Celine Dion's Return to the Spotlight

Feb. 1 -- Two years ago, Celine Dion — who many believe has the most beautiful voice in the world — dropped a bombshell. At the height of her career, after selling 100 million albums, she was giving it all up for at least two years.

She wanted to have a normal life, and she desperately wanted to have a baby, she told me in an interview.

Well, just over a year ago, Dion and her husband, René Angelil, had a baby boy: René-Charles.

Now Dion, 33, is ready to go back to work — but with very different decisions about her future. Her first new single is called "A New Day Has Come" — and what a new day it is for her.

Life of a Legend

There were people who said, "She's never going to stop." But Dion knew it was time. "I needed to stop. I needed a balance in my life," she told me in an interview conducted near her Florida home. "I wanted a normal life at one point. I wanted to be home."

But for most of her life, nothing has been average for Dion. Her life is the stuff of legend.

"I've never had a normal life," she said.

The youngest of 14 children, she grew up in a poor but loving French Canadian family. She wasn't pretty, but her voice, as they said, made angels weep.

When she was 12, Dion's mother took her to record producer Angelil, who took a gamble when he recognized her talent. He mortgaged his house to finance her career, and over the years transformed the awkward little girl with pointy teeth into an international superstar.

When Dion was only 20 and Angelil 46, the singer fell in love with her manager. A few years later they were married in a lavish, almost royal wedding televised across Canada.

When Dion learned English, her magnificent voice catapulted her into mega-stardom. Her fans adored her, and hit after hit followed, culminating in the 1997 blockbuster theme song from Titanic, "My Heart Will Go On."

Triumph and Crisis

Then two years ago, Dion shocked the entertainment world when she announced she was suspending her career to try to have a child.