Following a pyrotechnic and Daft Punk-filled performance of “Stronger,” Kanye West sang a more low-key version of “Hey Mama” in honor of late mother, Donda West, who died in November, at the Grammys last night.

Without backup singers or dancers, the Grammy winner slowly sang the words, his voice breaking at points. His eyes were full of tears by the end.

Kanye West also had the word “Mama” shaved into his hair.

After finishing the song, the audience gave him a standing ovation. A camera panned to Carrie Underwood, who had tears in her eyes.

The rapper later won Best Rap Album for Graduation.

Kanye West performs with Daft Punk at the Grammy Awards.

“I appreciate all the words of support, appreciate all the prayers,” West told the captive audience. Then, addressing singer Amy Winehouse and her producer, Mark Ronson, Kanye said that, “if I don’t win Album of the Year, I hope you’re up here because you deserve it, but I deserve it too!”

Herbie Hancock actually ended up winning that honor.

West began recollecting on his mother, and music began playing over him in an attempt to get him to wrap up his speech.

“It would be in good taste to stop the music now,” he said.

The music was turned off.

Before leaving, West continued his tribute to Donda:

“I know you’re really proud of me right now, and I know you wouldn’t want me to stop … and mama, all I want to do is keep making you proud.”

Here’s his performance from last night …

It was Amy Winehouse’s night, and it was about the music.

The British R&B / soul singer pulled off a near sweep at the 50th annual Grammy Awards Sunday, scoring five honors including record of the year, song of the year and best new artist, while performing via satellite in London.

Amy Winehouse won all the night’s top awards, except album of the year, which went to Herbie Hancock for River: The Joni Letters.

The 24-year-old recently saw her rise to music success overshadowed by a battle with drug and alcohol abuse. She has been in rehab and received a visa to attend the Grammy Awards, but too late for her to attend the ceremony.

Sunday night, however, brought the focus back onto Winehouse’s talent and her terrific breakthrough album, Back to Black, and its hit single “Rehab.”

In an emotional acceptance speech via satellite in London after she sang “You Know That I’m No Good” and “Rehab,” Winehouse, thanked her producer Mark Ronso, her mother and father, and her husband Blake Fielder-Civil.

“To my Blake, my Blake incarcerated,” Winehouse said.

Blake Fielder-Civil, 25, is currently awaiting trial in a London jail on charges of assault and witness tampering.

The major Grammy Awardwinners …

Record Of The Year

• Irreplaceable, Beyoncé
• The Pretender, Foo Fighters
• Umbrella, Rihanna Featuring Jay-Z
• What Goes Around. . .Comes Around, Justin Timberlake
• WINNER Rehab, Amy Winehouse

Album Of The Year

• Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, Foo Fighters
• These Days, Vince Gill
• WINNER River: The Joni Letters, Herbie Hancock
• Graduation, Kanye West
• Back To Black, Amy Winehouse

Song Of The Year

• Before He Cheats (Carrie Underwood)
• Hey There Delilah (Plain White T’s)
• Like A Star (Corinne Bailey Rae)
• WINNER Rehab (Amy Winehouse)
• Umbrella (Rihanna Featuring Jay-Z)

Best New Artist

• Feist
• Ledisi
• Paramore
• Taylor Swift
• WINNER Amy Winehouse

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance

• Candyman, Christina Aguilera
• 1234, Feist
• Big Girls Don’t Cry, Fergie
• Say It Right, Nelly Furtado
• WINNER Rehab, Amy Winehouse

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance

• Everything, Michael Bublé
• Belief, John Mayer
• Dance Tonight, Paul McCartney
• Amazing, Seal
• WINNER What Goes Around… Comes Around, Justin Timberlake

Best Pop Vocal Album

• Lost Highway, Bon Jovi
• The Reminder, Feist
• It Won’t Be Soon Before Long, Maroon 5
• Memory Almost Full, Paul McCartney
• WINNER Back To Black, Amy Winehouse

Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals

• (You Want To) Make A Memory, Bon Jovi
• Home, Daughtry
• WINNER Makes Me Wonder, Maroon 5
• Hey There Delilah, Plain White T’s
• Window In The Skies, U2

Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals

• It’s Not Over, Daughtry
• Working Class Hero, Green Day
• If Everyone Cared, Nickelback
• Instant Karma, U2
• WINNER Icky Thump, The White Stripes

Best Rap Solo Performance

• The People, Common
• I Get Money, 50 Cent
• Show Me What You Got, Jay-Z
• Big Things Poppin’ (Do It), T.I.
• WINNER Stronger, Kanye West

Best Rap Album

• Finding Forever, Common
• Kingdom Come, Jay-Z
• Hip Hop Is Dead, Nas
• T.I. vs T.I.P., T.I.
• WINNER Graduation, Kanye West

Best Female Country Vocal Performance

• Simple Love, Alison Krauss
• Famous In A Small Town, Miranda Lambert
• Nothin’ Better To Do, LeAnn Rimes
• WINNER Before He Cheats, Carrie Underwood
• Heaven, Heartache And The Power Of Love, Trisha Yearwood

Best Male Country Vocal Performance

• Long Trip Alone, Dierks Bentley
• A Woman’s Love, Alan Jackson
• If You’re Reading This, Tim McGraw
• Give It Away, George Strait
• WINNER Stupid Boy, Keith Urban

Amy Winehouse will not be performing at this year’s Grammys because her request for a visa has been turned down by the United States.

Think this has anything to do with her repeated drug problems? That video of her apparently smoking crack could not have helped matters.

The Outside Organization, which reps Amy, issued this statement:

“Amy has been progressing well since entering a rehabilitation clinic two weeks ago and although disappointed with the decision has accepted the ruling and will be concentrating on recovery.”

Amy Winehouse shot to fame with the autobiographical single “Rehab.”

The 24-year-old and her acclaimed Back to Black album are nominated in six categories for at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday.

Her potent blend of blues, jazz, pop and soul has won praise from critics and fans, but Winehouse has become as famous for her chaotic personal lifer.

Since the album’s U.S. release last year, Amy Winehouse has canceled a slew of appearances amid meltdowns and reports of drug and alcohol use.

Beyonce, Rihanna, Carrie Underwood and the Foo Fighters are among those scheduled to perform at the 2008 Grammy Awards ceremony.

Reports say Beyonce may perform with the legendary Tina Turner, while the Foo Fighters will perform in conjunction with the My Grammy Moment contest - where one winning instrumentalist will perform with Dave Grohl’s group.

 Beyonce is ready to heat up the Grammy Awards. 

The 50th Annual Grammy Awards will be held on February 10 at Los Angeles’ Staples Center, free of interference from the striking writers.

The union announced earlier this week that while the strike continues, its members will not picket outside the awards venue.

No word on whether Amy Winehouse will make it.

While Amy Winehouse’s mother this weekend begged her daughter to come home and seek their help, a rep for Winehouse says the singer is looking ahead -and is “determined” to make it to the Grammy Awards.

“Amy is thrilled to be nominated for 6 Grammys (for Back to Black) and is very much hoping to attend,” her rep said. “She is determined to be ready and well for that performance.”

The 24-year-old singer - whose husband Blake Fielder-Civil is in jail after being arrested for witness tampering in an assault case against him - last month canceled her appearances for the rest of the year.

Amy Winehouse, who has frequently been spotted in a state of disarray, and whose own family has called for her to clean up her act, is currently in a program being supervised by a team of doctors - and, her rep said, writing a lot.

“It’s a really difficult time and she’s been channeling it into her music.”