Winehouse, West big winners at Grammys as Feist shut out

British soul singer Amy Winehouse captured five trophies at the 50th Grammy Awards gala in Los Angeles, erasing any competition.

She won record of the year and song of the year for Rehab, as well as best female pop vocal solo performance for Rehab, best pop vocal album for Back to Black and best new artist — beating Calgary-bred Leslie Feist in the last three categories.

Feist also lost out in the best short-form video division, which went to Johnny Cash's God's Gonna Cut You Down.

The troubled Winehouse performed live via satellite from a studio packed with an audience in London, England. The singer was in top form in spite of her most recent stint in rehab for her addiction problems.

Winehouse performed two songs, including Rehab. She was still linked live when her Back to Black was named record of the year. The 24-year-old could be seen being hugged by her backup singers as she cried.

"This is for London!" said Winehouse, who also thanked her parents.

Kanye West, who had a leading eight nominations, was right behind Winehouse with four awards: best rap album for Graduation, best solo performance for Stronger, best rap song for Good Life and best rap performance by a duo or group for his collaboration with Common on Southside.

The singer, in accepting his album trophy, said he appreciated all the support he received following his mother's death.

"I know you are really proud of me right now … and you want me to be the No. 1 artist in the world. Mama, I want you to be proud," declared West, who performed a touching rendition of Stronger as a tribute to his mother, Donde West, who died late last year from complications due to plastic surgery.

Meanwhile, the surprise of the night seemed to be the album of the year award to Herbie Hancock for River: The Joni Letters.

"I'd like to thank the academy for courageously breaking the mould this year," said Hancock.

"This is a new day when the impossible is made possible … my thanks to Joni Mitchell for her music, her words," said an elated Hancock, whose album is a tribute to Mitchell's best-known songs.

Duet with Sinatra launches gala

The night began elegantly with R&B singer Alicia Keys, gracefully clad in an emerald gown, singing a duet, Learnin' the Blues, with a black-and-white video of crooner Frank Sinatra.

"To appear at the Grammy Awards is to have a duet with history," said Keys, who referenced Nat King Cole and Quincy Jones. "We honour the past … but we always look forward to the future. Here's to another 50 years."

Prince presented the first trophy of the night to Keys for best female R&B performance for No One. Keys thanked her friends and "everybody at the label who rooted for me every day and every DJ and everyone who put up a poster for me who spread the word."

Canadians Joni Mitchell and Michael Bublé each nabbed Grammys in the pre-televised ceremony.

Bublé took best traditional pop vocal album for Call Me Irresponsible, while Mitchell's single One Week Last Summer won for best pop instrumental performance.

Canadian violinist James Ehnes, born in Brandon, Man., and now a U.S. resident, won Canada's first Grammy award of the night.

Ehnes won for best instrumental solo performance (with orchestra) for his recording with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

The audience at the Staples Center went wild as the three original members of 1980s funk band The Time flashed up the stage with a rendition of their 1984 hit Jungle Love, which morphed into Rihanna mixing it up with her international hits Umbrella and Don't Stop the Music.

Rihanna and Jay-Z won best rap song collaboration for Umbrella.  An enthusiastic Rihanna gave a shout-out to her homeland: "Barbados I love you!"

Actor Tom Hanks saluted The Band — the iconic rock band consisting of four Canadians and one member from Arkansas — for their lifetime achievement trophy. 

Canadians Robbie Robertson, Richard Manuel, Garth Hudson, Rick Danko and American Levon Helm would be immortalized by their songs Up On Cripple Creek, The Weight and The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.

Hanks quickly then moved on to the next act, a tribute to the Fab Four, the Beatles, by Montreal circus act Cirque du Soleil. The act ended with a chorus singing Let It Be as images from the film Across The Universe (which used Beatles' songs) flashed behind them.

Beyoncé, Tina heat up stage

Halfway through the night, Rapper Ludacris introduced Aretha Franklin, who wore a flowing yellow gown and was backed by a choir. Franklin was honoured by the Grammys as their person of the year. The soul singer came with her own musical flotilla: a group of sax players and a dozen other female singers.

Earlier, Fergie and John Legend presented the award for best compilation soundtrack album, which went to the Beatles-infused Love album by Fab Four producer George Martin. Beatles drummer Ringo Starr came on stage and called it "a beautiful dream." 

Cher introduced Beyoncé, who pranced about in short shorts, making references to previous songbirds such as Sarah Vaughan, Chaka Khan and Mahalia Jackson. She then hollered, "Give it up for the queen" as a youthful-looking Tina Turner took the stage in a silver outfit, belting out What's Love Got To Do With It? and Better be Good to Me.

After switching outfits, Beyoncé rejoined Turner on stage for a blistering version of Proud Mary.

The Foo Fighters nabbed best rock album for Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace and soon after, Feist performed her world hit, 1234 from her album, The Reminder.

Best country album went to Vince Gill for These Days and he accepted a trophy from Ringo Starr. Gill joked: "I just got an award given to me by a Beatle. Have you had that happen yet, Kanye?"

Springsteen wins big

Other big winners in the pre-show included three prizes for rocker Bruce Springsteen: solo rock vocal performance (Radio Nowhere), best rock song (Radio Nowhere) and rock instrumental performance (Once Upon a Time in the West).

Canada's polka king Walter Ostanek lost his 20th Grammy nomination for best polka album to longtime rival Jimmy Sturr, while Loreena McKennitt's disc An Ancient Muse, lost best contemporary world music album to Angelique Kidjo.

Nelly Furtado lost best female pop vocal performance for her song Say It Right to Winehouse's Rehab, and best pop collaboration with vocals for her song Give it To Me with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake.

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama trumped a Clinton, former president Bill Clinton, to capture the Grammy for best spoken word album for his audio version of his book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream.

The former president was nominated for his book Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World.  The Clintons already have a trophy — Hillary Rodham Clinton took home a Grammy in 1996 for her audio version of the book, It Takes A Village.

Winners in musical categories announced earlier include El Tren De Los Momentos (Alejandro Sanz) for best Latin pop album and the Nashville Symphony's Tower: Made In America (Leonard Slatkin, conductor and Tim Handley, producer) for best classical album.