MELANIE FIONA DOES CANADA PROUD WITH TWO GRAMMYS.

The Grammys are a fool for Melanie Fiona.The 25-year-old Toronto native won two trophies — her first Grammys — at the pre-telecast awards handed out in Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon.Fiona captured the traditional R&B vocal performance and R&B song prizes for her work on Cee Lo Green’s song Fool For You.“I’m Melanie Fiona and it is so nice to meet all of you!” a clearly thrilled Fiona said after making her way to the stage. “This is, needless to say, a dream come true for me.

“To be standing up here no winning an award is the highest honour I could expect today,” Fiona said, thanking family, friends and fans in Toronto.Fiona also paid tribute to the late Whitney Houston during her acceptance speech, saying: “I would not be standing up here if it was not for you.”Her two victories made Fiona the top winner among this year’s group of Canadian Grammy nominees. Seven artists earned a dozen nominations in 10 categories. But nearly all went down to defeat.

Niagara Falls DJ Deadmau5, nominated in three dance and electronic categories, lost to Skrillex, one of the afternoon’s big winners. Toronto-born composer Ryan Shore’s music for indie film The Shrine lost the score soundtrack award to Alexandre Despat’s soundtrack for The King’s Speech. Drake had two shots in the rap/sung category with What’s My Name (his duet with Rihanna) and I’m On One (with DJ Khaled, Rick Ross & Lil Wayne), but lost to Kanye West’s All of the Lights.

Finally, Sum 41 lost the best hard rock/metal performance to Foo Fighters’ White Limo. The only other Canadian to win a Grammy during the afternoon was graphic artist Caroline Robert. The French-born Montreal resident picked up a recording packaging award for her work on the deluxe reissue of Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs, which won album of the year at the 2011 Grammys.With the televised evening ceremonies still to come, the only Canuck who still has a chance of taking home some hardware is Drake, who is competing for the rap performance prize with Moment 4 Life, his song with Nicki Minaj.

darryl.sterdan@sunmedia.ca