British soul artist Adele won all six awards she was nominated for at the 54th Grammy Awards, Reuters.com reports. The singer, whose performance at the Grammys was her first after getting vocal chord surgery in November, picked up the award for Album of the Year for 21 and Best Record for "Rolling in the Deep," among others.
Adele's live performance of the latter song earned her a standing ovation at the ceremony. Later, she was teary-eyed as she picked up the award for Album of the Year, mentioning that 21 was inspired by a "rubbish relationship"--something she said everyone has had a chance to experience.
Other big winners at the Grammys were rock band Foo Fighters, who bagged five awards, and rapper Kanye West, who got four.
But as winners rejoiced, the atmosphere of the ceremony also remained solemn as artists paid tribute to singer Whitney Houston throughout the ceremony. She died in her hotel room on February 11, the night before the awards.
Ceremony host LL Cool J offered a prayer for the great singer. "There is no way around this. We've had a death in our family. The only thing that feels right is to begin with a prayer for a woman who we loved--for our fallen sister, Whitney Houston," he is quoted as saying on BBC.co.uk.
Meanwhile, Oscar Award winner Jennifer Hudson performed a simple but emotional version of "I Will Always Love You," a Dolly Parton's song Whitney remade for The Bodyguard soundtrack. She ended by saying, "Whitney, we will always love you."
Among other artists who paid tribute to Whitney at the ceremony were Bruno Mars, who said, "Tonight we're celebrating the beautiful Miss Whitney Houston." Music icon Stevie Wonder also said, "To Whitney up in heaven, we all love you."
For more on Whitney Houston, check this out on FN:
For more on Adele, read this article:
(Photo of Adele by nikotransmission via Wikimedia Commons; photo of Whitney Houston by tm_10001 via Flickr Creative Commons)
