Mariah and Kanye West Poised for Grammy Showdown

The heat is on for three US artists at tonight’s 48th Grammy awards in Los Angeles, jointly leading the race with eight nominations each. Singer Mariah Carey faces rapper Kanye West and R&B singer-songwriter John Legend, with Carey and West head-to-head for the prestigious best album award.

U2 also lead the pack, receiving five nominations, while British musicians in the Grammy frontline include Sir Paul McCartney and Coldplay, each with three nominations apiece. Franz Ferdinand, Keane, Chemical Brothers and veteran Rod Stewart are also in the running further down the field.

With bookies sitting on the fence, critics have suggested that no single artist will clean up tonight - in contrast to last year’s event, when soul legend Ray Charles dominated from beyond the grave with eight posthumous Grammys, including record and album of the year.

Pop princess Carey may well have mixed feelings about the awards. It was 1990, and her career was in its infancy, when she last received recognition from the Grammy judges - a position echoed tonight by 28-year-old West, who only released his first album in 2004. It received 10 nominations at last year’s awards, and won three, including best rap album.

But Carey has fought hard to carve out a comeback since her disastrous fall from grace in 2001, which culminated in hospitalization due to exhaustion and being dumped by her record label EMI. Her latest album, The Emancipation of Mimi, is the singer’s first new work since 2002 and was last year’s best-selling album in the US.

Interviewed by Rolling Stone earlier this month, the typically outspoken West declared he was the worthier winner, saying: "Not to discredit her at all, but I think I deserve it over her, because Gold Digger sounds like nothing you’ve heard before."

But both artists face tough competition in the record of the year and album of the year categories. Other nominees in the first category include Green Day’s poignant Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Gwen Stefani’s crowd-pleaser Hollaback Girl, and Gorillaz’ Feel Good Inc.

For album of the year, the fight is just as fierce. U2 are nominated for How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. Gwen Stefani is up for her kitschy solo debut, Love. Angel. Music. Baby., and Paul McCartney, who released his most acclaimed work in years with Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, is also nominated.

Compared to McCartney and many other nominees, Legend is a far less familiar name. The singer made his debut in late 2004 with the album Get Lifted, part produced by none other than Kanye West. His eight nominations include one for his ballad Ordinary People, up for song of the year. Legend is also a heavy favourite to win the best new artist category, in which he is competing with R&B dance queen Ciara, emo rockers Fall Out Boy, the rock group Keane and the country trio SugarLand.

The usual all-star roster of musicians will be performing at tonight’s LA ceremony, broadcast live to US network audiences from 8pm Eastern Time. U2, Mary J Blige, Coldplay, Sugarland, Jamie Foxx, Christina Aguilera and Herbie Hancock are all appearing on the bill. But the bet is that Madonna will steal the show once more: she features with virtual band Gorillaz in what the organizers have billed as "an exciting Grammy moment".