LOS ANGELES -Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' unorthodox musical partnership yielded rich rewards on Grammy night, as the pair won a leading five Grammys, including album of the year for the haunting Raising Sand.
But the biggest shock of the night came well before the telecast began, when police announced that they were investigating teen heartthrob and double Grammy nominee Chris Brown for an alleged felony assault on his girlfriend, pop star Rihanna.
Brown and Rihanna, each nominated and slated to perform, separately dropped out of the Grammys at the last minute. The Los Angeles Times, citing sources close to the investigation, reported that Rihanna suffered visible injuries after an argument early yesterday and identified Brown as her attacker. Brown arrived for questioning at an L.A. police station last night, according to the Times. He was later charged on suspicion of making felony criminal threats, according to the Times.
Jennifer Hudson was at the Grammys, however, and provided the night's most emotional moments onstage. The Oscar winner took her first Grammy award - for best R&B album - for her self-titled debut.
Hudson, 27, made no direct reference to the October killings of her mother, brother and nephew that kept her in seclusion until just this month. But while fighting back tears, she made it clear that her family was foremost on her mind.
"I first would like to thank God, who has brought me through. I would like to thank my family in heaven and those who are with me today."
Hudson later performed "You Pulled Me Through," a dramatic song about overcoming deep despair, with the lyrics: "When I was drowning, when I was so confused, you, you pulled me through." As she sang the last note, she looked directly into the camera and dissolved into tears once again.
There were no tears as Krauss and Plant accepted their awards for their emotion-rich CD, Raising Sand. The pairing of the former Led Zeppelin rocker and Krauss, a bluegrass queen, may have seemed downright weird on paper, but the T Bone Burnett-produced album was universally acclaimed.
Plant said "Please Read the Letter" was "an old song that me and Jimmy Page wrote together post-Led Zeppelin, and it's been given that Nashville touch, and it feels pretty good."
The Grammy telecast was filled with eye-popping and eyebrow-raising performances, from Radiohead's collaboration with a college marching band to a televised black-and-white throwback performance from Jay-Z, T.I., Lil Wayne, Kanye West and a very pregnant M.I.A.
