Grammys 2013: another year of British success? Talks of a third British invasion at this year's Grammy Awards should raise a bemused smile. After the first, Beatles-led conquering of the US pop charts in the Sixties, followed by a second surge from the new romantics in the Eighties, it seems our fragile national pride rests upon some evidence in awards season (from American music gongs to the Oscars) that our former colony still needs, or at least admires, our cultural sophistication. But it was only in the Nineties, when r'n"b and rap ruled and we turned to the retro parochialism of Britpop, that UK music dropped out of contention. Since Craig David's garage soul found Grammy favour, winning nominations in 2002 and 2003, we've been building a steady presence at the LA-based awards. This year's Brit cavalcade will be led by Mumford and Sons, Ed Sheeran and Florence and the Machine, with nods to Calvin Harris, Muse, The Chemical Brothers, Paul McCartney, Adele and Amy Winehouse (for a posthumous rap duet with Nas). The Mumfords boast the bestselling US rock album of 2012, and their broad appeal is reflected in the categories of their six nominations. Along with album of the year, they get a coals-to-Newcastle nod in the Americana section, while the narrative propulsion and theatricality of their banjo twanging epics gets them noticed in the soundtrack category (for their work on Disney-Pixar's Brave). Their costume-drama poshness plays well with Americans, as do their anti-urban, morally earnest lyrics: a quality shared with Ed Sheeran. The 21-year-old singer-songwriter will play live on the night in a duet with Sir Elton John, who, after championing everyone from Craig David to Adele, is practically the British ambassador for pop. With an expected audience of 40 million viewers and a forthcoming US tour supporting Taylor Swift, even if Sheeran loses out, he's pretty sure to win over a new section of those still-coveted American fans. The 55th annual Grammy Awards take place on Monday at 3AM (GMT); www.grammy.com