娱乐英语新闻:Grammy's Award ceremony kicks off

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- The Grammy Awards ceremony kicked off in Los Angeles Sunday night, with Beyonce's hit "Single Ladies" winning the Grammy for song of the year.

This was one of five early awards annnounced so far. The song of the year award for "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)" went to the songwriters: Beyonce, Thaddis Harrell, Terius Nash and Christopher Stewart.

It was the fifth Grammy of the night for Beyonce, who collected four awards in the three-hour pre-telecast ceremony: best female R&B performance, best traditional R&B performance, best R&B song and best contemporary R&B album.

The song of the year Grammy was the first presented during the show, and Beyonce was not on stage to accept it because she was preparing to perform.

Meanwhile, upstart sensation Taylor Swift claimed three awards, including best country album for "Fearless."

Beyonce had 10 nominations and Swift had eight going into tonight's 52nd annual Grammy festivities at Staples Center. They were both nominated in for top categories of record, album and song of the year.

Swift is nominated for album of the year for "Fearless," while Beyonce is up for "I Am ... Sasha Fierce," Black Eyed Peas for "The E.N.D.," Lady Gaga for "The Fame" and Dave Matthews Band for "Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King."

In the record-of-the-year category, the nominees are Beyonce for "Halo," Black Eyed Peas for "I Gotta Feeling," Kings of Leon for " Use Somebody," Lady Gaga for "Poker Face" and Swift for "You Belong with Me."

Swift won two awards in the pre-show ceremony -- best country song and best female country vocal performance for "White Horse" -- and she claimed the best country album honor early in the televised Grammy ceremony.

"This is my first time walking up those stairs to accept a Grammy on national television, thank you so much," she said. "I want to thank my record label for letting me write every song on my album.

"I just keep thinking back to, like, when you're in second grade and you sing at your talent show for the first time and people joke around and they say, 'Oh maybe we'll see you at the Grammys someday.' But that just seems like an impossible dream, and I just feel like I'm standing here accepting an impossible dream right now, and I thank you so much for that."

Swift has had a big year that rocketed her to stardom, with the 20-year-old songstress claiming top honors at the American Music Awards and Country Music Association Awards ceremonies.

Meanwhile, the country group Zac Brown Band won the Grammy for best new artist.

"It's just such an honor to be on stage and to be sharing in this big amalgam of music here," Brown said.

Talk show host Stephen Colbert won the Grammy for best comedy album for "A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift Of All!"

"It's a Christmas album, so obviously I should thank Jesus Christ for having such a great birthday," Colbert said.

The Grammy ceremony will include a tribute to the late Michael Jackson, featuring Celine Dion, Jennifer Hudson, Smokey Robinson, Carrie Underwood and Usher. The tribute will also include the 3-D mini-film "Earth Song," which was created by Jackson as part of his planned "This Is It" tour.