Black Keys rules Grammy with four wins
MUMBAI: US rockers Black Keys with their front-man Dan Auerbach emerged as the big winners at the 55th annual Grammy Awards, taking home four trophies including Best Rock Album.
The band picked up trophies for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song for ‘Lonely Boy’, Best Rock Album for ‘El Camino’ and Producer of the Year Non Classical Dan Auerbach.
While Mumford & Sons bagged the Album of the Year title for ‘Babel’; Gotye picked up three major awards including Record of the Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’ featuring Kimbra and Best Alternative Music Album for ‘Making Mirrors’.
Jay-Z and Kanye West also picked up three awards - Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song for their collaboration 'N****s in Paris', and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for ‘No Church in the Wild’ feat. Frank Ocean & The-Dream.
DJ Skrillex, who picked up three Grammy awards last year, added two more on his mantle this year with the Best Dance/Electronica Album and Best Dance Recording feat Sirah for 'Bangarang.'
Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, picked up the Best Historical Album Grammy for 'The Smile Sessions’ and Janis Ian won the Grammy award for Best Spoken Word Album for her spoken word autobiography 'Society's Child’.
Late Indian sitar maestro Ravi Shankar’s daughter Anoushka Shankar accepted the Grammy on behalf of her father in the category in which she had also been nominated. Ravi Shankar, who was also to be given a posthumous lifetime achievement Grammy at the show, won The Best World Music Album Grammy for ‘The Living Room Sessions Part 1’.
The Indian icon was amongst seven artists, including Carole King and the Temptations, named as Lifetime Achievement Award honorees
Other big winners of the night included Fun, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Usher, Adele and more.
The awards night also witnessed performances by Taylor Swift, Maroon 5 and Alicia Keys, Justin Timberlake with his new single ‘Suit and Tie’, Fun, Miguel with rapper Wiz Khalifa, the Black Keys, Elton John and Ed Sheeran amongst others.
The ceremony also paid a special tribute to Bob Marley featuring Bruno Mars, Sting, Ziggy Marley, Damian ‘Jr Gong’ Marley and Rihanna. There were also several tributes to fallen legends. Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Kenny Garrett honoured Dave Brubeck with a rendition of ‘Take Five’. And Levon Helm was remembered with a version of ‘The Weight’ involving Mavis Staples, Zac Brown and Mumford & Sons.
The 55th Grammy awards handed out their gramophone-shaped trophies in more than 80 categories. After paying tribute to electronic dance music last year, the Grammys highlighted country music this year.
