Alicia Scores Keys to the Music Industry

Soul prodigy Alicia Keys emerged as queen of the US music industry last night when she won five Grammy awards out of the six categories she was nominated in, including the coveted song of the year and best new artist prizes.

Her debut album, Songs In A Minor, one of the best selling releases of last year, was named best R&B album. Its first single, the piano ballad Fallin', was also honoured for female R&B vocal and R&B song.

The 21-year-old New Yorker had burst onto the music scene last year with the hit album after being dumped by Columbia, her old record company.

"You don't know how much this humbles me," she said as she accepted her fifth award for song of the year.

Her clean sweep was only prevented by Irish rockers U2, who won four awards including record of the year for Walk On, and the hit bluegrass-flavoured movie soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou? which was crowned album of the year.

U2 now has seven Grammys for its 10m-selling All That You Can't Leave Behind album. They won four last night - rock album, best performance by a duo or group with vocal for Elevation and best pop performance by a duo or group with vocal for Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of - to add to the three last year for the hit single Beautiful Day. Walk On is dedicated in the CD to Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi.

"We got seven Grammys for an album we made in actually such a desperate fashion," lead singer Bono said. "Desperate in the sense to be relevant rather than successful. There was a sense we really wanted to connect. It's a very, very sweet success."

He was also moved to speak at length of the band's love for America - something he has been doing a lot of recently, keeping company with such world leaders as Nobel laureates Desmond Tutu, Elie Wiesel and Kofi Annan.

"The United States is really crap at PR," he said. "I think the United States has a role to play in the world and it's not just as a police force."

After a few minutes he apologized for giving a lecture: "You win a few Grammys, you think you're very interesting," he said, smiling.

The O Brother soundtrack was the biggest surprise of the night, yielding four awards in total. Its musical mastermind, T-Bone Burnett also won four Grammys, including producer of the year.

Although the album has sold a staggering 4m copies in the US, it was considered a longshot in a field comprising former category winners U2 and Bob Dylan, rap duo Outkast and India Arie.

The album, which consists of blues, gospel, country and bluegrass tunes performed by various artists, becomes the first soundtrack to win this category since The Bodyguard in 1994, and the first country album since Glen Campbell's By the Time I Get To Phoenix in 1969. It also won the movie soundtrack Grammy.

There were also a number of British successes last night - Coldplay secured their place as one of the world's most promising bands by winning the best alternative album for their hit Parachutes, which has sold more than 3m copies worldwide.

And veteran guitarists Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck were both honoured, with Clapton winning the best pop instrumental performance for his single Reptile.

Smooth operator Sade put the seal on her comeback with the best pop vocal album for Lovers Rock, while Irish star Enya took away the best new age album for A Day Without Rain.

There was also an honour for Fatboy Slim, whose Weapon of Choice was given the best short video Grammy.

However, it was not a good night for last year's other promising newcomer - R&B rookie India Arie. She had competed against Keys in most categories but went home empty-handed.