NORAH SWEEPS GRAMMYS
While Bruce Springsteen captured three Grammys early on for his Sept. 11-inspired The Rising, the evening turned out to be all about the music of pop-jazz chanteuse Norah Jones.
Jones' music garnered a leading eight awards Sunday, including Album of the Year for Come Away With Me and Song of the Year for ``Don't Know Why.''
Jones took home five awards herself, including Best New Artist and Record of the Year for "Don’t Know Why." The song, written by Jessie Harris, was also tapped as Song of the Year.
In addition, Jones won Female Pop Vocal Performance and Pop Vocal Album, while her Come Away With Me album’s producer Arif Mardin and engineers also earned Grammys.
``I never ever thought that the music I made would become popular music, so this is amazing,'' Jones said as she picked up an award for best pop vocal album.
The Boss’ stock was Rising as the pre-telecast Grammy awards were handed out earlier in the day at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
In the early part of the ceremonies, Springsteen generated early momentum by taking home three awards, including Rock Song, Rock Album and Male Rock Vocal Performance.
The Dixie Chicks grabbed the Country Album of the Year award on air, taking their total to three as well. During the pre-telecast, the Chicks clucked off a couple of Gs (Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, Country Instrumental Performance), Faith Hill and Johnny Cash nabbed Female and Male Country Vocal Performance honors, while Alan Jackson’s 9/11 anthem brought him a Country Song award. Willie Nelson with Lee Ann Womack won in the Country Collaboration with Vocals race. Dixie Chicks’ art director for Home Kevin Reagan, also won a Grammy. For Cash, this win marked his 11th career Grammy.
John Mayer received a Grammy for Male Pop Vocal Performance. Santana and Michele Branch won for Pop Collaboration with Vocals, while No Doubt were awarded a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
Coldplay won both categories they were nominated in, including Alternative Music Album and Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
Grammy perennial Sheryl Crow earned Female Rock Vocal honors for "Steve McQueen," Korn took home the Metal Award and cult faves The Flaming Lips won for Rock Instrumental Performance for the aptly named "Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon (Utopia Planitia)." The Hard Rock Performance Grammy went to Foo Fighters.
Simon & Garfunkel opened the show with "The Sound of Silence." After singing, accompanied only by Simon's acoustic guitar, the pair put their arms around each others' backs—and they received the evening’s first standing ovation.
Other early winners included Dirty Vegas (Dance Recording), Tony Bennett (Traditional Pop Vocal Album), Lee "Scratch" Perry (Reggae) and two for Thomas Newman (Instrumental Arrangement and Instrumental Composition for the "Six Feet Under" theme).
In the Rap categories, Eminem won the Short Form Video nod for "Without Me," and the Rap Album of the Year. Instead of offering an acceptance speech, Eminem rattled off a list of rappers who had inspired him, including Run-DMC, LL Cool J, Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G.
Other hip-hop Grammy winners included two for Nelly (Male Rap Solo Performance, Rap/Sung Collaboration with Kelly Rowland) along with Missy Elliott (Female Rap Solo Performance) and Outkast featuring Killer Mike (Rap Performance by a Duo or Group).
R&B winners included India.Arie, who rebounded from her shutout last year to grab two for her mantle, including R&B Album and Urban/Alternative performance. Mary J. Blige and Usher won Best Male and Female R&B Vocals, while Ashanti earned Best Contemporary R&B Album honors. ``It's so funny, I have one and now it doesn't mean so much,'' said the India.Aire, who shaved her signature dreadlocks for a near-bald look.
Other Grammys went to Stevie Wonder and Take Six (R&B Performance by a Duo or Group), Chaka Khan & the Funk Brothers (Traditional R&B Vocal Performance from the Standing in the Shadows… soundtrack, which also won for Compilation Soundtrack Album) and Erykah Badu featuring Common (R&B Song).
Randy Newman grabbed an award in Song Written for a Motion Picture or Other Visual Media. The Clash earned Joe Strummer a posthumous nod by winning in the Long Form Music Video category for Westway to the World. Other winners included Tony Bennett, nabbinh his 10th and soul legend Solomon Burke, who won his first.
``We got a Grammy, baby!'' Burke said as he hoisted his award.
Oh, yeah. Jimmy Sturr earned his 1,836,287 lifetime Grammy for Polka Album, but didn’t get to make his political statement. Top of the World, Jimmy!
Eminem, Jones, Springsteen and Nelly were all nominated for a leading five Grammys apiece, along with perennial Grammy favorite Crow, neosoul singer-songwriter Raphael Saadiq, teen rocker Avril Lavigne and R&B newcomer Ashanti. Saadiq, Crow and Ashanti all won one, while Lavigne was shut out.
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