Céline Marie Claudette Dion, (born March 30, 1968 in Charlemagne, Quebec) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actress. Born to a large, impoverished family, Dion emerged as a teenage star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record. In 1990, she released the anglophone album Unison, establishing herself as a viable pop artist in North America and other English-speaking areas of the world.