Hello singer Adele has won five Grammys on a record-breaking night for the British star, but she was left "devastated" after fluffing her musical tribute to George Michael.

The 28-year-old singer won album of the year for 25 and record and song of the year for Hello, beating her "idol" Beyonce to the three top awards.

A tearful Adele dedicated her album award to Beyonce, who missed out with her celebrated visual record Lemonade.

"I can't possibly accept this award," she said.

"I'm very humble and I'm grateful and gracious but my artist of my life is Beyonce and the Lemonade album was just so monumental - Beyonce, it was so monumental - and so well thought out and so beautiful and soul-bearing.

"All us artists here, we f****** adore you.

"The way you make me and my friends feel. The way you make my black friends feel is empowering. You make them stand up for themselves and I love you and I always have."

She added: "My idol is Queen Bey and I adore you."

Adele also won best pop vocal album for 25 and best pop solo performance for Hello, taking her total number of Grammy wins to 15.

She is the first artist to win song, record and album of the year in the same year twice following her success in 2012 with her album 21 and single Rolling In The Deep.

Adele had earlier been left in tears during the star-studded ceremony in Los Angeles after she restarted her rendition of Michael's song Fast Love.

She swore as she called a halt to her performance, telling the audience: "I'm sorry, I can't mess this up for him."

Backstage, Adele said she was "devastated" about restarting the song - a year after she struggled with sound problems during her performance at the 2016 Grammys.

There was more British success as David Bowie won four posthumous Grammys following his death from cancer last year.

Bowie, who died in January 2016 aged 69, won best alternative music album, best rock performance and best engineered non-classical album for his last release, Blackstar.

He also won best rock song for his single Blackstar, while the Blackstar album won another Grammy when Jonathan Barnbrook took home best recording package for his artwork on the record.

Bowie's awards were his first music Grammys after previously winning best music video in 1985 for Jazzin' For Blue Jean and a lifetime achievement award in 2006.

Beyonce made her first public performance since announcing she is pregnant with twins as she performed two songs from her hit album Lemonade.

Her husband Jay Z and their daughter Blue Ivy were in the audience as she won best urban contemporary album and best music video for Formation.

On stage, Beyonce said the album was made to "give a voice to our pain" and to "confront issues that make us uncomfortable".

Chance The Rapper won best new artist, best rap album and best rap performance after becoming the first artist to be nominated for a streaming-only album following the release of Coloring Book.

Described by organisers as music's biggest night, stars including Kanye West, Justin Bieber and Drake - who won two awards for Hotline Bling - did not attend the ceremony.

Rapper Busta Rhymes took aim at US president Donald Trump as he performed with A Tribe Called Quest.

On stage, he said: "I just want to thank President Agent Orange for perpetuating all of the evil that you've been perpetuating throughout the United States.

"I want to thank President Agent Orange for his unsuccessful attempt at the Muslim ban."

The two members of Twenty One Pilots removed their trousers as they took to the stage to collect the award for best pop duo/group performance.

Lead singer Tyler Joseph said his bandmate Josh Dun had suggested the stunt while they watched the Grammys years before they were famous.

There were more sound problems during the ceremony as Metallica and Lady Gaga performed Moth Into Flame together.

The microphone used by the band's frontman James Hetfield was not working at the start of the performance, forcing him to share Gaga's microphone.

Bruno Mars performed Let's Go Crazy in a tribute to Prince, following his sudden death in April last year

Bee Gees star Barry Gibb was in audience as singers including Demi Lovato and Tori Kelly performed a medley of the band's hits to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.

British comedian James Corden hosted the awards show and recreated his popular Carpool Karaoke sketch, singing Sweet Caroline with a host of famous singers.

Here is the list of winners in the main categories at the 2017 Grammy Awards.

The Chainsmokers featuring Daya - Don't Let Me Down

Cage The Elephant - Tell Me I'm Pretty

The Beatles: Eight Days A Week - The Touring Years </s> Adele accepts the award for album of the year for "25" at the 59th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)

Along with the heavy emphasis on female power players Beyoncé and Adele, a veteran rocker commanded the 59th annual Grammy Awards.

David Bowie, who died in January 2016 of liver cancer, finally received vindication by sweeping his five nominated categories.

But Adele collected an armful of Grammys by the end of the night, also taking every one of her five categories, including the big three: album of the year (“25”) and song and record of the year (“Hello”). She is the first artist to win those top three categories twice.

A sobbing Adele appeared to feel guilty for besting Beyoncé for album of the year.

“The artist of my life is Beyoncé. The ‘Lemonade’ album is so monumental and so well-thought-out and so soul-baring,” Adele said as a teary-eyed Beyoncé graciously beamed. “All us artists here, we [expletive] adore you. You are our light.”

“Hello” also won best pop solo performance, while “25” nabbed best pop vocal album.

Backstage, Adele made a rare appearance and reiterated her affection for Beyoncé.

“The Grammys mean a lot to me. It’s the award show, and I feel very lucky to have achieved (the feat of winning the top three awards). But my album of the year was ‘Lemonade,’ and a piece of me did die inside. I voted for her. (But) I am incredibly humbled by this. America has always been very kind to me,” she said, adding with a laugh, “I don’t know why.”

>> WATCH: Adele dedicates Grammy for Album of the Year to Beyoncé

“Blackstar,” the final album on Bowie’s resume — released two days prior to his death — garnered best rock song and best alternative album among his posthumous accolades. Bowie’s only previous Grammy came in 1985 for the “Jazzin’ for Blue Jean” video.

Viewers of the Sunday night ceremony at the Staples Center in Los Angeles saw plenty of this year’s leading ladies. Beyoncé led the nominations with nine and went home with two.

Adele, who joined the blonde bandwagon with Katy Perry, opened the show with her slow-burn monster hit, “Hello,” and mock-wiped her brow at the song’s end in reference to the audio blip that marred her 2016 Grammy performance.

The British songbird was also tapped to perform the tribute to George Michael, a haunting rendition of “Fastlove,” which provided her with another agonizing Grammy moment when she stopped midway through the song — she was clearly in the wrong key — and told the orchestra to start the song over.

“I can’t mess this up for him,” she said, ending the song in tears even as the audience gave her a standing ovation.

While backstage after the show, Adele said she was “devastated” by the do-over and said her earliest memory of Michael was seeing the “Fastlove” video.

“I was blown away by how [expletive] hot he was,” she said.

Beyoncé, still wearing the gold-beaded outfit she donned during her laborious, yet colorful, performance of “Love Drought” and “Sandcastles,” read her acceptance speech when “Lemonade” was named best urban contemporary album (she also won for best music video for “Formation”).

“Thank you for everyone who worked so hard to capture the profundity of deep Southern culture,” she said. “It’s important to create a body of work that will give voice to our pain.”

A sincere Chance the Rapper made Grammy history with his two wins from his “Coloring Book” release; it’s the first time a streaming-only album has been eligible.

Before landing his win for best new artist, Chance, who was nominated for seven awards and won three, picked up an early trophy for best rap performance (“No Problem”), which features Lil Wayne and Atlanta’s 2 Chainz. The win earned the College Park native his first Grammy after four previous nominations.

After five years of LL Cool J steering the 3 ½-hour Grammy production, late-night TV host James Corden proved a fizzy replacement — adding pratfalls, a starry “Carpool Karaoke” with Neil Diamond, Jennifer Lopez, Faith Hill and others, and a light dash of politics to the night.

A medley featuring A Tribe Called Quest and Anderson .Paak expressed the most pointed political moment when Q-Tip ended the performance – which was also a tribute to Phife Dawg – by chanting “Resist! Resist! Resist!”

Twenty One Pilots’ Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun opted for humor by accepting their first Grammy for best pop duo/group performance for “Stressed Out” in their underwear, which is how they said they watched a previous Grammy ceremony at home in Ohio.

The show touted as “music’s biggest night” is renowned for spotlighting performances and idiosyncratic pairings and this year yielded mixed results.

Ed Sheeran soared by accentuating the simplicity of “Shape of You”; Lukas Graham veered off-key during a mash-up of “Peter Pan” and “7 Years” with Kelsea Ballerini; and a quite pregnant Beyoncé, introduced by her mother Tina Knowles, eventually showed up after a ponderous video introduction. Donning a metallic headpiece possibly tossed away after the last Cher tour, she whisper-sung “Love Drought” and the more elegant “Sandcastles.”

Maren Morris, the winner for best country solo performance (“My Church”), wore an unusually slinky outfit and slayed her duet with Alicia Keys on “Once,” while Sharon Jones received a warm mention before the horn section of her Dap-Kings backed Sturgil Simpson on “All Around You.”

But not much compared to Lady Gaga’s riff-tastic, stage-diving romp with Metallica, which not even a faulty microphone could tame as the team roared through “Moth Into Flame.”

Well, perhaps the zippy Prince tribute showcasing Morris Day and the Time and Bruno Mars, a natural showman in purple sequins as he gyrated through “Let’s Go Crazy.”

Stax mainstay William Bell, long an Atlanta resident, scored his inaugural Grammy for “This is Where I Live” (best Americana album) during the 3 ½-hour pre-show.

>> Adele has technical issue, asks that Grammys George Michael tribute be started over

While accepting his award, the 77-year-old musician, who performed “Born Under a Bad Sign” with Gary Clark Jr. on the live telecast, seemed genuinely surprised at winning.

“I am glad to be here after all these years and still viable in the industry,” Bell said. “I’m back at Stax (Records) after 40 years … it’s always good to come home.”

The Grammys are voted on by the members of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. The eligibility period for the 2017 ceremony was Oct. 1, 2015, through Sept. 30, 2016. </s> LOS ANGELES (AP) — David Bowie’s final album, released days after he died of cancer last year, earned him three Grammy Awards on Sunday, while Beyonce and Adele also picked up early awards.

“Blackstar” won best alternative music album, rock performance — where Bowie beat Beyonce and Jack White — and engineered album, non-classical, where Bowie won over Prince (Bowie is listed as one of the engineers on “Blackstar.”)

Bowie was nominated for four Grammys, and his final category — best rock song — will be announced in the live telecast, which begins at 8 p.m. Eastern on CBS.

Adele won best pop vocal album (“25”) and pop solo performance (“Hello”) in the pre-telecast ceremony in Los Angeles. Beyonce was also an early winner: She became a 21-time Grammy winner after picking up best music video for the hit “Formation.” She lost best music film (“Lemonade”) to the Ron Howard-directed “The Beatles: Eight Days A Week The Touring Years.”

Beyonce’s younger sister, critical R&B darling Solange, won her first Grammy for best R&B performance (it was her first-ever nomination).

Drake, who isn’t attending the live show, won best rap song and rap/sung performance for the smash hit, “Hotline Bling.” Chance the Rapper, nominated for seven awards, won best rap performance for “No Problem,” also earning Grammys for Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz.

Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” — which is nominated for an Oscar — won best song written for visual media. His No.1 hit is from the “Trolls” soundtrack. Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott won two Grammys in the Christian category for the album she recorded with her family. Scott, who has won seven Grammys with Lady A, cried onstage both times when accepting the wins.

“We’ve been crying since this project started,” her father, Lang Scott, said.

Best new artist nominees The Chainsmokers won best dance recording for the pop hit “Don’t Let Me Down,” while album of the year nominee Sturgill Simpson won best country album for “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth.”

The country music rebel thanked his wife, who he said told him to quit his job on the railroad years ago and move to Nashville.

Joey + Rory won best roots gospel album for “Hymns,” and Rory Feek was emotional onstage as he remembered his wife Joey, who died last year from cancer.

“My wife’s dream was to make a hymns album. She didn’t have the chance to do it until she’d been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, so she’d sing in hotel rooms while she did chemotherapy and radiation,” said Rory, who added that his wife said if they were nominated he had to attend the Grammys. “She got a big smile on her face and she said, `Remember, if we win, I’ll know before you will.”

Some actors won Grammys, too: Don Cheadle picked up best compilation soundtrack for visual media for “Miles Ahead,” where he is credited as a compilation producer, and Carol Burnett won the best spoken word album Grammy.

“The Color Purple” won best musical theater album, giving Jennifer Hudson her second Grammy and earning Tony winner Cynthia Erivo and “Orange Is the New Black” actress Danielle Brooks their first Grammys.

Beyonce was the overall top nominee with nine. There are few things the pop diva has not conquered, and the Grammy for album of the year is one of them.

For the third time, Beyonce is nominated for the coveted trophy, an award given to few R&B-based performers and only two hip-hop acts in the Grammy’s 59-year history.

She was nominated for the top prize in 2010 with “I Am … Sasha Fierce” (losing to Taylor Swift) and in 2015 with “Beyonce” (Beck was the surprise winner). Her “Lemonade” album is competing Sunday, along with its hit “Formation” for record and song of the year.

Beyonce has lost record of the year four times, and she’s marking her third nomination for song of the year (she won in 2010 with “Single Ladies”).

Beyonce’s main competition is Adele, who won album, song and record of the year in 2012 with “21” and “Rolling In the Deep.” While some critics argued that Beyonce’s “Lemonade” was more artistic and had a stronger impact on culture, Adele’s “25” marked her comeback and became a multiplatinum juggernaut, setting a record when it sold over 3 million units in its first week.

Their competition for album of the year aside from Simpson includes Drake’s multihit “Views” and Justin Bieber’s redemption album “Purpose.”

Nominees battling “Formation” and “Hello” for record of the year include Rihanna and Drake’s “Work,” twenty one pilots’ “Stressed Out” and Lukas Graham’s “7 Years.”

Song of the year nominees are “Formation,” “Hello,” “7 Years,” Mike Posner’s “I Took a Pill in Ibiza” and Bieber’s “Love Yourself,” shared with co-writer Ed Sheeran.

The Chainsmokers, who have dominated the pop charts, will compete with Chance the Rapper, Maren Morris, Anderson .Paak and Kelsea Ballerini for best new artist.

Beyonce and Adele will perform at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, as will Simpson, Lukas Graham, Sheeran, Bruno Mars and Katy Perry.

Collaborative performances include Lady Gaga and Metallica, the Weeknd and Daft Punk, Alicia Keys and Maren Morris, Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban, and A Tribe Called Quest and Anderson .Paak. Chance the Rapper will perform with Kirk Franklin, who won two awards, including best gospel album and gospel performance/song for writing “God Provides” for Tamela Mann.

Tributes for Prince and George Michael will take place, while Demi Lovato, Andra Day and Tori Kelly will honor the Bee Gees and the 40th anniversary of “Saturday Night Fever.”

Behind Beyonce for top nominations is Rihanna, who is up for eight awards, including best urban contemporary album (“Anti”), pop duo/group performance (“Work”) and R&B song (“Kiss It Better”). Drake and Kanye West are also up for eight awards, including best rap album.

The 2017 Grammy Awards will be hosted by “Late Late Show” host James Corden. Other performers include Kelsea Ballerini, Cynthia Erivo, John Legend, William Bell and Gary Clark Jr. </s> British singer Adele swept the 2017 Grammy awards on Sunday, winning Album of the Year for 25. Her single Hello won for Best Pop Solo Performance, and was also declared Song of the Year and Record of the Year. Beyoncé, who had the highest number of nominations at nine, won Best Music Video for Formation. The 59th edition of popular music awards was hosted by The Late Late Show’s James Corden at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles.

But even as Beyoncé and Adele competed in most of the top categories, posthumous awards celebrated two superstars of the years past, with David Bowie winning Best Alternative Album for Blackstar and three other awards, and The Beatles winning Best Music Film for The Beatles: Eight Days a Week the Touring Years, which was directed by Ron Howard.

Chicago-based Chance the Rapper won two Grammys awards – Best New Artist and Best Rap Performance for No Problem, while Canadian rapper Drake’s earworm Hotline Bling won in the in the Best Rap/Sung Performance category.

Other winning entries included Solange Knowles Cranes in the Sky (Best R&B Performance) Willie Nelson’s Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin (Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album) Sturgill Simpson’s A Sailor’s Guide to Earth (Best Country Album), Jesse & Joy’s Un Besito Mas (Best Latin Pop Album) and Patton Oswalt’s Talking for Clapping (Best Comedy Album). </s> Beyoncé may be the queen but it's Adele who was awarded the royal blessings at the 59th Grammy Awards.

The British singer won five awards Sunday night, including song and record of the year for her hit Hello and album of the year for 25. In addition to running her lifetime Grammy total to 15 , Adele became the first person to sweep album, record and song of the year twice — she last did it with 21 and Rolling in the Deep — and second female artist to win album of the year twice (after Taylor Swift).

Other honorees of note: Chance the Rapper took home three Grammys, including best new artist and best rap album, Beyoncé's groundbreaking Lemonade snagged best urban contemporary album, and David Bowie posthumously swept his five nominated categories, including best rock song for Blackstar.

Here is a minute-by-minute breakdown (ET) of the Grammy festivities:

12:16: Adele surprised journalists by stopping backstage without her Grammy hardware and talking about her victorious night. "America has always been very kind to me, I don't know why," she says. Adele discusses the long journey to making the album following the birth of her child. "I didn’t think anyone would care. I thought no one would know it was me. I thought it was going to be a very expensive disaster." And once again, Adele gave props to Beyonce. "Like I said in my speech, my album of the year (was) Lemonade. I was completely rooting for her, voting for her." Adele has been a fan of Beyonce since falling "in love" with the singer at age 11. "It was her time to win. It was like, what the (expletive) has she got to do to win album of the year?" Even though Grammy voters are very traditional, "I thought this was the year that they would go with the tide. Of course, I am very grateful having won. But I felt the need to tell her, because I love her. And she was more than worthy."

11:38: "Hi, everyone." Adele returns to the stage to accept the award for album of the year for 25. "It took an army to make me strong and willing again," she says. Five years ago at the Grammys, she was pregnant and didn't know "and that was the biggest blessing of my life, and in my pregnancy and through becoming a mother, I lost a lot of myself. I still do struggle but tonight winning this kind of feels full circle and like a bit of me has come full circle." Again, she pays tribute to Beyoncé, calling Lemonade "monumental" and the singer "the artist of my life." Addressing Beyoncé, Adele says, "You are our light and the way you make me and my friends feel, the way you make my black friends feel, is empowering and you make them stand up for themselves. I love you and I always will."

11:35: Record of the year goes to Adele for Hello, and she first gripes at the Grammy folks for cutting off producer Greg Kurstin. Adele then calls Beyoncé her "idol," adding "I want you to be my mommy."

11:23: John Legend and Cynthia Erivo duet on the Beach Boys' God Only Knows for the Grammys "In Memoriam" segment.

11:20: Backstage, Maren Morris is still basking in her Grammy win: "I’m still processing, but it feels amazing. To walk away with this is really validating."

11:09: Chance the Rapper joins gospel musicians Kirk Franklin and Tamela Mann for a choir-driven medley of How Great and All We Got.

10:52: The Prince tribute kicks off with The Time getting the crowd on its feet with dance jams Jungle Love and The Bird, then Bruno Mars — clad in full purple Prince regalia — takes over with Let's Go Crazy.

10:39: A Tribe Called Quest unleashes a funky medley of Movin' Backwards, We the People and Award Tour for a politically charged performance with Busta Rhymes and Anderson .Paak.

10:37: Adele bests Beyoncé for song of the year and wins for Hello, which she calls "my favorite song I’ve ever done." She also apologizes again for swearing during the George Michael tribute: "I’m really sorry if I offended anyone anywhere."

10:24: The Millennials in the crowd get a lesson in '70s disco with an all-star tribute to the Bee Gees: Demi Lovato belts Stayin' Alive, Tori Kelly busts out Tragedy, Little Big Town slows it down for How Deep Is Your Love? and Andra Day croons Night Fever.

10:13: Sturgill Simpson brings a brassy gospel touch to his tune All Around You with the help of the Dap-Kings.

10:07: Metallica joins a headbanging Lady Gaga for a rendition of the band's new song Moth Into Flame. James Hetfield's mic doesn't work so he shares one with the Gaga because she's a helpful pop singer. Also, while Kirk Hammett shreds on his guitar, Gaga stage-dives into the audience.

10:04: Chance the Rapper makes it 3-for-3 by winning best rap album for Coloring Book. "I didn’t think we were going to get this one so I don’t have anything to say this time," he says.

9:50: The Grammys pay tribute to the late George Michael with Adele doing a new, slowed-down orchestral arrangement of his song Fastlove. After a snafu, Adele stops the performance and starts again to get it right: "I'm sorry, I can't mess this up for him."

9:45: Newly minted Grammy winner Maren Morris joins Alicia Keys on a performance of the country singer's Once.

9:36: Beyoncé's Lemonade is awarded best urban contemporary album, and the singer thanks the Grammys for honoring a work that captured "the profundity of deep Southern culture. We all experience pain and loss and often we become inaudible. My intention for the film and album was to create a body of work that would give a voice to our pain, our struggles, our darkness and our history (and) to confront issues that make us uncomfortable."

9:33: Ace blues men William Bell and Gary Clark Jr. share the stage for a cover of Albert King's Born Under a Bad Sign.

9:25: Little Big Town does an a cappella version of Teenage Dream to present Katy Perry, who performs her new single Chained to the Rhythm with dancers and a large fence. It then explodes and forms a large wall with an unsubtle "We the People" message.

9:16:Mars arrives for a performance of That's What I Like.

9:13: Corden breaks out a faux car for "Cardboard Karaoke" with John Legend, Jennifer Lopez, Faith Hill Tim McGraw, Keith Urban and, yes, Neil Diamond. Song of choice? Sweet Caroline, of course. Blue Ivy even shows up for an appearance before the end.

9:11: Best country solo performance goes to Nashville rookie Maren Morris and her song My Church. "This is so crazy," says Morris. "To the fans, thank you for giving me the most incredible year of my life."

8:54: The moment everyone's been waiting for: Beyoncé's mom introduces her performance. The pregnant singer looks shimmering and regal for her medley of Love Drought and Sandcastles, which also seems to be a tribute to maternity.

8:52: Youngsters Lukas Graham and Kelsea Ballerini perform a mashup of their respective hits 7 Years and Peter Pan.

8:44: Best rock song goes to David Bowie's Blackstar. That makes five total posthumous Grammys for the legend.

8:38: Not to be outdone, Corden returns from a commercial break in his underwear, too, to introduce Ed Sheeran performing Shape of You all by his lonesome thanks to some looping skills.

8:31: Twenty One Pilots wins best pop duo/group and come up without their pants on, apparently the result of a promise made years ago. "Anyone from anywhere can do anything, and this is that," says singer Tyler Joseph.

8:25: John Travolta comes out bedecked in a lot of bling but can't seem to read the Teleprompter. Thank goodness for cards! He introduces country stars Urban and Carrie Underwood doing the lively duet The Fighter.

8:16: Paris Jackson introduces The Weeknd, who performs with Daft Punk on a lights-laden medley of Starboy and I Feel It Coming.

8:13: Chance the Rapper is named best new artist — his second Grammy of the day. "I claim this victory in the name of the Lord," he says, dedicating the award to many, including his hometown of Chicago.

8:12:Lopez comes out to present best new artist, though she gets political, too. "At this particular point in history, our voices are needed more than ever," she says, then quotes Toni Morrison: "This is the time when artists go to work."

8:06:Corden comes out for hosting duties but gets "stuck" in the riser and then falls down a number of steps. He's totally OK though and hoofs it with a number of dancers. "This is a disaster! What has happened, people?" Corden says, jokingly taking his dancers to task before beginning an epic opening rap that doesn't take long before tapping into the political climate: "With President Trump, we don't know what comes next."

8:00: Time for the main event. Adele kicks off the production very simply by belting her big hit Hello.

6:45: Backstage with press, Lori McKenna calls her Grammy-winning country tune for Tim McGraw, Humble and Kind, "a school day song": "I dropped my kids off in the morning and sat in my yoga pants and wrote. It’s a very simple song, talking about things I want my kids to know. And I tried to make sure I had a line to apply to each of my kids."

6:25: Cage the Elephant's Tell Me I'm Pretty is named best rock album, Bowie's Blackstar gets a fourth Grammy of the night for best alternative album, Adele wins best pop solo for Hello and pop vocal album for 25, Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin snags traditional pop vocal album, and Greg Kurstin — who's worked with Adele, Sia and Gwen Stefani, among others — is named producer of the year (non-classical) to bring the preshow awards to a close.

6:23: Megadeth wins its first Grammy ever — for best metal performance for Dystopia. "It took 12 tries to get this," says frontman Dave Mustaine.

6:21: Bowie's Blackstar garners its third win of the night, this time for best rock performance. Band member Donny McCaslin calls Bowie an "artistic genius, kind man and a funny-as-hell guy."

6:15: Chance the Rapper is shaking with nerves and letting expletives fly when accepting his best rap performance Grammy for No Problem. And Drake's Hotline Bling takes best rap/sung performance as well as best rap song.

6:11: Beyonce isn't the only one in the Knowles family taking Grammys: Her sister Solange wins best R&B performance for Cranes in the Sky. Lalah Hathaway gets best traditional R&B performance for Angel and best R&B album for Lalah Hathaway Live — plus gives a shoutout to the late Al Jarreau — while Hod David & Musze win best R&B song for Maxwell's Lake by the Ocean.

6:08: Patton Oswalt takes best comedy album for Talking for Clapping. "I reached my Fitbit goal running down here, it's great," he jokes when accepting his trophy. "This has not been a fun year for me or a lot of people but I'm going to be as goofy and obnoxious as I can to help."

6:05: Reggae master Ziggy Marley hits the stage to croon a horn-driven rendition of his song Amen. Just a few minutes later, he wins best reggae album for last year's self-titled sixth solo effort. "Music can change the world and we must use that power wisely and use it now ... to benefit humankind," says Marley.

5:58: Sarah Jarosz wins her second Grammy of the night, best folk album for Undercurrent. Then Kalani Pe'a sings "You are so beautiful to me" to his Grammy after his regional roots music album win for his debut E Walea. "I had a speech impediment at 4 years old and my mom introduced music to me. Music saved my life."

5:56: Fantastic Negrito wins top contemporary blues album for The Last Days of Oakland. "We did this right from our living room with a lot of heart and a lot of soul and I'm so glad it resonated with a lot of people," says Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz, aka Fantastic Negrito.

5:52: The O'Connor Band with Mark O'Connor snags best bluegrass album for Coming Home, and best traditional blues album goes to Bobby Rush's Porcupine Meat. "This is my 374th record and ... finally," says the 83-year-old Rush.

5:46: Jarosz, who was just presenting awards not long ago, wins best American roots performance for House of Mercy. Vince Gill gets best American roots song for the Time Jumpers' Kid Sister, and William Bell's This is Where I Live is named best Americana album. "This is quite a surprise and I'm very humbled by it," says Bell.

5:42: Jesse & Joy's Un Besito Mas snags best Latin pop album, iLe's iLevitable gets best Latin rock album, Vicente Fernández wins best regional Mexican music album for Un Azteca En El Azteca, Vol. 1 (En Vivo), and the Jose Lugo & Guasábara Combo's Donde Están? takes best tropical Latin album.

5:36: Backstage, the producers of the Grammy-winning music video Formation had nothing but good things to say about Queen Bey. "There’s never a bad day with Beyonce," says Juliette Larthe. And Nathan Scherrer adds he was surprised by "how hard she works. It’s insane. She’s like the queen. She works harder than anyone."

5:33: Sturgill Simpson takes best country album for A Sailor's Guide to Earth. He dedicates the award to his family and adds, "I guess the revolution won't be televised." Plus, Lori McKenna wins best country song for Tim McGraw's Humble and Kind.

5:29: Pentatonix and Dolly Parton win best country duo/group performance for Jolene. It's Pentatonix's third Grammy, Parton's eighth.

5:26: Chucho Valdés wins best Latin jazz album for Tribute To Irakere: Live In Marciac, followed by the trophy for roots gospel album going to Joey+Rory's Hymns.

5:22: Guitarist John Scofield wins two Grammys — best improvised jazz solo for I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry and jazz instrumental album for Country For Old Men — while Gregory Porter's Take Me to the Alley gets best jazz vocal album and the Ted Nash Big Band wins its second honor, for large jazz ensemble for Presidential Suite.

5:13: Judy Collins is on stage and behind a piano for a performance of Leonard Cohen's Suzanne.

5:08: The Chainsmokers take best dance recording for Don't Let Me Down, and dance/electronic album goes to Flume's Skin.

5:04: Michael Daugherty wins two more Grammys for Tales Of Hemingway: contemporary classical composition and classical compendium.

5:03: First Grammy tie of the year! Schumann & Berg and Shakespeare Songs both take best classical solo vocal album.

5:02: Cellist Zuill Bailey wins best classical instrumental solo for Daugherty: Tales Of Hemingway. "They don't teach you what it feels like to be in this position," says Bailey.

4:59:Penderecki Conducts Penderecki, Volume 1 gets best choral performance, and Third Coast Percussion's Steve Reich wins for best chamber music/small ensemble performance.

4:55: David Frost takes home producer of the year (classical), Boston Symphony wins orchestral performance for Shostakovich: Under Stalin's Shadow - Symphonies Nos. 5, 8 & 9, and best opera recording goes to Corigliano: The Ghosts Of Versailles — giving a second Grammy of the day to the Los Angeles Opera's album.

4:53: Corigliano: The Ghosts Of Versailles garners honors for best engineered classical album.

4:42: Director Ron Howard's The Beatles: Eight Days A Week The Touring Years is named best music film.

4:41: Beyonce garners her first Grammy of the day, taking best music video for Formation.

4:39: Comedy legend Carol Burnett's In Such Good Company: Eleven Years Of Laughter, Mayhem, And Fun In The Sandbox wins best spoken word album.

4:37: "Kid-hop" musician Secret Agent 23 Skidoo gets best children's album for Infinity Plus One.

4:33: Sing Me Home wins best world music album for legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble.

4:30: Kirk Franklin's back to pick up another Grammy for best gospel album Losing My Religion, while Hillary Scott's back on stage to accept contemporary Christian album for Love Remains.

4:27: Thy Will, a tune by Hillary Scott and the Scott Family, wins for contemporary Christian performance/song.

4:23: Tamela Mann's God Provides, penned by Franklin, wins best gospel performance/song. "This is gospel so hallelujah!" a teary Mann says. "This is amazing. My mom would be so happy right now."

4:21: White Sun grabs best new age album for White Sun II. "We just want our music to make something better for somebody somewhere," says singer Gurujas.

4:16: Are you ready for some bluegrass? The O'Connor Band takes the stage for a little Ruby, Are You Mad at Your Man?

4:11:Tearing Me Up gets best remixed non-classical recording, followed by best surround sound album going to the Seattle Symphony's Dutilleux: Sur Le Même Accord; Les Citations; Mystère De L'instant & Timbres, Espace, Mouvement.

4:08: Edith Piaf 1915-2015 is awarded best limited-edition package, and Blackstar takes its second Grammy for best engineered non-classical album.

4:03: The late Bowie's final album Blackstar wins for best recording package.

3:58: Jacob Collier's You and I takes best instrumental arrangement. "There's never been a better time to be a young creative person than in 2017," he says. He then wins his second Grammy, for instrumental and vocal arrangement, for Flintstones.

3:55: Ted Nash Big Band wins for instrumental composition for Spoken at Midnight from Presidential Suite: Eight Variations On Freedom, a piece commissioned by Wynton Marsalis. "This album is very, very personal for me," Nash says. "It's about the nonviolent struggle for freedom."

3:53: Justin Timberlake snags his first Grammy of 2017: The Trolls song Can't Stop the Feeling is named best song written for visual media.

3:51: John Williams' music for Star Wars: The Force Awakens wins best soundtrack for visual media. That makes 23 Grammys for the iconic composer.

3:49: Miles Ahead, Don Cheadle's directorial feature where he also starred as Miles Davis, takes top compilation soundtrack for visual media.

3:46: The Broadway show The Color Purple takes the first Grammy of the day, for best musical theater album. Of her fellow cast members, star Cynthia Erivo says, "Those voices are something very special."

3:42: Margaret Cho hosts the preshow ceremony, which will dole out 75 Grammys. She decided to wear a wig resembling "Weird Al" Yankovic's hair because they're both up for best comedy album and he's not here. "I think I’m going to win with his hair." </s> Adele performs her song "Hello" at the start of the Grammy Awards show on Sunday, February 12. It won song of the year, record of the year and best solo pop performance. Adele also won album of the year for "25."

Chance the Rapper accepts the Grammy Award for best new artist. He also won best rap album for "Coloring Book" and best rap performance for "No Problem."

Chance the Rapper accepts the Grammy Award for best new artist. He also won best rap album for "Coloring Book" and best rap performance for "No Problem."

Photos: Grammys 2017: The winners

Josh Dun, left, and Tyler Joseph of Twenty One Pilots took off their pants before accepting the award for best pop duo/group performance ("Stressed Out"). Joseph explained that as aspiring musicians years ago, they had watched the Grammys at his house in their underwear. They told each other that if they ever won a Grammy, they would receive it in their undies. </s> Chicago’s Chance the Rapper won his first Grammy Sunday afternoon, winning in the category of best rap performance for “No Problem” with 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne. The performer is also nominated in the best new artist and best rap album categories.

He called his early, pre-televised Grammy win “crazy.” The rapper was nominated for seven awards, including the history-making nomination for “Coloring Book,” the first streaming-only album to nominated for a Grammy Award. On the Red Carpet, Chance gave a shout-out to his family “watching back in Chicago,” singling out his 16-month-old daughter, Kensli.

The win came during the pre-telecast awards ceremony in Los Angeles in which Adele’s “25” won for best pop vocal album. David Bowie’s “Blackstar” won for best alternative music album.

Chicago winners also included Layla Hathaway, who picked up Grammy wins for best traditional R&B performance for “Angel,” and best R&B album for “Layla Hathaway Live,” beating out fellow Chicagoan BJ the Chicago Kid, who was nominated in the same categories. Jennifer Hudson was among the ensemble win for best musical theater album for the Broadway cast recording of “The Color Purple.” Third Coast Percussion picked up a win for best chamber music/best ensemble performance. </s> LOS ANGELES (NYTimes) - Adele swept the 59th annual Grammy Awards for her album 25, an enormous hit around the world, in a night that shut out Beyonce from the major awards and also featured reverent tributes and, at times, pointed political commentary.

Adele won five awards, including album of the year for 25 and both record and song of the year for the hit song Hello - a historic sweep that Adele accomplished five years ago with her last album, 21. She is the only artist to win album, record and song of the year twice.

And in an acknowledgment of the music industry's rapidly shifting business model, three Grammys, including best new artist, went to Chance the Rapper, a gospel-influenced rapper from Chicago whose music was released independently and was available only on streaming services.

The night had been seen as a contest between Adele and Beyonce, megastars who were up against each other in all major categories. In her acceptance speech for album of the year, Adele paid tearful tribute to her rival, and told her, "I adore you and I want you to be my mommy," after winning record of the year.

Her comment was a reference to Beyonce's showstopping performance, which along with Adele's showed two sides of divahood. Beyonce appeared as a goddess of femininity, while Adele endeared herself to the crowd with her humanity, flaws included. Both stole the show.

Adele opened the show singing her hit Hello, in a performance that was somewhat shaky at first but still showed her power as a vocalist. Later, in a tribute to the late George Michael, she started to sing his song Fastlove but stopped it abruptly, cursing into the microphone and apologising that she needed to start over to get it right. (CBS bleeped the profanity.) After finishing, she teared up as the celebrities in the front row applauded her in support.

Then there was Beyonce, who offered a jaw-dropping, multimedia homage to motherhood in a segment that stunned the celebrities in attendance and immediately set social media on fire. After an affectionate introduction by her own mother, Tina Knowles, Beyonce appeared as a crowned fertility goddess with her pregnant belly highlighted for the camera; at one point, her five-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy, ran around her.

Surrounded by dancers, and with projected images of herself in saffron robes, she performed the songs Love Drought and Sandcastles from her album Lemonade. When she accepted the award minutes later for best urban contemporary album, she read a prepared statement that sounded like a manifesto.

Explaining her ambitions of Lemonade, an album and film, she said, "It is important to me to show images to my children that reflect their beauty," so they would "have no doubt that they are beautiful, intelligent and capable." She added, "This is something I want for every child of every race."

The singer, who had been nominated for nine awards this year, more than any other artist, in the end won only two: best urban contemporary album for Lemonade and a music video prize for the song Formation.

The night included political statements, some more overt than others. Katy Perry performed her new single Chained To The Rhythm in a white pantsuit and a sparkling armband that said "Persist," an apparent reference to Senator Elizabeth Warren. Her number concluded in front of a projection of the Constitution.

But by far the fiercest was by the veteran hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest, whose members accused "President Agent Orange" of "perpetuating evil" throughout the country, before dancers broke through a prop wall behind them and women in Islamic garb took the stage. At the end of the segment, the group and its company raised their right fists in the air in the black power salute, while the band member Q-Tip repeatedly shouted, "Resist!"

Jennifer Lopez, before awarding the best new artist prize, quoted Toni Morrison: "This is precisely the time when artists go to work," she said. "There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear."

Besides Adele's homage to George Michael, the show also included a purple-hued tribute to Prince with the Time, the longtime Minneapolis funk group that often performed with Prince, and with Bruno Mars, who impersonated Prince from his makeup and performance style to the shape of his guitar.

The Prince tribute also came on the same day that much of Prince's music was released widely on streaming music service, a result of a series of deals reached with Prince's estate; during his life, Prince closely policed his music online, and pulled his songs down from all services but Tidal.

Not all tributes were to the dead, but a medley of Bee Gees songs was almost as reverent. Demi Lovato, Tori Kelly, Little Big Town and Andra Day played Stayin' Alive, How Deep Is Your Love and others from the Bee Gees' classic soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever, 40 years after its release.

Later, John Legend and Cynthia Erivo from The Color Purple on Broadway sang the Beach Boys' God Only Knows during an "in memoriam" segment that noted the deaths over the past year of Leonard Cohen, Sharon Jones, Ralph Stanley, Merle Haggard, Debbie Reynolds and others.

In another form of memorial, the Grammys showered David Bowie with four awards for Blackstar, the album released shortly before his death in January 2016. Bowie won best rock performance, rock song, alternative album and an engineering prize. These were Bowie's first musical Grammys; largely passed over during his life, he had won a video award in 1985 and a lifetime achievement citation in 2006. (Blackstar also won for best art direction.)

Seventy-five of this year's 84 total Grammys were handed out by the Recording Academy before the television coverage began.

James Corden, star of The Late Late Show and the new host of the Grammys, made quite an entrance, falling down a flight of stairs on the stage after a comic bit revolving around technical difficulties involving a hydraulic lift.

The show had other moments of levity. When Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun of Twenty One Pilots won best pop duo/group performance, they immediately stripped out of their pants and walked to the stage in their underwear.

Joseph explained that before they were famous, the two had watched the Grammy Awards in their skivvies and pledged that if they ever won, "we should receive it just like this."

After the commercial break, Corden appeared pantless too. Later, in a tongue-in-cheek exploitation of his popular Carpool Karaoke skits, Corden stood in the aisle of the Staples Center with a makeshift car frame around him, and, in a moment reminiscent of the selfie at the 2014 Oscars, gathered celebrities around him. Jennifer Lopez, John Legend, Keith Urban, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Neil Diamond sang Diamond's Sweet Caroline, with the entire arena shouting along. </s> NEW YORK -- Bruno Mars and Kendrick Lamar are walking into Grammy Awards with three wins each, putting them as favourites for top awards like album and record of the year.

Mars won best R&B album, best R&B performance and best R&B song in the pre-telecast Sunday in New York City. Lamar picked up best rap album, best rap performance and best music video.

Posthumous Grammys were also handed out to actress Carrie Fisher, singer Leonard Cohen and engineer Tom Coyne, who worked on Mars' "24K Magic" album.

"This is unbelievable," Stapleton said onstage.

The Rolling Stones picked up the third Grammy of their career -- for best traditional blues album for "Blue & Lonesome," while Ed Sheeran won best pop vocal album.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Little Big Town, Reba McEntire, LCD Soundsystem, Portugal the Man and Shakira also won early awards. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, both Oscar and Tony winners, won best musical theatre album for "Dear Evan Hansen," shared with Tony winner Ben Platt.

Lamar beat out Jay-Z for the three awards he won. Either artist could make history and become the first rapper to win record of the year and the third to win album of the year. And the Grammys are almost guaranteeing that this year will be historic: Four of the five album of the year nominees are rap and R&B-based albums from black or Latino artists. The other big awards of the night -- song and record of the year -- also are dominated by hip-hop, R&B and Latin music.

It comes a year after The Recording Academy was heavily criticized when Adele won album of the year over Beyonce. "Lemonade" was seen as an album that moved the needle and dominated pop culture in different ways than Adele's colossal sales. Critics felt the Academy failed to recognize the creative and artistic elements of an R&B-based album, in the same ways they have passed over albums by Kanye West, Eminem and Mariah Carey over the years for projects by rock, country and jazz artists.

Jay-Z is the star of Sunday's show, leading with eight nominations, including album for the year for his revealing "4:44," song of the year for the title track and record of the year for "The Story of O.J." Mars also is nominated for the big three; "Despacito," by Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber, is up for record and song of the year; and both Lamar and Gambino are nominated for album and record of the year.

"What you see in nominations is a reflection of the voting membership of the Academy. You have to remember that this is a peer award and it's unique in that way. It's not about sales or charts or popularity or fan votes or whatever, it's the professionals in the industry who are making the judgment," Recording Academy CEO Neil Portnow said in an interview with The Associated Press. "So when you look at the work that's been done, and Jay would be one example, and there's that level of excellence, we have a very sophisticated voting membership that is able to recognize that. And that's how we want it to be."

However, Lorde's critically acclaimed sophomore album, "Melodrama," still has a strong chance in the album of the year category. And Julia Michaels, a talented songwriter who has written hits for Bieber and Selena Gomez, is nominated for song of the year for her single, "Issues."

Lamar will kick off the three-hour-plus show, airing live on CBS at 7:30 p.m. Eastern, with a performance featuring U2 and Dave Chappelle.

"Kendrick's performance will be, I think, like nothing that's been done at the Grammys before," said James Corden, who is returning to host the show for a second straight year. "It's incredible and actually it made us rethink the whole thing that we were going to do in the show."

Other performers include Fonsi and Yankee, Mars with Cardi B, Lady Gaga, Pink, Gambino, Emmylou Harris and Chris Stapleton, Elton John and Miley Cyrus, Sam Smith, Little Big Town, Rihanna with DJ Khaled and Bryson Tiller, Sting and SZA, which is the most nominated female act with five.

The night also will feature some serious moments. Earlier this week, key music executives called on artists and employees to wear a white rose at the Grammys in support of Time's Up and .MeToo, the movements against sexual abuse and harassment. Singers Halsey and Dua Lipa, as well as Grammy-nominated rapper Rapsody, were some of the first to say they would wear white roses.

Kesha, who earned her first pair of Grammy nominations for an album reflecting her battle with former producer and mentor Dr. Luke, will honour victims during her performance. Maren Morris, Eric Church and Brothers Osborne, who were performers at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas where a gunman opened fire on fans, killing 58 and injuring hundreds more, will honour victims killed at live music events this past year onstage. And Patti LuPone and Ben Platt will pay tribute to Broadway as the Grammys return to New York City after 15 years for its 60th anniversary. </s> Oh, Grammys, you’ve outdone yourselves yet again.

Never content to rest on its laurels, the Recording Academy reached heretofore-unseen levels of blasphemy last night when it awarded the three highest awards of the evening — Song, Record and Album of the Year — to Bruno Mars. You could practically hear the air leave the room as Mars sauntered onstage to collect his Album of the Year trophy for 24K Magic, beating out hip-hop masterworks like Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. and Jay-Z’s 4:44, as well as Childish Gambino’s retro-funk opus Awaken, My Love! and Lorde’s alt-pop thriller Melodrama. It was a disappointing, regressive end to an awards show whose hip-hop heavy ballot suggested that perhaps, after 60 years, the Grammys would finally acknowledge the shifting tides of contemporary popular music and award the artists who broke the most ground in the past year.

But they didn’t. Instead, the Grammys played it safe and pandered to pop’s lowest common denominator — and in hindsight, it couldn’t have happened any other way.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a single year since 1959 in which the Grammys have bestowed their most prestigious award upon the album that actually earned the most critical acclaim and shifted the cultural conversation most heavily. The Academy has always favored — in the words of Kurt Cobain — radio-friendly unit shifters over genuine artistic statements. They’re quick to celebrate middling releases by legacy acts in the twilight of their career or contemporary artists whose music hearkens to a bygone era, and they’re quick to snub artists who boldly alter the trajectory of popular music.

A quick glance at recent Album of the Year winners confirms this. In the past decade alone, Beyoncé has lost three times: to Taylor Swift in 2010, to Beck in 2015 and to Adele in 2017. Lamar just struck out for the third time as well: To Pimp a Butterfly lost to Swift’s 1989 in 2016, and Good Kid, M.A.A.D City lost to Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories in 2014. Mumford & Sons’ Babel trumped Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange in 2013, and Herbie Hancock’s River: The Joni Letters shut out Kanye West’s Graduation and Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black in 2008. Perhaps most impressively, in 2009 Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’s Raising Sand snatched the crown over Radiohead’s In Rainbows, Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III and Coldplay’s Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends.

For 60 years, the Academy has made no effort to hide its propensity for palatable, whitewashed pop music and “statement albums” by rock’s old guard. In that regard, perhaps they deserve half a point (a quarter?) for awarding Album of the Year to a Latino artist this time around. But from an artistic standpoint, it’s a baffling decision on par with the biggest Grammy blunders of yesteryear.

Clocking in at a brisk 33 minutes, 24K Magic is less an album than an overlong EP consisting of three blockbuster singles and six tracks of lite-R&B fluff with production that would’ve made Quincy Jones blush back in 1982. To his credit, Mars throws himself into each track with gusto, a consummate showman and dynamite vocalist till the bitter end. Still, there’s no shaking the fact that 24K Magic is a forgettable, risk-free batch of songs masquerading as a prestige pop album. In other words, it was the only valid choice for Album of the Year.

In the past 12 hours, music critics have flooded Twitter with hot takes about Lamar being robbed of his much-deserved Album of the Year nod, and why 24K Magic’s victory over DAMN. represents the nadir of vapid, apolitical pop music at a time when artists ought to be using their platforms to speak out. I agree with them. But there’s also a palpable irony to the fact that, by nearly every quantifiable metric, DAMN. was a greater commercial success than 24K Magic. Lamar’s first-week sales nearly tripled those of Mars, and DAMN. topped the Billboard 200 albums chart while 24K Magic came in second to Metallica's Hardwired... to Self-Destruct. DAMN.’s biggest single, the chart-topping “HUMBLE.," also outpaces Mars’ “That’s What I Like” on Spotify by nearly 80 million streams. Furthermore, DAMN. topped several music publications’ year-end lists, while most critics recognized 24K Magic for what it is: slightly above-average retro-pop.

But hey, who am I to judge? The Grammy gods have spoken, and all the griping in the world won’t make the popular vote any more valuable. Lamar will continue to enrapture the music-listening public with his groundbreaking, politically charged records and award show performances, and something tells me he won’t lose sleep over DAMN. being excluded from the same hallowed club as Santana’s Supernatural and Toto IV. He’s better off leaving the accolades to Mars and letting the Academy continue to pat itself on the back for upholding pop music’s most antiquated ideals. After all, that’s what they like.
Adele wins the Record of the Year and Song of the Year for "Hello" and Album of the Year for 25. Chance the Rapper wins the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. David Bowie wins four posthumous awards, two for his final studio album Blackstar and two for its title track.