GRAMMY AWARDS: Newcomer Norah Jones blew away the competition at the 45th annual Grammy awards in New York, taking five trophies including Album of the Year, and stealing the thunder from old-school rocker Bruce Springsteen.
Of the eight artists going into the music industry's biggest night out with five nominations, the sultry jazz-pop vocalist was the only one to win in every category and tied Lauryn Hill and Alicia Keys for most wins by a female artist in a single evening.
Jones (23) has some rich music industry blood as the daughter of 82-year-old Indian sitar maestro Ravi Shankar and longtime New York concert producer Sue Jones.
As well as taking Sunday evening's top honour for her hugely successful debut album Come Away With Me, the Texas-raised New Yorker also won for Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Her victory in the best album category was something of a surprise as the award had been talked up as a battle between Springsteen's September 11th-inspired The Rising and rapper Eminem's The Eminem Show. Springsteen did not go away empty handed, taking three awards for best Rock Song, Rock Album and Male Rock Vocal Performance, while Eminem nabbed two trophies, including one for Best Rap Album.
All-girl country combo The Dixie Chicks, who had also been nominated in the Best Album category, ended the night with three awards.
"I just want to say that at a time when this world is really weird, I feel really blessed and really lucky to have had the year I've had," Jones told the star-studded audience at New York's Madison Square Garden. "I never ever thought that the music I made would become popular music, so this is amazing," she said.
The Sunday evening show began with legendary folk duo Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel - who were honoured with Lifetime Achievement awards - reuniting for the first time in 10 years for a live rendition of their classic Sound of Silence. The performance, introduced by Hollywood star Dustin Hoffman, drew a standing ovation from the 20,000-strong audience.
Grammy Awards: Selected winners
Album of the year: Come Away With Me, Norah Jones (right).
New artist: Norah Jones.
Record of the year: Don't Know Why, Norah Jones.
Song of the year: Don't Know Why, Jesse Harris (Norah Jones).
Hard rock performance: All My Life, Foo Fighters.
Country album: Home, Dixie Chicks.
Rap album: The Eminem Show, Eminem.
Female rap solo performance: Scream a.k.a. Itchin', Missy Elliott.
Male rap solo performance: Hot in Herre, Nelly.
Alternative music album: A Rush of Blood to the Head, Coldplay.
Female rock vocal performance: Steve McQueen, Sheryl Crow.
Male rock vocal performance: The Rising, Bruce Springsteen.
Rock song: The Rising, Bruce Springsteen.
Rock album: The Rising, Bruce Springsteen.