Amy Winehouse

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Amy Winehouse (14 September 1983 to 23 July 2011) was a British singer and songwriter from Enfield, London. She grew up in a household where a lot of jazz was played. Several uncles were professional jazz musicians, and her father sang Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett at home. She sang in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, signed with Island Records in 2002 and made her debut Frank, with the producer Salaam Remi, in 2003. She co-wrote almost all the songs herself. The record was full of jazz influences, and her voice was compared with that of Sarah Vaughan.

Music and breakthrough

With Back to Black in 2006 came her worldwide breakthrough. She now drew inspiration from the girl groups and the soul of the 1950s and 1960s. For this she took the Dap-Kings, Sharon Jones's band, into the studio, alongside Salaam Remi and the producer Mark Ronson. The single Rehab became a worldwide hit. In 2008 she won five Grammys, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Her dark contralto and her autobiographical lyrics together formed a sound of her own.

Influence

Winehouse had serious problems with addiction and her health, and died of alcohol poisoning. Her life was revisited in the documentary Amy in 2015 and the film Back to Black in 2024. She gave the retro soul sound of the 1950s and 1960s new life in the pop music of the twenty-first century and in doing so set off a wave of soul singers.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 2003Frank
• 2006Back to Black
• 2015Amy: The Original Soundtrack (soundtrack)