Chris Brown wins three American Music Awards

R&B singer Chris Brown was crowned artist of the year and scooped two other prizes at the American Music Awards. The 19-year-old star, famed for his on-stage athleticism, overshadowed Alicia Keys who led the field with five nominations, and ended up with a pair of statuettes at the LA awards. Brown was clearly shocked when his name was announced for artist of the year, the ceremony's final award. "I probably was shocked like everybody else," Brown said. "I know everybody was like, 'Huh?' I thought Coldplay should have genuinely won that award, but I'll take it!" He was also named favourite male artist in both the soul/R&B and pop/rock categories. His girlfriend, Rihanna, won those categories for the women, beating Keys in both races. Keys' awards were for her chart-topping disc, "As I Am," which was named favourite album in the soul/R&B and pop/rock categories. Behind Keys in the nominees list were British rock band Coldplay and American country-rock veterans the Eagles, who both went home empty-handed. Other multiple winners included outspoken rapper Kanye West. He wonthe statuette for favourite rap/hip-hop album with "Graduation." West challenged musicians of all genres to push each other, and to reclaim the spirit of artists like the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. In his case, he declared: "I wanna be Elvis!" But host Jimmy Kimmel retorted a little later: "Elvis died on the toilet with half a jelly donut in his mouth, so you might want to rethink that one."

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ITN | November 24, 2008

Tags:. .countryrock. .overshadowed. .outspoken. .reclaim. .onstage