazine called the album a lengthy collection of drippy, gooey pop fluffernutter. The first single off the album, A New Day Has Come peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, being an airplay-only release. On the Hot Adult contemporary tracks, however, the song spent 21 consecutive weeks at No and Dnbsp, one, breaking the record for the longest span at the top. The previous record holders were Phil Collins Ullbee in My Heart and Dion's Own Because You Loved Me, both of which lasted 19 weeks at No and Dnbsp, one. During 2002, she performed for many benefit concerts, including her second appearance on VH1 Divas Live, a concert to benefit the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, alongside Cher, Anastasia, Dixie Chicks, Mary J. Bleach, Whitney Houston, Cindy Lauper, Shakira and Stevie Nicks. In conjunction with an endorsement deal with Chrysler, Dion released One Heart, 2003, an album that represented her appreciation for life. The album largely consisted of pop and dance music a deviation from the soaring, melodramatic ballads, for which she had been known. Although the album achieved moderate success, One Heart was met with mixed criticism, and words such as predictable and banal appeared even in the most lenient reviews. A cover of the 1989 Cindy Lauper hit I Drove All Night, released to launch her advertising campaign with Chrysler, incorporated elements of dance-pop and rock and roll. The advertising deal was met with criticism, with some stating that Dion was trying to cater to her sponsors. However, people such as Bonita Stewart, who was the director of Chrysler Group Marketing Communications, stated that Chrysler was taken by how her appeal crossed ethnic lines. She added, �She brings sophistication, refinement, romance and passion to the brand.� After One Heart, Dion released her next English language studio album, Miracle, 2004. Miracle was a multimedia project conceived by Dion and Australian photographer Anne Gettys and had a theme centering on babies and motherhood. The album was filled with lullabies and other songs of maternal love and inspiration, including covers of Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World and John Lennon's Beautiful Boy. The reviews for Miracle were mixed. Stephen Thomas Earlwine of AllMusic.com gave the album three of out five stars, stating, �The worst you can say about the record is that there are no surprises, but the audience for this record doesn�t want surprises, they want comfort, whether it arrives in polished music or artsy photos of newborns, and Miracle provides both, which makes it appealing for those expectant or new mothers in Dion�s audience.�Chuck Taylor of Billboard magazine wrote that the single Beautiful Boy was in. Unexpected gem and called Dion a timeless, enormously versatile artist, Chuck Arnold of People magazine, however, labeled the album as excessively sentimental, while Nancy Miller of Entertainment Weekly opined that the whole Earthmama Act is just opportunism, reborn. Miracle debuted at Noandnbsp, four on the Billboard 200 chart and Noandnbsp, one in Canada and was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA. The Francophone album One Fille and Four Types, One Girl and Four Guys, released in October 2003, fared better than her previous two releases and showed Dion trying to distance herself from the diva image. She recruited Jean-Jacques Goldman, Gildes Arzall, Eric Benzé and Jacques Vené Rousseau, with whom she had previously worked on two of her best-selling French albums S.I.L.S.Sophis� Die Maire and Die Ux. Labeled The Album of Pleasure by Dion herself, the album cover showed Dion in a simple and relaxed manner, contrary to the choreographed poses usually found on her album covers. The album achieved widespread commercial success in France, Canada and Belgium where it reached Noandnbsp, one. In France, the album debuted at Noandnbsp, one and was later certified two times platinum after selling over 700,000 copies. Critic Steven Earlwein of All Music wrote that Dion�s vocals were �back at top of their game� and that she was �getting back to pop basics and performing at a level unheard in a while.� Though her albums were commercially successful, they did not achieve the sales or the reception of her previous works. Her songs received less airplay as radio became less embracing of balladeers like Dion, Kerry and Houston, and was focused on more up-tempo, urban-slash hip-hop songs. Regardless, by 2004, Dion had accumulated sales of more than 175 million albums worldwide and received the Shoper Diamond Award from the World Music Awards for her achievements. According to the official World Music Awards website, the award is rare, it is not presented every year and an artist can be presented with the award only for selling over 100 million albums during their career. 2003-2007, A New Day In early 2002, Dion announced a three-year, 600-show contract to appear five nights a week in an entertainment extravaganza, A New Day, at the Coliseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. This move was generally seen as risky, but journalist Miriam Nunzio wrote that it was �one of the smartest business decisions in years by any major recording artist.� Dion conceived the show after seeing O by Franco Dragone during her break from recording, and it premiered on March 25, 2003, in a 4,000-seat arena specifically designed for her show and modeled after the Roman Coliseum. Many stars attended the opening night including Dick Clark, Alan Thicke, Kathy Griffin, Landspace and Justin Timberlake, who hosted the television special. The show, directed by Dragone and choreographed by the renowned Mia Michaels, was a combination of dance, music and visual effects. It included Dion performing her biggest hits against an array of dancers and special effects. Reviewer Mike Weatherford felt that, at first, Dion was not as relaxed as she should be, and at times, it was hard to find the singer among the excessive stage ornamentation and dancers. However, he noted that the show had become �more enjoyable over the course of its run, because of Dion�s improved stage presence and simplified costumes.� The show was well received by audiences, despite the complaints of expensive tickets, it routinely sold out until its end in late 2007. Ticket prices averaged $135.33. According to Polestar, Dion sold 322,000 tickets and grossed US$43.9 and NBSP, million in the first half of 2005, and by July 2005, she had sold out 315 out of 384 shows. By the end of 2005, Dion grossed more than US$76 and NBSP, million, placing sixth on Billboard�s money makers list for 2005. A New Day, was the sixth biggest selling tour in the US in 2006. Because of the show�s success, Dion�s contract was extended into 2007 for an undisclosed sum. On January 5, 2007, it was announced that the show would end on December 15, 2007, with tickets for the period after October 2007 having gone on sale from March 1. According to Billboard, A New Day, is the most successful residency show of all time, grossing over US$385 million, $1 million in dollars, and drawing nearly 3 million people to 717 shows. The Live in Las Vegas, A New Day. DVD was released on December 10, 2007, in Europe and the following day in North America. 2007-2010, DLs, Taking Chances and Taking Chances Tour. On May 21, 2007, Dion released the French-language album DLs, About Them, which debuted at the top of the Canadian album charts, selling 72,200 copies in its first week. It marked her tenth-number-one album in the sound-scan era, and her eighth to debut at the top position. In Canada, the album has been certified two times platinum, and within the first month had already shipped half a million units worldwide. DLs also reached number one in France and Belgium. The first single E.T.S.I.L.N.N. restate Chouane, J.E.S.E.R.I.S.T.Sella Law, meaning and if there was only one woman left, I would be that one, debuted at the top of the French singles chart a month earlier. Later that same year, Dion released the English album Taking Chances on November 12 in Europe, and November 13 in North America. Her first English studio album since 2003's One Heart, it featured pop, randbee and rock-inspired music. For this album, Dion collaborated with John Shanks and ex-Evanessence guitarist Ben Moody, as well as Christian London, Pierre Astrom, Linda Perry, Japanese singer Yuna Ito, and randbee singer-songwriter Naio. Dion stated, I think this album represents a positive evolution in my career and NBSP. I'm feeling strong, maybe a little guzzier than in the past, and just as passionate about music and life as I ever was. Dion launched her year-long worldwide Taking Chances tour on February 14, 2008, in South Africa, performing 132 dates in stadiums and arenas across five continents. The Taking Chances tour was a great success in the United States, reaching the No and NBSP, one spot on the Billboard Boxes Corps, having sold out every concert in the U.S. and Canada. In addition, she appeared on Idle Gives Back for a second year in a row. Dion was nominated for six Juno Awards in 2008, adding to her 53 previous nominations, an all-time record. Her nominations included Artist of the Year, Pop Album of the Year, For Taking Chances, Francophone Album of the Year, For DLs, and Album of the Year, For Both Taking Chances and DLs. The following year, Dion was nominated for three Juno Awards including the Fan Choice Award, Song of the Year, For Taking Chances, and Music DVD of the Year, For Living Las Vegas and NBSP, a new day. On August 22, 2008, Dion presented a free outdoor concert, mostly in French, on the plains of Abraham, in Quebec City, Canada, for the 400th anniversary of Quebec City. The celebration gathered approximately 490,000 people. The concert, called Céline Cerlay Plains, was released on DVD on November 11, 2008, in Quebec and was released on May 20, 2009, in France. The end of October 2008 saw the worldwide release of a comprehensive English language greatest hits album called My Love, Essential Collection. In May 2009, Dion was named the 20th best-selling artist of the decade and the second best-selling female artist of the decade in the United States, selling an estimated 17.57 and NBSP, million copies of her albums there since 2000. In June 2009, Forbes reported that Dion earned $100 and NBSP, million during 2008. In December 2009, Polestar announced that Dion was the best-selling solo touring act of the decade and the second best-selling touring act of the decade, behind only the Dave Matthews Band. Dion grossed $522.2 and NBSP, million during the decade, a large portion of that sum coming from her five-year residency at Caesars Palace. On February 17, 2010, Dion released into theaters a documentary film about her taking chances tour, titled, Céline, through the eyes of the world. The documentary shows behind the scenes footage of Dion both on-stage and off-stage, along with footage of Dion with her family as they traveled the world with her. The distributor is the Sony Pictures subsidiary, HotTicket.The film was later released on Blu-ray and DVD on May 4, 2010. Along with the CD slash DVD, taking chances world tour, the concert. At the 52nd Grammy Awards in February 2010, Dion joined Carrie Underwood, Usher, Jennifer Hudson and Smokey Robinson to perform the song Earth Song during the 3D Michael Jackson tribute. In January 2010, the Los Angeles Times presented its annual list of the top 10 largest earners of the year, revealing that Dion took the top spot for the entire decade, with $US747.9 and NBSP, million in total revenue from 2000-2009. The largest haul came from ticket sales, totaling $522.2 and NBSP, million.Additionally, Dion was named artist of the decade in her native Canadian province of Quebec, announced by the Montreal-based newspaper, L.E. Journal de Quebec in 2009-December. A public online survey asked responders to vote for who they believe deserved the above-mentioned accolade. Furthermore, in a May 2010 Harris poll, Dion was named the most popular musician in the United States, ahead of U2, Elvis Presley, and the Beatles while factoring in gender, political affiliations, geographic region of residence, and income. Specifically, Dion was the most popular musician in the female demographic, as well as among all Democrats, those who live in the eastern United States and southern United States, and those who have incomes between US$35,000 and US$74.9,000. In September 2010, she released the single Voler, a duet with French singer Michel Sardou. The song was later included on Sardou's album. In addition, it was announced in October 2010 that Dion wrote and composed a new song for Canadian singer, Marc Dupré entitled Entrée du Monde's 2011-2014, Saline, Sanzatendra and Loved Me Back to Life. In an interview with People magazine published in February 2010, Dion announced that she would be returning to Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for Saline, a three-year residency for 70 shows a year, beginning March 15, 2011. She stated that the show will feature, all the songs from my repertoire that people want to hear and will contain a selection of music from classic Hollywood films. To promote her return to Las Vegas, Dion made an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show on February 21, during the show's final season, marking her record 27th appearance. Additionally, for a record sixth time, Dion performed at the 83rd Academy Awards, where she sang the song Smile, as part of the ceremonies in Memoriam segment. On September 4, Dion appeared on the 2011 MDA Labor Telethon event and presented a pre-recorded performance of Open Arms from her new Las Vegas show. On October 1, 2011, the OWN network premiered a documentary on Dion's life, detailing the months before, during and after her pregnancy, to the makings of her new Las Vegas show, called, Saline, Three Boys and a New Show. The documentary became the second highest rated show on TV OWN Canada. In October, FlightNetwork.com conducted a poll asking 780 participants which celebrity they would most like to sit next to on an airplane. Dion was the top favourite, with 23.7% of the vote. Also, in September, Dion released the 14th perfume from her Saline Dion Parfez collection, called Signature. On September 15, Dion made an appearance at the Free Concert of World famous tenor, Andrea Bocelli, in Central Park in New York. In 2012, she performed at the 16th Jazz & Blues Festival in Jamaica. In October 2012, Sony Music Entertainment released the best of Saline Dion and David Foster in Asia. Dion began recording songs for her next English and French albums during April and May 2012. The French language album, Sans Attendra was released on November 2, 2012, and was a smash success in all French-speaking territories, especially in France where it achieved diamond status. The English language album was postponed to November 1, 2013. Titled Loved Me Back to Life, it included collaborations with an exceptional team of songwriters and producers, including duets with Nayo and Stevie Wonder. The lead single, Loved Me Back to Life was released on September 3, 2013. Dion embarked on the Sans Attendra tour in November 2013 and performed in Belgium and France. Break Away, Incredible and Water and a Flame were chosen as next singles. The music video for Incredible was uploaded onto Dion's official Vivo channel in early June 2014. On May 16, 2014, Dion released a three-disc set, 2CD slash DVD and 2CD slash Blu-ray, titled Saline Unsoulfoy slash Live 2013 which reached top ten on the album charts in France, Canada and Belgium-Wallonia. 2014 Present, Husbands' Death and New Projects. On August 13, 2014, Dion announced the indefinite postponement of all her show business activities, including the Saline Residency Show, and the cancellation of her Asia tour, because of the worsening of her husband's health after he underwent the removal of a cancerous tumor in December 2013. However, on March 20, 2015, Dion announced that she will be returning to the Coliseum at Caesars Palace in late August 2015. On January 14, 2016, Dion cancelled the rest of the January performances due to her husbands and her brothers' death from cancer. Dion resumed the residency on February 23 to a sold-out crowd and rave reviews. The residency is currently booked through November 26, 2016. In October 2015, Dion announced on social media that she had begun working on a new French album, posting a photo by the side of Algerian singer Zaho. Dion's French single, Encore en Soir, was released on May 24, 2016. On May 20, she released a cover of Queen's Song The Show Must Go On, featuring Lindsay Sterling on violin. Dion performed The Show Must Go On at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards on May 22, and received the Billboard Icon Award, presented to her by her son, Rene-Charles Angelo, in recognition of her career spanning over three decades. The singer's new French album, Encore en Soir, was released on August 26, 2016. It features 15 tracks performed in French and, according to the singer, has a personal choice of the songs, more uplifting lyrics were chosen. Artistry Influences Dion cites idols as varied as Aretha Franklin, Charles A. Znavour, Michael Jackson, Carol King, Anne Murray, Barbara Streisand and the Bee Gees, all of whom she would eventually collaborate with. Dion has also stated that she grew up listening to artists such as Janice Joplin, the Doobie Brothers, and Credence Clearwater Revival, but never got the chance to sing their genre of music. She has also shown appreciation for Edith Pioff, Elton John, Cher, Tina Turner and many 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s soul singers such as Etta James, Roberta Flack and Patti LaBelle. Among her peers, she has expressed admiration for fellow vocalist Whitney Houston, whom she had often been compared to. Her music has been influenced by numerous genres, including pop, rock, gospel, randbee and soul, and her lyrics focus on themes of poverty, world hunger and spirituality, with an emphasis on love and romance. After the birth of her first child, her work increasingly focused on maternal love. Musical style Dion has faced considerable criticism from critics, who state that her music often retreats behind pop and soul conventions, and is marked by excessive sentimentality.Cording to Keith Harris of Rolling Stone magazine, Dion's sentimentality is bombastic and defiant rather than demure and retiring and nbsp. She stands at the end of the chain of drastic devolution that goes Aretha Whitney Mariah. Far from being an aberration, Dion actually stands as a symbol of a certain kind of pop sensibility bigger is better, too much is never enough, and the riper the emotion the more true. Dion's francophone releases, by contrast, tend to be deeper and more varied than her English releases, and consequently have achieved more credibility. Critics have stated that Dion's involvement in the production aspect of her music is fundamentally lacking, which results in her work being overproduced and impersonal.However, coming from a family in which all of her siblings were musicians, she dabbled in learning how to play instruments like piano and guitar, and practiced with offender Stratocaster during the recording sessions of her album, falling into you. Although rare, Dion has contributed to the writing of a handful of her English and French songs, as well as writing a few songs for other artists such as Marc Dupré. Additionally, as her career progressed, she found herself taking charge in the production of her albums. On her first English album, which she recorded before she had a firm command of the English language, she expressed disapproval, which could have been avoided if she had assumed more creative input.By the time she released her second English album Celine Dion, she had assumed more control of the production and recording process, hoping to dispel earlier criticisms. She stated, On the second album I said, Well, I have the choice to be afraid one more time and not be 100% happy, or not be afraid and be part of this album. This is my album. Besides her contributions to some of her early French albums, Dion wrote a few of the songs on Let's Talk About Love, 1997, and These Are Special Times, 1998. Dion is often the subject of media ridicule and parody and is frequently impersonated on shows such as MADTV, Saturday Night Live, South Park, Royal Canadian Air Force, and This Hour has 22 minutes for her strong accent and onstage gesticulations. However, Dion has stated that she is unaffected by the comments, and is flattered that people take the time to impersonate her.She even invited Anna Gastair, who parodied her on SNL, to appear on stage during one of her performances in New York. While she is rarely politically outspoken, in 2005 following the Hurricane Katrina disaster, Dion appeared on Larry King Live and tearfully criticized the US government's slow response in aiding the victims of the hurricane, there's people still there waiting to be rescued. To me that is not acceptable, how can it be so easy to send planes in another country to kill everybody in a second and destroy lives? We need to serve our country. After her interview, she stated, when I do interviews with Larry King or the big TV shows like that, they put you on the spot, which is very difficult. I do have an opinion, but I'm a singer. I'm not a politician. Voice and Timber Dion is often regarded as one of pop music's most influential voices.According to Linda Lister in Divification, the deification of modern female pop stars, she has been described as a reigning queen of pop for her influence over the record industry during the 1990s, alongside other female entertainers, including Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. In a countdown of the 22 greatest voices in music by Blender magazine and MTV, she placed ninth, sixth for a female, and she was also placed fourth in Cove magazine's list of the 100 outstanding pop vocalists. Dion is often compared to Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston for her vocal style and to her idol, Barbara Streisand, for her voice. According to various sources, Dion possesses a five-octave vocal range, although arguably fully spanning only a three-octave range, from B2 to E6. Dion once stated that she is a mezzo-soprano. However, attempts to adapt classical voice types to other forms of singing have been met with controversy. Without making a classification, Maestro Kent Nagano remarked, all you just sang was soprano, after Dion auditioned with two solos from Carmen, wanting to know if she could sing opera.Her timbre has been described as thin, slightly nasal with a raspy lower register and bell-glass-like high notes. Dion is often praised for her technical virtuosity. Jim Santella of the Buffalo News writes like an iron fist in a velvet glove, the power of Celine Dion's voice is cloaked in a silky vibrato that betrays the intensity of her vocal commitment. Jeff Myers, also of the Buffalo News, says of Dion her singing voice is absolutely extrahuman. She hits notes in full voice, with a controlled vibrato and an incredible conception of pitch, like she's shucking an ear of corn.Steven Holden of the New York Times states that Dion has a good-sized arsenal of technical skills. She can deliver tricky melliest ma's, produce expressive vocal catches and sustain long notes without the tiniest wavering of pitch. And as her duets and nbsp, have shown, she is a reliable harmony voice. In an interview with Liberation, Jean-Jacques Goldman notes that she has no problem of accuracy or tempo. According to Kent Nagano, maestro of the Munich Symphony Orchestra, Dion is a musician who has a good ear, a refinement and a degree of perfection that is enviable.Charles Alexander of Time states, Her voice glides effortlessly from deep whispers to dead on high notes, a sweet siren that combines force with grace. In her French repertoire, Dion adorns her vocals with more nuances and expressiveness, with the emotional intensity being more tender and intimate. Additionally, Luc Plomondon, a French singer-songwriter who has worked closely with Dion claims that there are three chanteuses, stylistically, that Dion uses, the cabacois, the French, and the American dot her self-titled album was promoted with the slogan Remember the name because you'll never forget the voice. Legacy Dion stars on Canada's Walk of Fame and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Dion is regarded as one of pop music's most influential voices. Linda Lister describes Dion as a reigning queen of pop for her influence over the record industry during the 1990s. Her music and vocal style, alongside that of Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, have been said to shape how the bulk of modern female pop vocalists sing. These three singers have been widely credited with reviving the power ballad, and in doing so reshaping the adult contemporary radio format, making it one of the most popular formats of the 1990s and early 20s. According to producer, musician and former American Idol judge Randy Jackson, Dion, Mariah Carey, and Whitney Houston are the voices of the modern era. Cultural critic Carl Wilson notes that Dion's fame and influence is also renewed and expressed regularly these days by American Idol, the largest mass musical phenomenon of the past decade, where Celine stood solidly in its pantheon of singers for young people to emulate. Many contestants on the countless televised talent competitions that have risen at the turn of the millennium often emulate Dion, Houston and Carey and cite them as idols. Many artists have either mentioned Dion as a major influence or as one of their favourite singers including, Britney Spears, Rihanna, Rita Ora, Christina Aguilera, Frank Ocean, Adele, Josh Groban, Delta Goodrum, Jordan Sparks, Cherise, Leona Lewis, Jesse Jay, Jojo, Lee Michelle, Jennifer Hudson, Ariana Grande, Regina Velasquez, Taylor Swift, Vanessa Hudgens, The Canadian Tenors, Faith Hill, Katy Perry, Seven Streeter, Kelly Clarkson, Helena Paparizu and Lara Fabian, among many others. In the liner notes of Lara Fabian's album Tauts Le Femme & Moi, Fabian expressed how she had idolized Dion since her adolescence, even writing, I would follow note by note your musicality, your passion, sung like only your voice can give colours to the harmony. Country singer Martina McBride is widely heralded by the press as the aseline Dion of country music. Numerous artists have also praised Dion's voice, singing ability or expressed an interest in working with her including Placido Domingo, Beyonce, Carlos Santana, Elton John, One Republic, Coldplay, Sharon Osborne, Nicole Scherzinger, Naio, Carol King, Barbara Streisand, Luciano Pavarotti, BG's, Sir George Martin Justin Bieber, Jean-Jacques Goldman and Cher. According to Timbaland, Selene has such a beautiful, mesmerizing voice. She is so talented. I think we could create something that is a classic like she is already. Josh Groban remarked she's a powerhouse. In this day and age, when more and more studio produced, tiny tiny voices are being rewarded, she has this extraordinary instrument. Selene is the best singer by far of her generation according to Diane Warren, an opinion shared by Quincy Jones, Tommy Motola and David Foster. Moreover, Shania Twain and Jennifer Lopez have praised Dion's dynamic stage presence with Jennifer Lopez commenting on American Idol, Selene gets on stage, she owns the stage, she runs all over that stage, she stops that stage. On a cultural level, Dion is credited for introducing francophone music to many non-francophone countries around the globe. Her albums Deux and S.I.L. Sufazate DMAR remain the best-selling francophone albums in history gaining unprecedented success in non-francophone markets such as the United Kingdom, Poland, Netherlands, Portugal, Greece, Austria, Japan and New Zealand. According to RFI Music, Dion has done her bit for French music over the years, assuring the success of French songs which would probably never have got beyond francophone borders without Heron-Dnbsp. Without Selene, French record sales would be dramatically lower. In 2008, Dion received the Legion of Honor from Nicolas Sarkozy further proving her cultural impact. Sarkozy praised Dion and stated, �France thanks you because your talent and success have contributed to the influence of the French language outside our borders.� Dion is also credited for both revitalizing and revolutionizing the entertainment scene in Las Vegas with the gargantuan successes of her residencies there. She managed to repopularize the Las Vegas residency as a desirable way for top artists to essentially tour in place, letting their fans come to them. Over the years, fellow-established icons such as Elton John, Bette Midler, Rod Stewart, Cher and Johnny Atwain followed suit. According to Gary Bon Jovani, president and editor-in-chief of Polestar Selene redefined what artists can do in Las Vegas, helping to make it arguably the busiest entertainment city in the world. By 2013, even the much younger pop star Brittany Spears had announced a Vegas residency, further cementing the extent of Dion�s influence on the city as an entertainment capital. Kurt Malian, vice-president of entertainment at Caesars Palace stated Selene was a pioneer without question and nbsp. Twenty years ago, we couldn�t have got someone the stature of Brittany Spears to appear in Vegas. Stars likes her would never have considered it if Selene hadn�t paved the way. She changed the face of modern Vegas. Regarding her financial impact on Las Vegas, Steven Brown, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research in Las Vegas, commented �People will come to the city just for her and they will spend money and as a consequence, she has an outsized impact on the economy, then adding bigger than Elvis, Sinatra and Liberace put together?� Definitely. Estimations indicate that Dion�s show will create up to 7000 indirect jobs and around $114 million worth of new economic activity in each of the three years for which she has been contracted. In 1999, Dion received a star on Canada�s Walk of Fame and was inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame, she also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in January 2004 she dedicated her star to her father, who died the month prior. In May 2003, Dion placed at number 10 on VH1�s list of 50 greatest women of the video era, she was also ranked at number 64 on their list of the 200 greatest pop culture icons of all time. Falling into You is on Rock and Roll Hall of Fame�s definitive 200 list my heart will go on was included in the list of songs of the century, by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2007, Dion was ranked by Forbes as the fifth richest woman in entertainment with an estimated net worth of US$250 and NBSP, million, though the ranking omitted non-working or retired celebrities. In August 2008, she received an honorary doctorate in music from the University Laval in Quebec City. In October 2010, Dion was named a Goodwill Ambassador, a program created by the UN in 1999, sharing this accolade with Oscar winner Susan Sarandon. Dion also received several state decorations. In 2004, she was awarded Society of Singers' Lifetime Achievement Award, and she was given France�s highest award, the Legion d'Onoir, by President Nicolas Sarkozy in May 2008. On July 26, 2013, Dion was awarded with the highest rank of the Order of Canada, the Companion of the Order of Canada, by the Governor-General of Canada and the Investiture Ceremony was held at Citadel of Quebec, the same year she was inducted into the Gaming Hall of Fame. Other Activities Business Indivers Lay Productions Feeling Incorporated, also known as Feeling Incorporated or Just Feeling, is an artist management company based in Laval, Quebec, Canada and owned by Dion and her husband and manager, Rene Angelo. Dion is also founder of Nichols Restaurant Food Chain. Dion and her husband also own L.E. Mirage Golf Club and Swartz's Restaurant. In association with Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf and Shaquille O'Neal she opened a popular nightclub called Pure, located at Caesars Palace. Dion became an entrepreneur with the establishment of her franchise restaurant, Nichols in 1990. She has since divested her interests in the chain and is no longer affiliated with Nichols, as of 1997. In 2003, Dion signed a deal with Cody, in to release Celine Dion Parvez. Her latest fragrance, Signature, was released in September 2011 WITH in advertising campaign by New York agency Kraftworks NYC. Since its inception, Celine Dion Parvez has grossed over $8.50 and NBSP, million in retail sales. In October 2004, Air Canada hired Dion as part of their promotional campaign to unveil new service products and an updated livery. UNI, the theme song sung by Dion, was written by advertising executives working for Air Canada. Philanthropy Dion has actively supported many charity organizations, worldwide. She has promoted the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, CCFF, since 1982, and became the foundation's national celebrity patron in 1993. She has an emotional attachment to the foundation, her niece Karine succumbed to the disease at the age of 16, in Dion's arms. In 2003, she joined a number of other celebrities, athletes and politicians, including Josh Groban and Yolanda Adams to support World Children's Day, a global fundraising effort sponsored by McDonald's. The effort raised money from more than 100 nations and benefited orphanages and children's health organizations. In addition, Dion has been a major supporter of the T.&NBSP, J Martel Foundation, the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, and many health and educational campaigns. During the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Dion donated $1&NBSP, million to the victims of the storm, and held a fund-raising event for the victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami, which subsequently raised more than $1&NBSP, million. After the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Dion donated $100,000 to China Children and Teenagers Fund and sent a letter showing her consolation and support. Since 2004, she is involved, alongside husband Renee Angelo, with the Quebec gay community by supporting the publication of health and HIV prevention materials in Gay Globe magazine, owned by journalist Roger Luc Chayer. Personal Life Dion resides in Henderson, Nevada. Dion first met her husband and manager, Renee Angelo, in 1980, when she was 12 and he was 38, after her brother, Michelle Dawn-Dalinger Dion, sent him a demonstration recording of C.E.N.A. Tachuan Revé, it was only a dream-slash-nothing-but-a-dream, a song she, her mother the former Therese Tangway, and her brother Jacques Dion had jointly written and composed. They began a relationship in 1987 and became engaged in 1991. They married on December 17, 1994, at Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal, Quebec. On January 5, 2000, Dion and Angelo renewed their wedding vows in Las Vegas. In May 2000, Dion had two small operations at a fertility clinic in New York to improve her chances of conceiving, after deciding to use in vitro fertilization because of years of failed attempts to conceive. Their first son, Renee Charles Angelo, was born on January 25, 2001. In May 2010, Angelo announced that Dion was 14 weeks pregnant with twins after a sixth treatment of in vitro fertilization. On Saturday, October 23, 2010, at 11.11 and 11.12 and NBSP, am respectively, at St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, Dion, by Caesarean Section, gave birth to healthy fraternal twins. The twins were named Eddie, after Dion's favorite French songwriter, Eddie Marnay, who had also produced Dion's first five albums, and Nelson, after former South African president Nelson Mandela. Dion appeared with her newborn sons on the cover of December 9, 2010 issue of the Canadian edition of Hello! magazine. On January 14, 2016, Angelo died from complications of cancer. Two days later, Dion's brother, Daniel, died at age 59 of cancer.


This is Think Tech Hawaii. Community matters here. One, we're back. We're live. 10 o'clock on a given Wednesday. It's Wednesday, meaning energy day, right? Peter Rossek, Hawaiian Electric is here. Hi, Peter. Good to see you, Jay. Oh, it's nice to see you. Tony Gill. Tony from Gill Everlands, alright? Yeah, this is an important project. And Nick Hendrickson, who joins us by phone. From where are you, Nick? I am in San Diego, California, rainy San Diego, California, actually. Our hearts go out to you, Nick. Alright. Thank you. I appreciate it. We're here to talk about this really interesting project, which is just coming together by an agreement with, of course, Tony, that's Gill Everlands, and a company called Eurus. And Nick is the Vice President of Development at Eurus, and of course Hawaiian Electric, Peter Rossek. So this is a very important project. And there's some heavy players involved in this, for sure. And it has all the ring of something that changes the paradigm. Peter, present the project, okay? Well, I think really Nick should, but we've worked with Eurus, and we're very excited to have this project. It's on the last viable, developable wind site on Oahu.  Yeah, sure. I'll try to give a high level overview of the project specifics, and thank you for having me on, albeit kind of remotely. So this project is a wind project, like Peter referenced. It's going to be 13 turbines located kind of above the Cahe Power Plant area and kind of back into the kind of the hills that kind of proceed back from that. As far as total nameplate or capacity of generation, it's going to be about 47 megawatts. That will generate about 150 megawatt hours of electricity every year.  And that kind of corresponds to about 3% of Oahu's total electric demand on an annual basis. The project that we're envisioning will have a 22 year project lifespan. That's the agreement that we've signed with HECO. And we're very happy that the pricing that we've agreed to, which is at about 11 cents per kilowatt hour, is about, it's actually one of the lowest cost clean energy projects in the state. So we're happy to contribute towards HECO's renewable targets and do it at a very economical cost. You're associated with Toyota. Can you tell us how? Sure. So Eurus is a company that's actually been dedicated to renewable energy since the late 1980s. So some of our first projects globally were done in California in like 1987. So kind of before renewable energy was really a big focus of a lot of other of the larger players, we were really 100% dedicated to it.  Our majority shareholder is a company called Toyota Susho, which is a publicly traded company. It's part of the Toyota group. So not like Toyota Motors, but part of the same kind of group of companies. And then our minority shareholder is Tokyo Electric Power, which is the major electric provider for the Tokyo Metropolitan area. So we've got facilities all over the world, again, all renewable wind and PV solar. And our operations out of the US where we started doing our development globally are based here in San Diego where I'm sitting right now. And your first project, 1987 is still operating the wind project. Yeah. Correct. They are some of the earliest projects in the Mojave Desert kind of right outside of Los Angeles. Yes. And they are still they're still up and running and generating power for for the people of the LA area. Very interesting. Okay, Peter, as far as Hawaiian Electric is concerned. Well, you see from what Nick has said, we've got a company with a long view of things with an established track record. They come in, they build, they own, they operate. And they, you know, we're very impressed with them. As Nick said, for our customers, 11 cents a kilowatt hour is one of the lowest rates. And for us, the main goal is to have a diversified portfolio or renewable portfolio standard that includes all the solar we can get for sure. But all the wind that we can get reasonably biofuels on the other islands where we have geothermal or hydro, we want that too. We can never get to 100% or close unless we take advantage of all these resources. And as I said, this is the last viable wind site on this island. And so, you know, this is a real step forward and 3% addition to our RPS is really dramatic and a single project that has a very limited footprint, as Tony will tell you. And finally, as Tony will tell you, I'm sure, you know, we're contributing to the re rejuvenation, the reforestation of the lands that have been pretty sorely degraded in that area. So, you know, we have a lot of infrastructure on the Leeward Coast, Kahi Power Plant, not perhaps the most beautiful site in the world, but very important to this island. We understand that we owe the people of that community a lot. And reforesting, which will involve jobs and environmental growth and opportunities, I believe, is really a good thing all around. So a good partnership there. We believe it. Two things you said I want to drill down on. One is the notion that we needed for Oahu. Oahu has the greatest need, the greatest demand of all the islands by far, by far. And so, and Oahu is the least amount of space. True. You get a kind of intersection on that. So that becomes very important to have land dedicated to renewables so that we can provide renewables and build out. Absolutely. When you think about it, it's not just the population. We have the main military establishment here, a huge consumer of energy. We have the University of Hawaii and a number of campuses, huge consumers. The banks, the hospitals or, you know, the headquarters of many, many companies. The biggest airport in the state and so on. You know, it's not just so we have 80 percent of the people, but we have probably 90 percent of the infrastructure of the state here. And that all requires electricity. And as you say, there aren't very many places where you can put these kinds of infrastructure without being in somebody's backyard.  And we have, we all have to pitch in. I mean, there's just no room left for nimbyism when we're facing all this bad news about climate change. All this, you know, these very worrisome things happening to the climate and we've experienced it directly. So it's not theoretical. The other thing you talked about I want to drill down on is this notion of liability security, if you will, and diversification of the portfolio. So if you had everything piled into one renewable methodology, that's not as secure, is it, as a portfolio of multiple diversified technologies. Exactly. Because if a catastrophe happens, if any event happens that is likely to knock out one, it's less likely to knock out the other. Tell me more. Well, exactly as you say. If we spend almost 100 years depending on one fuel source, oil imported today, mostly from Asia and the Middle East. And that's expensive. It's damaging to the environment. And it's very vulnerable to disruptions of any kind in the Middle East or Indonesia and Southeast Asia and so forth. To get off of that and to be on one source, even if there were one source, which there is not, would not be a good plan. The plan is to have as many different kinds as possible. As I said, biofuel, solar, wind are the main ones for this island and biofuel, biomass, so that we do have that kind of ability because each of these technologies has different characteristics as well. You have to, you want as much firm power as possible, but you also need to accommodate variable power. You need to be able to balance a system that's getting increasingly technical and difficult to balance. So that's why the diversity is so important. On the firm question, I want to talk, Tony, about the firm question, and I'm relating back to the conversation we had before the show began. The remarkable thing about this wind project is that it's firm, or almost firm, right? Well, Nick is better on this than I am, but one thing about solar is you know when it's going to happen, which is noon, and it tapers off on either side. So the difference between that, which produces an immense amount of power when you don't exactly need it and requires power shifting. The difference from that to wind is that wind will operate in other times, so it provides a better input. Cole and Ice, let's use that power. Nick can probably expand on this, but can you go further than that? It's doubly important because as I understand a project that's currently structured doesn't require batteries. It's good enough to go as is. This is remarkable. This is important. That's correct. I'm sorry to interrupt. So Tony, Tony is absolutely right. One of the unique features of this wind project specifically, because there are wind projects elsewhere that the wind profile isn't as complimentary with PV solar generation, which of course happens during the daylight hours. This project really does, in my mind, really facilitate additional solar generation because you're adding generation with this wind project when you really need it and can get it with solar. We generate a substantial amount of our energy kind of on an annual, on an average day at nighttime when there is no, there's no sun, obviously. So we don't really need the battery to store the power during the daylight hours when you don't need it because you've got a surplus of solar generation and release it at nighttime. So it really does complement HECO's success at deploying PV generation on their system and also further their progress towards the higher mandates for renewable energy. So we look at it as kind of a win-win because it allows you to balance the system more and also kind of continue that progress. And a lot of this has to do with location and you are the location man in our conversation today. You have a location that offers the possibility of continuing wind and that allows for relatively firm power from wind. No need for batteries. Save a fortune and all the complexities of battery technology. Well, it's, it's interesting because you've got maybe four sites on Oahu that could work for wind. Wind will blow nearly every place but not at a commercial level. Okay, and a point blows wind, but it's certainly out. No one wants to touch and a point. The lovely conservation area that needs to stay wild. You've got Kahuku, you've got the certain areas in the lee of the Kolao and you've got the Pahlehua area. That's it. Now, what we have to offer from a technical point of view is that this happens to be adjacent to the Kaya Power plant and adjacent to the trunk lines that feeds central Oahu. So it's easy to connect. Well, if you were in Jamaica, you'd probably throw your bear wire over the, you know, but we're not. We'll have an adequate clip in, but it's not that hard to do. It doesn't require, we're hoping for a technical replacement for duct tape, but the whole thing is that the proximity is there. And so you don't need to further pipe the power to some place it's needed. It goes right in where it is needed. Now, in terms of the land impact, though, this is a very important point. Some people think that rooftop solar will solve it. No, not even close. Not even close. Assuming the technology, why are you? There's not enough space. Okay, it's not efficient enough. Right, because if you have a given lot with a residence on it, the actual rooftop square footage is a really small percentage of the lot. So solar is nice and clean, but it does not produce at a high rate for acreage use. So I'll give you an example. Assuming this project goes forward somewhat in its current form, that's a four year permitting process during which things get switched around and altered and input is considered. We will probably end up with about three quarters of an acre actual footprint for the tower bases. Three quarters of an acre. Now, if we take Eurus's very exemplary YNI solar project, and we scale that up to match the total annual power production, we'd be talking an impact of somewhere between 530 and 550 acres. Way more acreage. Look, this is for a given people. It would take more than the total inhabited area of Nonakuli Valley to equal what we can do on three quarters of an acre. This is really an important point. Look, it's over 700 plus times more area efficient than solar. Yeah, people should want more wind. Yeah, they're big. The problem is big. To address the problem is going to require a considerable bit of struggle. But from our point of view, we like the small footprint because it will enable us to reforest and maintain agricultural use in the area. This better land that it was than it is now. Well, bloody well better be that's the purpose of our having got into this in the first place, which is to reverse 300 years of environmental degradation by trying to restore something like the whole initially. That's the starting point. But what do you do now? I am not against solar. We need everything that could possibly be done. But from a land use point of view, solar is like an artificial lava field. You can't graze it. You can't plant it. You can't preserve the archaeology under it. You can't reforest it. You can't maintain recreational uses because it is a single purpose thing. But you can graze right up to the base of a wind turbine. You can plant flowers right up to the base of a wind turbine. And you can reforest in the gullies and not interrupt the wind flow. So what do you what is what is Gil Evelands bring to the table on this? You you have some land. And it would be helpful if the land were reforested and improved and all that. But what are you bringing to the table of this deal? Ideas. Okay, idea. Peter, shake it and said yes. Yes. And I got to say because Tony can't or won't, you know, the Gil family here, you know, goes back a couple of generations. Tom Gil was Lieutenant Governor and member of Congress. The family has Tom's brother, I guess, Lauren was a brother. It's probably the leading, you know, historically, the one of the leading environmentalists in the state formed the Sierra Club did a huge amount of hands on and teaching and guiding and inspiring people. The family has this intense environmental history, community service history. There aren't many families or companies who would be willing to commit to buying 1600 acres of fairly pretty substantially degraded land with the hope that in 20 or 30 years it can be reforested and reinvigorated. And we're very fortunate to have a family that's willing to commit. Put another zero on that timeline. Okay, you know, I won't be here in any case. But the point is, you know, to have that kind of long term look at what's good for the community, what's good for the INA. We don't have many institutions. I'd like to think Hawaiian Electric 126 years is, you know, like that.  We're lucky. Thank you very much. Let's not leave out that there are a whole lot of people from UH folks from couple a high school from different community groups who've been up there to see what we're trying to do and are pitching in. Well, I'm a learning center as our partner, they do outdoor education, and they actually conduct a certain amount of community community support. Yeah, and I think that you'll find the younger the person, the more they get it. Because when the sea level is coming over the highway, and you can't get to town, right, it's going to be a whole lot more than not be affected by sea level rise at all. No, it's up now it's up over the lip on the top there. What I can't describe it topography. Well, I can but it's a whole lot easier to look at it on a map or to see it. But basically, if you're going by the kaha power plant, you look up, there's kind of a bluff goes up about 400 500 feet and then it tips over and more gently wanders up the hill through gullies and pasture and such. That's where we're going to go. And we're going to locate the thing so that in non Akuli Valley, you should not see anything. It's not going to be in anybody's face. Well, everyone will feel duly offended. Right? Okay, but what they have to understand I will not feel you sure that okay. But you understand the scale of the problem. People have not grasped the scale of the problem. And Hawaiian Electric bless their heart has studied this intensely. And if you bother to read the several thousand pages and go into the appendices, which granted, only your your ship will do. You come to the end and you find a whole series of scenarios. And what we are able to do is say, look, by 2045, in the best case, we're going to need probably 5,000 acres of extra grid scale solar production. In the worst case, which we hope never comes to pass that if there were no further solar rooftop adoption, you'd be talking 20,000 acres. Okay, that's all the land between Village Park and the North Shore on the flat that cannot be done. So we're going to face conflicts in land use. Now, we're trying to move play this chess game three, four movers ahead by sparing people 550 acres that would otherwise need to go to pressure off the situation. How big is Alamoana Park? Green area, about 90 acres. How big is the stadium and all the parking about 86 acres? 550 acres we don't need because we can put this stuff on three quarters of an acre. And that's so Hawaiian Electric gets that part too, because they need to cover their future scenario. Well, I asked you before the show, Peter, I mean, to me, this this seems like a new chapter. It seems like, you know, can see the light at the end of the diversification tunnel. You can see see the possibility, the real possibility of getting to our goal with this kind of project. Getting a lot closer to our goal. That's for sure.  We've got this project coming along. We've got a number of solar farms, grid scale solar farms under construction. We're about to sign contracts with seven, more of them for three on a wahoo, two on a Maui, two on the Big Island, all of it, you know, every bit of it matters and every bit of it contributes to getting us closer to that goal. We've opened Schofield power plant in the last year, a fuel flexible plant that can use biofuel and that is located away from the ocean up on elevation, and that is going to enhance our reliability and enhance our survivability and incoming storms are our resilience. You know, we don't have the luxury Tony's a wind guy, he's got a wind farm and I love it. We don't have the luxury of saying, Yeah, we just, we just want to do when we want to do all the solar we can everybody's got to throw everything we want to do all the wind we can everybody's got to get geothermal. So for us, I don't think it's so much of a turn as further progress on this road, which we started on about 10 years ago. Glad to hear it described it is a big step, but it is a step among many steps that have to be taken. So Nick, you know, you mentioned it was 11 cents. It was pretty good. That's that's that's really very good number. Actually, it's 10.69. I remember that. Not quite 11. But how do you get there? How do you how are you able to, you know, provide wind to Hawaiian Electric at that price? That's not easy. And it's sort of, it's remarkable. Yeah, so a couple of things there. It's a good it's a really good question. You know, Tony had mentioned earlier that one aspect that was very that made the makes the specific site viable. In a unique way is the look the kind of the existing location of the of the transmission infrastructure, the, you know, the power lines that come up from from the Kahe plant. So that is a very important aspect to the project, because what that allows us to do is essentially, we don't have to build new infrastructure. And of course, new infrastructure, or extensive new infrastructure, rather, we can utilize what's already there. Because if we did have to, if we did have to build new infrastructure, you know, with that, those costs have to be reflected and ultimately the price, because the price essentially in a very basic sense is a is a function of the cost of the project to build. And, you know, the wind resource. So right off the bat, you've got a site that has from an infrastructure standpoint is as well situated because you're already using existing infrastructure. And then from a resource standpoint, like Tony said, there's a very few locations remaining on Oahu that are viable from a from a resource standpoint. And, you know, for example, he mentioned a kind of point that may be viable from a resource standpoint from but from a variety of other reasons, it's not viable. So the reason why in a nutshell, we're able to get that pricing down such a such a low level is a combination of the resource being some of the best resource on the island of Oahu, and from a locational perspective, with regards to the infrastructure, it being really ideally located. So it's really kind of a win win in terms of resource and and infrastructure. And that's how we get to that price level. And you've said you've mentioned in the past that although these turbines will look pretty much like other turbines, we've all seen that they they're becoming more efficient as well. Isn't that a factor in this? That's right. That's right. I'm sorry, Peter, thank you for reminding me. One of the other things that have that has happened in the industry over the last, you know, decade is the turbines have gotten increasingly more efficient at getting the resource, you know, frankly, out of the air. So as time has gone on, the manufacturers have been has become a lot more sophisticated in all aspects of the turbine technology, whether it's the airfoils on the blades or more efficient, more efficient generators. And that's really unlocked areas that in the past may have not been viable from a resource standpoint, until recently. So Peter's right, that another really important factor has been the improvement in the technology of the turbines themselves that allow for this site to really offer a good price to the HECO and HECO's customers. And these turbines are quieter and quieter. I think Nick would that's important from these turbines, correct, 260 feet high. Well, what's the what's the diameter of the blade? How is that what 90 feet 100 feet? So the the the that from the base of the of the tower to the hub, which is kind of, you know, the middle of the of the rotor, as we call it, is that is that 250 feet figure, the rotor itself kind of the swept diameter, if you will, it should be 116 meters. So I'm kind of trying to convert meters into in defeat. Okay, thanks. But it'd be 116 meter rotor diameter machines. Wow. Okay, but because they're big, because they're high tech, they don't have to be as many of them as they used to have to be. So you can with correct 1616 only 16 really, of these turbines can cover a lot of 26 thousand that you say homes and all that. It's a very large productivity. And I know that many people don't like to look at anything. What they're looking at currently is degraded bio sphere. That's, it's not attractive to a biologist or anybody who enjoys the history of Hawaiian forest. But, you know, just like when clipper ships came in, clipper ships were immense. And these are kind of the clipper ships of wind power. They're tall. They go fast. They make but unlike the old pinwheel arrangement, you know, you can see some people setting up pinwheels for memorials. And there are a lot of little buzzy stuff. These are few and they have a more graceful pace. So to me, they look like clipper ships. Are they strong, Nick? Are they strong enough to resist extreme weather? Yeah, absolutely. So these are the turbines that we're anticipating for the site are going to be manufactured by a company called Vestus out of Denmark. And they have some of the longest history of manufacturing this type of technology in the industry. They have turbines that are cited all around the world in extremely, you know, difficult environments, whether it's the North Sea and offshore. So they have a lot of experience making sure that the type of design that you're utilizing for the project is suited to the site. And kind of as a specific reference to my company, Euras, you know, we look at these projects in a in a way that an owner looks at them because we expect to be owning the projects for a long period of time. We have an inherent interest in making sure the technology that we're purchasing and installing at a site will last for the life of the project. So we spend a lot of time and there's a lot of a lot of engineers who understand the technical aspects far better than I do that that really agonize over these details to ensure that the the turbines are her right for the site and won't have any issues during the operational period. On the purchase power agreements, these these agreements are 22 years long. Why 22? Why not less? Why not more? What are the considerations that go into that? Well, I think 20 years is sort of the you start from the 20 year point and then you look at what you can do. I don't think anybody envisions everything coming to an end in 22 years. But from a contracting legalistic basis, as I understand it, and I know less about both the legal and technical things than Nick does. But lots of men who needs it. You know, you you want to in terms of of of you know, amortizing the costs and so forth, you look you start by looking at a 20 year frame. And then then you move forward. But I don't I don't think there's anything magical about the 22 year number. We have power plants, frankly, that are almost as old as I am. And that's fairly scary. Exactly. So, you know, these are our long term investments in the contractors for 22 years. And I can emphasize enough how attractive the price is. As you say, under 11 cents, the avoided cost of oil today is about 15 cents. There is I don't think there's another renewable project, certainly not at this size that is coming in under 11 cents. And it stays that and it stays that for 22 years. They have predictability. Right. And, you know, Hawaiian Electric doesn't take a markup or a profit on this. The the cost is passed directly to the customers based on how much they use. So this is really a win for our customers. And we're very, we're very gratified that we can bring it in, your risk can bring it in at the slow price. Yeah, we are too. Okay, last last words, Tony, what what would you like to leave the audience with? What what message do you want to give them as a takeaway? And from our point of view as owners, this is not an energy project. It is an ecosystem restoration project in which Eurus and Hawaiian Electric are assuming a keystone position. They will enable us to do the fairly grand things we want to do. And we think that what, aside from the energy perspective, Hawaii needs to look at food sustainability, needs to look at putting water into the ground. It needs to manage fire and other hazards in the area. And on top of that, wouldn't it be nice to see something like the ancient Hawaiian forest and all its wonderful hardwoods and species repopulating the area. That's where we're trying to get. And we're grateful that Eurus has the muscle in the know how and Hawaiian Electric has a foresight to see that this is a thing that can be done. We appreciate their collaboration. So wonderful use of the land really in our time. We think so. For us, Nick, what would you leave our audience with? So I would try to follow up on Tony's eloquent last words and say that we at Eurus as a company are very happy to be working with what we view as two really unique and critical partners for this project. You know, Tony and his family and also Hiko. It's a very unique project in that, unlike others, it's not the same. This is a much much much more deeper partnership between the three parties. So we're happy for this to be the second large project that we're working on for the state of Hawaii. And we hope that this demonstrates our commitment to helping bring the state to its renewable targets. So we're excited about the possibilities going forward. And Peter, your closing words, your takeaway, could you include your plan for other projects of this nature on Oahu or elsewhere? Well, as I mentioned earlier, we've got this wind farm. There's another wind farm that may be built on this island. We are about to close on seven new grid scale solar installations across mostly across the central part of the island. What used to be called the NRG or now called Cleanway solar projects 110 megawatts are under construction. Westlock is under construction. You're going to be able to take all the fossil fuel plants offline here pretty soon? Pretty soon, I wouldn't want to say, but sooner, you know, in a process, you know, gradually over the next 27 years, we that's what we have to do. We have to reduce our fossil fuel footprint entirely to 100% is our goal. And the only way we do that is a step at a time. Adding this project, adding the other projects. We're going to see the biggest solar grid scale solar projects on the neighbor islands in this new, this seven seven contract movement that I mentioned. So we're proceeding on a lot of fronts. And I would also say, in a lot of other areas, we're working on the electrification and transportation to reduce oil use in that area. We're working on demand response programs, which will allow customers to reduce their bills by cooperating in our in our maintenance of the grid. We're working on grid modernization, because although this particular project can be hooked to the grid fairly simply, and at relatively low cost, we have to modernize our whole grid, even if we got to 100 could get to 100% tomorrow, we don't have a grid that kind of accommodate it. We don't have a grid that can manage it so everybody's lights stay on. So we have we're doing all these other things. We talk endlessly a lot about renewable energy and this project and that project. There is an underlying foundation that Hawaiian Electric is working on grid modernization, customer programs that are all part of getting to where we need to go. Great story. It's a great story, Peter. Thank you so much for coming down, Peter. It's a pleasure. Thank you for coming down. Nice, Jay. And Nick, thank you for joining us today. Aloha. I appreciate it. Aloha. Aloha. This is Think Tech Hawaii, raising public awareness. Aloha. I will invite all of you to


Your commentator is James Coy. Here is where the victory is born, in the factories of American industry going full blast to turn out the planes. The world has never seen such a miracle of management and men shattering all industrial records to create a mighty armada of the air almost overnight. More than 7,000 planes a month in war plants, many of which weren't even in the blueprint stage at the time of Pearl Harbor. Here too is where the victory is born, as thousands of the finest young men of America train and study in aviation classrooms for mastery of the air. But they have to master the link trainer and its dizzy generations before they even leave the ground school for actual practice on the flying field. Then the thrilling order, pilots manual planes. These student pilots are the cream of the nation that taught the world to fly. Off they go into the wild blue yonder, fired with determination to be the world's best air force. Now they peel off for practice bombing. Look out below. They say they can drop a bomb in a barrel at 20,000 feet, and here's proof of it. A whole stick of bombs for the grinning tojo down below. On the nose. Now they're on a bombing run for another target, thousands of feet below. Perfect coordination of pilots, navigator and bombardier is essential. More than a well-drilled team that is good. It must be perfect. It's perfect. At an air base in the southwest Pacific, planes are kept bombed up to the hilt and ready to fly. Ammunition belts for fighter cannon are loaded with shells. The Air Force command stands by for reconnaissance report from a patrol plane somewhere to the north. And here it comes, Jap convoy leaving Rubble. On a score of dispersal fields scattered throughout the New Guinea area, American and Australian flyers get the order to strike. Fighter and bomber pilots, navigators, gunners, bombardiers, man their planes, determined to stop that convoy. Off they go, swinging their way to battle. It's the new bombing technique. There's a group of flying fortresses. Every plane crew searches the Bismarck Sea, watching for the first sign of 10 Jap warships and 12 transports laden with enemy troops. There they are. And this is the strategy. The 22-ship convoy is drawn to lie in Salamawar, hard-dressed Jap bases on New Guinea. The planes will sweep in from every side and flying low, frequently at mass height level, drop their bombs with crushing accuracy. They should explain the historic achievement and give occasional glimpses of action covering many sea miles. With a ceiling so low, the enemy believed himself safe. There's a Jap transport. Sometimes the bombs explode almost in the planet's faces. Watch this. There's a 10,000-tonner going up in flames, full of Japs who will never reach shore alive. Fighter planes sweep in with cannon blazing, scuffing enemy gun crews. This is where that training pays dividends. The flying steels, a miracle takes place. Only three Allied fighters and one bomber are lost. But these pictures give some idea of the way in which 102 Jap planes are destroyed or damaged. Bombardiers blast everything afloat, making 80 direct hits on the 22 ships, dropping a total of 226 tons of bombs. 15,000 Jap soldiers and the entire naval personnel of 10 warships are destroyed, as ship after ship is left burning and sinking. This is a small down payment for Pearl Harbor, Wake Island, Baton and Corridor, and just a foretaste of things yet in store for the warlords of Japan. Now for a stropping dive, wing guns blazing, pouring destruction on crowded decks. Victory is so sweeping it sounds incredible. Homes of smoke rise like black salute to Japanese ancestors. Still the fighter planes bore him without mercy. There's a salute for Hirohito, for an enemy despised by every decent nation, as a triumphant air force heads for home. Sad General MacArthur, we have achieved a victory of such completeness as to assume the proportions of a major disaster to the enemy. A great combination these Australian airmen teamed with the American air forces. Typical of these two rare breeds of fighting men are, Australia's commander, Blackjack Walker, Lieutenant Gordon McEwen of New York, Major Ed Lerner of San Francisco, and Major A.T. Hastings of Texas. Major Hastings explains the victory. The results obtained cannot be attributed to any one individual or a group of individuals. It was more like a smooth play on a football field. The every man knew his job and every man did his part. The coordination between the order player and the American air forces was really perfect. It was a crack of shock and beginning to end.  We're tickled to death to know that you're right behind us. Oh yeah, Blackjack? With you boy, not behind you. Together they make a great team, the Aussie and the Yanks. Backed up on the training fields of America by thousands of flying men preparing for many more such triumphs as the Bismarck Sea victory.