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Neil Young arrives at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2011, in Los Angeles. [[AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Love for Buble, Neil Young, chill for Arcade Fire, Drake early at Grammy Awards



LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Neil Young finally won a Grammy Award for his music, but fellow Canadians Drake and the Arcade Fire failed to do the same as the first batch of awards were handed out on Sunday.


The 65-year-old Young - a three time nominee this year - claimed the award for best rock song for "Angry World" at a pre-telecast ceremony where the bulk of the awards are handed out.

Young, who has a nomination for best rock album in the evening portion of the awards, climbed the stage to accept his prize clad in black.

"Thank you everybody, thank you to the Grammys and all the people who, y'know, are part of that," said Young, who seemed pleased - even amused - by the honour, and rubbed the trophy as he clutched it.

Young never won a Grammy during his '60s and '70s heyday but in recent years claimed an award for the packaging of his "Archives" set and was honoured by MusiCares last year for his charity work.

"I appreciate this very much," he said Sunday. "This is my first Grammy for music. It's appreciated greatly."

"I'd like to thank my lovely wife, Pegi - she's been with me for 33 and a third years of marriage, keeping me rocking."

"Anyway, it's been great, thank you, this is a great honour, I appreciate it, thank you."

Meanwhile, Vancouver crooner Michael Buble claimed his third Grammy, winning the award for best traditional pop vocal album. He was not on hand to pick up the trophy.

Arcade Fire's early shut-out, meanwhile, proved a shock to Grammy insiders.

Since the band is up for the evening's top prize - album of the year - many assumed their other two nominations were virtual locks. But they lost out to the Black Keys for both alternative music album and best rock performance by a duo or group with vocals.

Drake, meanwhile, lost out to Eminem and Jay-Z respectively in his first two categories. He holds two more nominations in the evening gala - including best new artist, where he'll face off against 16-year-old pop star Justin Bieber.

During the day, Bieber's many fanatical followers were already in a tizzy about his two Grammy nominations [[both of which were scheduled in the evening portion of the show). Before the pre-telecast even began, "#grammerforbieber" was a trending topic worldwide on Twitter.

Jay-Z, Jeff Beck and John Legend led early with three awards apiece, while Lady Antebellum, Alicia Keys, T-Bone Burnett, Usher, the Roots and Lady Gaga each claimed a pair of trophies.

Leading nominee Eminem - who entered the day competing for 10 prizes - won only one in the first portion of the gala but he held another four nominations entering the evening section of the event, as did Nashville country-pop trio Lady Antebellum.

A total of 98 awards were handed out during the afternoon gala, with another 10 to be decided at an evening broadcast ceremony at the Staples Center.

Presenter Kathy Griffin poked fun at the marathon ceremony in a brief, profanity-filled rant, calling the event the "Schmammys."

"I'm so excited about the best remixed family polka album," joked the flame-haired comic, who later lost out best comedy album to the perpetually agitated Lewis Black.

Lady Gaga claimed the first award of the day, winning best short form music video for her typically bizarre "Bad Romance" clip, before following up with the award for best female pop vocal performance for the same infectious tune.

She wasn't around to claim it, though - she was busy turning heads outside. The singer, who showed up at last year's MTV Music Video Awards wearing a dress made of raw meat, graced the Grammy red carpet enclosed in a giant egg that was perched on a cross carried by gold-clad attendants.

Cee Lo Green notably snatched up a Grammy for best urban/alternative performance for his proudly profane single, "[[Expletive) You." He couldn't accept the award, though, because he was busy preparing for his scheduled performance of the song - a cleaned-up version, of course - which was to be a duet with Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow.

The devilishly infectious tune still had nominations for song and record of the year, but already made Grammy history by becoming the first song with the F-word in its title to claim an award.

Rihanna won best dance recording for her club hit "Only Girl [[In the World)," while other early winners included reggae singer Sade, Bruno Mars, David Guetta, La Roux and 71-year-old R&B pioneer Mavis Staples, who wept as she claimed her - believe it or not - first Grammy.

"That was the shock of my life," she said, tears streaming down her face. "It's been a long time, long time coming. ... But I'm grateful. It was worth the wait. I'm going to be around a while. Y'all haven't seen the last of me."

"Thank you so much and I'll see you next year."

She also took a moment to admire herself on the flatscreen TV positioned on the stage.

"They kept telling me that I looked glamorous and I looked wonderful but I hadn't noticed 'till I looked up there," said Staples, clad in a bright purple sequined dress.

Young - another legendary artist long ignored by the Grammys - referenced the moment later when he claimed his trophy.

"I'm not Mavis but I'm close," he said.

The audiobook version of "Earth" - written by "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" staffers - won for best spoken word album, a credit that included Canucks Samantha Bee and Jason Jones.

Other Canadians had a disappointing afternoon.

Among the Canucks who missed out on awards were Rush, Michael J. Fox, Fredericton's Measha Brueggergosman, Toronto R&B singer Melanie Fiona and Alberta powwow dance group Northern Cree, who have now been nominated six times without winning. Similarly, Montreal composer Marc-Andre Hamelin is still without a Grammy after nine nominations.

The evening broadcast promised performances from Eminem, Katy Perry, Drake, Mick Jagger, Arcade Fire, Justin Bieber and Gaga.