What Cancer Did Celine Dion Husband Have?

Celine Dion’s husband, René Angélil, died of throat cancer in their Las Vegas home in January 2016 at the age of 73.

They were married for 21 years.

Rene, who was 73 at the time, was a Canadian musical producer.

Angélil started out in 1961 as a pop singer in Montreal. He formed a pop-rock group, Les Baronets (fr), with childhood friends Pierre Labelle and Jean Beaulne.

Les Baronets had some hits during the 1960s, mostly translations of English-language pop hits from the United Kingdom or the United States, such as “C’est fou, mais c’est tout” in 1964 (a translation of The Beatles’ song “Hold Me Tight”).

After the dissolution of the group in 1972, Angélil and best friend Guy Cloutier began managing artists.

Together they managed the career of two successful Québec entertainers René Simard and Ginette Reno, among many other pop stars at the time.

They parted ways in 1981 to each become solo managers.

In 1981 (not long after being terminated as Ginette’s manager and considering leaving the music business to pursue law school) René heard Celine Dion’s demo tape when he was considered as a potential producer for her album.

He soon took over as her agent. He continued as her manager until June 2014, when he stepped down because he had cancer.