25 million tune in to Grammys

Rebounding from last year’s poor showing, Sunday’s Grammy Awards telecast averaged nearly 25 million viewers, based on preliminary data, up about 30% versus 2002 and not far below 2001 levels.

The overall average for the New York-based telecast was dragged down slightly by the length of the show, which ran 3 1/2 hours. Two years ago, the Grammys averaged 26.6 million viewers at any given moment. CBS estimates that 55 million people watched at least a portion of Sunday’s broadcast.

And that was just in the United States. Watching in New Delhi was Ravi Shankar, the 82-year-old sitarist who is India’s best-known musician -- and Norah Jones’ father.

“It was such a joy seeing Norah getting so many Grammy Awards. I knew even as a child how talented she was and it makes me so happy to see how she has charmed everyone to such an extent with her singing,” Shankar said in a written statement to Associated Press.

Jones, 23, who won five Grammys on Sunday, was estranged from her father for much of her life, but the two have reconciled.