Grammys 2013: Mumford & Sons and Adele among UK winners
Story by Jack Foley
FOLK rockers Mumford & Sons and singer Adele led the British charge at the Grammys this year by winning a couple of the night’s big prizes.
Mumford & Sons, who went into the evening with six nominations, picked up two awards – album of the year for Babel and for best long form music video.
While Adele won best pop solo performance for her live version of Set Fire To The Rain.
Mumford’s Ben Lovett – after receiving the album award from Adele – said: “I just want to say how beautiful Adele is looking tonight, and how great it is to be presented this award by another British musician.”
And he added: “Yeah, there’s a few of us out there, and the Grammys have opened their arms to us, and we’re very grateful for all of this country and the Grammy foundation for being so welcoming.”
Adele, who won six awards last year, said: “I just wanted to be part of the night, because I loved it last year, obviously. Thank you, I just wanted to say a massive, send big love to all the other girls, and all us females doing this because we work so hard and we make it look so easy.”
A further British prize went to music legend Paul McCartney, whose Kisses on The Bottom record was named best traditional pop vocal album.
The night’s biggest winners, though, were indie rock group The Black Keys who took home four of the six awards for which they had been shortlisted.
Led by singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach, the band picked up best rock song and best rock album as well as best rock performance.
Auerbach himself received an additional prize for non-classical producer of the year.
Belgian-Australian artist Gotye also had a good night, picking up three prizes, including the coveted record of the year for his international hit Somebody That I Used To Know.
While New York act Fun took home two prizes – best new artist prize and song of the year for their anthem We Are Young, featuring Janelle Monae.
The event was held at Los Angeles’ Staples Center on Sunday, February 10, 2013, and proved to be another star-studded, lavish affair with several high profile live performances taking place throughout the night.
Taylor Swift kicked off proceedings with a rendition of her hit We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together set against the backdrop of an Alice in Wonderland theme, while Ed Sheeran and Sir Elton John appeared shortly afterwards to perform Sheeran’s single The A Team.
Sting, Bruno Mars and Rihanna joined forces for a Bob Marley tribute that featured Rihanna and Marley’s son Ziggy duetting on his father’s 1980 classic Could You Be Loved.
And Sir Elton returned to perform another all-star tribute – this time to the 26 people killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings last December.
One of the night’s big surprises, meanwhile, saw reclusive pop star Prince emerge sporting black sunglasses and a white cane to present the record of the year award to Gotye.
View the main winners at a glance