RPT-UPDATE 1-Singer Celine Dion's husband, René Angélil, dies after cancer battle

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By Allison Lampert
MONTREAL, Jan 14 (Reuters) - René Angélil, the husband of
award-winning singer Celine Dion, died on Thursday at the age of
73 after a long battle with cancer, Dion said in a post on her
Facebook (O:FB) page.
"Other information will be provided in the next few days,"
the post in French said, adding the family wishes to mourn in
private.
The Canadian entertainment manager, who discovered Dion when
she was 12-years-old and drove her career to stardom before
marrying her, died at the family's home in Las Vegas.
Angélil married Dion, 47, in 1994 at a lavish wedding in
Montreal's Notre Dame Basilica. They have three sons.
His illness, first diagnosed in 1999, prompted Dion to put
her career on hold in 2014, suspending her Las Vegas residency.
Dion said Angélil supported her later return to the stage.
Angélil stepped down as Dion's manager in 2014, turning her
career over to a friend of the couple, Aldo Giampaolo.
Dion told Good Morning America in early 2015 that Angélil
had to eat with the help of a feeding tube three times a day,
and was not able to talk or swallow.
Angélil, a Montreal native, first met the French-Canadian
singer when she was 12 years old after she sent him a recorded
song she had written with her mother.
He agreed to manage Dion in exchange for full control over
her career and was said to have mortgaged his home to finance
her first album.
When Dion was 18, Angélil instructed the French-speaking
singer to remake her image by changing her hair and capping her
teeth, and register in English school so she could record songs
for the U.S. market.
Their marriage was initially opposed by Dion's mother, not
only because of their 26-year age gap but because Angélil had
three children from two previous unions, the singer told media
in 2013.
"I have to say that for my mom he was not the prince
charming - the ideal prince charming. It was very difficult,"
Dion told Access Hollywood.com in 2013.
The singer said her mother and family of 13 siblings came to
approve of Angélil.
"She had no choice. Love won."