Adele, Foo Fighters and Bon Iver the biggest winners of Grammy night

Los Angeles: Adele, who captured the world’s heart with an album about a broken romance, emerged as the top winner at the Grammy Awards, winning six trophies including the prestigious trifecta of record, song and album of the year. The British singer, who also made a triumphant comeback from vocal cord surgery on the Grammy stage Sunday, sobbed as she won the night’s final award, album of the year, for 21. It was last year’s top-selling album with more than six million copies sold and remains lodged at the No 1 spot on this year’s charts. Her victories tied her with Beyonce as the most wins by a woman in one evening. The celebration of Adele, a big-voiced, soulful singer, came on a night where the Grammys marked the loss of one of music’s great female voices — and one of its most prized talents overall. Whitney Houston died the night before the Grammys, casting a shadow over music’s biggest night. But while her death lent a somber overtone to the evening’s show, it did not overwhelm it, perhaps best proved by the show’s closing number, a rollicking jam session featuring Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and Dave Grohl among others. [caption id=“attachment_211351” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Adele, who captured the world’s heart with an album about a broken romance, emerged as the top winner at the Grammy Awards, winning six trophies including the prestigious trifecta of record, song and album of the year. AP”] [/caption] The evening’s most moving moment came as Jennifer Hudson — who has called Houston an inspiration and one of her biggest idols — emerged to sing one of Houston’s signature songs, I Will Always Love You. Dressed in black, with only the accompaniment of a piano, Hudson appeared to fight back tears as she sang the song, ending with the line, Whitney, we will always love you. The show started off on a somber note, as host LL Cool J appeared in black, and told the audience: “There is no way around this. We’ve had a death in our family.” He then led the audience in prayer to “our fallen sister.” “Heavenly father, we thank you for sharing our sister Whitney with us,” he said, as celebrities like Lady Gaga and Miranda Lambert bowed their heads in prayer. “Though she is gone too soon, we remain truly blessed to have been touched by her beautiful spirit.” He then introduced a clip of a glowing Houston singing I Will Always Love You. In his performance of Runaway Baby, Bruno Mars also mentioned the death: “Tonight we’re celebrating. Tonight we’re celebrating the beautiful Miss Whitney Houston.” And Stevie Wonder said: “To Whitney up in heaven, we all love you.” The night’s other big winners were Grohl’s Foo Fighters, who won five Grammys. They noted that they made their album Wasting Light in a garage. “To me this award means a lot because it shows that the human element of making music is what’s most important. Singing into a microphone, learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that’s the most important thing for people to do,” Grohl said as the band accepted their best rock performance trophy for Walk. ‘‘It’s not about being perfect. It’s not about sounding absolutely correct. It’s not about what goes on in a computer. It’s about what goes on in here (your heart) and what goes on here (your head). … Long live rock ’n’ roll!" Among the evening’s performances was a dance-heavy number by Chris Brown, and performances by McCartney and Springsteen, who kicked off the show by performing his new song We Take Care of Our Own, a rousing song that references the troubles of the nation. [caption id=“attachment_211379” align=“alignright” width=“380” caption=“The Foo Fighters performed in a tent outside the Staples Center. AP”] [/caption] The show, as usual, was heavy on performances more than awards. Among those was Chris Brown, who was performing on the stage for the first time since he dropped out of 2009’s broadcast; his attack on Rihanna the night before led to both of their absences, an assault charge for Brown and a career low. But 2011 marked an amazing comeback for Brown and he was rewarded with two planned performances during the show, the first time he and Rihanna performed at the same event since the attack (she sang solo and with Coldplay during the ceremony). Justin Vernon, whose band Bon Iver beat Nicki Minaj, The Band Perry, J Cole and Skrillex for best new artist, accepted the award with admittedly mixed emotions. “It’s really hard to accept this award … There’s a lot of talent that’s not here tonight. It’s also hard to accept because when I started to make songs I did it for the inherent reward of making songs, so I’m a little bit uncomfortable up here,” he said. The Grammys did their best to keep a tone that balanced the many moods of the night: The Foo Fighters performed in a tent outside the Staples Center, where the awards were being held, amid a throng of bouncing fans; but moments earlier, Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt paid tribute to Etta James, the legend who died last month. There was also a tribute to the recently reunited Beach Boys that featured Maroon 5, Foster the People and Mike Love, Al Jardine and Brian Wilson, the three remaining members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band, all pitch-perfect as they brought the groups California rock sound and harmonies back to life. Glen Campbell, who announced his retirement last year after disclosing he had Alzheimer’s disease, also performed with The Band Perry and Blake Shelton, singing his classic hit, “Rhinestone Cowboy.” The Foos and Brown also returned for another dance-themed performance, a first for the Grammys. It also featured deadmau5, David Guetta and Lil Wayne. And with Lady Gaga not performing, Minaj stepped in to give the night’s most bizarre/headscratching performance. The rapper-singer’s number included a clip that referenced The Exorcist and a stage show that had her levitating on stage amid a church-like background, with hooded choir members and religious imagery. The ceremony marked the first since a major overhaul of the categories last year: They were trimmed from 109 to 78. The move upset several musicians, and a group of Latin jazz musicians protested the elimination of their category outside arena. In one of the new categories, Rebirth Brass Band won the best regional roots music award for “Rebirth of New Orleans.” Saharan desert rockers Tinariwen won the newly-combined best world music album award, which had been previously been divided into traditional and contemporary categories. Mexican rockers Mana won for best Latin pop, rock or urban album, another new category. Cachao, the Cuban mambo pioneer who died in 2008, won best tropical Latin album. Stephen Marley, son of Bob Marley, won for best reggae album. When Tony Bennett won for best pop performance by a duo or group for his duet with Amy Winehouse, he invited the late singer’s parents to join him on stage during the awards ceremony’s pre-show segment. “We shouldn’t be here. Our darling daughter should be here,” Winehouse’s father, Mitch, said after he and the singer’s mother, Janis, had embraced Bennett. Mitch Winehouse also noted Houston’s death Saturday and the recent passing of James. “What can I say?” he said. “There’s a beautiful girl band up in heaven.” The 54th Grammy Awards were handed out in Los Angeles on Sunday, honoring the best music and artists of 2011 across all genres. Following is a list of key winners: RECORD OF THE YEAR : “Rolling In The Deep” Adele ALBUM OF THE YEAR - “21” Adele SONG OF THE YEAR - “Rolling In The Deep” Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth (song writer award) BEST NEW ARTIST - Bon Iver BEST POP SOLO PERFORMANCE - Adele “Someone Like You” BEST ROCK ALBUM - Foo Fighters “Wasting Light” BEST POP DUO - Tony Bennett and Amy Winehouse “Body and Soul” BEST POP VOCAL ALBUM - Adele “21” BEST RAP ALBUM - Kanye West “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” BEST POP INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM - Booker T. Jones “The Road From Memphis” BEST DANCE RECORDING - Skrillex “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” BEST DANCE/ELECTRONICA ALBUM - Skrillex “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” BEST TRADITIONAL POP VOCAL ALBUM - Tony Bennett & Various Artists “Duets II” BEST ROCK PERFORMANCE - Foo Fighters “Walk” BEST HARD ROCK/METAL PERFORMANCE - Foo Fighters “White Limo” BEST ROCK SONG - Foo Fighters (songwriters) “Walk” BEST ALTERNATIVE MUSIC ALBUM - Bon Iver “Bon Iver” BEST R&B PERFORMANCE - Corinne Bailey Rae “Is This Love” BEST TRADITIONAL R&B PERFORMANCE - Cee Lo Green & Melanie Fiona “Fool for You” BEST R&B SONG - Cee Lo Green, Melanie Hallim, Jack Splash (songwriters) “Fool for You” BEST R&B ALBUM - Chris Brown “F.A.M.E” BEST RAP PERFORMANCE - Jay-Z & Kanye West “Otis” BEST RAP/SUNG COLLABORATION - Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi & Fergie “All of the Lights” BEST RAP SONG - Jeff Bhasker, Stacy Ferguson, Malik Jones, Warren Trotter & Kanye West (songwriters) “All of the Lights” BEST COUNTRY SOLO PERFORMANCE - Taylor Swift “Mean” BEST COUNTRY DUO/GROUP PERFORMANCE - The Civil Wars “Barton Hollow” BEST COUNTRY SONG - Taylor Swift (songwriter) “Mean” BEST COUNTRY ALBUM - Lady Antebellum “Own The Night” BEST NEW AGE ALBUM - Pat Metheny “What’s It All About” BEST IMPROVISED JAZZ SOLO - Chick Corea “500 Miles High” BEST JAZZ VOCAL ALBUM - Terri Lyne Carrington & Various Artists “The Mosaic Project” BEST JAZZ INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM - Corea, Clarke & White “Forever” BEST LARGE JAZZ ENSEMBLE ALBUM - Christian McBride Big Band “The Good Feeling” BEST GOSPEL/CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC PERFORMANCE - Le’Andria Johnson “Jesus” BEST GOSPEL SONG - Kirk Franklin (songwriter) “Hello Fear” BEST CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC SONG - Laura Story (songwriter) “Blessings” BEST GOSPEL ALBUM - Kirk Franklin “Hello Fear” BEST CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC ALBUM - Chris Tomlin “And If Our God Is for Us…” BEST LATIN POP, ROCK, OR URBAN ALBUM - Mana “Drama y Luz” BEST REGIONAL MEXICAN OR TEJANO ALBUM - Pepe Aguilar “Bicentenario” BEST BANDA OR NORTENO ALBUM - Los Tigres Del Norte “Los Tigres Del Norte and Friends” BEST TROPICAL LATIN ALBUM - Cachao “The Last Mambo” BEST AMERICANA ALBUM - Levon Helm “Ramble at the Ryman” BEST BLUEGRASS ALBUM - Alison Krauss & Union Station “Paper Airplane” BEST BLUES ALBUM - Tedeschi Trucks Band “Revelator” BEST FOLK ALBUM - The Civil Wars “Barton Hollow” BEST REGIONAL ROOTS MUSIC ALBUM - Rebirth Brass Band “Rebirth of New Orleans” BEST REGGAE ALBUM - Stephen Marley “Revelation Pt. 1: The Root of Life” BEST WORLD MUSIC ALBUM - Tinariwen “Tassili” BEST CHILDREN’S ALBUM - Various Artists “All About Bullies … Big and Small” BEST SPOKEN WORD ALBUM - Betty White “If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won’t) BEST COMEDY ALBUM - Louis C.K. “Hilarious” BEST MUSICAL THEATER ALBUM - “The Book of Mormon” BEST SHORT FORM MUSIC VIDEO - Adele “Rolling in the Deep” BEST LONG FORM MUSIC VIDEO - Foo Fighters “Foo Fighters: Back and Forth” Agencies