Kendrick Lamar, Bruno Mars off to good start at Grammy awards

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Kendrick Lamar and Bruno Mars picked up early Grammy awards on Sunday in ceremonies ahead of the three-hour televised show celebrating the best in music.

Lamar’s “Humble.” won best music video, beating rapper Jay-Z, while Mars scored for best engineered album with “24K Magic” as celebrities began their way down the red carpet in New York for the main part of the show.

Country singer Reba McEntire, songwriter Diane Warren and Americana music band The Mavericks were among those wearing white roses as a symbol of solidarity with victims of sexual harassment, as the Time’s Up movement spreads from Hollywood to the music industry.

Lamar is expected to open Sunday’s show which will also feature live performances by Lady Gaga, U2, Cardi B, Pink, Miley Cyrus, Sting, Elton John, Sam Smith and many others.

Jay-Z started out with a leading eight nominations, mostly from his soul-baring “4:44” album. He is competing against Lamar, Mars, Childish Gambino and New Zealand-born singer-songwriter Lorde for album of the year in a test of whether hip-hop can break a 14-year dry spell and win that top prize.

Kesha, a best pop vocal album nominee who has been battling her former record producer Dr. Luke for years in U.S. courts over allegations of emotional and sexual abuse, is expected to perform her emotional single “Praying” with Cyndi Lauper, Julia Michaels and a full choir.

Dr. Luke has repeatedly denied Kesha’s allegations.

60th Annual Grammy Awards – Show – New York, U.S., 28/01/2018 – Grammy Awards are displayed backstage during the pre-telecast. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

“i‘m so proud and nervous and overwhelmed to be performing it at the grammys on sunday, and if you need it i hope this song finds you,” Kesha tweeted on Saturday.

Grammy nominees Alessia Cara, Khalid and Logic will take the stage with a group of suicide survivors to perform their song “1-800-273-8255,” the telephone number of the National Suicide Prevention hotline.

Slideshow (17 Images)

And country artists Brothers Osborne, Eric Church and Maren Morris, who appeared at the Las Vegas country music festival where 58 people were killed and more than 500 were wounded last October, will mark the victims of gun violence and extremist attacks at music events.

Mars, Jay-Z, Lamar and Gambino are also nominated for record of the year but so too is Latin dance hit “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and featuring Justin Bieber. The single last summer broke records as the most-streamed global track of all time, with more than 4.6 billion plays across leading platforms.

Ross Scarano, vice president of content at Billboard magazine, gave “Despacito” the edge.

“It appealed to a lot of people. It also speaks to the more global sound of pop this year, the emphasis on Latin music,” Scarano told Reuters.

(This story corrects death toll to 58 in paragraph 10)

Additional reporting by Alicia Powell; Editing by Cynthia Osterman

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