R&B superstar Beyoncé Knowles and country-pop singer Taylor Swift were among the first of this year's Grammy winners as the music awards ceremony kicked off last night in Los Angeles.
Beyoncé took an early lead, winning four awards, while Swift took two. Beyoncé dominated the R&B field, winning contemporary album for I Am … Sasha Fierce, R&B song and female vocal performance for Single Ladies (Put a Ring on it), and traditional R&B vocal performance for her cover At Last.
Swift won female country vocal and country song, both for her single White Horse. They were the 20-year-old singer's first Grammys. She was in the running for another six awards despite a brief career so far, while Knowles was up for a total of 10 awards.
"I live in awe of the people that I was nominated against in this category," Swift said as she accepted the prize.
The prizes were part of the opening ceremony where 100 of the 109 categories were announced before the main telecast.
Lady Gaga, nominated for five nominations, won two categories in the dance field, with the recording prize for Poker Face and electronic/dance album prize for The Fame. She is also nominated for album, song and record of the year, alongside Swift and Beyoncé. Other early winners included the Oscar-winning composer of the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack, AR Rahman, who collected two statuettes in the film music section for the film's music and theme song Jai Ho.
French remixer David Guetta, in with five nominations, won an award for best remixed recording for When Love Takes Over. Film composer Michael Giacchino also won two prizes, for best score soundtrack album and best instrumental composition, for his work on the Pixar cartoon Up.
Neil Young was honoured for his role as an art director of Neil Young Archives Volume 1 (1963-1972), which won the Grammy for best art direction on a boxed or special limited edition package.
Levon Helm, former singer and drummer with The Band, won his second Grammy in three years, beating former collaborator Bob Dylan among others in the Americana album category with Electric Dirt.
Knowles was also nominated in the film category for her work on the soundtrack to the movie Cadillac Records, but lost that race. Her career Grammy total stands at 14.
