THE 57TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS

Sam Smith, the soulful Brit pop vocalist, was the undisputed champ at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. He took home four of the six trophies he was up for including Record of The Year and Best New Artist. Smith performed his award-winning tune, "Stay With Me" on the telecast Sunday night as a moving duet with Mary J. Blige.

Alt-rocker, Beck was the unexpected victor of the Album of The Year prize for "Morning Phase". No one was more surprised than Kanye West, who got on stage briefly during the presentation of Beck's award, seeming to think it would be funny to protest the win like he did to Taylor Swift at the MTV Music Awards.

For the fourth consecutive year, LL Cool J hosted the show but this time, he kept the talk to a minimum to allow the music to speak for it's self. There were twenty-three numbers over the course of the program and at almost four hours, it might seem like music overload. However, there were really no clunkers (although the ballads performed by Ariana Grande and Adam Levine of Maroon 5 with his former "Voice" judge, Gwen Stefani bordered on snoozy) and the show kicked off with the fiery first appearance on the Grammys by heavy-metal legends, AC/DC. I know they're not every one's taste but I thought they were great as they performed the title track from their latest album, "Rock or Bust" and their classic, "Highway To Hell".

Other highlights included Usher's uncomplicated but moving version of Stevie Wonder's "If It's Magic" (with the artist himself popping up at the end on harmonica), the oddball team of Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney performing their hot single, "FourFiveSeconds", Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett serving up a little jazz from their Grammy-winning record and the thrilling return of Electric Light Orchestra.

My favorite moments on the Grammys have been the pairing of veteran artists with new musicians. While not everyone appreciated their efforts, I enjoyed what Tom Jones and Jessie J. did with "You Lost That Lovin' Feeling" during their tribute to the songwriters, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. Irish rocker, Hozier was delivering his Grammy-nominated hit, "Take Me To Church" but it was Annie Lennox who joined him and took it home. The duo continued with a fierce rendition of the "Screaming" Jay Hawkins song, "I Put a Spell On You" from her nominated album, "Nostalgia" with Lennox bringing down the house.

Finally, what would the Grammys be without a little spectacle? First, Madonna showed the world she's still got it with a high-energy performance of her new single, "Living For Love" which featured a herd of male dancers wearing elaborate bull masks and concluded with the pop artist being lifted up in to the air.

While I thought Sia's latest recreation of the music video for her live performance of "Chandelier" was entertaining (and included teen dancer, Maddie Ziegler and comedian, Kristen Wiig), I, for one, am tired of seeing the Aussie vocalist singing to a wall. Enough with the silly recluse act. Anyway, it was another great celebration of music.

Here is a partial list of the winners from the 2015 Grammys. For the complete list, click below:

Grammy.com

ALBUM OF THE YEAR: "Morning Phase" - Beck
RECORD OF THE YEAR: "Stay With Me (Darkchild Version)" - Sam Smith
SONG OF THE YEAR: "Stay With Me (Darkchild Version)" - James Napier, William Phillips & Sam Smith, songwriters
BEST NEW ARTIST: Sam Smith
BEST POP SOLO PERFORMANCE: "Happy (Live)" - Pharrell Williams
BEST POP DUO/GROUP PERFORMANCE: "Say Something" - A Great Big World With Christina Aguilera
BEST TRADITIONAL POP VOCAL ALBUM: "Cheek To Cheek" - Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga
BEST POP VOCAL ALBUM: "In The Lonely Hour" - Sam Smith
BEST DANCE RECORDING: "Rather Be" - Clean Bandit Featuring Jess Glynne
BEST ROCK PERFORMANCE: "Lazaretto" - Jack White
BEST ROCK ALBUM: "Ryan Adams" -Ryan Adams
BEST ALTERNATIVE MUSIC ALBUM: "St. Vincent" -St. Vincent
BEST R&B PERFORMANCE: "Drunk In Love" -Beyoncé Featuring Jay Z
BEST R&B ALBUM: "Love, Marriage & Divorce" - Toni Braxton & Babyface
BEST RAP PERFORMANCE: "I" - Kendrick Lamar
BEST RAP ALBUM: "The Marshall Mathers LP2" - Eminem
BEST COUNTRY SOLO PERFORMANCE: "Something In The Water" - Carrie Underwood
BEST COUNTRY ALBUM: "Platinum" - Miranda Lambert
PRODUCER OF THE YEAR (NON-CLASSICAL): Max Martin

HOT AND FRESH OUT THE KITCHEN

TAYLOR SWIFT - "1989"

Country superstar, Taylor Swift has made a risky move by making her fifth album, "1989" a pure pop record. This could potentially be career suicide as country music fans are notoriously unforgiving when a beloved artist abandons their loving arms. I don't think Ms Swift has much to fear as the album looks poised to becoming one of the biggest sellers of the year.

For her official foray in to pop music, Swift has wisely decided against relying on current trends and looks back to the sounds of the 1980's for inspiration. The title of this record comes from the year of her birth and with production assistance from pop-hit makers, Max Martin, Ryan Tedder and Shellback as well as Jack Antonoff of the indie band, Fun and alt-rocker, Imogen Heap, she has crafted a collection that evokes a feeling of the past but remains quite modern. And considering she hasn't done much living at only twenty-four, Swift also shows great maturity as a songwriter.

"Blank Space", the latest single from the album looks sure to be another smash:

"Blank Space" - Taylor Swift (2014)

STEVIE NICKS - "24 KARAT GOLD: SONGS FROM THE VAULT"

One of Taylor Swift's idols, Stevie Nicks has also looked to the past for her latest release, "24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault". Nicks had a large collection of unrecorded songs she had written that went as far back as when she was dating Lindsey Buckingham before they joined Fleetwood Mac in 1975. They are now seeing the light of day as Nicks went to Nashville with producers, Waddy Wachtel and Dave Stewart (formerly of The Eurythmics) to record these lost treasures. The majority of the songs are by the singer but there are a few covers including "Carousel" by Vanessa Carlton which was one of her mother's favorites.

This is one of the tracks I really like:

"Starshine" - Stevie Nicks (2014)

PRINCE - "ART OFFICIAL AGE"

After being musically silent for far too long, the iconic Prince has returned with not one but two new releases. "Plectrumelectrum" and "Art Official Age" are being released by his former label, Warner Bros Records which he claimed at one time that they treated him like nothing more than a slave but clearly time has healed those old wounds. The former CD is an avant-garde, hard-edged rock album with his all-female backing band, 3rdeyegirl but I'm going to focus on the later which delivers more of the funky sound that I love. Prince seems to be in a more playful, sensual mood these days which is reflected in this new music. Along with the expected idiosyncratic touches scattered throughout, this is one of his most accessible albums in years.

"Clouds" - Prince (2014)

ANNIE LENNOX - "NOSTALGIA"

As is the trend these days for record labels to have veteran artists travel down a musical memory lane, Annie Lennox has just released her version with the appropriately titled, "Nostalgia". Ms Lennox had previously recorded a covers album of pop songs that inspired her back in 1995 with "Medusa" but this time the dynamic vocalist has gone back even further. This collection features songs from the Great American Songbook and some jazz tunes. She has taken on such classics ranging from Billie Holiday's "God Bless The Child" and "Strange Fruit", "Summertime" from Gershwin and "Georgia On My Mind" made famous by Ray Charles. Ms Lennox convincingly performs each song with warmth, style and class. "Nostalgia" has even made it to the top of the Billboard jazz chart.

Here is a clip of the singer performing "Summertime":


TINASHE - "AQUARIUS"

One of my favorite songs of the year is "2 On" by the twenty-one year old Tinashe and after releasing several popular mixtapes, her debut, "Aquarius" is now out. Although this singer/actress brings to mind the late Aaliyah, the Zimbabwe born, L.A. raised artist moves further out of the realm of traditional r&b or hip-hop. Tinashe had a hand on the writing of most of the songs along with top producers DJ Mustard, Mike Will Made-It and Stargate to help expand her sound and together they created a work that is sexy, experimental and highly innovative.

Enjoy this sample of the sounds of Tinashe:

"Cold Sweat" - Tinashe (2014)

Dawn Richard, a former member of the female pop singing group formed by Sean "P.Diddy" Combs, Danity Kane, has dropped the music video for her new single, "Blow". Richard is part of the alt-r&b movement and this pulsating clip is equally offbeat:

MY TUNE OF THE DAY

I just heard that Annie Lennox was recently married (for the third time but who's counting?) and just heard one of my favorite songs from this amazing artist today.

"No More I Love You's"  was the first single from her 1995 album, "Medusa" which was a collection of cover songs with this tune being the least known on the record. The song was first recored by the British new-wave band, The Lovers Speaks in 1986 and Lennox delivers a bubbly, eccentric take with her charming version.

Annie hasn't put out any new music since her Christmas album in 2010, so let's hope we will get something very soon. In the meantime, have a listen to this classic by Ms Lennox:

"No More I Love You's"  -  Annie Lennox (1995)

This is the video of an incredible duet featuring Annie Lennox and David Bowie performing "Under Pressure" with Queen during a Freddie Mercury tribute concert in 1992: