Same New Voice Wins in 2 Areas

Newcomer Alicia Keys, R&B; trio Destiny’s Child and late singer Aaliyah dominated the American Music Awards at the Shrine Auditorium on Wednesday night.

Keys led with five nominations and two awards, for favorite new artist in both the pop/rock and R&B; categories.

Destiny’s Child also won in two categories, for favorite band in the R&B; category and favorite pop/rock album.

Aaliyah, who died in a plane crash last summer, was named favorite female soul artist and also won best soul album. Country singer Tim McGraw won two awards. His wife, Faith Hill, won one.

A much anticipated--and disputed--appearance by Michael Jackson turned out to be a videotaped medley of his career, and a brief appearance at the end of the evening as Jackson received the Artist of the Century award.

The pop icon got caught in a battle of awards shows last month when Dick Clark, who produced the AMA show, filed a $10-million unfair business practices lawsuit against Grammy President Michael Greene. The suit alleged that Greene maintains a policy of prohibiting artists from playing on the annual Grammy Awards telecast if they perform on the competing AMA program.

Country singer Garth Brooks, who won an Award of Merit, said backstage that the feud between the awards shows would only hurt the performers and their music.

“I say, ‘Back off. You’re nothing without the artists.’ ”

Singer Sheryl Crow echoed his complaint: “It would be really good next year not to have that kind of feud.”

According to the suit, Greene told Jackson that if he appeared on Clark’s show this year, he wouldn’t be invited to the Grammys. On Wednesday, a spokesman for the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which sponsors the Grammys, said the show had not been booked yet. But a spokesman for Jackson’s management company said Jackson was scheduled to perform at the Feb. 27 awards show, which CBS will broadcast live from Staples Center.

“I don’t know what song, but he’s performing,” the spokesman said.

Jackson’s appearance struck industry observers as a compromise that would allow him to do both shows.

“Everyone’s proceeding with caution,” said Thomas O’Neil, author of a series of books about awards shows.