Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Jay-Z and Daft Punk are among the stars vying for glory at the prestigious Grammy Awards.

The Los Angeles ceremony is the biggest night in the US music calendar.

Hip-hop duo Macklemore and Lewis were among the early winners, picking up four awards - best new artist plus best rap album, song and performance.

Daft Punk and Justin Timberlake have won three prizes each so far, while Sir Paul McCartney has two. Rap giant Jay-Z leads the field with nine nominations.

Many of the 82 winners were named at a preliminary ceremony before the main televised event. They included Adele's James Bond theme Skyfall, which won the prize for best song written for visual media.

It has been a good night for British veterans, with Sir Paul McCartney taking the trophies for best music film and best rock song.

The former Beatle won best rock song for Cut Me Some Slack, a collaboration with the surviving members of Nirvana.

It beat The Rolling Stones' Doom And Gloom, from their 50th anniversary album GRRR!, as well as tracks by veteran metal band Black Sabbath, stadium rockers Muse and US singer-guitarist Gary Clark Jr.

Black Sabbath did scoop best metal performance, while Led Zeppelin won best rock album for their live recording Celebration Day.

Other British nominees included Ed Sheeran and James Blake, who were both up for best new artist.

The main ceremony is known for its heavyweight on-stage collaborations and this year's show was opened by Jay-Z and his wife Beyonce.

Other highlights will include Daft Punk, Nile Rodgers and Pharrell Williams being joined by Stevie Wonder to perform their hit Get Lucky.

Queens of the Stone Age will join forces with Nine Inch Nails, Dave Grohl and Lindsey Buckingham Grammy Awards 2014: Key winnersGrammy Awards 2014: Key winners to close the show, while Madonna is expected to perform with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.

Jay-Z started the night with the most nominations, up for awards including best rap song and best rap album. But he was left out of the three main categories - song, record and album of the year.

Rapper Macklemore and producer Ryan Lewis, who found fame after self-releasing their album The Heist, are up for a total of seven awards, including album of the year and song of the year for Same Love.

Pharrell Williams is listed twice for record of the year and twice for album of the year thanks to his work with Daft Punk, Robin Thicke and Kendrick Lamar.

LA rapper Lamar also has seven nominations including album of the year for Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, plus best rap album, best rap performance and best new artist.

Justin Timberlake has seven nominations including best pop solo performance and best R&B song - but he was shut out of the main three categories.

Other leading contenders include 17-year-old New Zealand singer Lorde, who is up for record of the year, song of the year and best pop solo performance for her hit Royals.

There are five nominations each for Canadian hip-hop star Drake and mastering engineer Bob Ludwig, who is rewarded for his work with Daft Punk and the Rolling Stones.

Calvin Harris was up for best dance/electronica album for 18 Months and best dance recording for Sweet Nothing with Florence and the Machine's Florence Welch, but lost out on both.

UK acts Duke Dumont and Disclosure were also unsuccessful nominees in the dance categories.

Source: BBC