Adele, who captured the world's heart with an album about a broken romance, emerged as the top winner at the 2012 Grammy Awards, picking up six trophies including the prestigious triple of record, song and album of the year.

The singer, who also made a triumphant comeback from vocal cord surgery on the Grammy stage, sobbed as she won the night's final award, album of the year, for 21. It was last year's top-selling album with more than six million copies sold.

Her victories tied her with Beyonce as the most wins by a woman in one evening.

"Mum, gold is good!" Adele shouted as she took the album of the year trophy.

The celebration of Adele came on a night where the Grammys marked the loss of one of music's other great female voices. Whitney Houston died the night before the Grammys, casting a shadow over music's biggest night.

But while her death lent a sombre overtone to the evening's show, it did not overwhelm it, perhaps best proved by the show's closing number, a rollicking jam session featuring Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and Dave Grohl among others.

The night's other big winners were Grohl's Foo Fighters, who won five Grammys.

The evening's most moving moment came as Jennifer Hudson - who has called Houston an inspiration and one of her biggest idols - emerged to sing one of her signature songs, I Will Always Love You.

When Tony Bennett won for best pop performance by a duo or group for his duet with Amy Winehouse, he invited the late singer's parents to join him on stage during the awards ceremony's pre-show segment.

"We shouldn't be here. Our darling daughter should be here," Winehouse's father, Mitch, said after he and the singer's mother, Janis, had embraced Bennett.