Rapper Lil Wayne won four Grammys, including best rap album for "Tha Carter III," the biggest-selling U.S. release of 2008. He led the field with eight nominations in six categories.
Coldplay, who followed Wayne with seven nominations, ended up with three Grammys. They won Song of the Year for "Viva La Vida," the chart-topping hit that inspired a plagiarism lawsuit from Andrew Hoepfner, frontman of Brooklyn band Creaky Boards, who claims that the melody found in the Coldplay song is eerily similar to the one found in one of his songs - ironically entitled "The Song I Didn't Write".
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Coldplay frontman Chris Martin performs at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2009, in Los Angeles. [Sohu.com]
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"Thank you and sorry for blatantly recycling the Sergeant Pepper album," said Coldplay drummer Will Champion, in an oblique reference to the controversy that was directed at Beatles legend Paul McCartney. I guess it's easy to be flippant about that kind of thing when you've just collected the Song of the Year award. Curious rock enthusiasts can check out the Coldplay song against its alleged predecessor here – it's hard to feel that Hoepfner doesn't have some kind of a case…
Adele pipped another fellow-Briton Duffy for her Best New Artist award, as well as nominees Jonas Brothers, country group Lady Antebellum, and Philadelphia soul singer Jazmine Sullivan.
A newcomer she may be, but Adele's speech was a masterpiece of love and tears that could have come straight from the longest-serving hand in the Grand Ceremony Award Cliché Factory: "Thank you so much, I'm going cry," she said. "Duffy I love you, I think you're amazing. Jonas Brothers I love you as well," she added.
