Lady Gaga, Eminem bag top honours at Grammys (Roundup)

LOS ANGELES - Pop singer Lady Gaga and rapper Eminem won top honours at the 53rd edition of the Grammy Awards while country pop group Lady Antebellum bagged five trophies, including Record of the Year.

Lady Gaga walked away with three awards. She won the Best Female Pop Vocal performance, Best Short Form Video for “Bad Romance” and Best Pop Vocal Album for “The Fame Monster”. Known for her wacky outfits, Gaga received the awards in a relatively modest black leather outfit.

Eminem, who was leading with 10 Grammy nominations, bagged the Best Rap Solo Performance for “Not Afraid” and Best Rap Album for “Recovery”.

But it was Lady Antebellum, comprising the trio of Charles Kelley, Dave Haywood and Hillary Scotts, who hogged the limelight. They walked away with the awards for Song Of The Year, Best Country Performance By a Duo or Group With Vocals, Best Country Song and Best Country Album.

But Lady Gaga did not disappoint. Her wackiness came out in her performance. She came onto the red carpet hidden inside an egg carried inside by her attendants. As she came onto the stage to perform her new single “Born This Way”, she hatched out of the egg donning a skin-coloured dress, giving the impression of being nude for a few seconds.

Eminem and Rihanna also set the stage on fire as they performed their duet “Love the way you lie”.

Another high point of Sunday night was Arcade Fire, which picked up Album of the Year honours for “The Suburbs”, beating favourites Eminem and Lady Antebellum.

Teen sensation Justin Bieber lost out to little-known jazz performer Esperanza Spalding in the Best New Artist category.

Indian classical singer Chandrika Krishnamurthy Tandon and jazz pianist Vijay Iyer failed to uphold the feat of two Grammys won by music composer A.R. Rahman last year. While Tandon lost out to to Bela Fleck (”Throw Down Your Heart”, Africa Sessions Part 2: Unreleased Tracks) in the best contemporary world music album, Iyer lost out to James Moody for “Moody 4B”.

The Grammy for the best compilation soundtrack album for motion picture, television or other visual media went to “Crazy Heart”. Composer Randy Newman received the best score soundtrack album for “Toy Story 3″.

Yesteryears favourites The Beatles walked way with an award for best historical album (”The Original Studio Recordings”). Sir Paul McCartney also won an award for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance for “Helter Skelter”.

Dolly Parton, The Ramones, Julie Andrews, George Beverly Shea, Roy Haynes, The Kingston Trio and The Julliard String Quartet were all conferred with Lifetime Achievement Awards.

While singer Fantasia walked away with best female R&B vocal performance for “Bittersweet”, Usher was adjudged winner in best male R&B vocal performance category for “Raymond V Raymond”.

The gala event saw a melange of electrifying performances by top singing stars incluiding Mick Jagger, who paid tribute to the late Solomon Burke, while Christina Aguilera and Jennifer Hudson opened the show by paying tribute to veteran singer Aretha Franklin.

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow was joined by singer Cee Lo Green and The Muppets for a colourful rendition of “Forget You”.