Amy Winehouse’s (1983-2011) family left Minsk in 1890 and followed the familiar route from the East End of London to its northern suburbs. Music was everywhere! Amy's maternal uncles were professional jazz musicians, and her paternal grandmother, Cynthia, was a jazz singer. Her father Mitch often sang Frank Sinatra songs to her.
As a young girl, Amy suffered from eating and anxiety disorders, and fame made the situation worse. Luckily in 1992, grandma Cynthia suggested that Amy attend the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School in Barnet, where she went weekly to learn vocals and dancing. She attended the school for 4 years and founded a rap group, before seeking full-time training at Sylvia Young Theatre School in Marble Arch.
At 13, Amy received a guitar as a gift and began to compose. She appeared in several bars in the city and later, at 15, she began writing music and was soon working as an entertainment journalist for World Entertainment News Network. In July 2000, she became the main female vocalist with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra.
My own singing passion was Janis Joplin(1943-70) who died long before Amy was born. The artistic abilities of both Joplin and Winehouse were well known for: great vocal records; their way of expressing emotions via a melody; for being two of the great soul artists; and for their self-destructive lifestyle. The women performed with an appreciation of music’s lasting effect of touching the soul.
In mid-1999, her boyfriend was a singer named Tyler James who gave his producer a recording of Amy. Thus she began her musical career at 16, signing her first contract with Simon Fuller. After that, a representative of Universal heard Amy sing and presented her to the company. They quickly signed her second contract.
Amy’s debut album was called Frank (2003), named after Frank Sinatra. Winehouse co-wrote almost every jazz-influenced song! The album received critical acclaim for the cool, critical gaze in its lyrics; in fact this work gave her a nomination in the Mercury Music Awards and an Ivor Novello Award in 2004.
Amy met Blake Fielder-Civil in a London bar, and started a romance. In 2005, Blake ended the relationship with Amy to return to his ex-girlfriend, causing Amy to go through a time of consumption of pills for depression, violent mood swings and serious bulimia. Her manager tried to let her family know; Amy was very angry.
Amy Winehouse was her own worst critic. She desperately wanted to have children, but didn’t. She claimed to not be ambitious, yet she never stopped putting pen to paper. When she sang about “standing by her man” in Some Unholy War (2006), her voice effortlessly travelled from female subservience to swaggering domination. She could be lovelorn, and then turn that emotion on its head in stinging lyrics. None of these contradictions were new, and they were inherent in the music Amy loved.
At 13, Amy received a guitar as a gift and began to compose. She appeared in several bars in the city and later, at 15, she began writing music and was soon working as an entertainment journalist for World Entertainment News Network. In July 2000, she became the main female vocalist with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra.
My own singing passion was Janis Joplin(1943-70) who died long before Amy was born. The artistic abilities of both Joplin and Winehouse were well known for: great vocal records; their way of expressing emotions via a melody; for being two of the great soul artists; and for their self-destructive lifestyle. The women performed with an appreciation of music’s lasting effect of touching the soul.
In mid-1999, her boyfriend was a singer named Tyler James who gave his producer a recording of Amy. Thus she began her musical career at 16, signing her first contract with Simon Fuller. After that, a representative of Universal heard Amy sing and presented her to the company. They quickly signed her second contract.
Amy’s debut album was called Frank (2003), named after Frank Sinatra. Winehouse co-wrote almost every jazz-influenced song! The album received critical acclaim for the cool, critical gaze in its lyrics; in fact this work gave her a nomination in the Mercury Music Awards and an Ivor Novello Award in 2004.
Amy met Blake Fielder-Civil in a London bar, and started a romance. In 2005, Blake ended the relationship with Amy to return to his ex-girlfriend, causing Amy to go through a time of consumption of pills for depression, violent mood swings and serious bulimia. Her manager tried to let her family know; Amy was very angry.
Amy Winehouse was her own worst critic. She desperately wanted to have children, but didn’t. She claimed to not be ambitious, yet she never stopped putting pen to paper. When she sang about “standing by her man” in Some Unholy War (2006), her voice effortlessly travelled from female subservience to swaggering domination. She could be lovelorn, and then turn that emotion on its head in stinging lyrics. None of these contradictions were new, and they were inherent in the music Amy loved.
Winehouse's powerful contralto vocals were compared with those of Sarah Vaughan (1924–90). She once described Vaughan’s vocal as being like a reed instrument, like a clarinet. It was the sadness that drew her in, and from the depths of that despair she brought a light that flickered dangerously. But her broad kohl eyeliner and beehive hair were all her own, armour she required to face the press, even as her fans continued to love her.
Amy’s embodiment of jazz and R&B evolved between her two records Frank and her seminal Back To Black (2006). In this, her second and last studio album, she expressed her hardest personal experiences, her insolent vision of affectionate relationships and her submergence into drugs and alcohol. Strong lyrics! Months later Amy resumed her relationship with Blake and they married in Miami.
Her great hit Rehab (2006) began as a joke in a conversation with producer Mark Ronson, who told her the line, “They tried to make me go to rehab and I said no, no, no”. The rest came to her in five minutes. Influenced by Blake, Amy began to try stronger drugs. Two months after the wedding, Amy was hospitalised for an overdose. In June 2007, she was nominated for the Mercury Prize for that record!
In 2008 Amy went on to win 5 of her 6 nominations but could not attend because the US denied her a visa (due to her drugs). So she finally “attended” via satellite from London.
Winehouse developed emphysema as a result of smoking crack cocaine and endless cigarettes. She gave a string of highly successful performances during 2008, but in June she was suddenly hospitalised with a serious lung condition. Amazingly she left hospital for one evening to perform for Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday celebration in Hyde Park.
They divorced in 2009 but her destructive alcohol and drugs continued. Often on stage she appeared drunk, or she had to cancel concerts altogether. On July 20th 2011, she was on stage at Camden Roundhouse, her final public appearance.
On 23rd July 2011, at 27, Amy Winehouse was found dead (from alcohol poisoning) in her London flat. Dad Mitch, who recently recorded and released his own jazz album, was performing at New York’s Blue Note that week, but flew straight home for the funeral. The Club of the 27, artists who died at 27 from drugs and alcohol, expanded eg Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin etc.
Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait at the Jewish Museum London in 2017 showed the real Amy through her personal belongings, from family photographs to fashion. The items reflected Amy’s love for her family, London and music.
Beyond Black — The Style of Amy Winehouse was to be an exhibit at Los Angeles’ Grammy Museum in 2020. Pandemic allowing, the exhibit featured Winehouse’s most memorable outfits and other wardrobe items, her perfume, handwritten lyrics, diaries, home videos, awards, her record collection and her vintage radio. Behind a glass case there was a list of her ambitions for fame.
Amy’s embodiment of jazz and R&B evolved between her two records Frank and her seminal Back To Black (2006). In this, her second and last studio album, she expressed her hardest personal experiences, her insolent vision of affectionate relationships and her submergence into drugs and alcohol. Strong lyrics! Months later Amy resumed her relationship with Blake and they married in Miami.
Her great hit Rehab (2006) began as a joke in a conversation with producer Mark Ronson, who told her the line, “They tried to make me go to rehab and I said no, no, no”. The rest came to her in five minutes. Influenced by Blake, Amy began to try stronger drugs. Two months after the wedding, Amy was hospitalised for an overdose. In June 2007, she was nominated for the Mercury Prize for that record!
In 2008 Amy went on to win 5 of her 6 nominations but could not attend because the US denied her a visa (due to her drugs). So she finally “attended” via satellite from London.
Winehouse developed emphysema as a result of smoking crack cocaine and endless cigarettes. She gave a string of highly successful performances during 2008, but in June she was suddenly hospitalised with a serious lung condition. Amazingly she left hospital for one evening to perform for Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday celebration in Hyde Park.
They divorced in 2009 but her destructive alcohol and drugs continued. Often on stage she appeared drunk, or she had to cancel concerts altogether. On July 20th 2011, she was on stage at Camden Roundhouse, her final public appearance.
On 23rd July 2011, at 27, Amy Winehouse was found dead (from alcohol poisoning) in her London flat. Dad Mitch, who recently recorded and released his own jazz album, was performing at New York’s Blue Note that week, but flew straight home for the funeral. The Club of the 27, artists who died at 27 from drugs and alcohol, expanded eg Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin etc.
Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait at the Jewish Museum London in 2017 showed the real Amy through her personal belongings, from family photographs to fashion. The items reflected Amy’s love for her family, London and music.
Beyond Black — The Style of Amy Winehouse was to be an exhibit at Los Angeles’ Grammy Museum in 2020. Pandemic allowing, the exhibit featured Winehouse’s most memorable outfits and other wardrobe items, her perfume, handwritten lyrics, diaries, home videos, awards, her record collection and her vintage radio. Behind a glass case there was a list of her ambitions for fame.