Grammys: Adele And Foo Fighters Triumph

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Adele is celebrating triumph at the Grammy Awards after picking up six gongs.

The British soul singer's awards included album of the year for 21 and best record for Rolling In The Deep.

The 23-year-old had surgery on her vocal cords late last year and had been resting her voice on her doctor's orders until the music industry's biggest night.

Taking to the stage for the first time since then, she sang Rolling In The Deep and finished to a standing ovation.

Adele also added song of the year, best pop solo performance, pop vocal and short video to her stack of trophies.

Foo Fighters were the other big winners, picking up five Grammys , including Best Rock Performance for Walk.

"This is a great honour because this record was a special record for our band," explained frontman Dave Grohl .

"Rather than go to the best studio we made this one in my garage with some microphones and a tape machine.

"It shows that the human element of making music is what's most important."

The awards also paid tribute to Whitney Houston , who was found dead in a bath in her Beverly Hills hotel room on Saturday.

She was remembered by fellow artists in acceptance speeches and songs.

Jennifer Hudson sang Houston's signature hit I Will Always Love You and Grammy host LL Cool J offered a prayer for the star's family, friends and fans.

Other major Grammy winners included Taylor Swift, who picked up Grammys for solo performance and country song with Mean, which she performed to a standing ovation.

She had been expected to take best country album, too, but Lady Antebellum took that prize with Own The Night.

The other big surprise came when indie folk act Bon Iver took the Grammy for best new artist over rapper Nicki Minaj.

Jay-Z and Kanye West won best rap performance with their song Otis, from the album Watch The Throne, but they failed to show up to claim their prize.

West entered the night with seven nominations, more than any other artist, and also walked away with the award for best rap album with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Chris Brown won the Grammy for best R&B album F.A.M.E.