Celine Dion makes triumphant return in Paris after six years sidelined by rare diagnosis

PARIS — It’s all coming back to her now.

If there were any doubts about whether the “Queen of Ballads” could still hit the high notes, they were put to rest on Saturday night when she belted out “All by Myself,” one of her most difficult songs, in front of 30,000 adoring fans in Paris.

It was a poignant comeback for the Quebec-born singer, 58, who was forced to stop touring six years ago after being diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder, stiff-person syndrome.

Having spent the years since largely out of the spotlight, Dion was overcome with emotion, breaking down in tears during the first few minutes of her show at Plenitude Arena, one of Europe’s largest indoor concert venues.

Celine Dion gives emotional speech during concert return

Aptly, she began with the French-language song “On ne change pas” — which translates to “one doesn’t change” — an apparent signal that she is the same Celine as ever.

The road to recovery has been “rocky and longer than it should have been,” she told the crowd, after she endured years of physical therapy and medical treatments. There were nerves mixed with raw emotion as she asked the crowd: “Can…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/