After six years away from the concert stage, Celine Dion (58) will step back into the spotlight on Saturday at the Plenitude Arena in Paris.

The Quebec singer has spent years in gruelling physical and voice therapy to overcome Stiff Person Syndrome, a rare neurological condition that causes muscle spasms so severe they have left her with broken ribs.

The “My Heart Will Go On” star will perform 26 shows – 16 between September and October, with another 10 scheduled for May next year. Fans who have waited since 2020 for a full concert will finally see if she has reclaimed the powerful voice that made her famous.

A rare and painful condition

Stiff Person Syndrome affects just one or two people per million. The incurable autoimmune disorder triggers full-body seizures and intense muscle cramps.

Dion revealed her diagnosis in December 2022, describing how the condition makes her feel like she is being strangled. The spasms are strong enough to break bones.

“I’m going to go back onstage, even if I have to crawl. Even if I have to talk with my hands,” she told NBC in 2024.

She got a taste of performing again at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony last year, appearing atop the Eiffel Tower to sing Edith Piaf’s “Hymn to Love” in the rain. But some sound experts, including YouTube music analyst Wings of Pegasus, claimed she lip-synced the performance. Organisers denied this.

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Training like an athlete

The singer has spent years preparing for this comeback, training “like an athlete” with ballet and pilates several times a week, alongside voice therapy sessions.

“She is utterly determined,” her French biographer Elisabeth Reynaud told AFP recently.

Dion has also used the time to focus on her three sons – twin boys aged 15 and an older son in his 20s. She credits them as her main motivation to recover.

Her late husband, music producer Rene Angelil, discovered her when she was 12 after her mother sent him a cassette recording. Angelil, who was 26 years older than Dion, died from throat cancer in 2016.

Living with symptoms for nearly two decades

Dion now realises she had been living with the condition for almost 20 years before her diagnosis. She tried to manage the symptoms until they became impossible to hide.

Concert cancellations in 2021 and 2022 sparked rumours about serious health problems. During that time, she was taking increasingly high doses of the tranquiliser Valium just to get through performances, putting her life at risk.

“I did not understand that I could have gone to bed and stopped breathing. And you learn – you learn through your mistakes,” she told People magazine in 2024.

Fans will be watching closely to see if her re-trained voice sounds as clear and powerful as the octave-spanning instrument that won her the Eurovision Song Contest for Switzerland in 1988.

“I’m going to come onstage because I’m ready. And my vocal cords will not scare me, because I’m going to be ready, and I’m going to hit those notes,” she promised NBC two years ago.

The 30 000 ticket-holders at Saturday’s show will witness whether that promise holds true.