Take the sounds of the 50's and 60's, add a little calypso or reggae, mix in a little soul and some doo-wop with the contralto vocals and you have a sample of Amy Winehouse's signature sound.

Amy Winehouse - From Peaks To Pits

"Amy is bringing a rebellious rock & roll spirit back to popular music. Those groups from the Sixties like the Shangri-Las had that kind of attitude: young girls from Queens in motorcycle jackets. Amy looks fucking cool, and she's brutally honest in her songs."

Take the sounds of the 50's and 60's, add a little calypso or reggae, mix in a little soul and some doo-wop with the contralto vocals and you have a sample of Amy Winehouse's signature sound.

Amy Winehouse - From an early age

On September 14, 1983, in London, England, Amy Jade Winehouse was born into a Jewish family as the second child to taxi-driver, Mitchell and pharmacist, Janis Winehouse, joining her older brother Alex. Her indoctrination to music started out with her father's love of jazz - he and Amy continually singing Frank Sinatra and like tunes during most waking hours. After her parents divorce nine year old Amy enrolled at Susi Earnshaw and then, at 14, attended the Sylvia Young Theatre Schools. At ten Amy started rap duo, Sweet 'n' Sour, with her friend Juliette Ashby. For her 13^th birthday she received a guitar and her songwriting began shortly thereafter. Before being expelled for general "slacktitude" and her nose ring, in 1997, she appeared with others from Silvia Young's in The Fast Show. She then attended the BRIT, Southgate, and Ashmole Schools in succession.

Gaining success after success

After signing with publisher EMI and Island/Universal label the enormously talented Amy Winehouse co-wrote all but 2 of the jazz-influenced songs, on her debut album, Frank (October 2003), garnered BRIT Award nominations in two categories before going platinum, won the 2004 Ivor Novello songwriting Award for her contribution to the single Stronger Than Me and made the list for the Mercury Music Prize. The October, 2006 release of Back to Black went directly to #1 on the UK Albums Chart and #7 on the US Billboard 200. Within a year Back to Black had almost reached platinum 5 times over, was the best selling album in 2007, and spawned several very well received singles. She also married Blake Fielder-Civil in May during a self proclaimed binge.

On to fame

Amy Winehouse's 2007 tour wasn't received nearly as well as her albums were. Her growing issues with drug and alcohol abuses and addictions negatively affected her shows so badly fans were revolting and walking out; so after several shows where she could barely function, the tour, her public appearances, and performances were cancelled for the rest of the year.

Winehouse has collaborated with other artists to release works, Real Girl, Valerie, and B Boy Baby, which garnered many more awards and accolades. By age 25, she had received and won Grammy, BRIT, Producer of the Year, and Best Songwriter awards, among so many others she also made the Guinness Book of World Records for the most Grammy's won by a British Female Act. 2008 was another banner year as Amy garnered several more nominations and awards for her performances and songwriting, thus keeping her album sales soaring.

Continuous battles with addictions, manic aggressive behaviors, self-mutilation, drug arrests, assault convictions, a frenzy feeding divorce, and resulting bad publicity caused Amy to file and win an injunction to keep the paparazzi at least 'out of her face' while she vacillated between heading and not heading for rehab before finally being court ordered to go. Her tumultuous life has been the subject of documentaries Saving Amy and My Daughter Amy.

To the present

Amy Winehouse has donated her time and fame to several different campaigns including breast cancer awareness, fighting residential development next to famous George Tavern, the British Music Experience museum, and performing on Artists Project Earth Benefit album. She launched her own label, Lioness Records, and performed backup on several tracks for her goddaughter's first album.

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