Celine Dion always felt "protected" by her late husband René Angélil.

She said: "I was never part of any of the meetings that he had where he had to say yes or no. He protected me from day one to for the rest of my life, I am pretty sure of that."

Elsewhere during the evening, longtime associate and friend Paul Faberman recalled how Celine rolled her eyes when she was first approach to sing 'My Heart Will Go On', the theme from 1997 movie 'Titanic' and was unsure whether to take on the track because of negative press the film had received over claims in was over budget and fraught with on-set fighting.

Paul added: "It didn't look like this was going to be a big success story.

"And I'll never forget how René literally stood up from the table and he said 'I'm a gambler and I'm going to bet on this one.' And of course, the rest is history."

Celine didn't sing at the two-hour event, but her music was played, including an instrumental version of her hit single 'Because You Loved Me' and the 47-year-old star was reduced to tears when friend David Foster sang 'The Color Of My Love', a song which had been played at her wedding.