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Night Of Grammys Glory For Absent Winehouse

SOUL sensation Amy Winehouse scooped the Grammys yesterday, winning five awards including two for her autobiographical hit song Rehab.

And in a case of life imitating art, the subject matter of that song — her reluctance to confront her drug and alcohol demons — prevented the troubled singer from getting a US visa to attend the ceremony and collect her trophies.

Instead, she delivered a defiant medley of Rehab and You Know Im No Good via satellite from her home city of London.

Rapper Kanye West — who played a knock-out show before 20,000 people at the Good Vibrations Festival at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl on Saturday night — rushed to LA to accept four awards from his eight nominations.

But both singers were overlooked for the biggest award of the night, Album of the Year, which went to 67-year-old jazz legend Herbie Hancock for River: The Joni Letters, a tribute to the music of 60s folk singer Joni Mitchell.

It was Hancocks 11th Grammy and the first jazz album since Stan Getz and Joao Gilbertos 1964 Getz/Gilberto to take out the premier award.

Another 60s icon, the Beatles, returned to the podium when producers George Martin and Giles Martin took out Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for its remix album of Fab Four classics, Love.

Australians fared well, with Keith Urban picking up his second Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for his song Stupid Boy.

And Strathmore-born, UK-based Cameron Craig won a joint Grammy for his sound engineering work on the latest Suzanne Vega album.

But Canadian singer Feist, who was nominated in the Best Female Pop Vocal category for the song 1234, written by Melbourne singer-songwriter New Buffalo, missed out.

Other winners included the Foo Fighters, the White Stripes, Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake and Mary J. Blige.

American presidential candidate Barack Obama beat former US presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter to win the Best Spoken Word Album award for the audio version of his best-selling book The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream.

Meanwhile, rock supergroup Velvet Revolver has cancelled its upcoming tour of Australia to allow lead singer Scott Weiland to continue treatment at a Los Angeles rehabilitation centre. Tickets will be refunded at the point of purchase.

ALBUM OF THE YEARRiver: The Joni Letters, Herbie Hancock

RECORD OF THE YEARRehab, Amy Winehouse

SONG OF THE YEARRehab, Amy Winehouse

NEW ARTISTAmy Winehouse

RAP ALBUMGraduation, Kanye West

ROCK ALBUMEchoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, Foo Fighters

ROCK SONGRadio Nowhere, Bruce Springsteen

ALTERNATIVE MUSIC ALBUMIcky Thump, White Stripes

COUNTRY ALBUMThese Days, Vince Gill