Pop giants Pharrell Williams and Beyonce won early Grammys on Sunday, but fresh-faced British singer Sam Smith still had a chance to make history.
The music industry's biggest night kicked off with some of the top names in pop music - including Madonna, Paul McCartney, Rihanna and Kanye West - slated to perform to a global audience from Los Angeles.
Among dozens of awards announced in a smaller ceremony beforehand, Pharrell Williams won for Best Urban Contemporary Album and for Best Video for Happy, his viral ode to happiness that spawned hundreds of imitations around the world.
Pharrell, 41, has emerged as a star in his own right with Happy after years on the sidelines as a producer.
Last year, he enjoyed Grammy nominations for his work both on Robin Thicke's lustful Blurred Lines and with the French electronic duo Daft Punk, who were 2014's big winners.
"Life is a carousel," Pharrell Williams said as he walked the red carpet at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in a gray Adidas shorts suit.
Beyonce won for Best R&B Song with Drunk In Love, her tale of marital bliss sung with her husband Jay-Z, and for the more technical Best Surround Sound Album.
With the latest honor, Beyonce has won 19 Grammys - topping Aretha Franklin for the woman with the second biggest all-time haul, although still well behind the country star Alison Krauss at 27.
The 33-year-old singer offered some of her most personal work on her latest, self-titled album, which she recorded in secret and released with no previous publicity in December 2013.
Beyonce and Pharrell are both nominated in six categories, as is Sam Smith, the British soul singer who just a couple of years ago was working as a bartender in London.
Sam has enjoyed a phenomenal rise with Stay With Me - a ballad about a one-night stand marked by his rich, soulful tenor voice.
The 22-year-old is up for Grammys in the four most closely watched categories - Album of the Year; Record of the Year, which honors the top tune; Song of the Year, which recognizes the composer; and Best New Artist.
Only one artist has previously won all four categories at once -- Christopher Cross, whose 1981 triumph heralded a decade of soft rock as he controversially beat out Pink Floyd's now-classic The Wall.
Also up for Album of the Year are Beck, the innovative Los Angeles rocker who has enjoyed two decades of critical acclaim, and British newcomer Ed Sheeran.
