Los Angeles, Jan 15 (IANS): Singer Celine Dion's husband and former manager Rene Angelil is dead. He was 73.
Angelil died of throat cancer on Thursday at his Las Vegas home, Dion (47) announced on her Facebook page, reports variety.com.
Born in Montreal, Angelil's decades-long music career launched in the 1960s when he formed the pop rock group The Baronets with two of his childhood friends. After the band's dissolution, he started managing music talent.
In 1981, a then 12-year-old Dion submitted a demo tape to Angelil, who later agreed to manage her work.
The couple, who got romantically linked when Dion was 19, dated for nearly five years before the "My Heart Will Go On" crooner publicly announced their relationship in the album notes of her 1993 studio album "The Colour of My Love".
They got married in 1994. Angelil appeared alongside Dion in her 2010 concert documentary "Celine Dion: Through the Eyes of the World".
Following Angelil's 1999 throat cancer diagnosis, the singer decided to take a break from the limelight to care for him.
Still battling cancer, Angelil stepped down as Dion's manager after 30 years in June 2014 to focus on his health.
Angelil is survived by Dion and his six children.