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MIAMI - Juanes, whose album Un Dia Normal (A Normal Day) has enjoyed a marathon stay on the charts, was showered with five Latin Grammy awards on Wednesday, including trophies for record and album of the year.
"I never thought that this was going to happen to me," said the Colombian singer-songwriter as he picked up one of his awards. "Three years ago I was lost completely in Los Angeles."
Juanes, who had already won four Latin Grammys prior to Wednesday's ceremony, won all of the awards he was nominated for, including song and record of the year for Es Por Ti, and best rock solo album.
Un Dia Normal was released in May 2002 and has spent 65 weeks on Billboard Latin charts, a record, and yielded three successful singles.
While Juanes was the evening's big winner, the show's most rousing moment came at the start of the show. Celia Cruz, who just a year ago kicked off the Latin Grammys with an electrifying performance, was given a posthumous tribute, with a rousing medley of her some of her biggest hits.
"Azucar!" - Cruz's trademark rallying cry - was the final shout of the tribute, performed by Marc Anthony, Gloria Estefan, India and others. The Queen of Salsa, who won an award at the Latin Grammys last year, died of a brain tumor in July.
George Lopez was the evening's host; the comedian made jokes about Latino culture and the city of Miami, where the event was held, throughout the evening, though most of them fell flat.
The ceremony included energetic performances from Thalia and Bacilos, but also incorporated non-Latin artists; Juanes performed with the hip-hop group the Black Eyed Peas, while Brazilian singer Alexandre Pires sang with American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson.
Producer-songwriter Sergio George, who led all nominees with six, won a Latin Grammy for teaming with Bacilos singer-songwriter Jorge Villamizar to write the Miami-based group's catchy cumbia-rock single Mi Primer Millon.
This was the first year the Latin Grammys came to Miami. The city was picked to host the show in 2001, the second year of the event, but threatened protests against Cuban performers by anti-Castro demonstrators led the Latin Recording Academy to move it to Los Angeles.
This year, the city, protesters and the Latin Recording Academy reached a compromise to place the protesters less than 200 feet from the AmericanAirlines Arena. About 300 demonstrators, both in favor and against the idea of Cuban performers, protested without incident outside the venue.
Because of visa complications, none of the dozen Cuban acts who were nominated attended the show this year.