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Days after her husband and manager died of cancer, Canadian singer Celine Dion has lost a brother also to cancer, a family spokesman said Saturday.
The AFP reported that Daniel Dion was 59 and the eighth of 14 Dion siblings.
The singer’s husband, Rene Angelil, who discovered the Canadian pop diva and managed her career, died on Thursday at the age of 73 at the couple’s home in Las Vegas.
Both men suffered from throat cancer.
Angelil’s funeral will be held Friday at the Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal where the couple married.
The following day a memorial service will be held for her late brother, with a formal funeral a few days after that, the family spokesman said.
In 1994, when Celine Dion was 26 and Angelil was twice her age, the couple married in an extravagant wedding that was televised live in Canada, and splashed all over glossy magazines.
Angelil’s funeral will unfold at the spot where, “21 years ago, he chose to marry the one who will remain as the great love of his life, the artist for which he had the most respect, the woman who gave him light and happiness until his very last breath,” a statement by the family spokesman read.
Beginning Thursday, a chapel at the basilica “will be open to the public to pay a last tribute” to the Montreal native, whose body will be displayed, it added.
A large crowd is expected Friday for the funeral, including show business and political figures.
Meanwhile, a commemorative celebration will be held on February 3 at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
Following Angelil’s death, Dion cancelled two previously scheduled performances there that had been set for this weekend.
