Adele tied a record for women by winning all six of the awards she was nominated for, including album, record and song of the year. The British singer also made a highly anticipated return to the stage after dealing with a hemmorrhaged vocal cord, ripping through her hit "Rolling in the Deep." By the time she won her last award, the Armani-clad chanteuse was in tears.

However, another woman was in the spotlight for a much more tragic reason: Whitney Houston. The superstar passed away the previous night of unspecified causes.

Jennifer Hudson paid tribute to Houston by singing the latter's signature song, "I Will Always Love You," concluding, "Whitney, we will always love you." Event host LL Cool J started the show by saying, "We've had a death in our family, and so at least for me—for me—the only thing that feels right is to begin with a prayer for a woman we loved, for our fallen sister, Whitney Houston." He then led a short prayer and played a bit of her video for the song "I Will Always Love You."

Rapper Nicki Minaj caused a stir by entering the ceremony with a man dressed as a pope and then putting on an exorcism-themed performance reportedly involving her alter ego, Roman Zolanski. Chris Brown—three years removed from assaulting then-girlfriend Rihanna—won a Grammy for best R&B album for F.A.M.E.

Other award winners included Bon Iver (Best New Artist and Best Alternative Music Album), Tony Bennett and Amy Winehouse (Best Pop Duo/Group Performance), Foo Fighters (Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song) and Kanye West (Best Rap Album, among other awards).

Skrillex won for best dance recording for "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" over such artists as David Guetta and DJ duo Duck Sauce—who had a song entitled "Barbra Streisand" in the category.