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Updated Monday, November 23, 2009 1:36 pm TWN, By SANDY COHEN, AP |
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Michael Jackson wins 4 at American Music AwardsLady Gaga, wearing a "Alien"-inspired headdress and vest filled with lights, performed songs from her new album, "The Fame Monster," also due in stores next week. She used her microphone to break into a glass case where a grand piano stood. It caught fire when she sat down to play. Whitney Houston made a resplendent return to the AMA stage with an elegant performance of "I Didn't Know My Own Strength." The 46-year-old entertainer also received the International Award of Excellence for her musical and philanthropic contributions. She dedicated the honor to her daughter, music mogul Clive Davis and "everybody who supported me." The American Music Awards honor the year's top-selling artists in eight popular genres, and fans voted for the winners online. But even more than awards, the AMAs are about performances, and more than a dozen of them filled Sunday's show. The Black Eyed Peas, voted favorite pop/rock band, energized the crowd when they performed two of the year's most popular hits: "I Got A Feeling" and "Boom Boom Pow." Rihanna returned to the AMA stage, sporting blonde hair, a skintight, white peek-a-boo bodysuit and a tattoo down the front of her neck that read "Rated R," the name of her new album, out next week. Janet Jackson opened the show with a medley of some of the biggest hits from her long career — all tracks that appear on her new greatest-hits collection, also called "Number Ones." Alicia Keys and Jay-Z dueted on their ode to New York City, "Empire State Of Mind." Shakira was flanked by a dozen dancers in tiny black bodysuits as she sang her new single. Kelly Clarkson performed a stripped down version of her hit "Already Gone," backed by a string quartet. Jennifer Lopez added a boxing motif to her dance-filled performance, but she slipped during a tricky move and landed on her bottom. Green Day lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong confessed backstage that the show left him star-struck. "When you see all the talent that's in the room" like Jay-Z and Lady Gaga, he said, "it's like holy moly, these are huge people." The band was voted favorite alternative artist. Other winners Sunday included Jay-Z, his wife Beyonce, and Rascal Flatts. | |||||||||||||