Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse stood among the U.K.’s most prominent vocalists throughout the 2000s. Although British newspapers and tabloids dwelled on her turbulent conduct and untimely death, listeners and reviewers responded to her raw charisma, outspoken wit, and unmistakably soul-infused, jazz-tinged delivery. Her platinum-certified, Mercury Prize-nominated debut Frank (2003) drew parallels to Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan as well as Macy Gray and Lauryn Hill, presenting her singular voice and intensely autobiographical compositions to a wide audience. Only with her 2006 follow-up Back to Black did Winehouse achieve worldwide recognition. Working alongside producer Mark Ronson, she fashioned a retro, throwback aesthetic on the hit singles “Rehab” and “You Know I’m No Good.” One of the highest-selling albums in British chart history, the record secured her an unprecedented five Grammy Awards in 2008. It proved to be her final release; she died in London on July 23, 2011, at age 27.

The daughter of a cab-driving father and a pharmacist mother, Winehouse was raised in London’s northern Southgate district. Jazz permeated her childhood. Several maternal uncles worked as professional jazz musicians, while her paternal grandmother had once been romantically linked to British jazz pioneer Ronnie Scott. At home she absorbed her parents’ collection of classics by Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra. During adolescence, however, she gravitated toward the defiant energy of TLC, Salt-N-Pepa, and contemporaneous American R&B and hip-hop acts. At 16, shortly after her expulsion from London’s Sylvia Young Theatre School, she received her initial opportunity when schoolmate and close friend, pop singer Tyler James, forwarded her demo to his A&R contact who was seeking a jazz vocalist. The introduction resulted in a recording contract with Island Records. By late 2003, at age 20, Island issued her debut album Frank. Assisted by hip-hop producer and keyboardist Salaam Remi, Winehouse’s fusion of jazz, pop, soul, and hip-hop earned glowing notices. The set earned a 2004 Mercury Music Prize nomination along with two Brit Award nods, and its opening single “Stronger Than Me” captured an Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song.

After her debut, accolades and probing interviews appeared alongside accounts of her volatile public behavior. On multiple occasions she arrived at club or television performances too intoxicated to complete a full set. In 2006 her management urged her to seek treatment for alcohol abuse; instead she parted ways with the company and converted the experience into the U.K. Top Ten single “Rehab,” the lead track from her second, widely praised album Back to Black. Through atmospheric productions by Salaam Remi and British DJ and multi-instrumentalist Mark Ronson, the album largely set jazz aside in favor of ’50s and ’60s girl-group harmonies, rock & roll, and soul. The excitement surrounding the release quickly crossed to American shores, prompting various rappers and DJs to create remixes and inspiring covers by Prince and the Arctic Monkeys.

One month after she received Best Female Artist at the February 2007 Brit Awards, Universal introduced Back to Black to U.S. listeners. The album outperformed every prior American debut by a British female recording artist, remaining in the Top Ten for several months and reaching one million copies sold by summer’s end. As in Britain, she dominated headlines, gracing the covers of Rolling Stone and Spin. Soon afterward she canceled her North American tour. Initial reports indicated she was entering rehab for addiction, yet her new management attributed the cancellation to extreme exhaustion. Her unpredictable conduct kept her and her husband Blake Fielder-Civil in constant tabloid coverage across the Atlantic, yet late in 2007 American audiences finally obtained an abridged version of Frank, with two tracks removed and one added.

The subsequent four years brought repeated turmoil, cancellations, and scant new music. By 2009 her marriage had dissolved in divorce, she had faced multiple arrests for assault and public-order offenses, and her battles with substance abuse and mental-health difficulties played out relentlessly in the media. Live appearances frequently collapsed into incoherence, with the most chaotic moments uploaded to video sites. A contribution to the Quincy Jones tribute Q: Soul Bossa Nostra surfaced in 2010, and a duet with Tony Bennett was announced in early 2011, but a planned successor to Back to Black never advanced beyond the demo stage. Winehouse was discovered deceased in her Camden, London apartment on July 23, 2011. Three months later the coroner’s report confirmed that her blood-alcohol level had reached a lethal threshold.

Nearly two months after her passing, her first posthumous recording appeared on Tony Bennett’s Duets II, where she joined him on “Body and Soul.” Near the close of 2011 her family’s foundation issued Lioness: Hidden Treasures, a posthumous collection spanning her career, though several arrangements were completed after her death. One year later At the BBC arrived as a deluxe CD/DVD package—offered both as a four-disc box and a condensed two-disc edition—assembling her complete live sessions for the British Broadcasting Company.

During summer 2015 director Asif Kapadia’s documentary Amy presented her story through photographs, previously unseen studio and performance footage, and music. Much of the material had never been publicly available. The film also included interviews with friends, relatives, musical collaborators, and the singer herself. That October a soundtrack followed, alternating unreleased and previously issued Winehouse tracks with selections from the film’s score. In 2021 a further posthumous set appeared exclusively for Record Store Day on vinyl. Titled Remixes, the release gathered rare recordings from across her catalog, featuring reinterpretations by Hot Chip and MJ Cole together with guest appearances by Jay-Z and Ghostface Killah.