Grammys’ Highlights
The ceremony honored 109 categories and many artists gathered to watch and give amazing performances. Christina Aguilera opened the show by singing a tribute to the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin, who is recovering from surgery. Florence Welch (Florence and The Machine), Jennifer Hudson, Yolanda Adams and Martina McBride joined Aguilera in the performance.
The always eccentric Lady Gaga hit the stage inside a giant egg carried by her dancers and then emerged to the stage and performed her new single “BornThis Way.”
The night became colorful when the actress Gwyneth Paltrow took the stage with Cee Lo Green singing “Forget You” surrounded by puppets instead of dancers.
Another surprise of the night was the legendary former Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger, who moved his hips with lots of energy to perform “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love”, a tribute to Solomon Burke, who died last year.
The rapper Eminem led nominations with 10, however, he had to conform with two awards, Best rap album for “Recovery” and best rap solo performance for “Not Afraid.” Hawaiian Bruno Mars followed with seven nominations, taking the statuette for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for “Just The Way You Are.”
Country trio Lady Antebellum was the big winner of the night, taking home five awards, including song of the year and record of the year for “Need You Now.”
The pop diva Lady Gaga also won three gold statuettes, including best vocal album for “The Fame Monster.” While Jay-Z took home two trophies for his duet with Alicia Keys, “Empire State of Mind”.
Best album award went to Canadian rocker band Arcade Fire for their album “The Suburbs”.
The winner on the Best new artist category, singer and bassist Esperanza Spalding surprised the audience since she left behing teen’s favorite Justin Bieber and Drake, becoming the first jazz artist to win this prize.
Former Beatle Paul McCartney won the award for best rock solo performance for his live album “Good Evening New York City”, while the Beatles Box disc was recognized as best historical album.
The British duo La Roux won the best electronic album award and Muse’s album “The Resistance” gave the trio the statuette for best rock album.
Among the Latin artists who were honored with awards was the Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz, who won the award for best Latin pop album for “Paraiso Express” and the Mexican band Grupo Fantasma, who won the prize for best album of alternative rock and urban music.