54th Grammy Award Winners: See Adele's Return, Watch Jennifer Hudson's Whitney Houston Tribute

The 54th Grammy Awards ceremony belonged to Whitney Houston, Jennifer Hudson and Adele - two saying "goodbye," and a the other saying "I'm back."

Adele didn't simply run the table on all six catergories where she received nominations - Album of the Year for 21, Song of the Year and Record of the Year for the chart-topping "Rolling In The Deep," Best Pop Solo Performance for "Someone Like You," Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Short Form Music Video for "Rolling In The Deep." That sweep alone would've been impressive enough. Instead, the 2011 Best New Artist Grammy honoree took the stage live for the first time since career-threatening laser microsurgery on her vocal chords in late 2011, and delivered "Rolling In The Deep" like she'd never left.

What must it be like to be the failure of a man that inspired those words delivered with soul-shaking, smoky voice?

Though Adele's hasn't yet shone brighter than in last night's finest hour, a sudden death in recording's family still hung over music's biggest night as host LL Cool J took the stage. The hip-hop icon began evening delivering a solemn prayer honoring the late six-time Grammy winner Whitney Houston, found dead at age 48 in her Beverly Hills Hilton hotel room's bathtub by a bodyguard less than 24 hours earlier.

From a loss that shattered a generation of fans raised with Houston hits like "How Will I Know?" and "I Want To Dance With Somebody," a young artist Houston inspired forged a stirring honorific moment that should deservedly be remembered almost as much as a testament to her talent as it will be a "thank you, and farewell" to a legend.

It was announced Saturday night at a pre-Grammy party thrown by long-time Houston friend and mentor Clive Davis - an event Houston was set to attend - that Oscar-winner and "American Idol" runner-up Jennifer Hudson would step up Sunday night to honor Houston's memory. And following an "In Memoriam" montage that included not only lost talents like Houston but also Amy Winehouse, Clarence Clemons and Phoebe Snow, Hudson delivered a rendition of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You," the ballad often more closely associated with Houston's double Grammy-winning take from 199's "The Bodyguard" soundtrack.

Hudson even included an improvised "We love you, Whitney."

Elsewhere, Kanye West finally had an awards night that can't really leave him bitching. The ecclectic, acclaimed and sometimes controversial producer and rapper brought home took Best Rap Performance alongside Jay-Z for "Otis," Best Rap-Sung Collaboration and Best Rap Song for "All Of The Lights" and Best Rap Album for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The Foo Fighters took home Best Rock Performance for "Walk," Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance for "White Limo," Best Long Form Music Video for "Foo Fighters: Back and Forth" and Best Rock Album for Wasting Light.

Check out the full list of winners below, per Entertainment Weekly.

Album of the Year
21, Jim Abbiss, Adele, Paul Epworth, Rick Rubin, Fraser T. Smith, Ryan Tedder and Dan Wilson, producers; Jim Abbiss, Philip Allen, Beatriz Artola, Ian Dowling, Tom Elmhirst, Greg Fidelman, Dan Parry, Steve Price, Mark Rankin, Andrew Scheps, Fraser T. Smith and Ryan Tedder, engineers-mixers; Tom Coyne, mastering engineer

Record of the Year
“Rolling In The Deep,” Adele

Best New Artist
Bon Iver

Best Country Album
Own the Night, Lady Antebellum

Song of the Year
“Rolling in the Deep,” Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth, songwriters (Adele)

Best R&B Album
F.A.M.E., Chris Brown

Best Rock Performance
“Walk,” Foo Fighters

Best Rap Performance
“Otis,” Jay-Z and Kayne West

Best Pop Solo Performance
“Someone Like You,” Adele

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
“Body and Soul,” Tony Bennett and Amy Winehouse

Best Pop Instrumental Album
The Road from Memphis, Booker T. Jones

Best Pop Vocal Album
21, Adele

Best Dance Recording
“Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites,” Skrillex

Best Dance/Electronica Album
“Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites,” Skrillex

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
Duets II, Tony Bennett and various artists

Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance
“White Limo,” Foo Fighters

Best Rock Song
“Walk,” Foo Fighters

Best Rock Album
Wasting Light, Foo Fighters

Best Alternative Music Album
Bon Iver, Bon Iver

Best R&B Performance
“Is This Love,” Corinne Bailey Rae

Best Traditional R&B Performance
“Fool for You,” Cee Lo Green & Melanie Fiona

Best R&B Song
“Fool for You,” Cee Lo Green, Melanie Hallim, Jack Splash

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
“All of the Lights,” Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi & Fergie

Best Rap Song
“All of the Lights,” Jeff Bhasker, Stacy Ferguson, Malik Jones, Warren Trotter and Kanye West

Best Rap Album
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye West

Best Country Solo Performance
“Mean,” Taylor Swift

Best Country Duo/Group Performance
“Barton Hollow,” the Civil Wars

Best Country Song
“Mean,” Taylor Swift

Best New Age Album
What’s It All About, Pat Metheny

Best Improvised Jazz Solo
“500 Miles High,” Chick Corea

Best Jazz Vocal Album
The Mosaic Project, Terri Lyne Carrington and various artists

Best Jazz Instrumental Album
Forever, Corea, Clarke and White

Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album
The Good Feeling, Christian McBride Big Band

Best Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music
“Jesus,” Le’Andria Johnson

Best Gospel Song
“Hello Fear,” Kirk Franklin

Best Contemporary Christian Music Song
“Blessings,” Laura Story

Best Gospel Album
Hello Fear, Kirk Franklin

Best Contemporary Christian Music Album
And If Our God Is for Us…, Chris Tomlin

Best Latin Pop, Rock, Or Urban Album
Drama Y Luz, Maná

Best Regional Mexian Or Tejano Album
Bicentenario, Pepe Aguilar

Best Banda Or Norteno Album
Los Tigres del Norte and Friends, Los Tigres del Norte

Best Tropical Latin Album
The Last Mambo

Best Americana Album
Ramble at the Ryman

Best Bluegrass Album
Paper Airplane, Alison Krauss and Union Station

Best Blues Album
Revelator, Tedeschi Trucks Band

Best Folk Album
The Civil Wars

Best Regional Roots Music Album
Rebirth of New Orleans

Best Raggae Album
Revelation Pt 1: The Root of Life

Best World Music Album
Tassili, Tinariwen

Best Children’s Album
All About Bullies… Big And Small

Best Spoken Word Album
If You Ask Me (and of Course You Won’t), Betty White

Best Comedy Album
Hilarious, Louis C.K.

Best Musical Theater Album
The Book of Mormon, Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells; Anne Garefino, Robert Lopez, Stephen Oremus, Trey Parker, Scott Rudin and Matt Stone, producers; Robert Lopez, Trey Parker & Matt Stone, composers-lyricists