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Amy Jade Winehouse (born 14 September 1983) is an English soul, jazz, and
R&B singer and songwriter. Her debut album, Frank (released in 2003)
was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Winehouse is a two-time Ivor Novello
Award winner; once 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.
Winehouse was born in the district of Southgate located in Enfield, London to a Jewish family with a history of jazz musicians. Her
father, Mitchell Winehouse, is a cab driver, and her mother, Janis, is a
pharmacist. She grew up in the suburb of Southgate, and attended Ashmole School. At around
the age of 10, Winehouse founded a short-lived amateur rap group called Sweet
'n' Sour, as Sour. She described the group as "the little white Jewish Salt 'n' Pepa". She attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School when
she was 12 years old but was expelled at 13 for "not applying
herself" and piercing her own nose. She later attended the BRIT School in Selhurst, Croydon.
Winehouse received her first guitar at age 13. By age 16, she was singing
professionally after her friend, soul singer Tyler James, gave her demo tape to an A&R person. She
signed to her current record
label, Island/Universal, under management company 19 Management, Simon Fuller's management company.
Winehouse's debut album, Frank, was released on 20 October 2003. It was produced mainly by Salaam Remi with many songs having jazz-influences
and, apart from two covers, every song co-written by Winehouse. The
album received positive reviews with compliments over the "cool, critical gaze" in
its lyrics[7] and brought comparisons of her voice to,
amongst others, Sarah
Vaughan[8] and Macy Gray.
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 [the] 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."
On 14 August 2007 TMZ.com and
the Daily Mirror
reported that Winehouse and new husband Blake Fielder-Civil agreed to go to
rehab after their respective fathers nearly came to blows over their heroin and cocaine addiction. The Vancouver Sun reported she stayed at the Causeway
treatment centre in Essex, England, for five days. Winehouse's
family is apparently up in arms about her whirlwind rehab stay, which was meant
to last six to eight weeks. Her spokesperson said "Amy Winehouse is putting
all her touring commitments for this month on hold until further notice in order
to address her health issues". Later it was announced the her September North American tour has
been postponed and plans were being made to reschedule it early in 2008. The spokesperson also remarked "Her family has
requested that the media respect Amy’s privacy at this time. There will be no
further comment" This follows a 8 August incident where Winehouse was admitted to University College Hospital in London after slipping into a coma after overdosing on several drugs. The singer told
the News of the
World that she smoked heroin,
snorted cocaine, took ecstasy and the psychedelic ketamine, along with whiskey and vodka
during a bar crawl in London. She told the paper "It was just
crazy -- one of the most terrifying moments of my life," she said. "I just don't
know what got into me." These developments occurred after months of
speculation in the tabloids over
alleged alcohol-induced behaviour. This included apparent intoxication during
television appearances and concerts, cancelled appearances, heckling Bono,and cuts and scars on her arm.
The
Independent published an article about manic depression, in which it
quotes Winehouse as stating that she is a clinically diagnosed manic depressive who
refuses to take medication.
In September 2006, Winehouse was reported to have dropped three dress sizes
because of comments made to her about her size. In an interview in The Daily
Telegraph Magazine (16
September 2006), when asked if this was
the cause she replied "No. No. No. I don't listen to anyone except my ... inner
child anyway. If someone had said to me, Amy, lose a stone which they wouldn't - I don't think I
would have listened anyway." In October, Winehouse admitted to have previously
been affected by eating disorders. "A little bit of anorexia, a little
bit of bulimia. I'm not totally OK now
but I don't think any woman is."
Winehouse has a number of "old school" tattoos of naked women on her body. When asked about
them, she was quoted as saying "I like pin-up girls. I’m more of a boy than a
girl in that way. I’m not a lesbian, though — not before a sambuca anyway."
On 18 May 2007 Winehouse married Blake
Fielder-Civil in an unannounced ceremony in Miami, Florida. Multiple
press accounts that reported the wedding have suggested that Winehouse's
relationship with Fielder-Civil was the inspiration for several of the songs on
Back to Black.
In a June 2007 interview with
World
Entertainment News Network she was quoted as saying "I'll beat up Blake when
I'm drunk. I don't think I have ever bruised him, but I do have my way. If he
says one thing I don't like then I'll chin him."
She said she would own a beauty salon
once her singing schedule calms down.
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