Rene Angelil

Bio:
Rene Angelil (born January 16, 1942 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada) was a Canadian singer and manager. Rene reportedly studied at College Saint-Viateur in Outremont, and College Andre-Grasset in Montreal. In the 1960s, Rene was a pop singer, forming The Baronets with two childhood friends. The group found success translating English pop hits into French for the French-speaking Quebecois. After the group broke up, Rene and friend Guy Cloutier began a career managing fellow artists. The two managed successful Quebec entertainers until they parted ways in 1981. At the end of 1980, Rene heard a demo tape from a then-twelve-year-old Celine Dion that reportedly moved Rene to tears. He mortgaged his home to fund her first record, which became a local number-one hit in Quebec. He would continue to be her manager until 2013.

Best Known For:
Rene Angelil is best known as the manager and husband of Celine Dion.

Personal Life:
Rene married his first wife, Denyse Duquette, in 1966. They had one son, Patrick, before they divorced in 1972. In 1974, he married singer Anne Renee, and together, they had a son, Jean Pierre, and Anne Marie. They divorced in 1980. In 1994, Rene and Celine were married. They have three sons together: Rene Charles and twins Eddy and Nelson. Rene was an avid gambler and a fan of NHL hockey. Rene was the target of an extortion attempt by Yun Kyeong Kwon Sung in 2003. In 2001, he and Celine filed a $5 million defamation lawsuit against Quebec tabloid over the story that they rented out a pool of Ceasars Palace for $5,000 so she could sunbathe topless and he could skinny dip. In 1992, Rene suffered a heart attack. In 1998, doctors removed a malignant tumor from his neck. Rene continued to combat throat cancer for the next two decades. Rene passed away on Jan. 14, 2016.