Four of Céline Dion’s musicians fired by management

Four of Céline Dion’s longtime backing musicians have been fired by her management team to give new life to her upcoming show.

It’s funny. Here in Montreal, the big story for the local franco press is the firing of four of Céline Dion’s longtime backing musicians. But in Las Vegas, where notre Céline nationale remains the Queen of the Strip, the journalists are much more focused on the angle that Dion appears set to return to Caesars Palace.

Late Tuesday afternoon, Dion’s P.R. team issued a fairly laconic press release announcing that Productions Feeling, Dion’s management company, would not be renewing the contracts of four of her musicians, band-leader Claude “Mégo” Lemay, keyboardist Yves Frulla, guitarist André Coutu, and violinist Jean-Seb Carré.

Lemay has been Dion’s band-leader for 28 years. Frulla and Coutu had been playing with her for over two decades and Carré had been in the band for 12 years.

The musicians were openly grumbling about their dismissal on their Facebook pages.

Lemay wrote (with some poetic license, I might add): “C’est avec énormément d’émotions que je reçois la gifle de mon congédiement.” (It’s with great emotion that I receive the slap of my firing.)

Carré wrote on Facebook: “It took only 8 minutes to end 12 years of dedication and collaboration. It seems that the new administration of Celine wants a new image for her. ( the reason they gave me!!). I leave with my head up knowing that I always gave the best of me and this is now the end of a long chapter in my career as a musician! A big thank you to Céline and René for this beautiful experience.”

“It was a decision that was very difficult to make but I decided it was necessary to give new life to the show,” said Aldo Giampaolo, president of Productions Feeling, in a statement. “Céline and René join me in thanking them for sharing their great talent for so many years and we wish the four of them success in all of their future projects.”