LOS ANGELES: Beyonce on Sunday finally won the Grammy for the year`s best album for her culture-shaking Cowboy Carter, as rapper Kendrick Lamar posted a clean sweep on a night that served as a love letter to fire-ravaged Los Angeles.

Chappell Roan, Charli XCX, Doechii and Sabrina Carpenter emerged as big winners at the performance-heavy gala, while heavyweights Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish went home empty-handed.

Beyonce`s win for Cowboy Carter now makes her the most nominated, most decorated artist at the awards show ever as well as the first Black woman to claim the top prize in this century.

The triumph was all the more relevant as the 43-year-old`s ambitious, historically rooted album elevated and showcased the work of Black artists in country music, whose rich contributions the industry has repeatedly sidelined. `I just feel very full and very honoured,` she said, her husband Jay-Z and daughter Blue Ivy cheering from the crowd of A-listers at Crypto.com Arena.

She dedicated the prize to Linda Martell, a pioneering Black country musician featured on the album. `I hope we just keep pushing forward, opening doors,` Beyonce said.

The win brought Beyonce`s total Grammys on the night to three: she also won for her collaboration withMiley Cyrus, and snagged the best country album trophy. `I really was not expecting this,` she said as she accepted that prize, her voice audibly shaking. `Sometimes genre is a code word to keep us in our place as artists.` `I just want to encourage people to do what they`re passionate about and to stay persistent,` she added.

Jimmy Carter wins Grammy Late US president Jimmy Carter won a posthumous Grammy Award his fourth for best audiobook, narration and storytelling recording for a collection of his final Sunday school lessons in Georgia. On Last Sundays in Plains: A CentennialCelebration, Carter who died at the age of 100 on December 29 speaks about love, kindness, forgiveness and the afterlife at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown Plains.

The audiobook released in August 2024, just months before his death also features music from Darius Rucker, Jon Batiste and LeAnn Rimes, among others. Jason Carter, one of the former president`s grandsons who delivered a eulogy at his funeral, appeared at the pre-gala ceremony in Los Angeles to accept the award.

`Having his words captured in this way for my family and for the world is truly remarkable,` he told members of the audience, many of whom rose to their feet to honour the former president. Other nominees in the category included legendary singer Barbra Streisand, country superstar Dolly Parton and funk master George Clinton.

Carter who served as US president for a single term from 1977 to 1981 taught Sunday school for 50 years at Maranatha, usually more than once a month. He garnered his previous three Grammy wins in the best spoken word album category: for `Faith A Journey for All` in 2019; for `A Full Life: Reflections at 90` in 2016; and for `Our Endangered Values: America`s Moral Crisis` in 2007.

`Love you, LA` Sunday`s gala was an homage to the city of Los Angeles. Yet it was not a somber evening but rather one of warmth, celebrating first responders while urging donations. Host Trevor Noah said at least $7 million was raised from viewers for wildfire relief.

Top LA County firefighters presented Beyonce with her big award, while students who lost their schools sang with Stevie Wonder on `We Are The World` as part of the tribute to the late music powerhouse Quincy Jones.

The show opened with a supergroup including Sheryl Crow and John Legend performing Randy Newman`s track I Love LA, while Eilish sang her hit Birds of a Feather in an LA Dodgers baseball cap. `I love you LA,` she said to cheers.

`Anything is possible` Doechii emerged as another big winner, becoming just the third woman to ever win the prize for best rap album. The second-ever winner, Cardi B, presented her with the prize. `Anything is possible, Doechii said as she accepted the trophy through tears, speaking directly to Black girls and women like herself.

`Don`t allow anybody to project any stereotypes on you that tell you that you can`t be here, that you`re too dark or that you`re not smart enough, or that you`re too dramatic or you`re too loud,` she said.-AFP