FOX Carolina 21Adele up for major sweep at somber Grammys

LOS ANGELES (RNN) - All eyes will be on the soulful British chanteuse Adele, who is expected to sweep all major categories at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards Sunday night, but the celebrations will undoubtedly be clouded by news of pop superstar Whitney Houston's death, announced Saturday.

Adele will sing live for the first time since undergoing surgery last year.

"I know I'm going to be fine. I'm a bit worried about everyone waiting to hear what my voice is going to be sounding like," the singer said in a pre-Grammys interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper. "That's what I'm worried about."

However, the singer's comeback performance will likely be upstaged by singer-actress Jennifer Hudson, who on an eve's noticed was tapped to perform a musical performance to the iconic Houston.

While details remain scant, Ken Ehrlich, executive producer of the Grammys, confirmed to CBS affiliates Sunday that he was working with Hudson on the tribute.

"She's a good friend of the Grammys," Ehrlich said. "She's had some very significant appearances on the show. It felt right to ask to her to come and help us honor Whitney, which she will do musically."

Ehrlich told the Associated Press that while Houston's storied career would be noted, it was too soon for a large-scale memorial.

It was Houston who awarded Hudson with her first Grammy award, a moment the star said nearly overshadowed her win and a memory that will likely provide the emotional fuel for a performance that will help the nation and world grieve.

As the recording industry pauses to mourn the loss of one of the greatest voices of all time, it will also celebrate a year in which an up-and-coming star, Adele, single-handedly breathed new life into the record industry with the release of her album 21, which proved as commercially successful as it was critically acclaimed, reaching the tops of charts worldwide.

Adele is the odds-on favorite to sweep the top three awards at the Grammys ceremony, according to race-tracker Gold Derby. Her No. 1-smash single, "Rolling in the Deep," is favored in the Record of the Year category (2/5) over Mumford and Sons' "The Cave" (10/1); and in the Song of the Year category (8/15) over Bruno Mars' "Grenade" (6/1).

She leads American pop diva Lady Gaga in the Best Album race, where her 21 holds 4/11 odds over 9/11 odds for "Born This Way." Adele has also outperformed her much flashier counterpart in sales, with 6 million sold in the U.S. and nearly 17 million worldwide.

Associated Press writer Medfin Fekadu picked Adele to win this category, writing, "In one year Adele's 21 has sold more than 6 million copies and changed many lives, and I'm sure some of those people are members of The Recording Academy. She better give her ex a shout-out in her victory speech!"

If Adele pulls off each of the wins, she will become only the sixth artist in history to win Grammy's so-called "triple crown" and the first since the Dixie Chicks in 2006, Gold Derby reports.

[To find out the odds in every major category, click here to head to the Gold Derby]

CBS will air Cooper's interview with Adele prior to Sunday evening's awards show. In the 60 Minutes special, Adele will discuss her 2011 vocal injury, which forced the cancellation of her North American tour and had reporters across the globe speculating about her future.

"They put a laser down your throat, cut off the polyp, and kind of laser your hemorrhage back together and fix it," Adele said about her laser surgery, which went off without a hitch in Boston last November.

Post-surgery, Adele endured six weeks of silence in which she communicated through paper and phone applications, and now she's ready to make her big comeback at the Grammys.

"I'm nervous, but I'm more excited. I can't wait to get back to work. And it's, you know, it's an incredible night," she said to Cooper. "I'm so honored by the nominations and the fact I get to go, the fact that I get to play and stuff like that."

[Click here to preview Adele's 60 Minutes interview with Anderson Cooper]

In addition to Adele and in typical Grammy flair, Sunday night's show will feature an all-start line-up, including Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj. Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt will pay tribute to the recently departed Etta James while Jennifer Hudson is expected to perform in Houston's honor.

For the telecast, the Beach Boys will reunite for the first time in two decades in a performance featuring current Grammy nominees Foster the People and Maroon 5.

Another performance of note is a dance/electronica segment, which will feature the Foo Fighters, David Guetta and Lil Wayne. Chris Brown will also join the group three years after an assault rendered then-girlfriend Rihanna unable to perform at the Grammys.

The Grammys will air live Sunday from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The event is set to kick off at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

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