How many of us have watched the public mourning followed by the funeral of René Angelil on the internet? As a great Céline Dion fan, I must confess, I have almost been looking forward to it... Have I been intruding or voluntarily prying on someone else's grief? Yes, certainly, somehow. But my first goal in doing so has been to sympathise with Céline Dion whose songs have craddled me from my teenage until now. An anonymous support. And while I was watching the whole ceremony, I felt surprised because I was feeling more touched than I had thought. Why? Well, because I have realised that while I have been listening to Céline Dion's songs, I have never realised that, in fact, those songs have been René's oeuvre and choices bearing Céline Dion's spin and touch. I have never realised how he has trained and moulded her to match his tastes, but, above all, the industry's . As I have been listening to those songs, I have been blinded or deafened by the golden voice, not realising the work, the craftmanship of the man behind the notes. In fact, I have been listening to René Angelil, minus the voice. I almost feel some regrets now that he is gone, how much I have overlooked this fact or known it but deliberately overlooked it, putting it in the corner of my ears, prefering to focus on what I was hearing. Céline Dion has become this tremendous singer today because of the vision and the unfathomed will of a single man: her husband and manager René Angelil.
Why am I feeling sad? With his death, I find out that a whole world has collapsed and gone. Though it will not be the case, I almost feel that it is going to be the end of Céline Dion's career. At least, his death will bring some changes into how her career is going to be shaped from now on. Because nobody will be able to match what René Angélil has built: a star who is able to shine both in the French-speaking world and internationally, with almost 300 million albums sold, an untainted image, and songs so well-chosen that they that will haunt our memory for decades. A performance that is hard to beat. No manager is known to have been that committed and dedicated to his artist. The passing of René Angelil has hit me, us, in a way that now, when we will hear Céline Dion sing, we will now think of him whose artistry and good taste have been hidden behind those songs, we will think of him whose talent we have for so long failed to recognise and appreciate. We will think of him now as the star-maker whose intuition never failed him, whose gambling always yielded. We will see in him the man behind Céline Dion's success. We owe him that. I wish he may find peace in his new journey. As a final word I will say, respect, Mr Angélil.
