In her first live TV performance since the death of her husband, Canadian music producer René Angélil, Celine Dion appeared at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards on Sunday, 22 May 2016. Looking as resolute as ever, she took to the stage, accompanied by American violinist, dancer, performance artist, and composer, Lindsey Stirling, and delivered a stunning performance of Queen’s “The Show Must Go On.” Dion also received the 2016 Billboard Music Awards’ Icon Award. Her 15-year-old son, René-Charles Angélil, presented her the award. In her stirring acceptance speech, she praised Lindsey Stirling and thanked her for sharing her incredible talents.
Lindsey Stirling is no stranger to the Billboard Music Awards. According to Billboard, her albums were the top selling dance albums of 2015, and that year at the Billboard Music Awards she took home the award for Top Dance/Electronic Album. She beat out other top performers such as Avicii, Calvin Harris, Disclosure, and Skrillex. She was also nominated that year for the Top Dance/Electronic Artist award but lost to Calvin Harris, who won that particular category.
Billboard’s YouTube channel uploaded a video of an interview with Stirling from the event. In the video, she commented, “It’s going to be an emotional number. It means a lot to her. The song, for my reasons, means so much to me. I think the synchronicity of it all that we’re performing this together; it was made to be.” Celinedion.com announced that the cover of “The Show Must Go On” is available on iTunes, Spotify, and Apple Music.
Lindsey Stirling, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is perhaps best known for her choreographed violin performances which she presents both on stage and in the music videos found on her YouTube channel which she created in 2007. She was among those named in Forbes magazine’s 30 Under 30 In Music: The Class of 2015. The magazine made honorable mention of her quarter-finalist position on America’s Got Talent season five in 2010, a #2 position on the Billboard 200 for her second album Shatter Me in 2014, and her 6 million plus subscribers on YouTube. As of late May 2016, there are over 8 million subscribers to her YouTube channel with more than a billion views.
Her genre of music includes a variety of music from classical to pop and hip-hop to electronic dance music. Her discography not only contains her original works but covers of songs by other musicians and various soundtracks as well. Her music video, “Crystallize” finished as the eighth-most watched video of 2012, and her cover version of Radioactive with Pentatonix won Response of the Year in the first YouTube Music Awards in 2013. She also achieved one million singles sold worldwide by August of 2014. Her eponymous debut album was a commercial success in Europe, selling 200, 000 copies in Germany, winning a platinum certification, with three additional certifications given by Austria, Switzerland, and Poland. The debut album received a nomination for the 2014 Billboard Music Awards for Top Dance/Electronic Albums.
Speaking about her style of music, Stirling has said, “My musical style is a reflection of my personality, and through it I hope to share my belief that no one should be afraid to be himself or herself. All my songs were created to depict specific themes I pulled from my life experiences.”
