RAY CHARLES won six posthumous Grammy awards last night for the Genius Loves Company album, released after his death last April.

The awards included best pop album and best pop collaboration with vocals for Here We Go Again, performed with Norah Jones, who also won best female pop vocal. Charles’s record has sold more than two million copies in the US, making it the bestselling album of his career.

Alicia Keys and Usher, each nominated for eight Grammys, both won three in the categories announced before the televised ceremony. They shared an award for best R’n’B performance by a duo or group for their duet My Boo. Keys was hoping to outdo the five Grammys she won in 2002 for her debut album, Songs in A Minor. But she was facing stiff competition from Kanye West, the songwriter-producer who earned ten nominations and won two in the pre-telecast awards.

Rod Stewart finally won the first Grammy of his career after being nominated 13 times, picking up the traditional pop vocal album award for his album of standards, Stardust . . . The Great American Songbook: Volume III, which topped the US album chart in October — his first No 1 album in 25 years.

The South London duo Basement Jaxx won the award for best electronic/dance album, with Kish Kash.

Britney Spears also won the first Grammy of her career, the best dance recording award for Toxic, a former British No 1 single.

The veteran British rockers Motörhead won the best metal performance Grammy, while Annie Lennox picked up best song for a film for Into the West from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Other early winners included former President Bill Clinton, for best spoken word album for his adaptation of his bestselling autobiography, My Life, and the actor-director Zach Braff, who won best compilation soundtrack album from his film Garden State.

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