Eurovision says wait and see on Celine Dion

Just hours earlier than Saturday’s Eurovision Song Contest grand closing, organisers had been tight-lipped about whether or not ailing famous person Celine Dion may make an emotional look, 37 years after profitable the competitors.

“Father Christmas exists, and you’ll have to wait and see,” Eurovision director Martin Green advised a press convention, when requested immediately if Dion may present up.

At each of Friday’s costume rehearsals for the ultimate, as at Tuesday’s semi-final, a video message from Dion was performed, with the presenters saying that she couldn’t be with them in Basel, Switzerland for the world’s largest televised reside music occasion.

But Eurovision 2025 co-executive producer Moritz Stadler stated on Saturday that the present was nonetheless being tailored.

“There are constant changes. Our team has been working overnight until very late,” he stated. “We continue changing it for the grand final.”

BBC tv reported that Dion’s non-public aircraft was in Basel, however didn’t know if she was on it.

And Swiss newspaper Blick stated that chosen employees with printed schedules for the ultimate “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 well being ‘prime precedence’ –

Dion, 57, is now a worldwide music icon. But she has by no means forgotten the position the tune contest performed in launching her on the worldwide stage.

Dion was 20 and little-known exterior her native French-speaking Quebec province in Canada when she gained Eurovision in 1988, representing Switzerland with the tune “Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi”.

Switzerland duly hosted Eurovision 1989, the place Dion opened the TV extravaganza together with her profitable French-language tune.

She then premiered the one “Where Does My Heart Beat Now” — heralding her profession change into English, which set her on the trail to world chart domination.

With Eurovision 2025 returning to Switzerland, organisers reached out to Dion.

However, the singer is now battling a debilitating well being situation and infrequently seems in public.

“We are still in contact with Celine Dion. As always, her health remains our top priority,” a Eurovision 2025 spokeswoman advised AFP on Friday.

– ‘Music unites us’ –

Dion first disclosed in December 2022 that she had been identified with Stiff Person Syndrome, a painful autoimmune dysfunction which is progressive and for which there isn’t any remedy.

She was compelled to cancel a string of reveals scheduled for 2023 and 2024, saying she was not sturdy sufficient to tour.

But she gave a shock, show-stopping efficiency from the Eiffel Tower on the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony.

“I’d love nothing more than to be with you in Basel right now,” Dion stated in her video clip.

“Winning the Eurovision Song Contest for Switzerland in 1988 was a life-changing second 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.”