Bonnie Raitt wins the Grammy for Song of the Year

The American blues, folk and country singer Bonnie Raitt scored an unexpected Grammy on Sunday for Song of the Year, an honor for her track Just Like That.

The critically acclaimed 73-year-old jumped ahead of pop titans Beyonce, Adele and Taylor Swift to take home the prize honoring songwriting.

"I'm so surprised," Raitt said in accepting the prize, after she walked to the stage with her jaw dropped open in shock.

"I don't know what to say. This is just an unreal moment. Thank you for honoring me, to all the Academy that surrounds me with so much support and appreciates the art of songwriting, as I do."

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Raitt's Grammy win is another feather in her cap: the artist was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, and Rolling Stone named her as both one of the 100 Greatest Singers and 100 Greatest Guitarists of all time.

Over her half-a-century career, Raitt has produced a steady stream of well-received work, working with the likes of Warren Zevon, Jackson Browne, The Pointer Sisters and John Prine, whose "Angel From Montgomery" she covered in 1974 and made a hit.

She thanked Prine on Sunday in her acceptance of the Song of the Year award.

Raitt is also known for her political activism, particularly in opposition to nuclear testing, fundraising for environmental disaster relief efforts and for her criticism of former US president George W. Bush.

She has joined a chorus of artists who have thrown their support in the past behind Bernie Sanders, a progressive senator who has made two runs at the Democratic presidential nomination.