Amy Jade Winehouse (born 14 September 1983) is an English soul, jazz, and R&B singer and songwriter.
Winehouse’s 2003 debut album Frank was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Her 2006 album Back to Black led to six Grammy Award nominations including the “Big Four”: Best New Artist, Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year. On 14 February 2007, she won a BRIT Award for Best British Female Artist; she had also been nominated for Best British Album. She has won the Ivor Novello Award twice, among other prestigious distinctions.
Winehouse has created media buzz apart from her singing. Her unique style, most notably her former signature beehive hairstyle, has spawned imitators and been the muse for fashion designers, most notably Karl Lagerfeld. The singer’s (and her husband’s) struggle with drug and alcohol addiction, as well as self-destructive behaviour, have become regular tabloid news since 2007. The couple has also been plagued by legal troubles that have led to the cancellation of several tour dates.
Contents
1 Early life
2 Career
2.1 Early career
2.2 Major label success
2.3 International success
2.4 Possible future recordings
3 Touring
4 Personal life
4.1 Legal troubles
5 Controversy
6 Discography
7 Awards and nominations
8 Notes
9 References
10 External links
Early life
Amy Winehouse was born in the Southgate area of Enfield, London to a Jewish family who share her love of jazz music.[2] She was raised in a family of four: her father Mitchell (a taxi driver), her mother Janis (a pharmacist), and her older brother Alex.[3] She grew up in the suburb of Southgate and attended Southgate School before leaving to go to Ashmole School. At age ten, Winehouse founded a short-lived rap group called Sweet ‘n’ Sour with childhood friend Juliette Ashby.[4] She was trained at the Sylvia Young Theatre School when she was twelve years old but was allegedly expelled at fourteen for “not applying herself” and for piercing her nose.[5][3] With other children from the Sylvia Young school she appeared in an episode of The Fast Show in 1997.[6]She later attended the BRIT School in Selhurst, Croydon.
Career
Early career
After toying with her brother’s guitar, Winehouse received her first guitar when she was thirteen, and began writing music a year later. It was around this time that she dropped out of school, and first started experimenting with drugs. She began working soon after, including as a “showbiz journalist” for the World Entertainment News Network in addition to singing with a jazz band.[3] Her sometime boyfriend, soul singer Tyler James, sent her demo tape to an A&R person.[2] The tapes led to her signing with record label Island/Universal under Simon Fuller’s company 19 Management,[7] and to a publishing deal with EMI. With her first cheque, she moved out with Ashby.[3]
Performing at the Bowery Ballroom, New York CityWinehouse hired New York singer Sharon Jones’s longtime band, the Dap-Kings to back her up in the studio and on tour, giving the group its first real taste of the limelight.[8]
Major label success
Amy Winehouse’s debut album, Frank, was released on 20 October 2003. It was produced mainly by Salaam Remi; many songs had jazz-influences and, apart from two covers, every song was co-written by Winehouse. The album received positive reviews[9][10] with compliments over the “cool, critical gaze” in its lyrics[11] and brought comparisons of her voice to Sarah Vaughan,[12] Macy Gray and others.[11]
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.[13] 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).[14] 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.”[15] 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.”[16]
International success
In contrast to her jazz-influenced former album, Winehouse’s focus shifted to the girl groups of the 1950s and 1960s. 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.”[15] In early 2006, Winehouse’s 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 after the release of “Pumps” and both were slated to appear on her second album. The eleven-track album was produced entirely by Salaam Remi and Ronson, with the production credits being split between them almost equally. Promotion of Back to Black soon began, and in early October 2006 Winehouse’s official website was re-launched with a new layout and clips of previously unreleased songs.[13]
Audio samples:
“Rehab”
21 second audio sample from Amy Winehouse’s first North American hit
“Tears Dry on Their Own”
25 second audio sample from one of the standout tracks on “Back to Black” album
Problems playing the files? See media help.
Back to Black was released in the UK on October 30, 2006. It went to number one on the UK Albums Chart numerous times, and entered at number seven on the Billboard 200 in the United States. This was 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.[17] By 25 October the album was approaching 5X platinum in the UK, making it the best-selling album of 2007 and the top iTunes album in the UK in 2007.[18][19]
The album spawned a number of singles. The first single released from the album on 23 October 2006 was the Ronson-produced “Rehab”.[15] The song was a #7 single in the UK,[20][21] and won the Ivor Novello award for best contemporary song on May 24, 2007.[22] “Rehab” peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the week of June 21, over a week after a performance of it on the 2007 MTV Movie Awards. Time magazine named “Rehab” one of The 10 Best Songs of 2007, ranking it at #1. Writer Josh Tyrangiel praised Winehouse for her confidence, opining, “What she is 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.”[23][24]
The album’s second single, “You Know I’m No Good” was released on 8 January 2007 with a remix featuring rap vocals by Ghostface Killah. It ultimately reached #18 on the UK singles chart. Back to Black was released in the United States in March 2007, with “You Know I’m No Good” as its lead single. The title track, “Back to Black”, was released in the UK on 30 April 2007 and peaked at #25. A deluxe edition of Back to Black was also released on November 5, 2007 in the UK. The bonus disc features B-sides, rare, and live tracks, as well as “Valerie”. Winehouse’s debut DVD I Told You I Was Trouble: Live in London was released the same day in the U.K. and November 13 in the U.S. It includes a live set recorded at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire and a 50-minute documentary charting the singer’s career over the previous four years.[25] On 10 December 2007, the final single from Back to Black, “Love Is a Losing Game”, was released in the United Kingdom and US.
On 20 November 2007, Frank was released in the United States to positive reviews.[26][27] The album debuted at #61 on the Billboard 200 charts.[28]
In addition to her own album, other artists have released her collaborations as singles. Winehouse was a vocalist on the song “Valerie” on Ronson’s solo album Version. The song peaked at #2 in the UK, upon its October single release. As of 26 November the song had been in the top 5 for seven weeks {old fact}. The song was nominated for a 2008 Brit Award for “Best British Single”.[29][30][31] Her work with ex-Sugababe Mutya Buena, “B Boy Baby,” was released on 17 December 2007. It will serve as the fourth single from Buena’s solo debut album Real Girl.[32]
Performing at Eurockéennes 2007By the year’s end, Winehouse had garnered much praise and distinction. The singer earned six 2008 Grammy Award nominations related to Back to Black. The album itself is up for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album. “Rehab” was nominated for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Performance. The singer herself was nominated for Best New Artist. Producer Mark Ronson’s work on the album earned him a nomination for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical. She will perform at the awards ceremony via satellite.[33] The nominations, announced in early December, are credited with bumping up the sales of “Back to Black” up by 48 percent in the United States, where the re-rose to the number 82 chart position.[34][35][36][37] Winehouse was the fifth most eBayed star in 2007 attracting 16,052 sales including dozens of beehive wigs. [38] In all, she sold a total of 497,310 singles (the 8th best-selling singles artist of the year) and 2,196,362 albums (the top-selling albums artist) in her native UK during the year.[citation needed]
As of 13 January of this year, “Back to Black” held the number one position on Billboards Pan European charts for the third straight week.[39]. By the end of that month Universal Music International reported total sales of the album had reached 3.4 million copies and that it believed there was a correlation between that figure and the extensive media coverage the singer has received[40].
Possible future recordings
Pete Doherty said that the Babyshambles are collaborating with the singer on a song titled “You Hurt The Ones You Love”.[41]
Prince has said he would like Winehouse to fly to his Minnesota home to work on a musical collaboration after Christmas. Previously, Prince has said that he was a “big fan” of the singer prompting her to reply: “I’m honoured. I’m a massive fan. I’d love to work with him.”[42] George Michael has written a song in which he wants to duet with the singer. Michael said “Amy is the best female vocalist I have ever heard in my entire career, as well as one of the best writers.”[43]
According to Ronson, the singer is writing songs and he imagines they will get in the studio in 2008. Based on her demos, he foresees a “holiday record with Christmas songs on one side and Hanukkah songs on the other.”[44]
Winehouse is also said to be working with Missy Elliott and hip-hop producer Timbaland.[citation needed]
Following the release of the box office hit, the 21st James Bond film, Casino Royale, there were rumours that Winehouse had been approached to sing the theme tune to the film’s sequel, Quantum of Solace (film).
The singer plans to travel to Jamaica to work with Damian Marley son of reggae legend Bob Marley[45]
Touring
Amy Winehouse performing at the Bowery Ballroom, 2007Winehouse toured in conjunction with the album’s release. She joined Patrick Wolf as an opening act on some of his dates.[citation needed] She performed headlining gigs in September and November 2006, including one of the Little Noise Sessions charity concerts at the Union Chapel, Islington. On December 31, 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 fourteen gigs beginning in February 2007. Come summer, Winehouse performed at various festivals, including UK’s Glastonbury Festival,[46] Chicago’s Lollapalooza festival, Rock Werchter and Baltimore’s Virgin Music Festival. However, among the controversies surrounding her health, drug use, and her husband, in October 2007 she was obliged to cancel her tour dates for the remainder of the year.
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 was the face of menswear.[47]
Personal life
Winehouse in August 2007Since her rise to fame, Winehouse has been the subject of much media attention. In various interviews, Winehouse has denied having bipolar disorder[citation needed] but has admitted to having problems with self-harm, depression and eating disorders,[48][3][20] attributing the latter to insecurities about her appearance.[49][50]
On the morning of 18 May 2007, Winehouse married on-off boyfriend Blake Fielder-Civil in Miami, Florida.[51] In August 2007 Winehouse cancelled a number of shows in the UK and Europe, citing exhaustion and ill health, and both she and Fielder-Civil entered a rehab facility.[52] However, they left after just five days.[53] Winehouse’s father subsequently voiced concerns that his daughter and her husband would at some point “reach rock bottom”. The singer’s parents-in-law also made their fears public, and urged fans and the industry to boycott her music in an attempt to halt her decline.[54] In a separate interview, her mother-in-law said she was worried that Amy and Blake had become so inseparable that if one were to commit suicide, the other would follow.[55] In January 2008 Winehouse’s father reported their marriage was undergoing difficulties.[56]
In August 2007 the singer and her husband were photographed bloodied and bruised in the streets of London after a hotel room fight allegedly started when, according to the singer as quoted by a tabloid newspaper, she was spotted by her husband doing drugs with a call girl.[57][unreliable source?][58] Later, on 2 December, images of the singer outside her home, in the early morning hours, barefoot and wearing only a bra and jeans appeared on the internet and in some tabloid newspapers. In a statement her spokesperson blamed paparazzi harassment for the incident and said: “The constant bombardment by certain agency photographers at her home has increased anxiety and caused disturbance.” The spokesperson also reported that the singer was in a program being supervised by doctors and channeling her difficulties by writing a lot of music.[59][60][61] Winehouse’s father on 30 December reported that the singer was still refusing to be admitted into a rehabilitation facility but that she has started a treatment program that continued while she was away on holiday. A tabloid reported that the treatment was occurring at the Caribbean villa of rock singer Bryan Adams.[62]
The singer ranked number two on Richard Blackwell’s 48th annual “Ten Worst Dressed Women” list, behind Victoria Beckham.[63] On 9 January 2008, news broke that she had changed her famous beehive hair-do, and dyed her hair peroxide blonde.[64]
The British tabloid The Sun posted a video of a woman, alleged to be Winehouse, apparently smoking crack cocaine and speaking of having taken ecstasy and valium. The Daily Telegraph subsequently reported that Winehouse’s father had moved in with her, terrified her continued drug use would kill her.[65] Island Records, her record label, announced their plans to abandon its American promotion campaign of her.[66] On 22 January, her spokesperson announced that the singer visited Edward House — an outpatient department of the Capio Nightingale Hospital rehabilitation center. Finally, on 24 January, Winehouse entered rehab (essentially canceling her appearance at the NRJ Awards in France) in order to get better and to enable her appearance at the upcoming Grammy Awards. According to the singers father Winehouse spent a night in a hospital and was put on an intravenous drip after suffering dehydration from drug withdrawal[67]
Winehouse has joined a campaign to stop a block of flats being built beside the George Tavern a famous London East End music venue, and has promised to play a gig there once she leaves her current drugs rehabilitation programme. Campaign supporters fear the residential development would end the spot’s lucrative sideline as a film and photo location, on which it relies to survive.[68]
Legal troubles
On 8 September 2007 Winehouse settled a claim for copyright infringement over the song “He Can Only Hold Her” brought against her by songwriter and producer P*Nut. His lawyer 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 but no songwriter credit on the album.[69]
In October 2007, Winehouse and her husband were arrested in Norway for possession of cannabis. The couple were later released and fined 3850 Norwegian kroner (around £350).[70] The Bergen, Norway police chief confirmed Winehouse has been summoned to appear in court there stating “If one appeals a conviction, it’s the rule that one has to appear in person”. The singer claims she was “duped” into confessing to possession of illegal drugs. Police say they are sure she knew what was in the confession she signed and that fluent English speakers helped her.[71] She also vowed to fight the United States ban on her travel there triggered by the arrest.[72]
Fielder-Civil and four other men were arrested on 9 November 2007 on a charge of trying to pervert the course of justice in relation to an assault on a bartender in June 2007 at the Macbeths public house in Hoxton, east London;[73] he allegedly offered to pay the victim £200,000 to withdraw his complaint.[74][75] He was denied bail and remains in custody, pending investigation.[76] As Fielder-Civil is not known to have any income independent of his wife, Winehouse also came under investigation for any role she might have had and officers visited the singer’s accountants—the London-based firm Smallfield Cody—in an attempt to track her financial dealings. About a week later, on December 18, Winehouse voluntarily submitted to arrest, and was released on bail without charges being filed. The singer was ordered to return to a Metropolitan Police station in early March. Police have confiscated her mobile phone records, bank details and computer software.[77][78]
After the aforementioned 19-minute drug video was passed on to Scotland Yard, Metropolitan Police on 23 January 2008 confirmed its officers were investigating .[66][79]. She was questioned by police about the video on 5 February[80]
The singer has been granted a U.S. visa a document necessary for entering the country after at first being denied the document for the “use and abuse of narcotics”. The decision came to late for her to appear live at the 2008 Grammy Awards show [81]
Controversy
Winehouse’s dichotomous public image of critical and commercial success versus personal turmoil has proven to be controversial. The New Statesman magazine called Winehouse “a filthy-mouthed, down-to-earth diva.”[82] People magazine called her “a perfect storm of sex kitten, raw talent and poor impulse control.”[83] In late 2006, she heckled Bono (of U2) during an awards show speech he gave.[3] In November 2007, the opening night of a 17-date tour was marred by booing and walkouts at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. A music critic for the Birmingham Mail newspaper said it was “one of the saddest nights of my life… I saw a supremely talented artist reduced to tears, stumbling around the stage and, unforgivably, swearing at the audience.”[84] Other concerts ended similarly,[85][86] until it was announced on November 27, 2007, that Amy Winehouse has called off all gigs and other public appearances for the remainder of 2007, after her doctor advised her to take 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.[87] Karen Heller with The Philadelphia Inquirer summarized the maelstrom this way:
She’s only 24 with six Grammy nods, crashing headfirst into success and despair, with a codependent husband in jail, exhibitionist parents with questionable judgment, and the paparazzi documenting her emotional and physical distress. Meanwhile, a haute designer [Karl Lagerfeld] appropriates her disheveled style and eating issues to market to the elite while proclaiming her the new Bardot.[88]
Come 2008, her continued drug problems threatened her very career. Even as Nick Gatfield, the president of Island Records, toyed with the idea of releasing Winehouse “to deal with her problems”, he remarked on her talent, saying, “It’s a reflection of her status [in the US] that when you flick through the TV coverage [of the Grammys] it’s her image they use.”[66]
In the days before her entry into rehabilitation, The Times, in a break of its normal custom of not devoting space to the “saga of pop singers,” editorialized that the government should force the singer into rehabilitation. The editorial, in part, read:
“The State’s actions could save a great talent. She desperately needs to be brought into rehabilitation and, this time, to stay put there for weeks if not months. The means to that end have to be found. Pope’s epistle has much to say that is apt for human failings.a[›] Apart from raising the fate of the butterfly, he ponders ‘if there be force in virtue or in song.’ There is force in virtue and, on occasion, virtue in force. In this instance, it is the one way of saving Winehouse and her song.”[89]
The 2008 NME Awards demonstrated mixed feelings towered Winehouse. The singer was nominated for awards in the categories of “Villain of the Year”,”Worst Dressed Performer”,”Best Solo Artist”, and “Best Music DVD” [90]
Discography
Main article: Amy Winehouse discography
2003: Frank
2006: Back to Black
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
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
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
Q Awards Best Album Back to Black Won
MOBO Awards Best UK Female Won
MTV Video Music Awards Female Artist of the Year Nominated
Best New Artist Nominated
Video of the Year “Rehab” Nominated
MTV Europe Music Awards Most Addictive Track “Rehab” Nominated
Album of the Year Back to Black Won
Artist’s Choice Won
World Music Awards World’s Best-Selling New Artist Nominated
World’s Best-Selling Pop/Rock Female Artist Nominated
Vibe Awards Breakthrough Artist of the Year Nominated
2008 Grammy Awards Record of the Year “Rehab” Nominated
Album of the Year Back to Black Nominated
Song of the Year “Rehab” Nominated
Best New Artist “Rehab” Nominated
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance “Rehab” Nominated
Best Pop Vocal Album Back to Black Nominated
Brit Awards Best British Single “Valerie” Nominated
NME Awards Villain of the Year Nominated
Worst Dressed Performer Nominated
Best Music DVD “I Told You I Was Trouble” Nominated
Best Solo Artist Nominated
Notes
^ a: The aforementioned “Pope’s epistle” refers to the poem, An Essay on Man, by Alexander Pope.[91] An Essay on Man produced such adages as “Hope springs eternal in the human breast,” and “The proper study of mankind is man.”
source:wikipedia