Ledger Awards Are Legacy for Matilda

Grammy Awards also go to Chris Brown, Bon Iver, and more

(NEWSER) - The Grammys got started with—what else?—a performance. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band did a rousing rendition of "We Take Care of Our Own" before host LL Cool J even made an appearance. The host brought up Whitney Houston's death first thing after thanking the band (click for more on that ). Then:

• Nope, it's still not time for an award: Bruno Mars takes the stage, then the first presenters appear—20 minutes into the ceremony. But Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt first perform a tribute to Etta James before presenting Best Pop Solo Performance to Adele for "Someone Like You."
• Next up: Another performance, this time the controversial first Grammys performance by Chris Brown since he beat Rihanna before the ceremony three years ago.

Grammy Awards remember Whitney Houston

(NEWSER) - Grammy Awards host LL Cool J brought up Whitney Houston 's death almost as soon as he took the stage tonight, and started the ceremony with a prayer for her before formally welcoming the audience. Then it was more Whitney, with LL Cool J presenting a video of the beloved diva performing "I Will Always Love You" at a previous Grammy Awards. "Whitney, we will always love you," he said. Toward the end of the evening, Jennifer Hudson echoed him: Performing "I Will Always Love You" as a tribute to Houston, she closed by singing the line, "Whitney, we love you." Click to watch the video . More»

But, he writes on his blog, he did have 'a blast'

(NEWSER) - If you were hoping to see who Ricky Gervais would skewer at next year's Golden Globes, sorry: The comic says that while he "had a blast" hosting Sunday's award show, he has directed his agent never to let him do it again. "It's like a parachute jump," he writes on his blog . "You can only really enjoy it in retrospect when you realize you didn't die and it was quite an amazing thing to do." More»

Williams recalls their romance in 'GQ'

(NEWSER) - After Heath Ledger died, Michelle Williams wasn't sure she would ever want to work again. "That seemed like a really smart idea," she tells GQ in a new profile. "You just want to be able to walk out of your house and turn your face to the sun and stumble down a corner where you have some memory, and you're not really allowed any of that," thanks to the paparazzi. "It was making me crazy. I felt like I was going crazy. It was too much—trying to deal with what had happened and trying to deal with what was at our doorstep. I just felt trapped." More»

Globes win sets David Furnish off

(NEWSER) - The longstanding Elton John-Madonna feud showed no signs of cooling down last night, when John's husband David Furnish took to Facebook to slam Madonna after she beat out John in the best song category. "Madonna. Best song???? F**k off!!!" he wrote, according to TMZ . Furnish continued, "Madonna winning Best Original Song truly shows how these awards have nothing to do with merit. Her acceptance speech was embarrassing in it's narcissism. And her critisism of Gaga shows how desperate she really is." For his part, John looked none too pleased when the cameras cut to him during Madonna's acceptance speech (watch at left). More»