Clapton’s 6 Grammys Top Emotional Tribute : Music: He wins best song. ‘Beauty and Beast’ figures in five awards. Arrested Development is best new artist.

Eric Clapton--whose grief over his son’s death led to the critically acclaimed ballad, “Tears in Heaven”--garnered six Grammy awards Wednesday night at the Shrine Auditorium in a tender tribute to the rock legend’s long career.

Tying for the second-biggest sweep in a Grammy ceremony, Clapton, 47, tried to keep things light as he stepped to the podium early in the three-hour program to accept the best-song award for the tribute to his child.

“I think the other song . . . the Vanessa Williams one (“Save the Best for Last”) should have gotten (the award) because it kept us out of the No. 1 slot for about two months,” the tuxedoed British singer-guitarist said, smiling. “But still, we’re happy.”

By the time he returned to the podium for the final time, however, Clapton was in a more emotional mood as he accepted the record-of-the-year award for “Tears in Heaven.”

The song--co-written by Will Jennings--is a touching expression of the loss of a loved one, all the more affecting in Clapton’s case because the record followed the accidental death in 1991 of his 4-year-old son, Conor. The child was killed when he fell from an open window in Clapton’s 53rd-floor Manhattan apartment.

As the audience stood in ovation, Clapton said, “I’m very moved and very shaky and very emotional. I want to thank a lot of people, but the one person who I want to thank is my son for the love he gave me and the song he gave me.”

By winning six awards, including best album for the acoustic “Unplugged” and best rock song for the 22-year-old “Layla,” Clapton tied the mark set by Quincy Jones in 1990 and the late Roger Miller in 1965.

The only pop artist to have enjoyed a bigger sweep was Michael Jackson, who won eight awards in 1983, the year of his “Thriller” album.

Continuing his recent high-profile media blitz, Jackson was on hand Wednesday to receive the recording academy’s Legends Award--for outstanding artistic contributions--and his appearance added to the evening’s tender edge.

Referring to his return to the limelight after years of reclusion, he said: “In the past month I’ve gone from ‘Where is he?’ to ‘Here he is again.’ ”

Trembling with emotion, he added:

“But I must confess it feels good to be thought of as a person, not as a personality.”

After Clapton, the big winner Wednesday, as the Grammy ceremony returned to Los Angeles after two years in New York, was the “Beauty and the Beast” soundtrack album and related projects. The material was involved in five awards, including best children’s album.

In addition, winning two awards each were the Georgia rap group Arrested Development, whose socially conscious “Tennessee” was one of the most acclaimed singles of 1992; Vince Gill, the country singer-songwriter, Stevie Ray Vaughan, the Texas blues-rock guitarist who was killed in a 1990 plane crash, and the Irish traditional folk group the Chieftains. Arrested Development was named best new artist and best rap group.

Vaughan’s two posthumous victories pushed his Grammy total to six.

Other key winners included k.d. lang, who was honored for female pop vocal, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, for best hard-rock performance.

Miles Davis, the legendary jazz trumpeter who died of pneumonia in 1991, boosted his Grammy total to seven with a win in the R & B instrumental competition.

In the classical category, posthumous Grammys were awarded Leonard Bernstein (his 15th and 16th), Vladimir Horowitz (his 25th) and Samuel Barber (his third).

Georg Solti, former music director of the Chicago Symphony and the all-time Grammy champ, won his 30th award for conducting the Vienna Philharmonic and soloists in Richard Strauss’ opera “Die Frau Ohne Schatten.”

In distributing awards in 80 categories, the 7,000 voting members of the recording academy turned mostly to old favorites.

Repeat winners included Bobby McFerrin and Chet Atkins, with their 10th each; Linda Ronstadt, her seventh and eighth; Pat Metheny, his seventh; Emmylou Harris, Chaka Khan and Shirley Caesar, their sixth each; U2, its fifth; Edwin Hawkins, his fourth, and Tony Bennett and Jerry Reed, their third each.

The first-time Grammy winners included Earvin (Magic) Johnson, the Laker great who retired last year after a controversy over playing while having HIV infection. He and Robert O’Keefe were honored in the spoken word category for their “What You Can Do to Avoid AIDS.”

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