LOS ANGELES — Amy Winehouse, the troubled British soul singer with the darkly self-referential hit “Rehab,” failed to attend Sunday’s 50th annual Grammy Awards in person, but she proved a dominating figure nonetheless, picking up five trophies as voters kept her in a tight competition with the rap star Kanye West.
Herbie Hancock accepts an award for album of the year. More Photos »
Amy Winehouse received news she had won a Grammy via satellite from London. More Photos >
Both of them, however, were left on the sidelines for the night’s final prize, album of the year, which went to the jazz mainstay Herbie Hancock.
Ms. Winehouse won awards in two of the three most prestigious categories, for the writing and recording of the single “Rehab,” about her refusal to seek treatment for substance abuse. She performed on the program via satellite from London, where her tabloid-ready lifestyle recently prompted her to enter a rehabilitation center.
Looking stunned and strangely sad as she learned she had won for record of the year, she thanked her record label, her parents and “my Blake, my Blake incarcerated,” referring to Blake Fielder-Civil, her husband, who has been jailed for his involvement in a pub brawl.
Ms. Winehouse also won for best new artist, best female pop vocal performance for “Rehab” and best pop vocal album for her CD “Back to Black.”
Ms. Winehouse, who earned acclaim for her retro-tinged musical style, found herself facing a challenge for the top awards from Mr. West, the innovative Chicago rapper who had twice before been nominated for album of the year and told viewers he considered the Grammy Awards his “new place of residence.” Mr. West ended up with four awards.
Even the typically confident Mr. West, whose “Graduation” was named best rap album, offered a nod to the uncertainty when he took the stage for the award, telling Ms. Winehouse’s producer, Mark Ronson, that if she won for album of the year: “You deserve it just as much as me. I deserve it too.”
But both of them were upstaged in the album of the year category by Mr. Hancock, who appeared surprised as he accepted the award for his tribute to Joni Mitchell, “River: The Joni Letters,” which featured artists including Corinne Bailey Rae and Norah Jones offering gentle renditions of Ms. Mitchell’s songs. The album’s unexpected victory represents the first time in 43 years that a jazz album has won the album of the year prize. “What a beautiful day this is in Los Angeles!” Mr. Hancock, a favorite of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences who had won 10 Grammy trophies before Sunday, said as he took the stage.
Though the choice of Mr. Hancock may stoke criticism that Grammy voters are out of step with pop music’s cutting edge, the decision was defended backstage. Vince Gill, the country superstar who lost out to Mr. Hancock in the album of the year field, said Mr. Hancock was “hands-down a better musician than all of us put together.” Neil Portnow, the president of the academy, which bestows the awards, disputed characterizations of Mr. Hancock as irrelevant, saying the competition is based on excellence, not sales. And Mr. Hancock himself asked: “What’s conservative about me? I mean, the way I dress?”
For her part, Ms. Winehouse staked her claim to Grammy glory with a lively performance — an unusually unpredictable moment in the heavily scripted Grammy program — that was beamed in from London. Ms. Winehouse, who left a rehabilitation center to rehearse, appeared in a short black dress and her signature beehive. She coyly looked into the camera and shook her hips as she performed two songs that seemed unfortunately apt, “You Know I’m No Good” and “Rehab,” which drew explosive applause from her audience.
But her virtual appearance wasn’t the only one that seemed slightly haunted. The live broadcast began with a spectral duet that found the R&B queen Alicia Keys trading verses with Frank Sinatra, shown on a screen above the stage, on Sinatra’s 1955 hit “Learnin’ the Blues.” The performance, which evoked Natalie Cole’s duet with a video of her father, Nat King Cole, on the 1992 Grammy telecast, set the tone for a show that tried to unite profoundly disparate eras and musical talents while squeezing in the modern stars who draw television ratings.
Even Prince, who knows a few things about showy entrances, took note of the unusual pairing: “Frank Sinatra looked pretty good for 150, didn’t he?” Prince asked an appreciative audience as he presented the evening’s first trophy, for best female R&B performance, to Ms. Keys, for her single “No One.”
In the flesh, however, came a series of performances that reflected the overt nostalgia of the academy but added the flash of current stars. Rihanna appeared, seeming at ease as she fronted a version of the Time, the 1980s funk act that formed and disintegrated before she was born, in a flashy run-through of her hits “Umbrella” and “Don’t Stop the Music.” Beyoncé teamed with Tina Turner, who wore a silver bustier and pantsuit that partially concealed her famous legs, for a duet of “Proud Mary.”
And in an elaborate tribute to the Beatles, the acrobatic cast of the Cirque du Soleil production “Love” performed “A Day in the Life” before the performers from the Julie Taymor-directed film musical “Across the Universe” sang “Let It Be” on a full stage under glowing circular peace signs. Minutes later, when “Love” won the Grammy for best compilation soundtrack album, Ringo Starr, accepting the award with the Beatles’ musical partner George Martin, described Cirque du Soleil’s surreal interpretations of the band’s music as “a beautiful dream.”
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