Amy Jade Winehouse - Biography

Amy Jade Winehouse, (born 14 September 1983), is a British soul, jazz, and rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. Her debut album, Frank (released in 2003) was nominated for the Mercury Prize. She won the Ivor Novello Award 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 and "Mejor artista nuevo internacional" or "best international new artist" in Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica. The singer's bulimia as well as her drug and alcohol abuse became regular tabloid fodder in 2007.

Amy Winehouse was born in the Southgate area of Enfield, London to a Jewish family with a history of jazz musicians. Her father, Mitchell Winehouse, is a taxi driver and her mother, Janis, is a pharmacist. She has one brother, Alex. She grew up in the suburb of Southgate and attended Ashmole School. 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 piercing her own nose. She later attended the BRIT School in Selhurst, Croydon.

At age ten, Winehouse founded a short-lived rap group called Sweet 'n' Sour. She received her first guitar when she was thirteen. By age sixteen she was singing professionally after her friend soul singer Tyler James sent her demo tape to an A&R person. She later had an "on and off" relationship with Tyler. She signed to her current record label Island/Universal under Simon Fuller's management company 19 Management.

Winehouse 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

2003 – 2004: Frank

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 with compliments over the "cool, critical gaze" in its lyrics and brought comparisons of her voice to Sarah Vaughan, Macy Gray and others.

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. 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). 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 album" because of the inclusion by her record label of certain songs and mixes she disliked. 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." 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."

2006 – 2007: Back to Black

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 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 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.

The album was released on October 30, 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." 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. 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. She left the management company after this incident. On October 22, 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 January 14, 2007, the album rose from #2 to the #1 position on the UK Album Chart. After she won the BRIT award, the album again rose to #1 on 25 February. By 25 October the album was approaching 5 x platinum in the UK making it the best selling album of 2007. 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 in her lyrics, such as "Mr. Destiny, 9 and 14." Destiny is the name of Jones's child with ex-girlfriend Carmen, and 14 September is the birthday that Winehouse and Nas share. In Winehouse's song "Rehab," she mentions "Ray" and "Mr. Hathaway," in reference to Ray Charles and Donny Hathaway.

In early October 2006, Winehouse's official website was re-launched with a new layout and clips of previously unreleased songs.She appeared in an interview with Jools Holland on BBC Radio 2 on October 2, 2006 and was a guest on Later with Jools Holland on November 3, 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.

The second single from the album was "You Know I'm No Good". The single was released on January 8, 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 April 30, 2007 and peaked at #25. In summer 2007, "You Know I'm No Good" was also incorporated into advertisements for AMC's new T.V. drama, Mad Men.

"Rehab" rose to #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the week of June 14, after a performance of it on the 2007 MTV Movie Awards. The following week it rose to #9.

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 Hollands' Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. She also performed Toots and the Maytals' "Monkey Man".

Performing at Eurockéennes 2007At 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 May 24, 2007.

Winehouse performed at the June 2007 Glastonbury Festival in the UK, the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago on August 5, 2007 and the Virgin Music Festival in Baltimore on August 4, 2007. She was scheduled to perform at V Festival 2007 on the Channel 4 stage on August 18 and August 19, but her manager announced that she was cancelling and has put all her tour commitments on hold until further notice. Amy Winehouse toured with Patrick Wolf as opening.

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 "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.

On December 10, 2007, "Love Is a Losing Game", her final Back to Black single will be released in the United Kingdom.

2007: Amy Winehouse: Told You I Was Trouble

Her debut DVD is scheduled to be released on the 5 November in the U.K., and 13 November in the U.S. It includes a live set recorded at London’s Shepherds Bush Empire and a 50-minute documentary charting the singers career over the last four years. The track list for Told You I Was Trouble is: "Addicted", "Just Friends", "Cherry", "Back To Black", "Wake Up Alone", "Tears Dry on Their Own", "He Can Only Hold Her", "f*** Me Pumps", "Some Unholy War", "Love Is a Losing Game", "Valerie", "Hey Little Rich Girl", "Rehab", "I'm No Good", "Me & Mr Jones", "Monkey Man", "Outro"

Late 2007: Collaborations

In October the singer collaborated with Babyshambles on a song that the Babyshambles guitarist Mick Whitnall described as a "ska type track. Amy's playing guitar on it and singing as well". Whitnall further explained "She plays better than James Brown playing acoustic guitar," he said. "She thinks she's $h!t but she's not. I've never met a girl who plays like that, let alone a man".

The singer was a vocalist on the song "Valerie" on the Mark Ronson solo album Version. As of 25 October the song was #2 on the UK singles charts.

Her work with ex-Sugababe Mutya Buena, "B Boy Baby," will be released on 17 December 2007. It will serve as the fourth single from Buena's solo debut album Real Girl.

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

Q Awards Best Album Back to Black Won

MOBO Awards Best UK Female Won

MTV Video Music Awards Female Artist of the Year Nominated

MTV Video Music Awards Best New Artist Nominated

MTV Video Music Awards Video of the Year "Rehab" Nominated

MTV Europe Music Awards Most Addictive Track "Rehab" Nominated

MTV Europe Music Awards Album of the Year Back to Black Nominated

MTV Europe Music Awards Artist's Choice Won