Birth name Amy Jade Winehouse
Born 14 September 1983
Southgate, London, England
Died 23 July 2011 (aged 27)
Camden, London, England
Genres Soul, blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, jazz, reggae
Occupations Singer-songwriter
Instruments Vocals, guitar, drums
Years active 1998–2011
Labels Island, Lioness, Universal Republic, Republic
Associated acts Dionne Bromfield, Mark Ronson, Tony Bennett, Nas, Ghostface Killah, Zalon, Tyler James, Paul Weller, Lily Allen
Website AmyWinehouse.com
Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer-songwriter known for her deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul(sometimes labelled as blue-eyed soul), rhythm and blues,jazz and reggae.
Winehouse's 2003 debut album, Frank, was a critical success in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Her 2006 follow-up album, Back to Black, led to five 2008 Grammy Awards, tying the record at that time for the most wins by a female artist in a single night, and made Winehouse the first British female to win five Grammys, including three of the general field "Big Four" awards: Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
Winehouse won three Ivor Novello Awards: in 2004, Best Contemporary Song for "Stronger Than Me"; in 2007, Best Contemporary Song again, this time for "Rehab"; and in 2008, Best Song Musically and Lyrically for "Love Is a Losing Game". She won the 2007 Brit Award for Best British Female artist, having also been nominated for Best British Album, with Back to Black.
2006–07: international success, Back to Black and touring
In contrast to her jazz-influenced former album, Winehouse's focus shifted to the girl groups of the 1950s and 1960s. Winehouse hired New York singer Sharon Jones's longtime band, the Dap-Kings to back her up in the studio and on tour.
Mitch Winehouse relates in Amy, My Daughter how fascinating watching her process was: her perfectionism in the studio and how she would put what she had sung on a CD and play it in his taxi outside to know how most people would hear her music.
In May 2006, Winehouse's demo tracks such as "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" appeared on Mark Ronson's New York radio show on East Village Radio. These were some of the first new songs played on the radio after the release of "Pumps" and both were slated to appear on her second album.
The 11-track album, completed in five months, was produced entirely by Salaam Remi and Ronson, with the production credits being split between them. Ronson said in a 2010 interview that he liked working with Winehouse because she was blunt when she did not like his work.
A Promotion of Back to Black soon began and, in early October 2006 Winehouse's official website was relaunched with a new layout and clips of previously unreleased songs.
Back to Black was released in the UK on 30 October 2006.
It went to number one on the UK Albums Chart for two weeks in January 2007, dropping then climbing back for several weeks in February. In the US, it entered at number seven on the Billboard 200. It was the best-selling album in the UK of 2007, selling 1.85 million copies over the course of the year.
The album spawned a number of hit singles. The first single released from the album was the Ronson-produced "Rehab". The song reached the top ten in the UK and the US.Time magazine named "Rehab" the Best Song of 2007. Writer Josh Tyrangiel praised Winehouse for her confidence, saying, "What she is mouthy, funny, sultry, and quite possibly crazy" and "It's impossible not to be seduced by her originality.
Combine it with production by Mark Ronson that references four decades worth of soul music without once ripping it off, and you've got the best song of 2007." The album's second single and lead single in the US, "You Know I'm No Good", was released in January 2007 with a remix featuring rap vocals by Ghostface Killah.
It ultimately reached number 18 on the UK singles chart. The title track, "Back to Black", was released in the UK in April 2007 and peaked at number 25, but was more successful across mainland Europe. "Tears Dry on Their Own", "Love Is a Losing Game" and "Just Friends" were also released as singles, but failed to achieve the same level of success.
Frank was released in the United States on 20 November 2007 to positive reviews. The album debuted at number 61 on the Billboard 200 chart. In addition to her own album she collaborated with other artists on singles. Winehouse was a vocalist on the song "Valerie" on Ronson's solo album Version.
The song peaked at number two in the UK, upon its October single release. The song was nominated for a 2008 Brit Award for "Best British Single". Her work with ex-Sugababe Mutya Buena, "B Boy Baby", was released on 17 December 2007. It served as the fourth single from Buena's debut album, Real Girl. Winehouse was also in talks of working with Missy Elliott for her album, Block Party.
Winehouse toured in conjunction with the Back to Black album's release, performing headliners in September and November 2006, including a Little Noise Sessions charity concert at the Union Chapel in Islington.
On 31 December 2006, Winehouse appeared on Jools Holland's Annual Hootenanny and performed a cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" along with Paul Weller and Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. She also performed Toots and the Maytals' "Monkey Man".
She began a run of another 14 gigs beginning in February 2007. At his request, Bruce Willis introduced Winehouse before her performance of "Rehab" at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards. she went on a Las Vegas jaunt in the hours before the show.
During the summer of 2007, she performed at various festivals, including UK's Glastonbury Festival, Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, Belgium's Rock Werchter and Virgin Music Festival in Baltimore.
she announced on 27 November 2007, that her performances and public appearances were cancelled for the remainder of the year, citing her doctor's advice to take a complete rest. A statement issued by concert promoter Live Nation blamed "the rigours involved in touring and the intense emotional strain that Amy has been under in recent weeks" for the decision. Mitch Winehouse wrote about her nervousness before public performances in his 2012 book, Amy, My Daughter.
2008-: Continued success and acclaim
By year's end Winehouse had garnered numerous accolades and awards. In 2008, the singer won Grammy Awards in the categories of Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single "Rehab", while her album Back to Black was nominated for Album of the Year and won the Best Pop Vocal Album award.
Producer Mark Ronson's work with her won the award in the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, in the non-classical category. The singer also earned a Grammy as Best New Artist, earning her an entry in the 2009 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records for Most Grammy Awards won by a British Female Act.
She performed "You Know I'm No Good" and "Rehab" at the awards ceremony via satellite, as her visa approval did not come through.Before performing, she said "This is for London because Camden town ain't burning down", in reference to the Camden Market fire.
After the Grammys, the album's sales increased catapulting Back to Black to number two on the US Billboard 200 after initially peaking at number seven. On 13 January 2008, Back to Black held the number-one position on the Billboard Pan European charts for the third straight week. In January 2008, Universal Music said it believed that there was a correlation between number of albums sold and the extensive media coverage the singer had received.
A special deluxe edition of Back to Black topped the UK album charts on 2 March 2008. The original edition of the album resided at the number 30 position, in its 68th week on the charts, while Frank charted at number 35. By 12 March, the album had sold a total of 2,467,575 copies, 318,350 of those in the previous 10 weeks, putting the album on the UK's top 10 best-selling albums of the 21st century for the first time.
On 7 April, Back to Black was residing at the top position on the pan-European charts for the sixth consecutive and thirteenth aggregate week. Back to Black was the world's seventh biggest-selling album for 2008. These sales helped keep Universal Music's recorded music division from dropping to levels experienced by the overall music market.
At the 2008 Ivor Novello Awards, Winehouse became the first artist to receive two nominations for the top award, best song, musically and lyrically. She won the award for "Love Is a Losing Game" and was nominated for "You Know I'm No Good""Rehab", a Novello winner for best contemporary song in 2006, also received a 2008 nomination for best-selling British song. Winehouse was nominated for a MTV Europe Award in the Act of The Year category.
Amy Winehouse – The Girl Done Good: A Documentary Review, a 78-minute DVD, was released on 14 April 2008. The documentary features interviews with those who knew her at a young age, helped her gain success, jazz music experts, as well as music and pop culture specialists.
A clip of Winehouse's music was included in the "Roots and Influences" area that looked at connections between different artists at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC, which opened in December 2008. One thread started with Billie Holiday continued with Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige and finished with Winehouse.
In a poll of US residents conducted for VisitBritain by Harris Interactive that was released in March 2009, one fifth of those polled indicated they had listened to Winehouse's music during the previous year. Winehouse performed with Rhythms del Mundo on their cover of the Sam Cooke song "Cupid" for an Artists Project Earth benefit album that was released on 13 July 2009.
Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011. Her album Back to Black posthumously became the UK's best-selling album of the 21st century, at that point. In 2012, Winehouse was ranked 26th on VH1's 100 Greatest Women In Music. The BBC has called her "the pre-eminent vocal talent of her generation"
On the week of 26 July, after Winehouse's death, Frank, Back To Black, and the Back To Black EP re-entered the Billboard 200 at number 57, number 9, and number 152 respectively with the album climbing to number 4 the following week.
Back To Black also topped the Billboard Digital Albums chart on the same week and was the second best-seller at iTunes. "Rehab" re-entered and topped the Billboard Hot Digital Songs chart as well, selling up to 38,000 more digital downloads. As of August 2011 "Back to Black" was the best-selling album in the UK in the twenty-first century
