Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys is not such a lonely boy after all.
The singer-guitarist took the early lead at the Grammy Awards, picking up three trophies and assisting with a fourth during the pre-telecast show.
Auerbach won Producer of the Year and Best Rock Song for Lonely Boy and Rock Album for El Camino with his bandmate Patrick Carney, joining electronic dance music innovator Skrillex atop the early leaderboard. He was also producer for another winner, Dr John.
A slew of artists sit one back going into the main awards show on Sunday night at the Staples Center, including Australia's Gotye, Kanye West and Jay-Z, former best new artist winner Esperanza Spalding, jazz man Chick Corea and Christian singer-songwriter Matt Redman.
Most of the attention has been on Frank Ocean going into the awards, but his fellow lead nominees got an early lead on the RB singer during the pre-telecast show.
West and Jay-Z won best rap song and best rap performance for the song Niggas in Paris from their Watch the Throne collaboration and lost a third for short form video for No Church in The Wild, which featured Ocean. Ocean will be up for five awards later in the evening.
Other early winners included Rihanna, Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Mumford Sons, one of six top nominees with six nods apiece. Ocean is up for the major awards best new artist, album of the year and record of the year when the show airs about 2pm AEDT from the Staples Center.
The Grammy pre-telecast awards show at the Nokia Theatre had 70 trophies up for grabs, including rock, pop, rap and country categories.
Skrillex won best dance recording for Bangarang, featuring Sirah, best dance/electronica album for Bangarang and best remixed recording.
'Let's keep making music,' he said. '... We're a big family. We're a big community. We support music and forward-thinking ideas here.'
Gotye won Best Alternative Album for Making Mirrors and Best Pop/Duo Performance for Somebody That I Used To Know, featuring Kimbra.
