Celine Dion

Canadian songbird Celine Dion, who after five years performing in Las Vegas is embarking on a world tour to promote her latest album, is giving Singapore a miss to perform instead in Kuala Lumpur on April 13.

The Malaysian capital is her sole South-east Asian stop in a tour that includes South Africa, Japan, China and Britain. The Grammy-winning singer's latest release may be entitled Taking Chances, but Dion's taking none on Singapore promoters.

According to AsiaOne News, not a single Singaporean promoter could cough up enough coin to attract the aging diva. Rob Prinz, Dion's long-time agent at United Talent Agency, said: "We wanted to come to Singapore but never received a realistic offer from a reliable promoter during our planning stage of the tour."

In Singapore, Taking Chances has gone gold, with over 8,000 copies sold since its release last November. Her most popular album, Falling Into You (1996), which won the Montrealer an Album Of The Year Grammy in 1997, has sold over 100,000 copies in the island nation.

Dion, who has had such hits as My Heart Will Go On and Because You Loved Me, recently ended her five-year engagement in Vegas, where she performed almost nightly at Caesars Palace. That show generated more than $400 million, and mixed reviews.