Grammys 2017: Adele wins five as Bowie honoured posthumously

The British singer’s comeback track Hello and album 25 beat Beyonce’s Formation and Lemonade respectively at the 59th annual ceremony.

The 28-year-old star performed a cover of George Michael’s Fastlove, but was forced to stop and restart.

She apologised to the audience, saying it was the pressure of honouring the late singer.

“I f***** up,” she said. “I can’t mess this up for him”.

In her acceptance speech, Adele apologised for swearing, saying that Michael meant so much to her that she could not give a poor performance.

Adele also took home best pop vocal album for 25 and best pop solo performance for Hello, while Hello also won the gong for record of the year.

The singer becomes the second woman to win album of the year twice, following Taylor Swift last year.Bruno Mars wore a purple Prince-inspired suit as he performed a rendition of the late pop icon’s song Let’s Go Crazy at this year’s Grammy.

During that speech, she paid tribute to Beyonce.

“I can’t possibly accept this award,” she said. “I’m very humble and I’m grateful and gracious but the artist of my life is Beyonce and the Lemonade album was just so monumental – Beyonce, it was so monumental.

“We got to see another side to you that we don’t always see. We appreciate that. All us artists here, we f****** adore you.”

Despite missing out in the main categories, Beyonce did not leave empty handed.

Giving her first public performance since announcing her pregnancy, the star took home best urban contemporary album for Lemonade and best music video for Formation.

On stage, she said the album was made to “give a voice to our pain” and to “confront issues that make us uncomfortable”.

The singer performed two songs from the hit visual album, as husband Jay Z and daughter Blue Ivy cheered from the audience.

David Bowie, who died of cancer in 2016, won all four of the awards he was nominated for, including best rock song for Blackstar.

His son, director Duncan Jones, tweeted a photo of himself holding Bowie in his arms and posted: “So proud of you dad! Would hold you up forever.”

Bowie and Michael were not the only late singers to be honoured, with Bruno Mars performing a glittery tribute to Prince, covering the icon’s Let’s Go Crazy hit.

“Make some noise for Prince y’all,” Mars yelled to a cheering audience.

Absent from the ceremony were stars including Justin Bieber, Kanye West and Drake.

The latter won best rap performance and best rap song for Hotline Bling – the hit single from his fourth studio album, Views.

But it was Chance The Rapper who had the biggest rap music wins, taking home the prize for best new artist and beating Drake and Kanye to win best rap album – the first streaming-only album to do so – and best rap performance.

“I didn’t think we were gonna get this one,” he said.

James Corden, who hosted the Grammys for the first time, rapped some of his opening monologue at the start of the show, namedropping Prince, Rihanna and Drake.

More than 13,000 music professionals voted to determine the winners, with other key winners including Sturgill Simpson’s A Sailor’s Guide To Earth for best country album and Cage The Elephant’s Tell Me I’m Pretty for best rock album. news.sky.com