U2 is king. But Gladys Knight is the gospel-choir queen.

The Irish rock group took home five awards at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards held in the Staples Center in Los Angeles Wednesday night.

In addition to Song of the Year and Best Rock Performance by Duo or a Group for the hit "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own," Bono and the boys also won Best Rock Album and Album of the Year for "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" and Best Rock Song for "City of Blinding Lights."

Knight scored the seventh Grammy of her career during a pre-telecast ceremony Wednesday afternoon. Her release "One Voice," recorded with the Saints Unified Voices, was awarded Best Gospel Choir Album.

The Saints Unified Voices, composed of singers who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, beat out Donald Lawrence & Company's "I Speak Life," the VIP Mass Choir's "Live at the Fellowship," The Love Fellowship Choir's "20/85 The Experience" and the Choir of Life (Japan and USA) & the Kurt Carr Singers' "One Church."

Also during the pre-telecast, Mariah Carey finally snapped her 16-year dry spell by taking home the trophies for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song for "We Belong Together," and her comeback album "The Emancipation of Mimi" snagged the award for Best Contemporary R&B Album.

As for the telecast Wednesday night on Ch. 2, things went smoothly with no controversial glitches.

Record of the Year was given to Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" while the coveted Best New Artist award was presented to R&B singer John Legend.

Paul McCartney made his Grammy performance debut Wednesday night. He sang his newest song, "Fine Line," and rocked out with a blistering version of the Beatles' "Helter Skelter."

"This is the first time I've ever played the Grammys. I finally passed the audition," he said to the appreciative audience.

Another first-time Grammy performer was Best Female Pop Vocal Performance winner Kelly Clarkson. The American Idol sang an emotional rendition of her song "Because of You," but won her award for "Since U Been Gone."

Clarkson's album "Breakaway" was recognized as the Best Pop Vocal Album.

One of the more surprising appearances of the evening was Sly Stone. The reclusive R&B pioneer appeared and played "You Take Me Higher" during a Sly & the Family Stone tribute, which included his former band and Aerosmith's Joe Perry and Steven Tyler, Joss Stone, Robert Randolph, the Black Eyed Peas' Will.I.am, Maroon 5 and Ciara, just to name a few.

After a couple of verses, the blond mohawk-sporting Sly Stone, born Sylvester Stewart, belted out the chorus and made his exit.

The Jay-Z/Linkin Park live collaboration of "Numb/Encore" also featured another appearance by McCartney, who led the team in a remix version of "Yesterday." Ironically, Jay-Z was sporting a John Lennon shirt.

Throughout the night, other music business pioneers were recognized for their works in promoting music.

Trustees Award went to producers and engineers Chris Blackwell, Owen Bradley and Al Schmitt.

Artists David Bowie, Cream, Merle Haggard, Robert Johnson, Jessye Norman, Richard Pryor and the Weavers were honored with the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Awards.

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E-mail: scott@desnews.com