LL Cool J, who hosted the awards, honored Whitney Houston by declaring “There is no way around this. We’ve had a death in our family… and so at least for me, for me, the only thing that feels right is to begin with a prayer for a woman we loved – for our fallen sister, Whitney Houston.” He rolled the ball forward by playing one of Whitney’s most memorable Grammy performances.
The main winners were:
- Best Solo Performance – Adele (Someone Like You)
- Best Rap Performance – Jay Z and Kanye West (Otis)
- Best Rock Performance – Foo Fighters (Walk)
- Best R&B Album – (F.A.M.E.) Chris Brown
- Song of the Year – Rolling in the Deep
- Best Country Album – Own the Night( Lady Antebellum)
- Best New Artist – Bon Iver
- Record of the Year – Rollin in the Deep (Adele)
- Album of the Year – 21 (Adele)
Adele is definitely the queen of this year’s Grammy Awards, scoring an award in all six categories for which she was nominated. She won a Grammy for each of the following: Pop Vocal Album, Best Pop Solo Vocal Performance, Short Form Music Video, Record Of The Year, and Song Of The Year.
She made a stunning comeback after her recent throat surgery with a live performance on Sunday night mesmerizing the Grammy audience. Her sophomore album “21” won the Album Of The Year Award.
Whitney Houston’s passing lent a somber tone to an otherwise festive ambience. Kelly Rowland admitted that Whitney was one of the biggest influences in her life and said, “Tonight there is a very somber tone at the Grammys, because we lost our hero.”
Jennifer Hudson paid her respect to Whitney at the Grammy’s by performing Whitney’s signature song “I Will Always Love You.”
As the evening rolled on at the 54th Grammy Awards held at the Staples Center, LA, the mood lightened with Bruno mesmerizing the crowd and literally screaming “C’mon, get up off your rich asses and dance!” and the crowd got to its feet!