Taylor Swift, Mumford, More to Play Grammys

Taylor Swift, the Black Keys, Mumford & Sons, Rihanna and the fast-rising trio fun. have been announced as the first confirmed performers for this year's 55th annual Grammy Awards.

The show will be telecast live on Feb. 10 from the Staples Center in Los Angeles on KFMB CHannel 8. It will be hosted by rapper-turned-TV-star LL Cool J, who also hosted last year's telecast. He and Swift co-hosted last month's one-hour live Grammy nominations announcement special.

The lower-case fun. & Mumford & Sons each have six Grammy nominations this year, while the Black Keys have five. Keys guitarist Dan Auerbach has six nominations, thanks to his work as a producer.

Approximately one-dozen past and present San Diego artists are nominated this year, including Tom Waits, jazz pianist Geoffrey Keezer and Megadeth leader Dave Mustaine.

More performers for the Grammys will be announced in the coming weeks. (Might the Rolling Stones or back-from-retirement icon David Bowie be added, even though they are not nominated this year? Hard to say, but the Grammys love to mix hot young acts with seasoned legends, the better to draw a multi-generational viewership.)

The Grammy weekend begins Feb. 8 with the all-star MusiCares dinner concert honoring Bruce Springsteen, who will be saluted in song by Elton John, Patti Smith, Juanes, Mumford & Sons and others.

The Special Merit Awards will be held Feb. 9 and will include the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Grammy Awards. The Lifetime honor will be presented, posthumously, to two recently deceased San Diegans: Indian music giant Ravi Shankar and pop-country vocal star Patti Page.

Read George Varga's full story and more on utsandiego.com