Canadian artists took home three Grammy Awards, all of which came during the pre-telecast portion of the ceremonies on Sunday.

Drake won two Grammy Awards, bring his career tally to three, for “Hotline Bling” in the categories of Best Rap Song and Best Rap/Sung Performance. He was unable to collect the awards in person due to being on tour in Europe (Manchester last night before two nights at the O2 in London starting Tuesday night) sending producer Paul Jefferies, who works under the name Nineteen85, to claim the prize and plug Drake’s upcoming release.

Drake’s anticipated project “More Life” is expected to arrive on streaming music services soon. While playing a concert last week he told the audience he was about two weeks away from finishing it, adding further anticipation for a release that was originally slated for last December.

After eight nominations, the London, Ont.-born songwriter and producer Bernie Herms finally enjoyed the sweet taste of Grammy Awards glory when he pocketed his first win for “Thy Will”, a song he created with Hillary Scott and the Scott Family. It won best contemporary Christian music performance.

And while Leonard Cohen’s final album “You Want It Darker” missed qualifying for this year’s Grammys by about three weeks he was still there in spirit.

Folk singer Judy Collins sat behind a grand piano as she recalled a memory of her long-time friend and collaborator, and the first time she encountered his song “Suzanne.”

“He came into my living room and said, ‘I can’t play the guitar and I can’t sing,” she said. “And I don’t know if this is a song.”

She then drifted into a performance of the Montreal poet’s famed song paying tribute to the legend.