Amy Winehouse

In her too short career, Amy Winehouse emerged as one of the greatest singers of her generation thanks to the albums Frank and Back To Black.

Amy Winehouse grew up in London, part of a family where music had always played a significant role. She was discovered as a teenager and released her debut album, Frank, at just ^20. Despite her youth, her album sounded incredibly mature and lifelike, drawing inspiration primarily from soul and jazz. Reviews frequently included names like Macy Gray and Sarah Vaughan. The title of her debut album was a direct reference to another of her heroes, Frank Sinatra, an American singer whom her father also admired.

To promote the album, she toured with The Dap-Kings, the backing band for American singer Sharon Jones. This group also featured on Back To Black, the crucial second album released in 2006. It was produced by Salaam Remi—with whom she also worked on her debut—and Mark Ronson. Her partially new backing ensured her sound was both traditional and contemporary. Its success was enormous. The biographical "Rehab" was one of the hit singles from the album. The album was also showered with awards, including no fewer than five Grammy Awards.

In the years that followed, Amy Winehouse performed regularly. It became increasingly clear that the singer was losing control of her demons—alcohol and drugs. Her musical achievements faded further and further into the background, while she increasingly made the news for various incidents. Yet, she also remained active musically. Still with Mark Ronson, she recorded a cover of Lesley Gore's "It's My Party" for the 2010 Q Soul Bossa album, a musical tribute to Quincy Jones. Her duet with Tony Bennett for his album, "Duets II," would be released posthumously.

On July 23, 2011, the seemingly inevitable happened. The singer died of alcohol poisoning at her London home. The world mourned. The turbulent nature of her life, especially in recent years, became clearer when the compelling documentary "Amy" aired in 2015. She was an immensely talented singer crushed by the many downsides of her immense success. "Back To Black" went down as the best-selling album in England in the ^21st century. At the end of 2011, "Lioness: Hidden Treasures," an album featuring previously unreleased material, was released.

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