As excitement builds for Saturday’s Eurovision final, one question looms large: could superstar Celine Dion, now in fragile health, make an emotion-drenched appearance, 37 years after winning the competition?
The answer is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, with organisers tight-lipped, Dion sending a video message, reports of her plane arriving, and rehearsals for the world’s biggest televised live music event making out that she could not be on stage in Basel.
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“We are still in contact with Celine Dion. As always, her health remains our top priority,” a Eurovision 2025 spokeswoman told AFP on Friday.
Dion, 57, is global music icon who has sold albums by the millions and staged groundbreaking sell-out concerts around the world.
But she has never forgotten the role the song contest played in launching her on the international stage.
Dion was 20 and little-known outside her native French-speaking Quebec province in Canada when she won Eurovision in 1988, guesting for Switzerland, with the song “Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi”.
That gave the Swiss the right to host Eurovision 1989, where Dion opened the TV extravaganza with her winning French-language song.
She then premiered the single “Where Does My Heart Beat Now” — heralding her career switch into English, which set her on the path to global chart domination.
With Eurovision 2025 returning to Switzerland, organisers reached out to Dion.
However, with the singer battling a debilitating health condition and rarely appearing in public, uncertainty reigned over whether she might take a heart-warming trip down memory lane.
– Rehearsal no-show –
At Friday’s first of three untelevised full dress rehearsals for the final, the presenters said: “We would have loved so much to have her here with us.
“Unfortunately she can’t be in Basel. But we know that her thoughts are with us.”
Dion’s video message, which first aired at Tuesday’s semi-final, was then replayed.
“I’d love nothing more than to be with you in Basel right now,” Dion said in the clip, in front of a backdrop of flowers and candles.
“Winning the Eurovision Song Contest for Switzerland in 1988 was a life-changing moment for me.
“Music unites us — not only tonight, not only in this wonderful moment. It is our strength, our support, and our accompaniment in times of need.”
However, the rehearsal is no guarantee of what may happen on the night.
Dion first disclosed in December 2022 that she had been diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome, a painful autoimmune disorder which is progressive and for which there is no cure.
She was forced to cancel a string of shows scheduled for 2023 and 2024, saying she was not strong enough to tour.
But she gave a surprise, show-stopping performance from the Eiffel Tower at the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony.
– ‘Wait and see’ –
Could the video and the public rehearsal all be smoke and mirrors?
The BBC reported that Dion’s private plane was in Basel — but did not know if she was on it.
Eurovision director Martin Green earlier told AFP the situation had become a great guessing game.
“Wait and see,” he said, cryptically.
Sandra Studer said she and her fellow presenters had prepared as if Dion was not coming.
“There is still some hope that she could come. Honestly, we don’t know,” said Studer, who represented Switzerland at Eurovision in 1991, three years after Dion.
AFP