Swift, Rihanna, Maroon 5 shine at US awards

22 November 2011 - 02:01 By Sapa-AP
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Country singer Taylor Swift has been named artist of the year, most popular female country artist and the country artist with the best album at the American Music Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday.

Maroon 5, still riding the success of their comeback hit, Moves Like Jagger, won favourite pop-rock band/duo/group.

Adam Levine, the band's lead singer, thanked "our incredible fans for making this happen".

Among R&B acts, Rihanna grabbed the best album award with Loud.

The ceremony, at the Nokia Theatre, featured acts such as The Band Perry, who crooned an emotional If I Die Young, and a platinum-blond Chris Brown, who sang a stripped-down All Back before being joined by helmet-clad back-up dancers for a high-energy routine to Say it With Me.

Nicki Minaj launched the 39th annual fan-favourite ceremony with a performance featuring tethered back-up dancers, stilt-walking robots and super-producer David Guetta emerging from behind a pillar of speakers.

The pink-haired singer - wearing a pair of speakers on her much-talked about posterior - kicked off the show with Turn Me On.

Minaj later won the favourite rap/hip-hop artist title.

Justin Bieber got in the holiday spirit with Under the Mistletoe before Kelly Clarkson delivered a swinging rendition of her Mr Know it All.

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