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LOS ANGELES — The Grammys are a fool for Melanie Fiona.

The 25-year-old Toronto native won two trophies — her first Grammys — at the pre-telecast awards handed out in Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon.

Fiona captured the traditional R&B vocal performance and R&B song prizes for her work on Cee Lo Green’s song Fool For You.

“I’m Melanie Fiona and it is so nice to meet all of you!” a clearly thrilled Fiona said after making her way to the stage. “This is, needless to say, a dream come true for me.

“To be standing up here no winning an award is the highest honour I could expect today,” Fiona said, thanking family, friends and fans in Toronto.

Fiona also paid tribute to the late Whitney Houston during her acceptance speech, saying: “I would not be standing up here if it was not for you.”

Her two victories made Fiona the top winner among this year’s group of Canadian Grammy nominees. Seven artists earned a dozen nominations in 10 categories. But nearly all went down to defeat. Niagara Falls DJ Deadmau5, nominated in three dance and electronic categories, lost to Skrillex, one of the afternoon’s big winners. Toronto-born composer Ryan Shore’s music for indie film The Shrine lost the score soundtrack award to Alexandre Despat’s soundtrack for The King’s Speech. Drake had two shots in the rap/sung category with What’s My Name (his duet with Rihanna) and I’m On One (with DJ Khaled, Rick Ross & Lil Wayne), but lost to Kanye West’s All of the Lights. Finally, Sum 41 lost the best hard rock/metal performance to Foo Fighters’ White Limo. The only other Canadian to win a Grammy during the afternoon was graphic artist Caroline Robert. The French-born Montreal resident picked up a recording packaging award for her work on the deluxe reissue of Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs, which won album of the year at the 2011 Grammys.

With the televised evening ceremonies still to come, the only Canuck who still has a chance of taking home some hardware is Drake, who is competing for the rap performance prize with Moment 4 Life, his song with Nicki Minaj.

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LOS ANGELES — Canadian electronica artist Deadmau5′s 2012 Grammy hopes are dead.

All three awards the Niagara Falls DJ was competing for were won by dubstep phenom Skrillex, who was the big winner during the daytime pre-telecst ceremonies.

Skrillex, aka Sonny Moore, won the dance recording and dance/electronica album prizes with his EP Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, triumphing over Deadmau5′s Raise Your Weapon in the former category and his album 4X4=12 in the latter. Skrillex also took the remixed recording trophy for his revamp of Benni Bernassi’s Cinema, beating Deadmau5′s remix of Foo Fighters’ Rope.

“Man, I can’t take this anymore!” exclaimed Moore as he accepted his third award. “I don’t know what else to say … This is the most surreal day of my life.”

Deadmau5 — aka Joel Zimmerman — wasn’t the only Canadian who went down in defeat at the 54th Grammy Awards. Canadian-American dance duo Duck Sauce — comprised of Montreal DJ A-Trak and Armand Van Helden — also saw their novelty hit Barbra Streisand lose to Skrillex in the dance recording category. And Toronto-born composer Ryan Shore’s music for indie film The Shrine lost the score soundtrack award to Alexandre Despat’s soundtrack for The King’s Speech.

So far, Montreal graphic artist Caroline Robert is the only Canadian to win a Grammy. She picked up a recording packaging award for her work on the deluxe reissue of Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs, which won album of the year at the 2011 Grammys.

Of the seven Canadians nominated for 12 trophies in 10 categories, all but one are being handed out before the main televised ceremonies. Only Toronto rapper Drake — vying for the rap performance award with his contribution to Nicki Minaj’s Moment 4 Life — will have to wait until the evening to learn his fate in that category (the other two of his three nominations are being decided during the daytime).

The remaining Canadians up for awards — singer-songwriter Melanie Fiona and rockers Sum 41 — will know the score soon.

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LOS ANGELES — Canadian electronica artist Deadmau5 did not roar to victory with his first nomination at this year’s Grammys.

The Niagara Falls DJ’s remix of Foo Fighters’ Rope lost the remixed recording category to Skrillex’s revamp of Benny Benassi’s Cinema. Also nominated in the category were Afrojack (redoing Leona Lewis’s Collide), Photek (who reworked Daft Punk’s End of Line), and Rosabel (updating Rihanna’s Only Girl.

But Deadmau5 — aka Joel Zimmerman — isn’t dead in the water just yet. His song Raise Your Weapon is up for dance recording, while his album 4X4=12 is vying for dance/electronica album, both of which are being awarded this afternoon. Deadmau5 is also slated to perform during the Grammy telecast tonight, sharing the stage with David Guetta, Lil Wayne and Foo Fighters.

So far, Canadians are 1 for 3 at the 54th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. Toronto-born composer Ryan Shore’s music for indie film The Shrine lost the score soundtrack award to Alexandre Despat’s soundtrack for The King’s Speech. But Montreal graphic artist Caroline Robert picked up a recording packaging award for her work on the deluxe reissue of Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs, which won album of the year at the 2011 Grammys.

Of the seven Canadians nominated for 12 trophies in 10 categories, all but one are being handed out before the main event. Only Toronto rapper Drake — vying for the rap performance award with his contribution to Nicki Minaj’s Moment 4 Life — will have to wait until the evening to learn his fate in that category (the other two of his three nominations are also being decided during the daytime).

The other Canadians up for awards — Deadmau5, house duo Duck Sauce (with DJ A-Trak), singer-songwriter Melanie Fiona and rockers Sum 41 — will know the score soon.

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@darryl_sterdan
facebook.com/darryl.sterdan

Arcade Fire just got one last touch of Grammy heat.
The packaging for the Montreal band’s deluxe reissue of their 2011 album of the year-winner The Suburbs earned graphic artist Caroline Robert an award for recording package.

The French-born Montreal resident’s work triumphed over packaging for Chickenfoot III, Reckless Kelly’s Good Luck & True Love, J.Viewz’s Rivers and Homes and Jay-Z & Kanye West’s Watch the Throne. Robert was not on hand to accept the award.

So far, Canadians are 1 for 2 at the Grammys.

Robert’s award was the fourth of 69 Grammys handed out during the pre-telecast award ceremonies. Of the seven Canadians nominated for 12 trophies in 10 categories, all but one are being handed out before the main event. Only Toronto rapper Drake — vying for the rap performance award with his contribution to Nicki Minaj’s Moment 4 Life — will have to wait until the evening to learn his fate in that category (the other two of his three nominations are also being decided during the daytime).

The other Canadians up for awards — Niagara Falls DJ Deadmau5, house duo Duck Sauce (with DJ A-Trak), singer-songwriter Melanie Fiona and rockers Sum 41 — will know the score soon.

Score one loss for Canada.

Toronto-born composer Ryan Shore has the dubious distinction of being the first Canadian to be disappointed at the 54th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.

The 37-year-old musician’s brooding score for the independent Canadian horror movie The Shrine was bested in the score soundtrack category by Alexandre Desplat’s score for The King’s Speech. Desplat was also nominated for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Other nominees were Clint Mansell (Black Swan) and Daft Punk (Tron: Legacy).

Shore’s award was the second of 69 Grammys handed out during the pre-telecast award ceremonies. Of the seven Canadians nominated for 12 Grammys in 10 categories, all but one are being handed out before the main event. Only Toronto rapper Drake — vying for the rap performance award with his contribution to Nicki Minaj’s Moment 4 Life — will have to wait until the evening to learn his fate in that category (though two of his three nominations are also being decided during the daytime).

The other Canadians up for awards — Niagara Falls DJ Deadmau5, house duo Duck Sauce (with DJ A-Trak), singer-songwriter Melanie Fiona, rockers Sum 41 and graphic artist Caroline Robert — will know the score soon.

And you’ll know as soon as I do. Stay tuned.