54th Grammy Awards 2012

The 54th annual Grammys were supposed to be all about the expected sweep by a titanic soul diva with pain in her heart and a voice for the ages. And while it was most certainly a good night for six-time winner Adele, the death of R&B superstar Whitney Houston on Saturday at the age of 48 cast an unmistakable shadow on the night's events.


Rapper LL Cool J headed up proceedings, opening the annual music event with a prayer for Whitney and her family. He said: "There is no way around this. We’ve had a death in our family. And so at least for me, the only thing that feels right is to begin with a prayer, for a woman we all loved, for our fallen sister, Whitney Houston.

Adele got the night started early with a win before the show for Best Pop Vocal Album, then quickly got in the game on the broadcast with a Best Pop Solo Performance win for "Someone Like You. Her "Rolling in the Deep" also won for Best Short Form Video and Song of the Year. And Album of the Year also went to Adele for 21. In one of the most anticipated performances of the night, Adele tried to show she was (almost) all the way back by singing the intro to "Deep" a cappella in a voice as strong and resonant as we all remembered.

The night's biggest nominee, Kanye West, was a no-show at the event but took four hip-hop honors, snatching Best Rap Album, Best Rap Song and Best Rap Collaboration for "All of the Lights" from his My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and sharing Best Rap Performance with Jay-Z for "Otis."

Though he missed out on the Best New Artist award, Skrillex scooped up a trio of gramophones, including Best Dance Recording, Best Dance/Electronica Album and Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical.

The Foo Fighters were rewarded early as well, nabbing four Grammys, including Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance for "White Limo," Best Rock Song for "Walk," Best Rock Album for Wasting Light and Best Long Form Music Video for "Foo Fighters: Back and Forth."

Chris Brown celebrated a major win when he snagged Best R&B Album for F.A.M.E.

Taylor Swift is used to winning, and Sunday night was no different, as the revenge track "Mean" from Speak Now took Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song.


On a night when attention was turned to a treasure lost, another recently passed soul diva, Amy Winehouse, won a posthumous Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for her duet with Tony Bennett on "Body and Soul."


Jennifer Hudson paid dramatic tribute to Houston late in the show, singing a soul-stirring, gospel-tinged version of Whitney's showstopper "I Will Always Love You," accompanied only by piano, ending with the shout-out, "Whitney we love, we love you."

Best New Artist and Best Alternative Music Album - Bon Iver

Best R&B Performance - Corinne Bailey Rae
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and Best Rap Song - "All Of The Lights" - Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi & Fergie
Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media - "The King's Speech"


http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1679105/grammys-2012-recap-adele.jhtml

What a night!

xo K