British artist Amy Winehouse catapulted into stardom with her 2006 album “Back to Black.” The project was an infusion of soul, R&B and jazz, with the help of Black American producer Salaam Remi. But Black music didn’t just inspire Winehouse’s second album; it was the foundation for her entire career. However, underneath her amazing talent was a tremendous amount of pain. Ultimately, Winehouse’s career was cut short as struggles with mental health, an eating disorder, and alcohol abuse stopped her from making music and made her the focus of the antagonizing British press, who knocked her down with every chance they had.
As we remember Winehouse and her contributions to music on what would have been her 43rd birthday, we’re taking a look at how she was inspired by Black musicians, and how her career became a spectacle for tabloids and public scrutiny.
Early Years
Born in Southgate, an area in North London, on September 14, 1983, to Mitch Winehouse, a cab driver, and Janis Winehouse, a pharmacist, Amy Winehouse came from a family that loved music, especially jazz. According to Biography, her dad sang in a band with his family as a kid, and her uncles were professional jazz musicians.
First Musical Inspirations
Coming from a family of jazz lovers meant Winehouse’s earliest inspirations were some of the most iconic Black jazz singers, such as Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald. However, she also loved hip-hop and R&B. Winehouse was a huge fan of TLC and Salt-N-Pepa. As a youngster, she created a rap group inspired by the girl group called Sweet ‘n’ Sour, per Biography.
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Talent From An Early Age
By the age of 12, Winehouse had secured a spot in the prestigious Sylvia Young Theatre School, a performing arts school in London. However, by the time she was 16, the budding star had been expelled from the school for getting a nose ring, according to The Guardian. That didn’t faze Winehouse too much, who then joined the BRIT School in London, which is responsible for alumni such as Adele, Olivia Dean and “Spider-Man” actor Tom Holland.
At 16, she signed her first publishing deal with EMI Records after attracting major labels by singing in local jazz bands.
Building Her First Album With Salaam Remi
Though she was signed to a label at 16, it wouldn’t be until she was 18 that Winehouse would start working on her first album. Her label set up a meeting with producer Salaam Remi, who has produced for the likes of Nas and The Fugees. The pair created demos together that landed her a record deal with Universal Records. From her collaboration with Remi, Amy Winehouse created her 2003 debut album “Frank,” with Remi producing 11 of the 16 songs on the project, according to Remi’s interview with DJ Vlad.
Song Lyrics Focused On Her Pain
Remi was skeptical about working with Winehouse at first, stating in his DJ Vlad interview, “When I heard her demos, I wasn’t sure, ’cause I thought it was a kind of fake Erykah Badu type vibe.” But after working with the young star, the producer knew she was the real deal. Following the lead of her musical influences, such as Etta James, Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding, Winehouse often channeled her pain into her music and was very vulnerable with her audience.
Her song “You Sent Me Flying/Cherry” from the Frank album focused on her experience with unrequited love as she sings a chorus about a man who kicked her to the curb.
“And although my pride is not easy to disturb, yeah/You sent me flying when you kicked me to the curb/With your battered jeans and your Beasties tee/Now I can’t work like this, no, no, with you next to me.”
“Frank” Receives Critical Acclaim
Amy Winehouse’s debut project hit the shelves with a bang. She earned two BRIT Award nominations and was shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize Album of the Year, and won the Ivor Novello songwriting award for her song “Stronger Than Me,” according to Abbey Road Studios. Thanks to her work with Salaam Remi, the album pushed Amy Winehouse into the public eye and set her up for musical success.
Struggling With An Eating Disorder Behind The Scenes
Although Winehouse was living a life of success in public, she was struggling behind the scenes with battles that would begin to affect her career – something tabloids would soon use to make her the subject of media scrutiny. According to The Guardian, Amy Winehouse had a lifelong battle with the eating disorder bulimia that started when she was 17 years old.
Chaotic Relationship With Blake Fielder-Civil
Along with her struggles with bulimia, Amy Winehouse began a tumultuous relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil, a video production assistant, whom she met in a pub in Camden in 2005. Their relationship was chaotic, since the pair fell in love hard but fell out of it even quicker, often going through cycles of breaking up and getting back together.
Unfortunately for Winehouse, her relationship became entertainment for tabloids, who often made a spectacle of their dysfunctional relationship, per The London Evening Standard. Fielder-Civil would also be the man who introduced Winehouse to hard drugs.
The Creation of “Back To Black”
After her breakup with Fielder-Civil, Winehouse began working on her 2006 album “Back To Black,” which would catapult her to new levels of fame. According to Remi’s interview with DJ Vlad, when she first started the album, she would attend recording sessions exhausted and unfocused. It wasn’t until she requested to work with Remi that the “Valerie” singer was able to focus. Together, they wrote “Tears Dry On Their Own,” and Remi produced six songs for the album before British producer Mark Ronson did the rest.
Working With Black Musicians
Outside of her work with Remi, Winehouse also frequently collaborated with other Black musicians, such as Mos Def, The Dap Kings and Ghostface Killah. Her respect for Black music and culture made her a favorite of Black musicians as well as their fans.
Black Fans Love For Amy Winehouse
@amywinehouse.uk He will forever be Amy Winehouse’s most iconic fan
New Yorkers queue up to see Amy live at one of her headline shows, after breaking it big time in America with her ‘Back To Black’ album in May 2007.
#AmyWinehouse #AmyForever
After breaking into the American market with the success of “Back to Black,” Amy Winehouse earned a lot of respect from Black Americans who loved her music for being raw and real. At one of her headline shows in New York, fans told the press how much they loved her, with one fan saying, “She has an affinity for classic American soul music.”
Even to this day, Black fans on social media are constantly putting her songs in their playlist rotation and singing along to her lyrics on TikTok.
“Back To Black” Makes a Big Splash
Released in 2006, “Back To Black” was a hit, earning Winehouse six Grammy Award nominations, of which she won five, including Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best New Artist. The album also sold over 18 million copies worldwide and remains the 12th best-selling record of all time in the United Kingdom, according to The Grammys. The album made her a household name in the United States by reaching gold status in May of 2007, then went platinum two months later before becoming double-platinum in March of 2008, according to uDiscover Music.
With More Fame Came More Personal Struggles
With her newfound stardom from “Back to Black,” Winehouse became even more of a target for tabloids that focused on her relationship with Fielder-Civil. Back together again, the couple eloped in Miami in May 2007, and it would be during their marriage that Winehouse would try hard drugs for the first time, according to the London Evening Standard.
Per NME, Fielder-Civil has said he felt guilty for introducing Winehouse to crack cocaine. “I made the biggest mistake of my life by taking heroin in front of her. I introduced her to heroin, crack cocaine and self-harming,” he said. “The first time Amy took crack, she asked me, ‘Can I try a bit of that?’ Crack is the nastiest drug. It makes you paranoid, unreasonable, edgy and totally suspicious of everyone. And you can get hooked on it straight away. But I was weak and an addict, and I let Amy take some.”
Road To Sobriety
In 2008, the couple was separated again when Fielder-Civil was sentenced to two years in prison after assaulting a pub landlord. This would give Winehouse the space she needed to get sober and go into rehab in a London facility in November of that year, according to the magazine Luxury London. During this time, Winehouse also started seeing other men. Once she left rehab, Winehouse escaped to St. Lucia for some peace of mind and to start work on her third album.
Struggling To Make Music
While St. Lucia was supposed to provide Winehouse with the relief and space she needed to create music, she began abusing alcohol instead of drugs. According to Luxury London, guests at the resort where she was staying complained that she would crawl on her hands and knees, asking them for their drinks when the bar staff had stopped serving her.
Along with her struggles with alcohol abuse, Winehouse felt the pressure to make another album just as successful as “Back To Black.” She had her recording equipment in St. Lucia, and producer Salaam Remi flew out to work with her, but Winehouse struggled to get back into her zone with her music, per Luxury London.
Return Home
In March of 2009, Winehouse returned to London and moved into a North London home close to her mom, Janis. However, Winehouse could not escape criticism from the press and those around her. According to NME, her neighbors complained about her moving into the area, stating, “House prices have fallen enough without Amy Winehouse taking up residence.”
Public Divorce
While Winehouse’s return home was met with much scrutiny, her public divorce from Blake Fielder-Civil meant she would receive even more attention from local tabloids. According to Business Insider, her brother, Alex Winehouse, said she was practically trapped inside her home.
“She was pretty much shut in the house and couldn’t go anywhere. I’d go home, back to normality. She didn’t have that. The interest that they had in her was absolutely insane. She didn’t want it, but her every moment was covered in the press,” he said.
Winehouse’s struggles with alcohol abuse and the constant hounding from the press meant she made little progress on her third album.
Gone Too Soon
On July 23, 2011, Winehouse passed away from alcohol poisoning; however, her brother attributes her death to her struggles with bulimia. She was found unresponsive in her bedroom by her live-in security guard.
According to People, Winehouse’s doctor, Christina Romete, said the singer had been calm and in good spirits during her visit to her home before her passing, and her death was an accident. “She didn’t want to die; she was looking forward to the future.” Winehouse’s death made her a member of the tragic “27 Club,” a group of celebrities who passed at 27, such as Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.
Legacy
Although Amy Winehouse released only two albums during her career, she has been an inspiration to many successful artists, including Adele, Lady Gaga, Black British singer Emeli Sandé, and Black British rapper Stormzy, according to The Huffington Post. While she was a musical force and innovative with her sound, she never forgot to remind fans who inspired her, Black musicians.
In an interview, she once said she couldn’t “imagine England without Black music and culture. It’s in my blood.” She often cited Black musicians like Minnie Riperton, Dinah Washington, Missy Elliott, and Nas for her sound.
