Amy Winehouse dominated the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles last night, winning a total of five gongs, including Record of the Year for Rehab, which chronicles the drug addiction that has repeatedly threatened to destroy her life and career.

The 24-year-old – who is still being treated for drug use – was unable to pick-up the Grammys in person because of problems securing a United States work visa.

But she still managed to deliver a defiant performance of Rehab and You Know I’m No Good via live-broadcast from London, where she played in front of a small cabaret audience. She wore a short black dress and her trademark beehive.

Alongside Record of the Year, Winehouse also won Song of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal, Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Album – the latter for Back to Black, the album from which Rehab was taken.

Winehouse appeared genuinely astonished when she won Record of the Year. "To my mom and dad, for my Blake, my Blake incarcerated, shouted Winehouse, referring to her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, who is in London’s Pentonville Prison, after a pub brawl.

Referring to this weekend’s blaze which devastated Camden Market and The Hawley Arms pub - a favourite of the troubled singer - she went on: "And for London, this is for London, because Camden Town is burning down.”

Winehouse’s mother, Janis, was with her to celebrate.

The release of Back to Black in 2006 turned Winehouse into a critical and commercial success, her jazz-blues vocals drawing comparisons with Nina Simone and Sarah Vaughn.

But the lyrics to Rehab – “They tried to make me go to rehab/I said, ‘No, No, No’”- ending up being the soundtrack to a public breakdown rivalled only by that of Britney Spears’.

During 2007, Winehouse lost weight dramatically, cancelled shows or sang poorly at them and was arrested in Norway for marijuana possession. This year, tabloid photographs were circulated of Winehouse appearing to smoke crack cocaine at a party.

The awards meant that Ms Winehouse was the first British winner of the Best New Artist since Sade in 1986. The other nominees for the category were the Canadian singer-songwriter Feist, R&B singer Ledisi, rock band Paramore, and country singer Taylor Swift.

Winehouse lost the final award of the night, Album of the Year, to Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters.

Other big winners of the night included Kanye West, who won four Grammys, including Best Rap Album for Graduation. During the ceremony, West performed Stronger and Hey Mama, the latter song dedicated to his mother, Donda, who died last year from a heart attack after cosmetic surgery.

“I appreciate all the support, I appreciate all the prayers,” he said. “Mama, all I'm gonna do is keep making you proud.”

The three-hour Grammys telecast also included a “virtual” duet between Alicia Keys and Frank Sinatra, and a tribute to the Beatles by the cast of Cirque du Soleil.

Vince Gill took the award for Best Country Album. Although there were 110 categories, only 11 awards were handed out during the telecast, in an effort to improve ratings.

Last night’s Grammys awards also saw an unlikely triumph for Barack Obama, the presidential candidate, who beat two former US presidents, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, when he won in the category for Best Spoken Word Album, for the audio version of his book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream.

Click here for the full list of winners

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