Amy Winehouse

Born to a taxi-driving father and pharmacist mother, Amy Jade Winehouse grew up in the Southgate area of northern London. Her early childhood was full of music, specifically Jazz with many of her uncles working as professional jazz musicians while her father once claimed that he was the one that discovered the great Dinah Washington.

Amy absorbed her parents' selection of greats such as Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra while on the streets, as a teen, she was drawn to the rebellious spirit of TLC, Salt-N-Pepa, and other American R&B and hip-hop acts of the time.

When Amy was nine years old, her grandmother, suggested she attend the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School to develop her already striking voice for further training. At age ten, Winehouse founded a short-lived rap group called Sweet 'n' Sour with childhood friend Juliette Ashby. She stayed at the Earnshaw school for four years before seeking full time training at Sylvia Young Theatre School, but was expelled at 14 for "not applying herself" and for piercing her nose.

She later attended the BRIT School in Selhurst, Croydon and attended Southgate School and Ashmole School.

Amy's big break came when her boyfriend at the time passed on her demo tape to an A&R rep that subsequently landed her a recording contract with Island Records, despite budding rivalry from EMI and Virgin who expressed interest in signing the ‘industry’s best kept secret’. By the end of 2003, at 20 years old, Island released her debut album, Frank. The critically acclaimed soon went platinum, and hailed the coming of a fresh faced starlet with genuine talent and a huge voice.

The album, an amalgam of jazz, pop, soul, and hip-hop received rave reviews, a 2004 Mercury Music Prize nomination as well as two Brit awards. Its lead single, "Stronger Than Me," won an Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song.

Back and Black, her next album, was somewhat spawned over raw contempt for her management company who suggested, in 2006, that she enter rehab. Whether they were dumped, or they quit is a matter of debate – but when she sang her answer “no no no” to Mark Ronson, within an hour they had written what would become her first big hit.

The album delved into the sounds of '50s/'60s-era girl group harmonies, rock & roll, and soul that Amy has listed as major influences. The fanfare over the release was so great that it started to spill over onto U.S. shores; several rappers and DJs made their own remixes of various songs not to mention covers by Prince and the Arctic Monkeys.

One month after Winehouse won Best Female Artist at the Brit Awards in February 2007, Universal released Back to Black in the U.S. The LP charted higher than any other American debut by a British female recording artist before it, and it remained in the Top Ten for several months, selling a million copies by the end of that summer. Just as in the U.K., she became the talk of the town, landing on the covers of Rolling Stone and Spin magazines.

While her rowdy behavior, outlandish outfits, and heavy consumption of alcohol were meticulously documented by the media, fans and critics alike continued to embrace her rugged charm, brash sense of humor, and distinctively soulful and jazzy vocals.

‘Back in Black’ is currently the UK's biggest-selling album of 2007 selling its millionth 2007 copy in the week of September 17, 2007.

Tragically, Amy was found dead at the age of 27 on 23 July 2011, at her home in London. At the time of publishing, police have said that the cause of her death was "as yet unexplained".

It has been said, but not confirmed, that Amy’s unfinished third album will be released posthumously.