Before 1988, Celine Dion was an unknown French speaking Canadian with big dreams of boasting her immense vocal abilities, a singing voice that many today would regard as one of the best on earth.
What many people often forget is that the singer, who used to be without a word of English, was launched to international stardom from the RDS in Dublin.
In 1988, a 20 year old Canadian singer took to the stage in Dublin to represent Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest. The starlet showed off her unique and powerful vocal ability with Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi (Don't Leave Without Me), turning that year's competition into one of the most tense in the show's history with Celine beating out UK favourite Scott Fitzgerald, who many assumed would walk away with first place.
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Joking about the nail-biting ending to the contest, host Pat Kenny said: "I have to tell you that we employed Agatha Christie to write the script for tonight."
It all came down to Yugoslavia's vote, as Pat Kenny, the audience in Dublin's RDS and viewers around the world listened closely to hear how many points the country had delegated. When it was announced that Switzerland received six and the UK received none, Celine topped the final leader board by just a single point.
Pat, along with his co-host Michelle Rocca, struggled to keep the crowd calm as the world realised it all came down to that one point, with Celine earning 137 for Switzerland and the UK receiving a total of 136.
At Dublin's Shelbourne Hotel the next morning, the soon-to-be mega star enjoyed a champagne breakfast before telling RTE reporters that she knew all along that she would win the competition because everyone told her that she would.
It might seem random that a French Canadian would represent Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin. Indeed it was, as Celine explained to Johnathan Ross in 2013.
She revealed: "I receive a call and I was in Montreal, where I live and they want me to go to Ireland and they want me to represent Switzerland… as a French Canadian Quebecoise, for the song contest.
"I didn’t get it, so I’m like but what about people in Switzerland?"
"I felt like a horse," she explained. "You can bet on the artist that you want the country to win.
"So my husband, who is a gambler, bet on me. A lot of money, and I felt like I was a horse and I needed to race. I really needed to win that race."
Unbeknownst to the audience in Dublin, the wider world and perhaps even the singer herself, Celine's memorable Eurovision performance and her tense win would be far from the singer's most iconic moment as she went on to release mega hits such as My Heart Will Go On, It's All Coming Back To Me Now and The Power Of Love.
With over 200 million records sold worldwide, massive global tours and a plethora of record-breaking achievements under her belt, it's easy to forget that it all started for the now iconic performer here in Dublin.
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