Celine Dion’s husband steps down as manager after 30 years

Celine Dion. AP FILE PHOTO

MONTREAL – For the first time in her career, Canadian songstress Celine Dion has appointed a new manager, as her husband steps down from the position he has held for more than 30 years.

Rene Angelil, who had a cancerous tumor removed from his throat in December, will now serve as chairman of Dion’s Feeling Productions Inc., the company said in a statement.

“It is with great pleasure and with the utmost confidence that Rene Angelil announces today that his long-time close friend, Aldo Giampaolo, has been appointed as chief executive officer of Feeling Productions Inc., the company which manages Celine Dion’s career,” the statement added.

Giampaolo, who has worked with the Quebecois couple for more than 25 years, will live in Las Vegas, where Dion, a five-time Grammy winner, has performed full-time for more than three years.

“Celine and Rene have decided that the time has come to bring this appointment to fruition, one that Rene had proposed to Aldo several years ago,” the statement said.

Giampaolo, who has worked as CEO of sports and entertainment group Quebecor Media since July 2013, has spent nearly 25 years in show business, and worked for Cirque du Soleil from 2005 to 2011.

Dion, 46, met Angelil at the beginning of her career in 1981, when she was 12 and he was 38.

The couple began a relationship when Dion was 19 and married in 1994. They have three boys, the youngest of whom are twins.