Backstage

For teen-pop singer Christina Aguilera, the best new artist award at Wednesday’s Grammy ceremony was the culmination of a dream--and of childhood hero worship. “My favorite female vocalist when I was 8 or 9 years old was Mariah Carey, who won best new artist,” she said happily. “And I’m following in her footsteps. Hopefully I’ll have that same longevity.”

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The other big winner in Carlos Santana’s eight-Grammy sweep was Matchbox 20 singer Rob Thomas, who co-wrote and sang on the rock veteran’s hit single “Smooth.” Thomas not only won three Grammys for the song, but he’s also apparently begun a lasting musical relationship. “Working with him has been an amazing experience,” Thomas said. “He called up and said he had some African chants that he wants to get together and do some writing with.”

While his own band’s new album is set for release in May, Thomas said he hopes that “some of that Carlos-ness will rub off on me. He has a way of rearranging the molecules and the angels, and it’s true. That’s Carlos-ness.”

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Pop music is supposed to be a youth-driven industry, but it was Santana, 52, and Arista Records chief Clive Davis, 66, who appeared victorious backstage with their Grammys, a pair of grinning veterans who demonstrated that age isn’t always a factor in pop.

Davis called Santana “an incredible man as well as an incredible musician,” and the guitarist credited Davis with helping create an atmosphere that encompassed both spiritual and musical concerns.

Santana contrasted the pleasure of the last year with the experience of his hit 1970 album “Abraxas,” which he said left him “feeling really empty.”

Added Santana, “I changed because I don’t want to concentrate on the ego thing. Thanks to Aretha Franklin and Mahalia Jackson and John Coltrane, it showed me there was a way to work with a gentleman like this,” Santana said, gesturing to Davis, “and unite divinity.”

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If much of the music industry was taken by surprise at ‘60s veteran Santana’s chart-topping comeback, some of his old friends saw it coming all along. Jazz guitarist George Benson, who performed on the telecast with Diana Krall and Erykah Badu, expressed some irritation that musicians of a certain age are talked of in the past tense.

“People always talk about comeback,” Benson said. “I say, where did he go? That’s why he still has all that power and ability.”

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Not everyone at the Grammys was freed from award anxiety after Wednesday night. Among the presenters was actor Michael Clarke Duncan, an Academy Award nominee for best supporting actor for “The Green Mile,” who won’t know his fate until the Oscar ceremony next month.

“I told people we should have a no-holds-barred wrestling match for these awards,” joked Duncan, a solidly built man with a shaved head. “Or let’s go into the gym and lift weights and see who’s the strongest. Or the tallest. Or who is the most handsome.”

Duncan is a fan of Mary J. Blige and the Wu-Tang Clan but said if he were a musician, he would dress the part of a rock star. “I would dress like Aerosmith. I love them most because they did that song from ‘Armageddon.’ Remember how Steven Tyler had that thing wrapped around his leg? I think that’s a cool way to dress. And I may show up like that at the Oscars.”