Amy Winehouse is tipped for a night of triumph at the US Grammy Awards after being nominated for six prizes, including the prestigious Record of the Year honour.

The nominations offered a reminder that Winehouse could become one of world’s biggest music stars if she can overcome drug problems and emotional issues.

Winehouse, 24, has sold one million copies of her Back To Black album in the US. But the album dropped down the Billboard chart after she cancelled an American tour and a string of promotional appearances.

The singer is expected to appear at the Grammy Awards, held in February in Los Angeles, health permitting. She is nominated for awards including Best New Artist and Album of the Year as well as Record of the Year and Song of the Year for her hit Rehab.

She will be allowed into the US after being granted a work visa. She made a personal appeal at the US Embassy in London after an application was initially refused after her arrest for possessing drugs in Norway. Her rivals for the Record of the Year are Beyoncé’s Irreplaceable, Foo Fighters’ The Pretender, Rihanna’s Umbrella and Justin Timberlake’s What Goes Around Comes Around.

Winehouse competes against the Leeds jazz singer Corinne Bailey Rae in the best song category. Rae also made a chart breakthrough in the US, although her “good girl” image is quite a contrast to Winehouse’s. Rae is nominated for her song Like A Star. The leading Grammy contender is Kanye West, the US rap star who has secured eight nominations. His Graduation competes with Winehouse for Album of the Year.

Winehouse does not qualify for the Brit Awards, held a week after the Grammys, because she has released no new material this year.

She cancelled British concert dates after saying that she could not continue to perform while her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, is remanded in prison awaiting trial for assault and attempting to pervert the course of justice. Winehouse’s troubles are being followed across the Atlantic. “She makes Lindsay Lohan look cool,” the comedian George Lopez said as he helped to announce the nominations.

West, 30, is the most prolific Grammy winner in recent years, taking six prizes for his first two albums. He has been praised for rejecting the clichés of “gangsta rap” and opening up what had become a stale genre to new sounds. Next year’s ceremony promises to be an emotional occasion for him. His mother recently died after complications from cosmetic surgery. Dr Donda West was head of the English department at Chicago State University but gave up the post to guide her son’s musical career.

The jazz keyboard player Herbie Hancock was shocked to find that his tribute to Joni Mitchell, River: The Joni Letters, was nominated for Album of the Year. “It’s not a category you normally find a jazz artist in,” Hancock said.

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