BASEL, SWITZERLAND: Just hours before Saturday’s Eurovision Song Contest grand final, organisers were tight-lipped about whether ailing superstar Celine Dion might make an emotional appearance, 37 years after winning the competition.
“Father Christmas exists, and you’ll have to wait and see,“ Eurovision director Martin Green told a press conference, when asked directly if Dion might show up.
At both of Friday’s dress rehearsals for the final, as at Tuesday’s semi-final, a video message from Dion was played, with the presenters announcing that she could not be with them in Basel, Switzerland for the world’s biggest televised live music event.
But Eurovision 2025 co-executive producer Moritz Stadler said on Saturday that the show was still being adapted.
“There are constant changes. Our team has been working overnight until very late,“ he said. “We continue changing it for the grand final.”
BBC television reported that Dion’s private plane was in Basel, but did not know if she was on it.
And Swiss newspaper Blick said that selected staff with printed schedules for the final “can see that the recorded greeting from the rehearsals and the first Eurovision semi-final is no longer included”.
“This indicates that the clip played during rehearsals has been replaced,“ the tabloid added.
– Dion’s health ‘top priority’ –
Dion, 57, is now a global music icon. 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, representing Switzerland with the song “Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi”.
Switzerland duly hosted 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, the singer is now battling a debilitating health condition and rarely appears in public.
“We are still in contact with Celine Dion. As always, her health remains our top priority,“ a Eurovision 2025 spokeswoman told AFP on Friday.
– ‘Music unites us’ –
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.
“I’d love nothing more than to be with you in Basel right now,“ Dion said in her video clip.
“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.”
