Adele and Winehouse win accolades (From Gazette)

Adele and Winehouse win accolades

3:33am Monday 13th February 2012 in Entertainment News © Press Association 2011

Adele has won four Grammys and made her first live appearance since having surgery on her vocal cords.

The British singer's 21, the year's best-selling album, is up for album of the year and has won for best pop vocal album.

Rolling in the Deep, which she performed, is up for record of the year, and won for song of the year and short form music video. She also won best pop solo performance for Someone Like You.

Adele had to cancel her tour and undergo surgery after persistent throat problems, and has kept a low-profile for months.

Meanwhile, Mitch and Janis Winehouse, the parents of the British singer Amy who died last year at the age of 27 following a battle with drugs and alcohol, were invited on stage to jointly accept a posthumous award on her behalf.

The gong for best pop performance by a duo or group was awarded for Winehouse's duet with Tony Bennett on the single Body and Soul.

"We shouldn't be here. Our darling daughter should be here. These are the cards that we're dealt," said Mitch after he was called on stage by Bennett.

British singer/songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae also picked up a Grammy for best R&B performance as the night kicked off.

The televised segment of the 54th annual awards opened with a prayer and standing ovation to singer Whitney Houston, who was found dead the day before the ceremony and who herself won a clutch of six prestigious Recording Academy gongs over a turbulent career marred by spells of drug addiction.

Host LL Cool J said: "There is no way around this. We've had a death in our family so at least for me, the only thing that seems right is to start with a prayer for our fallen sister Whitney Houston."