Macklemore and Ryan Lewis and Daft Punk are among the stars vying for glory at the prestigious Grammy Awards.
Hip-hop duo Macklemore and Lewis are among the big winners, picking up four awards so far – best new artist plus best rap album, song and performance.
Daft Punk also have four, including record of the year for their hit Get Lucky and best dance/electronica album.
Justin Timberlake has won three, while New Zealand teenager Lorde has two including song of the year for Royals.<!-
(Photo courtesy of BBC)
The ceremony is known for its heavyweight on-stage collaborations and this year’s show was opened by Jay-Z and his wife Beyonce.
Madonna joined Macklemore and Lewis to perform their anti-homophobia anthem Same Love as more than 30 couples took part in a mass wedding.
Other highlights included Daft Punk, Nile Rodgers and Pharrell Williams being joined by Stevie Wonder to perform their hit Get Lucky.
Sir Paul McCartney took part in a rare performance with his former Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr as well as picking up two trophies – for best music film and best rock song.
Sir Paul won best rock song for Cut Me Some Slack, a collaboration with the surviving members of Nirvana.
It beat The Rolling Stones’ Doom And Gloom, from their 50th anniversary album GRRR!, as well as tracks by veteran metal band Black Sabbath, stadium rockers Muse and US singer-guitarist Gary Clark Jr.
Black Sabbath did scoop best metal performance, while Led Zeppelin won best rock album for their live recording Celebration Day.
Other British nominees included Ed Sheeran and James Blake, who were both up for best new artist, but lost out to Macklemore and Lewis.
Rapper Macklemore and producer Ryan Lewis, who found fame after self-releasing their album The Heist, were up for a total of seven awards, including album of the year and song of the year for Same Love.
“I want to say we made this album without a record label, we made it independently and we appreciate all the support,” Macklemore told the audience.
Seventeen-year-old Lorde’s debut hit Royals earned her song of the year and best pop solo performance after enjoying global success last year.
Jay-Z started the night with the most nominations, up for awards including best rap song and best rap album. But he was left out of the three main categories – song, record and album of the year.
Rapper Kendrick Lamar, hitmaker Pharrell Williams and pop superstar Justin Timberlake were among the other acts with seven nominations.
Many of the 82 winners were named at a preliminary ceremony before the main televised event. They included Adele’s James Bond theme Skyfall, which won the prize for best song written for visual media.
Calvin Harris was up for best dance/electronica album for 18 Months and best dance recording for Sweet Nothing with Florence and the Machine’s Florence Welch, but lost out on both.
Source: BBC UK
