Triumph for Adele as she finds her voice on tragic night at the Grammys

The Tottenham-born singer, 23, marked her comeback by scooping all the honours she was nominated for, declaring: "Mum - girl did good."

Her success matched Beyoncé's for most Grammys by a female act in a single night, but without the laser surgery in November for a vocal cord haemorrhage, Adele could have lost her singing voice.

She earned a standing ovation at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles last night with her first live performance since the operation, singing Rolling in the Deep, for which she took the record and song of the year awards.

Though the night was overshadowed by the death of Whitney Houston, nothing could dim Adele's shining achievement. Receiving the award for pop vocal performance, she said: "Seeing as it's a vocal performance, I need to thank my doctors... who brought my voice back."

In pictures: 2012 Grammy Awards

Sobbing as she picked up album of the year for 21, she said: "First of all, I want to say, Mum - girl did good. This record is inspired by something that is really normal and everyone's been through it, which is a rubbish relationship."

She ended the night with Grammys for best pop solo performance for her chart-topper Someone Like You, and best short form music video for Rolling In The Deep.

Due to make her UK comeback with a performance at the Brit Awards next week, Adele already has two Grammys from 2009. Her total now beats the seven the Beatles amassed for their recordings before they split.

Amy Winehouse, who died aged 27 last year after a battle with drink and drugs, received a posthumous award for best pop duo/group performance for her collaboration with Tony Bennett on the track Body and Soul. Her father Mitch, who with wife, Janis, was invited by Bennett to jointly accept the Grammy, said: "We shouldn't be here. Our darling daughter should be here. These are the cards that we're dealt."

Paying tribute to his daughter, to Houston and to the singer Etta James who died recently aged 73, he added: "Long live Whitney Houston, long live Amy Winehouse, long live Etta James. There's a beautiful girl band up in heaven."

Paul Epworth, the British music producer who co-wrote Rolling in the Deep, won producer of the year, while singer/songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae won best R&B performance with Is This Love.

The Foo Fighters, who took five awards, also played last night, along with the reunited Beach Boys, Katy Perry and Rihanna, in leather hotpants and bra, who joined Coldplay on stage. Paul McCartney, 69, closed the show with a medley of songs.