Adele cleans up, winning SIX Grammy Awards

It was a night of triumph and sadness in Los Angeles as two vocal titans ruled the evening.

Brit singer Adele swept the board at the Grammy Awards making a triumphant return to the world stage on the night the music industry paused to pay tribute to tragic singer Whitney Houston.

The Londoner won SIX Grammy Awards, including the big categories like Record of the Year and Song of the Year for Rolling In the Deep and Album of the Year for her smash hit 21.

The ceremony opened on a sombre note as host, hip-hop star LL Cool J led the star-studded audience in the Staples Center in prayer in honour of the 48-year-old singer who died suddenly on Saturday afternoon.

Dressed in a black tuxedo, the rapper looked on the verge of tears as he said: ‘There is no way around this. We’ve had a death in our family.

‘So at least, for me, the only thing that feels right is to start with a prayer for the woman that we love, for our fallen sister Whitney Houston.’

The rapper – whose real name is James Todd Smith – said: ‘Heavenly Father, we thank you for sharing our sister Whitney with us.

‘Though she is gone too soon, we remain truly blessed to have been touched by her beautiful spirit.’

The rapper-turned-actor’s tribute continued as the show’s producers reminded the crowd of one of the multi-Grammy Award-winners.

Although she had been dead just over 24 hours Houston’s peers gave her a standing ovation after watching her sing her hit I Will Always Love You on video taken from a previous ceremony.

He then said: ‘Whitney, we will always love you.’

The host refused to get too sad and took the opportunity to welcome Adele’s return to the music community just months after vocal surgery threatened to end her career.

‘Adele,’ he said. ‘Welcome back.’

Adele was triumphant in her first performance since vocal cord surgery forced the cancellation of a tour and months of vocal rest.

As the world wondered whether her voice would still soar, she answered with her performance of her hit Rolling in the Deep and received a rousing standing ovation from the crowd.

The song also won her one of the night’s most prestigious awards, Song of the Year, as well as one for Best Pop Solo Performance.

‘I can’t believe I’m getting emotional already,’ she said after picking up the latter award.

‘And seeing as it’s a vocal performance, I need to thank my doctors, I suppose, who brought my voice back.’

The singer got up throughout the night as she won award after award.

In total she won six – in every single category in which she was nominated making her tie with Beyonce to become the only female artist in Grammy Award history to win the most gongs in a single night.

The chirpy Londoner kept the glitzy crowd laughing with her down-to-earth comments, even commenting on her runny nose as she scooped her award for Album of the Year.
After thanking her mum, she giggled: ‘Oh, a little bit of snot.’

She also lovingly thanked respected producer Rick Rubin and new boyfriend Simon Konecki.

Front man David Grohl was thrilled with the recognition and noted that they made their album Wasting Light in a garage.

He made a point of saying during one of his thank you speeches: ‘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…’

Another notable winner 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 their absences, an assault charge for Brown and a career low.

But 2011 marked an amazing comeback for Brown who won the award for best R&B album for his record F.A.M.E.

The singer said: ‘[I] thank the Grammys for letting me get on this stage and do my thing.’

His ex-girlfriend Rhianna gave a raunchy performance with British rock band, Coldplay, wearing little but a pair of leather hot pants and a bra top.

Donning her new peroxide blonde hairstyle she grinded with her dancers before standing opposite Chris Martin who strummed along on guitar.

Her friend Katy Perry also gave a steamy performance.

Tributes continued to be paid throughout to Whitney Houston, with Jennifer Hudson taking to the stage to perform the late stars iconic song, I Will Always Love You.

Dressed in black, with only the accompaniment of a piano, she had to fight back tears as she sang I Will Always Love You, ending with the line: ‘Whitney, we will always love you.’

In his performance of Runaway Baby, Bruno Mars also mentioned the star’s death, saying: ‘Tonight we’re celebrating.

‘Tonight we’re celebrating the beautiful Miss Whitney Houston.’

Meanwhile Stevie Wonder – who took to the stage to introduce Paul McCartney – also slipped in a reference to the Greatest Love Of All singer.

The former Motown artist said: ‘To Whitney up in heaven, we all love you.’

GRAMMY AWARDS 2012: THE WINNERS