Talk about a musical family! Céline Dion’s pipes may be in a class all their own, but growing up, she was the youngest of 14 performers.
Her brothers and sisters' dedication to their craft left a big impact on the future Grammy winner. "A lot of my sisters and brothers hoped to be successful singers, and I've seen the effort and hard work that went into their unrealized dreams," Céline told PEOPLE. "If I'm successful, I do it for them and for me."
Céline and her siblings were born and raised in Canada
The youngest child of Adhémar and Thérèse, Celine grew up in Charlemagne, Quebec, with her parents and 13 siblings.
Céline’s big brother Michel, who has worked as her assistant tour manager, gave the icon her first singing gig at his wedding in the 1970s.
As Céline later recalled to CNN, the performance set her on her career path in life. “I sang a couple songs," she said. "When I started to feel the love and the warmth of the audience it got me. I said to myself, 'Really, this is what I want to do all my life. I want to be a singer.' "
Her brothers Michel and Jacques helped her with her first song
Jacques helped Céline write and record her first song, "Ce n'était qu'un rêve,” when she was 12 and he was 25.
Michel then sent a tape of Céline singing the tune to Angélil, who invited her to audition for him. "While I was singing, he started to cry. I knew then I had done a good job,” Céline recalled to PEOPLE in 1994.
Céline and her husband once gave each of her siblings $100,000
In 2017, Céline's sister Claudette told Le Journal de Montréal that Céline and Angélil once gave each sibling a gift of $100,000 at a family party.
The third-eldest Dion sibling, singer and reality star Claudette was a judge for L’Étoile des aînés, a local singing competition for adults over 65, from 2010 to 2014. Claudette also competed on the reality TV show La Ferme Célébrités en Afrique in 2010. She is now the CEO and spokesperson of the Fondation Maman Dion, a charity the siblings began in honor of their mother, with her sister Liette.
Her brother Paul and sister Pauline are twins
Twins run in the Dion family: Céline's older siblings Paul and Pauline, who were Adhémar and Thérèse's 12th and 13th children, are twins. Paul is an entrepreneur and is involved with his late mother’s foundation, Fondation Maman Dion.
Céline dedicated a song to her late niece in 1995
Céline’s niece, Karine Ménard, was born to older sister Liette in 1977. Karine died of cystic fibrosis at the age of 16 on May 2, 1993.
Since Karine was a child, Céline has invested in cystic fibrosis research, according to the Montreal Gazette. She is also an ambassador for the organization Cystic Fibrosis Canada.
She championed her brother Jacques’ return to music after a 14-year hiatus
Though Jacques was once one-half of a singing duo with wife Geneviève Garceau, the pair stepped away from the limelight in 2003 to focus on their son, Jimmy, who was involved in a skiing accident that left him partially paralyzed, according to the Montreal Gazette.
Jacques began working from home as a music agent, but in 2017, he and Garceau returned to the stage at the urging of their son, who had since moved out and begun working as a screenwriter. “He tells us, ‘Go ahead, sing, Maman, Papa. It’s what you do best,’ ” Jacques said of Jimmy.
Céline was on hand to cheer her big brother on for his comeback performance, saying that it was “pure joy” to see Jacques and her sister-in-law onstage again.
Céline’s sister Manon worked as her personal assistant and hairdresser
Michel PONOMAREFF/PONOPRESSE/Gamma-Rapho/Getty
Céline’s sister Manon, the 11th Dion sibling, largely stays out of the public eye. She is credited as Céline’s personal assistant on the live albums Au cœur du stade and Live à Paris. In 1999, PEOPLE reported that Manon was Céline’s hairdresser on her 14-country world tour.
Céline’s sister Linda is her children's godmother
Céline’s older sister Linda was a big help to the Love Again star after she gave birth to twin boys, Nelson and Eddy, in October 2010. Rolling Stone reported that Linda and their mom Thérèse helped with housework and cleaning for Céline, who had difficulty adjusting to life with two newborns.
In May 2010, Céline announced that she was pregnant with twin boys after six in vitro fertilization attempts. “We’re ecstatic,” Angélil told PEOPLE at the time. “She was hoping for one baby and the news that we are having two is a double blessing.”
Linda is godmother to the twins and Céline’s older son, René-Charles.
Céline’s brother Daniel died two days after her husband
Like the rest of his siblings, Daniel was a singer. With his sisters Claudette and Ghislaine, he released an album called Le Dion Show in 2007.
Céline's husband and longtime manager, Angélil, died of cancer on Jan. 14, 2016. Two days later, Daniel died at the age of 59. Daniel reportedly had brain, throat and tongue cancer.
“René escorted my brother. It was perfect,” Céline told PEOPLE in May 2016. “He took him under his wings and he said, ‘You know, I’ll take good care of him.' "
According to his obituary, Daniel spent his last days in the palliative care center Maison Adhémar-Dion, which was opened by the Dion family and named after their late father, in Terrebonne, Quebec. Daniel is survived by two daughters, Valérie and Marie-Michelle, and two grandchildren.
Céline's niece Audrey and nephew Jimmy led her husband's funeral procession
In 1994, Céline’s niece, Audrey, who is the daughter of her older sister Ghislaine, served as the flower girl in Celine's lavish wedding to Angélil.
Audrey and her cousin Jimmy, who was the ring bearer at their wedding, later led the procession at Angélil’s funeral. Jimmy carried the same ring bearer pillow to the casket.