AMY WINEHOUSE

'Amy-Jade Winehouse' (born 14 September 1983) is an English soul, jazz, and R&B singer and songwriter.
Winehouse's debut album, ''Frank'' (released in 2003) was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Winehouse is a two-time Ivor Novello Award winner; once in 2004 for her debut single "Stronger than Me" and again in May 2007 for the first single "Rehab" from her 2006 album ''Back to Black''. On 14 February 2007, she won a BRIT Award for Best British Female Artist (she had also been nominated for Best British Album). On 17 July, ''Back to Black'' was announced as one of the 12 albums on the 2007 shortlist of Mercury Prize nominees and later that year she was nominated for three MTV Video Music Awards.

Biography

Early life and musical influences

Winehouse was born in the Southgate area of Enfield, London to a Jewish family with a history of jazz musicians.^[2] Her father, Mitchell Winehouse, is a taxi driver, and her mother, Janis, is a pharmacist. She has one brother, Alex Winehouse.^[3] She grew up in the suburb of Southgate, and attended Ashmole School. At around the age of 10, Winehouse founded a short-lived amateur rap group called Sweet 'n' Sour, as Sour. She described the group as "the little white Jewish Salt 'n' Pepa".^[4] She attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School when she was 12 years old but was expelled at 13 for "not applying herself" and piercing her own nose.^[5]⁴ She later attended the BRIT School in Selhurst, Croydon.
Winehouse received her first guitar when she was 13. By the age of 16, she was singing professionally after her friend, soul singer Tyler James, gave her demo tape to an A&R person.² She signed to her current record label, Island/Universal, under Simon Fuller's management company 19 Management.⁴

Performing at the Bowery Ballroom, New York City

2003–2004: ''Frank''

Winehouse's debut album, ''Frank'', was released on 20 October 2003. It was produced mainly by Salaam Remi with many songs having jazz-influences and, apart from two covers, every song co-written by Winehouse. The album received positive reviews^[6]^[7] with compliments over the "cool, critical gaze" in its lyrics^[8] and brought comparisons of her voice to, amongst others, Sarah Vaughan^[9] and Macy Gray.⁸
The album entered the upper levels of the UK album chart in 2004 when it was nominated for BRIT Awards in the categories of "British Female Solo Artist" and "British Urban Act". It went on to achieve platinum sales.^[10] Later in 2004, she won the Ivor Novello songwriting Award for "Best Contemporary Song" with her contribution to the first single, "Stronger Than Me" (alongside Salaam Remi).^[11] The album also made the short list for the 2004 Mercury Music Prize. In the same year, she performed at the Glastonbury festival, on the Jazzworld stage, and at the V Festival.
After the release of the album, Winehouse commented that she was "only 80 percent behind [the] album" because of the inclusion by her record label of certain songs and mixes she disliked.² Upon the release of her second album, she stated "I can’t even listen to ''Frank'' any more — in fact, I’ve never been able to. I like playing the tracks live because that’s different, but listening to them is another story."^[12]
She later clarified this, saying "I listen to it differently now. I am still really proud of it, I still think it's a great album. But, with hindsight, there are some things I would have done differently... Just because I would do things a bit differently now doesn't mean I don't like what's on that album."^[13]

2006–2007: ''Back to Black''

In early 2006, demonstration tracks such as "Wake Up Alone" 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 since the release of "Pumps" and were both to appear on her second album. ''Back to Black'' went to number one on the UK Albums Chart, and entered at number seven on the U.S. Billboard 200, becoming the highest debut entry for an album by a British female solo artist, only to be outdone two weeks later by Joss Stone who debuted at number two with ''Introducing Joss Stone''.^[14]
The album was released on 30 October 2006, a little more than three years after the release of ''Frank''. In an interview, Winehouse explained "After ''Frank'' I didn’t write for 18 months but when I met Mark (Ronson) I pretty much wrote the album in six months — he was so inspiring."¹² In contrast to her jazz-influenced former album, Winehouse's focus is described as "shifting to the girl groups of the Fifties and Sixties". Ronnie Spector stated that Winehouse is her favorite new singer. Dame Shirley Bassey in a recent interview told the press that she wants Amy Winehouse to sing the next James Bond theme.^[15] The eleven-track album was produced entirely by Salaam Remi and Mark Ronson, with the production credits being split between them almost equally.
The first single released from the album on 23 October 2006 was the Ronson-produced "Rehab", a song about her past refusal to attend an alcohol rehabilitation centre after it was encouraged by her management company.¹² She left the management company after this incident.^[16] On 22 October 2006, based solely on download sales, it entered the UK Singles Chart at #19 and when the CD single was released the following week, it climbed to #7. On 14 January 2007, the album rose one spot from #2 to reach the #1 position on the UK Album Chart. After the success of her BRIT award win her album again rose to #1 on 25 February. One of the songs on Winehouse's album titled "Me And Mr. Jones" is rumoured to be about rapper Nasir "Nas" Jones. This is based on references her lyrics, such as "Mr. Destiny, 9 and 14" Destiny is the name of his child with ex-girlfriend Carmen, and 14 September is a birthday both Winehouse and Nas share. In Winehouse's song "Rehab," she refers to "Ray" and "Mr. Hathaway." These are references to Ray Charles and Donny Hathaway.^[17]
In early October 2006, Winehouse's official website was re-launched with a new layout and clips of previously unreleased songs.¹⁰ She appeared in an interview with Jools Holland on BBC Radio 2 on 2 October 2006 and was a guest on ''Later with Jools Holland'' on 3 November 2006. Winehouse performed three headline gigs in September 2006 and in November 2006 performed another ten across the UK, including headlining one of the ''Little Noise Sessions'' charity concerts at the Union Chapel, Islington. She was scheduled to headline another fourteen gigs over February 2007 - March 2007. On 9 November 2006, Winehouse announced she had been approached by one of the producers of the James Bond movies to sing the main theme of ''Bond 22''.^[18] The singer has denied rumors that she is to be the Bond Girl in the movie saying "I'm just not an actress".^[19]
The second single from the album was "You Know I'm No Good". The single was released on 8 January 2007 with a remix featuring rap vocals by Ghostface Killah. It made #18 in the UK singles chart and, in the same week's chart, "Rehab" climbed back up to #20. ''Back to Black'' was released in the United States in March 2007, with "You Know I'm No Good" as its lead single. The album entered at #7, the highest ever debut position for a British female artist at the time, until the release of Joss Stone's third studio album, ''Introducing Joss Stone'' which entered at #2 on the Billboard 200. A third UK single, "Back to Black", was released on 30 April 2007 and peaked at #25. In the summer of 2007, "You Know I'm No Good" was also incorporated into ads for AMC's new T.V. drama, ''Mad Men''.
Rehab rose to the position of #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the week of 14 June, after a performance of it on the 2007 MTV Movie Awards. The following week it again rose one position to #9.
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 Hollands' Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. She also performed Toots and the Maytals' "Monkey Man".

Performing at Eurockéennes 2007

At the BRIT Awards 2007, she performed her hit "Rehab". She won the Best British Female Artist award.
Winehouse's wardrobe on her recent UK tour was sponsored by the clothing label Gio-Goi, and it has recently been rumoured that she is to become the face of the label's 2007 Women's wear collection following in the footsteps of Pete Doherty who is the face of menswear.
The song "Rehab" won the Ivor Novello award for best contemporary song on 24 May 2007.^[20]
Winehouse performed at the June 2007 Glastonbury Festival in the UK,^[21] the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago on 5 August 2007 as well as the Virgin Music Festival held in Baltimore on 4 August 2007.
Amy was scheduled to perform at V Festival 2007 on the Channel 4 stage on 18 and 19 August, but her manager has announced that she was cancelling and has put all her tour commitments on hold until further notice.
In August 2007, "Rehab" was used in AT&T's Amy Winehouse Lip-Sync Video Battle competition. Creators submitted short videos using the song. The $5000 winner was Dana A with his "Drink Responsibly" video.
On September 8, 2007 Winehouse settled a claim for copyright infringement over the song from the album "He Can Only Hold Her" brought against her by songwriter and producer P
★ Nut. His spokesperson said he would now receive a share of the copyright from the song and payment of costs. Previously he had received a "thank you" for his contribution and no songwriter credit on the album. ^[22]

Personal life

2006

In September, Winehouse was reported to have dropped four dress sizes, allegedly because of comments made to her about her size.^[23] In an interview in ''The Daily Telegraph'' Magazine (16 September), when asked if this was the cause she replied "No. No. No. I don't listen to anyone except my ... inner child anyway. If someone had said to me, Amy, lose a stone, which they wouldn't, I don't think I would have listened anyway." In October, Winehouse admitted she had previously been affected by eating disorders. "A little bit of anorexia, a little bit of bulimia. I'm not totally OK now but I don't think any woman is, and most men will agree."^[24]
In an article published in September, Winehouse was quoted as stating that she is a clinically diagnosed manic depressive who refuses to take medication.^[25]
Winehouse has a number of "old school" tattoos of naked women on her body. When asked about them, she was quoted as saying "I like pin-up girls. I’m more of a boy than a girl in that way. I’m not a lesbian, though — not before a sambuca anyway."^[26]

2007

On 18 May 2007 Winehouse married Blake Fielder-Civil in an unannounced ceremony in Miami, Florida.^[27] Several press reports suggested that Winehouse's relationship with Fielder-Civil was the inspiration for several of the songs on ''Back to Black''. They had dated two years earlier and had broken up for a time after he went back to his old girlfriend.^[28]
On 5 August said she would own a beauty salon once her singing schedule calms down.^[29]
On 14 August TMZ.com and the ''Daily Mirror'' reported that Winehouse and her husband agreed to go to rehab after their fathers nearly came to fisticuffs over their heroin and cocaine addictions. The Vancouver Sun reported she had stayed at the Causeway treatment centre in Essex, England for five days upsetting her family which expected her to stay in the program for six to eight weeks^[30].
Her spokesperson said "Amy Winehouse is putting all her touring commitments for this month on hold until further notice in order to address her health issues". Later it was announced that her September North American tour has been postponed and plans were being made to reschedule it early in 2008.^[31]^[32]^[33]^[34] This follows an August 8 incident where Winehouse was admitted to University College Hospital in London after slipping into a coma after overdosing on several drugs. As reported by News of the World she smoked heroin, snorted cocaine, took ecstasy and the dissociative anesthetic ketamine, along with whiskey and vodka during a bar crawl in London. She told the paper "It was just crazy -- one of the most terrifying moments of my life," she said. "I just don't know what got into me."^[35] The Sunday Mirror reported that during the night in question she did the heroin/cocaine cocktail known as speedball with Babyshambles lead singer Pete Doherty and that Doherty later fled the scene according to a friend of Doherty's because "he didn't want any bad publicity. He said Amy looked like a skeleton because she was so thin and he was really frightened when she had a seizure because he wasn't sure how to deal with it and thought she was dying" ^[36]. These developments occurred after months of speculation in the tabloids over alleged alcohol-induced behaviour. This included apparent intoxication during television appearances and concerts, cancelled appearances, heckling Bono, and cuts and scars on her arm.^[37]^[38]^[39]^[40]^[41]^[42]^[43]^[44]^[45]
In the early hours of August 23 the singer and her husband were spotted and photographed by the Daily Mail stumbling around streets of London badly bloodied and bruised. Guests at the Sanderson hotel reported hearing the sound of clattering furniture and screaming coming from the couple's £500-a-night suite around 11:00 pm the night before. At 2:30 am, Winehouse was seen sprinting down the corridor to the lift, pursued by her badly bleeding husband. One guest who got into the lift to reception at the same time said they started shouting at each other. "Amy was in floods of tears. This guy was screaming at her. She was cowering in the corner and I thought he was going to hit her. When the lift door opened, she took off across the lobby at a real pace." In a series of texts between the singer and celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, the singer said "I was cutting myself after he found me in our room about to do drugs with a call girl and rightly said I wasn't good enough for him. I lost it and he saved my life."^[46]
In a June 2007 interview with World Entertainment News Network she was quoted as saying "I'll beat up Blake when I'm drunk. I don't think I have ever bruised him, but I do have my way. If he says one thing I don't like then I'll chin him."^[47]
On 28 August in separate interviews, Blake Fielder-Civil's parents and Amy Winehouse's father Mitch spoke to a BBC radio show. The singer's mother in law spoke to the Daily Mail on 2 September. Mitch Winehouse stated that "We have two families pulling in different directions. Basically we just want the same things - we want our children to be safe. But we've got different definitions of how we can do that." Specifically they differed on the parents-in-law's call for fans to boycott the singer's music and for the industry not to give her any awards, as a means of sending a message. The singer's mother in law, hair salon owner Georgette, 42, expressed concern that if one partner in the marriage died the other would commit suicide. "If Amy died, Blake's life wouldn't be worth living because he'd be vilified. He told me as much himself. He told me that if Amy died on a Monday he would be dead by Monday night. If he's alive for another year, I think we'll be very lucky. I'm so desperate to get Blake away from drugs that I'm even considering paying to have him kidnapped and taken to a safe house where we could get professional help for him."^[28] "The singer's father said "We're not talking about people who are in imminent danger of death." The singer's father said that although she has used marijuana for a period of time, the serious drug problems have only occurred in the last three or four months. Her in-laws stated that they have identified one source of supply close to the couple and have shared that information with the Metropolitan Police, the singer's family and her record company.^[49]^[50]^[28]
On 31 August, the NME reported that the singer is trying to get pregnant. A source told the paper that “She really believes having a baby would help them put their troubles behind them.”^[52]
On 1 September, IrelandOnLine reported that Snoop Dogg has offered the singer refuge because he was inspired by the "Back to Black" album to make a solo album of his own. "I want her to know that if she needs a place to chill for a bit, my hood is her hood."^[53]
On 2 September, in the article cited above the Daily Mail reported the singer may be dropped by her record label, Universal/Republic which has told her that she's on her last warning, and has ordered her to "clean up or clear out" with an all-expenses-paid Caribbean holiday. The record company fears her behavior will alienate U.S. audiences. The Sunday Mirror reported that staff at the resort in St Lucia where the couple were staying said that the "painfully thin" singer vomited blood in her room. Managers offered to send for a doctor but she refused their help.^[36]
At her 4 September Mercury Music Prize awards performance she looked composed and sober, thin but healthy ^[55]. Speaking to the The Daily Mirror after the performance she suggested that she wouldn't be returning to rehab any time soon, saying, "I'm of the school of thought where, if you can't sort something out for yourself, no one can help you. Rehab is great for some people but not others." Winehouse also said she believes that alcohol is more destructive than heroin and that "Drinking long-term is a lot worse than doing heroin. Alcohol's a real poison."^[56]

Other media appearances

★ Winehouse has appeared as an extra in a sketch on The Fast Show.

★ Performed for the first time in the U.S. at her Spinner Interface in-studio performance. During the session, Amy performed "You Know I'm No Good," "Rehab," "Love Is a Losing Game" and the Zutons cover "Valerie."

★ On 10 January 2007, Winehouse sang for BBC Radio 1 Show ''Live Lounge''. During the session, Amy sang her new single "You Know I'm No Good", and covered the Zutons song "Valerie". The Mark Ronson-produced tracks feature the backing of the Daptone Records house band, The Dap Kings.

★ Winehouse appeared with Paul Weller at his BBC ''Electric Proms'' gig, where Weller introduced her as "one of the greatest vocalists around at the moment". They performed an Etta Jones song called "Don't Go To Strangers", with music written by Arthur Kent and Dave Mason and lyrics by Redd Evans.

★ On 12 March 2007 Winehouse appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman and sang her hit "Rehab." David talked to Amy about her performance afterwards, comparing her voice and style to that of the Ronettes.

★ ''Rolling Stone'' featured her on their cover story for the 30 May 2007 issue. Also the magazine featured her on their website as one of ten artists to watch for in the year 2007.^[57]

★ The singer was also the cover artist for the American publication Spin Magazine in a story entitled "Up All Night With Amy Winehouse The Dangerous New Queen of Soul" ^[58]

★ On 11 May 2007, Winehouse appeared on Canadian music show, ''Much on Demand'', and arrived late, with only enough time to play her song "Rehab".

★ On 28 and 29 June, 2007, Amy supported the Arctic Monkeys at their 'mini-fest' at the LCCC, Old Trafford.

★ On 4 September 2007 Winehouse performed her new song "Love is a Losing Game" at the Mercury Music Prize awards, her first appearance since a spate of the well publicized personal problems documented above.

Discography

Studio albums

★ 2003: ''Frank''

★ 2006: ''Back to Black''

Singles

Year	Single	Chart positions							Album
Year	Single	UK	UK R&B	IRE	U.S.	U.S. R&B Hot Air Play	DE	UW	Album
2003	"Stronger Than Me"	71	—	—	—	—	—	—	''Frank''
2004	"Take the Box"	57	21	—	—	—	—	—
	"In My Bed" / "You Sent Me Flying"	60	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"Pumps" / "Help Yourself"	65	—	—	—	—	—	—
2006	"Rehab"	7	3	21	9	—	51	19	''Back to Black''
2007	"You Know I'm No Good"	18	4	39	78	87	77	—
	"Back to Black"	25	5	49	—	—	—	—
	"Tears Dry on Their Own"	16	6	26	—	40	—	—
	"Valerie" ''(Mark Ronson feat. Amy Winehouse)								''Version''

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result
2004	Ivor Novello Awards	Best Contemporary Song (musically and lyrically)	''Stronger Than Me''	Won
	BRIT Awards	Best Female Solo Artist		Nominated
	BRIT Awards	Best Urban Act		Nominated
	Mercury Music Prize	Album of the Year	''Frank''	Shortlisted
2007	South Bank Show awards	Best Pop		Won
	BRIT Awards	British Album	''Back to Black''	Nominated
	BRIT Awards	Best Female Solo Artist		Won
	Elle Style Awards	Best British music act		Won
	Ivor Novello Awards	Best Contemporary Song	Rehab	Won
	Greatest Britons	Musical Achievement		Won
	Mercury Music Prize	Album of the Year	''Back To Black''	Shortlisted
	Popjustice £20 Music Prize	Best British pop single of the year	Rehab	Won

She was placed #1 on Spinner.com's Who Rock Right Now''.
Supermodel Kate Moss is planning to write a song in tribute to her ^[59]

Notes and references

External links

★ Amy-Winehouse.org - Ultimate Fanbase

★ Amy Winehouse's official homepage

★ Amy Winehouse's official Myspace page

★ Amy Winehouse's Okayplayer page

★ Almost Famous: Amy Winehouse - Interview

★ Rolling Stone Magazine Cover Story 30 May 2007 Amy Winehouse On Fighting Her Inner Demons and the Just-Married Life

★ A Guardian Unlimited analysis of her crash and what it means for her career

★ Amy Winehouse at Rolling Stone

★ Lollapalooza 2007 Live Performance Video

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