René Angélil
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René Angélil (born January 16, 1942 in Montreal, Québec, Canada) is the husband and manager of singer Céline Dion. He studied in the Collège Grasset and Les Clercs de Saint-Viateur in Outremont, Montreal.
He started out as a pop singer in the 1960s in Montréal, Angélil formed a pop rock group, "The Baronets", with childhood friend Pierre Labelle and Jean Beaulne, who were known as "Québec's Beatles." This group had some hits in the 1960's as "C'est Fou, Mais c'est Tout" (a translation of the Beatles' song "Hold Me Tight") catering to the short-lived Québec market for translations of English language pop hits from the United Kingdom or the United States. After the dissolution of the group, René 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 of the time. They parted ways in 1981, each managing their own artists.
Not long after being replaced as Ginette's manager, at the end of 1981 René heard Céline Dion's demo tape. In 1987 and 1988, he won the Félix Award of Manager of the Year.
On December 17, 1994, after over 13 years of managing her, he married Céline, 26 years younger; she is his third wife. Their son, René-Charles Dion Angélil was born on January 25, 2001. René also has three other children from his previous marriages.
He suffered from throat cancer (resulting in Dion temporarily halting her career to be with him), but has recovered. He is a keen poker player, having qualified for the 2005 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions, and finishing in the money at the 2007 Mirage Poker Showdown event on the World Poker Tour, a series of high stakes tournaments. Angélil is also rumored to be a dedicated gambler away from the poker table. He reportedly gambles upwards of 1 million dollars per week at Caesars Palace, and keeps a line of credit for the same amount at Bellagio. [1] [2]
Marriages:
-1966: first wife Denyse Duquette: mother of Patrick Angélil (born in 1968, same year as future wife Céline Dion)
-1970: second wife Anne-Renée Kirouac, called Manon on the stage (she was also a singer): mother of Jean-Pierre Angélil (born in 1974) and Anne-Marie Angélil (born in 1977)
-1994: third wife Céline Dion: mother of René-Charles Dion Angélil (born in 2001)
René Angélil will be portrayed in an unauthorized TV Movie Biopic about Céline Dion by Toronto actor Enrico Colantoni.
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