Celine Dion, family bid farewell to René Angélil at funeral

Emanuella Grinberg
By Emanuella Grinberg, CNN
1 minute read
Published 9:07 PM EST, Sat January 23, 2016
Recording artist Celine Dion and children René-Charles and twins Eddy and Nelson attend the funeral for her husband <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/16/entertainment/rene-angelil-celine-dion-husband-death-feat/">René Angélil </a>at Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal, Canada, on Friday, January 22.
Recording artist Celine Dion and children René-Charles and twins Eddy and Nelson attend the funeral for her husband René Angélil at Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal, Canada, on Friday, January 22.
Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images
Dion and Angélil, 73, married at the Notre-Dame Basilica in December 1994. "He will be remembered as a gentle man, generous and kind, an unprecedented visionary, a modern Pygmalion, a Renaissance man," an obituary read.
Dion and Angélil, 73, married at the Notre-Dame Basilica in December 1994. "He will be remembered as a gentle man, generous and kind, an unprecedented visionary, a modern Pygmalion, a Renaissance man," an obituary read.
Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images
C̩eline Dion pauses over Angélil's casket.
C̩eline Dion pauses over Angélil's casket.
GEOFF ROBINS/AFP/Getty Images
Dion leaves the church with her children after the funeral services. Her husband stepped aside as her manager in June 2014 because of his battle with cancer.
Dion leaves the church with her children after the funeral services. Her husband stepped aside as her manager in June 2014 because of his battle with cancer.
Paul Chiasson/AP
Dion walks behind her husband's casket following the funeral services. The family will host a public memorial for fans in Las Vegas on February 3, at Caesars Palace Colosseum.
Dion walks behind her husband's casket following the funeral services. The family will host a public memorial for fans in Las Vegas on February 3, at Caesars Palace Colosseum.
Ryan Remiorz/AP
Celine Dion, family mourn her husband
CNN  — 

Family, fans and friends joined Celine Dion in honoring René Angélil, whose funeral took place over two days this week in the Montreal basilica where the couple married in 1994.

Angélil died on January 14 of throat cancer. He planned the service, which was live-streamed and broadcast on Canadian television, a testament to Angélil’s stature in Canada.

Before he was Dion’s husband, he was a popular Canadian singer, producer and manager who groomed Dion into the international superstar she is today.

Fans streamed through Montreal’s Notre-Dame Basilica on Thursday for an open casket public viewing, followed by a memorial Friday that drew a mix of ordinary citizens and Canada’s elite.

Dressed in a black veil, dress, fur coat and stilettos, Dion greeted well-wishers with her oldest son, René-Charles, 14, and 5-year-old twins Nelson and Eddy. Her husband’s family, including his children from a previous marriage, also attended.

Dion is the youngest of 14 children. Two days after her husband died, one of her brothers, Daniel, died of cancer. His service will take place Monday.