By Lauren Rouleau

The Grammys celebrate the best in music for the past year, and Norah Jones seems to represent that, escaping the gauntlet of critics and walking away with eight grammy awards, including “Best Record of the Year” and “Best Album of the Year.”

The daughter of Grammy Award winner and Indian sitar musician Ravi Shankar, the 23-year-old New York native has slowly crept up in popularity — starting with the older VH-1 crowd, creeping onto MTV2 and then finally breaching into the mainstream crowd and radio stations.

Her debut album, “Come Away With Me,” which was released Feb. 26, 2002, features songs written by Jones, Grammy Award winner Jesse Harris, Lee Alexander, John D. Loudermilk, Hoagy Carmichael and Hank Williams.

According to her record label, Blue Note, Norah began recording the songs of “Come Away With Me” in May 2001, doing preliminary work with producer Craig Street at Bearsville Studio in Woodstock, New York. In August 2001, the singer and her musicians went back to work, this time with Arif Mardin at Sorcerer Sound in Manhattan.

She appeared modest and nervous on stage, she even knocked one her golden phonagraphs into a microphone upon acceptance.

Other young winners of the night included 24-year-old John Mayer, a former attendant of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, who picked up “Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.” No Doubt, from Anaheim, Calif., won the award for the “Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal” for their song “Hey Baby” from “Rock Steady.”

“Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal” and “Best Alternative Music Album” was awarded to Coldplay for their song, “In My Place” from “A Rush Of Blood To The Head.” The band gave an energetic performance of their hit “Politik” with the New York Philharmonic.

Other winners included The Dixie Chicks, Bruce Springstein, Eminem, Common and India.Arie.

Avril Levigne got snubbed for the TRL generation.

Besides award-giving, several performances were seen in Sunday’s show. The more memorable performances were that of Coldplay, Bruce Springstein and a tribute to the late Clash vocalist/guitarist, Joe Strummer.

Dave Grohl, of the Foo Fighters, Bruce Springstein, Elvis Costello, Tony Kanal of No Doubt, and Steve Van Zandt of the E Street Band all performed an energetic rendition of “London Calling.”

For a complete listing of winners, visit their Web site, grammys.aol.com

The eligibility year for awards was Oct. 1, 2001 through Sept. 30, 2002.