Rene Angelil, who was also Dion’s manager, had battled throat cancer. In August 2014, Dion suspended her Las Vegas concert series to be by his side while he underwent serious treatment, but returned to the stage upon his insistence in 2015.
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Rene Angelil was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998.
Celine Dion’s Las Vegas residency has been postponed, with her shows this weekend cancelled in the wake of the death of husband Rene Angelil.
Angelil was born in Montreal in 1942 to Lebanese and Syrian parents and after singing himself he managed a number of groups in Canada including Québec entertainers René Simard and Ginette Reno.
Dion’s mother sent him a tape in the post and encouraged him to listen to her daughter, who was then 12 years old.
Angelil is said to be survived by the couple’s three children, Rene-Charles, 14, and 5 year old twins Nelson and Eddy.
René also has a son and daughter from two previous marriages. The pair, who began dating when Dion was 19, dated for almost five years before Dion publicly announced their relationship in the album notes of her 1993 studio album “The Colour of My Love”.
TMZ’s sources said Angelil and Dion were even planning a business meeting on Thursday.
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In 1994, when she was 19 and he was 45, the couple married in an extravagant wedding ceremony that was televised live in Canada, and splashed all over glossy magazines. She previously told USA Today, “That first show, it will be fragile”. “He wants me strong”. Or you look at your husband that’s sick and you say, ‘I got you. Later, at an audition, “While I was singing, he started to cry”, Dion once said.
