To say that emotions were sitting close to the surface while Celine Dion accepted her Icon Award at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday would be an understatement.
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Dion’s son, René-Charles, surprised her by presenting the award. “I didn’t expect that”, the singer admitted.
“Icon – it’s a word that conjures up visions of someone deserving of our complete respect and admiration, a person who we look at with awe…”
“I want to be so strong for my family and my kids and I don’t want to cry but you make me so happy – thank you”, she said as he handed over the award.
“I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for crying”, the “Power of Love” singer told the crowd, cradling her award in her arm and holding her son by her side. “It’s hard, but my family is helping me through it. I hope I think people know that I don’t do music, I don’t do my passion and sing to win an award”.
“Most especially, I wanna thank the fans for travelling through music with me, in good and bad times… My mum, who wrote my first song; my children, Rene-Charles, Nelson and Eddy, and most importantly, my beloved husband, whom I know will continue to watch over me from up above”.
She finished with: “René – this one is for you”.
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The songstress was no doubt paying tribute to her late husband, Rene Angelil, through the 1990 Queen ballad. Dion, whose husband died of cancer in January, hit the T-Mobile Arena stage located in Las Vegas to belt out an emotional rendition of Queen’s hit single “The Show Must Go On”.
