Rene Angelil, husband of Celine Dion, has died

However, he remained involved in business decisions.

The 73-year-old former musician, who later turned manager of Dion, passed away on Thursday morning at his home in Las Vegas.

As a talent agent, he signed one of the biggest names in Quebec music, Ginette Reno, but the arrangement ended abruptly in 1981, leaving Angelil destitute and desperate.

Eventually the couple landed in Las Vegas where Dion played almost 1,000 shows, earning her more millions. “Thank U for Celine + for giving her my songs Thank U for everything + I’m hoping there r casinos in Heaven”.

“When something like this happens to you it hits you so hard”, Celine says at the time. Instead of running away, however, the singer took a two-year hiatus from her singing career and stayed at home to care for her husband in his time of need. I’ll take care of our kids. He also has three children from his previous two marriages.

A longtime friend and collaborator of Angelil says he felt a strong bond with Celine Dion’s husband from the moment they met.

TMZ is reporting that Rene Angelil, the husband of singer Celine Dion, died on Thursday after a lengthy battle with cancer.

“The first (hand)shake I had with him I thought we decided we were going to be partners in the venture of taking Celine to the top…”

In 1981, a then 12-year-old Dion submitted a demo tape to Angelil, who later agreed to manage the budding songstress.

Despite a 25-year age difference, Angelil and the 47-year-old Dion were married in Montreal in 1994 in a lavish ceremony.

Angelil was born in Montreal on January 16, 1942, to a Syrian father and a Quebecois mother. Dion has said that Angelil mortgaged his house to finance her first album.

In that same interview, she admitted that her husband’s dying wish was to pass on while wrapped in his wife’s arms.