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Keys cleans up at Grammys

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LOS ANGELES (REUTERS) — Rookie R&B singer Alicia Keys won a perfect five Grammy Awards in the closing stretch of the Grammy Awards Wednesday, including the coveted best new artist and song of the year races, while the hit country-themed soundtrack to “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” was the surprise winner of the coveted album of the year award.

Irish rock band U2, which led the nominees with nods in eight categories, picked up four awards, including record of the year.

Keys, 21, whose debut album was one of the best selling releases of last year, was considered a clear favorite. She had received six nominations, and is still a competitor in the record of the year race, as is U2.

“You don’t know how much this humbles me,” Keys said as she accepted her fifth award for song of the year, “Fallin’.”

The piano ballad earlier won her Grammys for female R&B vocal and R&B song. Keys’ album, Songs In A Minor won the Grammy for best R&B album.

She said the album, which was a surprise omission from the album of the year race, took a lot of years and a lot of struggle. “I would like to dedicate this to thinking out of the box, not being afraid to be who you are.”

Although “O Brother” has sold a staggering 4 million copies in the United States, it was seen as the dark horse in an album of the year race dominated by former category winners U2 and Bob Dylan, and also including rap duo Outkast and rookie R&B singer India.Arie.

“O BROTHER” SHOWED LEGS

“O Brother” earlier won the movie soundtrack Grammy, while two of the artists on the soundtrack were also honored, indicating that it could be a winner.

The album of the year award goes to the artists, producers and engineers. In this case, its victory marked the night’s fourth win for its musical mastermind, T-Bone Burnett, who was earlier named producer of the year. In addition to accepting the movie soundtrack prize, he also picked up a traditional folk Grammy for the similarly themed album “Down From The Mountain.”

The Depression era-set film, based on Homer’s “Odyssey,” was written and directed by sibling filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen. Burnett praised the Coens for perfecting an “extraordinary alchemy” that brought a new setting for the Greek classic and allowed great music to be made.

The album, which features performances by the likes of 75-year-old banjo picker Ralph Stanley, bluegrass musician Alison Krauss and country veteran Emmylou Harris, becomes the first soundtrack to win the Grammy since “The Bodyguard” in 1994. It becomes the first country album to win album of the year since Glen Campbell’s “By the Time I Get To Phoenix” in 1969.

“O Brother” shone on two soundtrack performers: banjo picker Ralph Stanley and the Foggy Bottom Boys. Stanley, who turned 75 two days ago, won the male country vocal Grammy for his rendition of “O Death.” The Foggy Bottom Boys’ “I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow” won the Grammy for best country collaboration with vocals.

U2 won the rock album award for its 10 million-selling opus “All That You Can’t Leave Behind.” The band’s “Elevation” won the Grammy for best performance by a duo or group with vocal, and “Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” was honored for pop performance by a duo or group with vocal.

U2 kicked off the main ceremony at the Staples Center with a performance of “Walk On,” an anthem of hope and freedom dedicated to Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi.

Other winning performers included Keys; Canadian pop singer Nelly Furtado; San Francisco rock band Train; the combo of Christina Aguilera, Pink, Lil’ Kim, Mya and Missy Elliott. Additionally, several of the “O Brother” acts performed a revue.

Artists who won two awards each, all in the early ceremony, included comedian Mel Brooks for his hit Broadway stage musical “The Producers,” jazz/bluegrass banjoist Bela Fleck and bluegrass act Alison Krauss and Union Station.

Rocker Lenny Kravitz won his fourth consecutive Grammy for male rock vocal, beating a distinguished field that included veterans Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton. But Dylan won a folk Grammy and Clapton won for pop instrumental.