Stars arrive for 'music's biggest night'

-- The stars are filing in on the red carpet for Sunday's 50th annual Grammy Awards, and among the early arrivals have been Corinne Bailey Rae, Montgomery Gentry -- and Sergeant Pepper.

Kanye West is one of the leading Grammy nominees. His "Graduation" is up for album of the year.

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The latter, accompanied by other members of Cirque du Soleil's "The Beatles Love" show, Beatles producer George Martin and Martin's son Giles, was at the awards in conjunction with a Beatles tribute also scheduled to include Feist and Alicia Keys.
Keys is set to sing a "duet" with a virtual Frank Sinatra as well.
"I hope to one day be as classic as he [is]," she told CNN.
Keys had already won two Grammys going into Sunday night's broadcast to go along with eight wins in previous years. Most of the 100-plus honors are given out before the show, which will air on CBS at 8 p.m. ET.
"To win a Grammy is the highest honor for a musician," she said. "It's a big honor and an exciting night forever."
One person who won't be around in person to accept awards is singer and songwriter Amy Winehouse, but she may be taking home a number of trophies anyway.
Winehouse, the British singer and songwriter who has been in the news in recent months more for her public misbehavior than her music, is up for six awards Sunday night, including nominations in the big four general categories -- album of the year, song of the year, record of the year and best new artist.
With her album "Back to Black" hailed by critics and the public alike, she's considered a strong possibility to take home at least one of those awards.
Even Winehouse's Grammy nominations brought the awards some drama, as her scheduled performance at the show was canceled when the U.S. government denied her a work visa. Though the government changed its mind at the 11th hour, by that point arrangements had been made. Winehouse will perform via satellite from London on Sunday's show.
Her main competition for trophies is likely Kanye West, a performer who has never received the mass acclaim from the music business he so obviously desires.
West's "Graduation" has earned the artist his third straight album of the year nomination -- but he's never won the big prize, and he hasn't been shy about expressing his discontent about the situation. (West has won Grammys in the past, but almost all have been in rap categories.)
West is up for eight awards in total.
Other album of the year nominations went to Herbie Hancock for his "River: The Joni Letters," the Foo Fighters for "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace" and Vince Gill for his four-disc set "These Days."
The nominees for song of the year -- a songwriting honor -- are Winehouse's "Rehab," "Before He Cheats" (performed by Carrie Underwood), "Hey There Delilah" (Plain White T's), "Like a Star" (Corinne Bailey Rae) and "Umbrella" (Rihanna).
Record of the year nominations went to "Rehab," Beyonce's "Irreplaceable," the Foo Fighters' "The Pretender," Rihanna's "Umbrella" and Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around ... Comes Around."
Among the early winners: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who defeated two presidents -- Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter -- to take home the award for best spoken word album. Obama won for his book, "The Audacity Of Hope: Thoughts On Reclaiming The American Dream."
The Grammys, nicknamed "music's biggest night," are as much an all-star concert as an awards show. This year's performers include Aretha Franklin, named the 2008 MusiCares Person of the Year, singing with Mary J. Blige, the Clark Sisters, Israel And New Breed, and Trin-I-Tee 5:7 in a gospel segment; a reunion of the Time; Beyonce and Tina Turner; the Foo Fighters with Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones conducting; and the Fab Four tribute.

From:http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music